It’s the last week of the year, and the promise of a whole week of no school makes all the students glow with a sudden happiness as each day counts down. Today marks the last day before a whole seven days of leisure and just like everyone else, Miyoung gleams with jitteriness. She watches the teacher scribble problem all over the board, as if any of the students are even paying attention, and helplessly day dreams about the freedom she’s going to have soon. Her head glances side to side in wonder where Sunggyu is at the moment, but goes back to the whiteboard hearing the teacher ask everyone to focus once more.

Outside’s pouring with numbing pricks of rain, and the freezing air stings with the ambitions of sickness. The bell has rung and Miyoung, smiling with her hands holding a bright yellow umbrella, carefully walks back home in her rain boots. Sunggyu had surprised her by popping right out from the school gate as she was making her way back, and he had excused himself by saying he overslept. It made Miyoung suspicious of how someone could sleep so long, but it was nothing to worry about.

"I couldn’t pay attention during class at all, Sunggyu! I’m so glad I’m done now, though!" She holds on to his hand in delight of the warmth and laughs at the plopping sounds coming from her boots.

Sunggyu watches the exhilaration flowing through Miyoung’s self and shakes his head at her childishness. He notices her shivering, and sees that it’s from the cold. The handsome boy blinks at the rain pouring down him and tilts his head. Why can’t he feel anything? Sunggyu takes it to consideration before flaking it away and taking off his jacket. He wears it on Miyoung and she blushes even with such raw temperature.

As they continue making their way back home, Sunggyu catches a black car coming their way. He observes the vehicle going out of the borderline and nearer into the sidewalk. His eyes stare at the fog huffing out of his breath and he goes back to looking at the car. That’s when his fear becomes recognized when it’s heading right toward them. He glances at the puddle near the walkway. "Damn it." In a blink of an eye, Sunggyu shields Miyoung with his body and he listens to the car splash water all over them from the monstrous fountain of water mounting from the sidewalk. He watches Miyoung fall from the impact and stares in disbelief. Why did he not fall?

"I can’t believe that car did that!" Miyoung spits at the ground from the horrible taste of the filthy water and clenches her teeth. Her clothes are drenched with water, and she hates how it sticks to her body. Her beautiful hair’s now soiled and she takes in her broken rain boots. Her mother had given that to her. The two of them gape at the black car stopping beside them and they gulp in fear. Sunggyu quickly helps Miyoung get up, but they turn stone still when Baerim and her posse comes out of the car.

"Oh my, aren’t you cold Miyoung?" The sarcasm in Baerim’s voice is atrocious and it overwhelms Miyoung into tears. The rest of her friends laugh in mockery and it makes Sunggyu’s jaw tighten.

Sunggyu holds onto the poor girl’s hand. "Let’s call the police. Here give me your phone—" His expression’s full of concern and confusion when Miyoung shakes her head in disapproval.

"It’s fine, Sunggyu. I can handle this by myself." She wipes her tears with her stained hands and sniffles.

Baerim watches all of this in scorn and rolls her eyes. "Oh god, will you stop with the Sunggyu crap already? Pathetic." She kicks a puddle of water at Miyoung’s legs, as if it wasn’t soaked enough, and laughs in imitation. "Oh Sunggyu, it’s fine. Sunggyu, Sunggyu, Sunggyu. When are you gunna stop?"

"What are you trying to say?" The hurt in Miyoung’s expression isn’t something to joke about, and for once, it even quiets Baerim for a moment. Miyoung gazes at Sunggyu then to the group in front of her. "I don’t understand."

One of girl’s steps forward and just as she’s about to say something, Baerim sticks out a hand for silence. The red headed girl watches Miyoung in curiosity and tilts her head. She wonders if this should be taken seriously, but the suffering in Miyoung’s face says it all. "You’re not joking are you?" Her voice comes out as a whisper and it makes Miyoung panic.

The fair girl gazes at Sunggyu and studies him. His brown hair, beautiful just like every other day, shining even when there’s no sun for it shine. The way his deep eyes contain the power to read others, to see her inside and out. How his skin’s forever chaste and pale. His gorgeous lips that have always been hers. He’s hasn’t even changed a bit.

Miyoung begins sobbing and she buries her face in her hands. Baerim swallows down what’s happening and bites her lower lip. She shushes her group to get inside the car and gives one last look at Miyoung before driving away. "I’m so sorry."

Sunggyu scrunches his eyebrows in bewilderment. "Why was she talking like that?" His voice grows desperate and he shakes the crying girl in agitation. "Why are you crying? What’s going on?"

Miyoung chokes down her tears and stares at the boy full of confound despair. She listens to the sound of the rain blending with her emotions and looks at her hands. They’re shaking. The sky’s washed with a gray that makes Miyoung poisoned with bitterness, and she knows the feeling all too well. It’s couldn’t be avoided in the end. No matter how hard she tried.

Miyoung waits until her emotions deem down, and when it does, she takes one of her hands and caresses the boy’s cheek. "I thought I could live life ignorant. I thought I could rewrite the past—" Sunggyu covers in horror of what she’s saying, but the girl pulls his hand away and shakes her head. He begs her to stop talking, pleading for his sake, but Miyoung understands that’s it all too late. "I thought I could rewrite it again—that are story would not end. I would bury the fact that reality was seeping into my skin." She watches a tear fall down from her cheek and stares at it going into a million of other raindrops. "I was wrong."

Sunggyu looks at her with anger. "Why are you doing this?" He embraces her into his arms and meets his eyes in hopes of reading her. "What is this? I don’t get what’s going on." For once in his life, the boy feels hopeless.

"You’re not real."

Sunggyu shakes his head frantically in disbelief and covers his ears. "Stop it! Stop it now!—"

Miyoung takes his hands off his ears and smiles. However, he knows her too well to not see the pain she’s hiding. His lips meet hers in haste, and Sunggyu puts all the anguish he has into it. The kiss is harsh and short, but it describes their relationship all too well.

"I thought it was just me avoiding the truth, but I guess it was the both of us." She bites her tongue before smiling. "I can’t even begin to start with how grateful I am to have had you by my side. Before the accident, you were my everything. Life had never went my way. I couldn’t bare the thought of loosing you, and I guess I let my imagination get the best of me," She grins in bitterness. "Now I have to pay the price. But it was worth it! You helped me through all of this, and if it weren’t you, I would’ve never been ready to face life as I am now."

Sunggyu stares at the beautiful girl in front of him. It all makes sense now. How nobody beside Miyoung was able to listen to him, why he couldn’t feel the weather change, how no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t really protect her either way. Sunggyu combs her hair and puts a strand covering her face behind her ear. He presses her forehead against his and closes his eyes. She’s grown so much.

Miyoung takes both his hands and kisses the palms of it. The two of them break apart and the moment they were waiting comes when they watch Sunggyu’s feet fade away. "I won’t forget what you taught me, nor will I ever forget you."

Sunggyu smiles at her in the last adoration he can ever give. "I love you."

"I will always love you." Miyoung watches him disappear before her very eyes and when the last tip of his hair is gone, she stands there as if time had stopped.

For a little bit, time did stop.