-----1 month later---

After that night, we never talked again. That night is all a blur to me now. I only remember the kiss and the way he said I love you. BuRin and I are still as close as ever and I occasionally talk to the boys via text or Skype. Someone else I haven't talked to in a while is Jackson. Never heard from him or seen him after the day I left. Maybe this plan is going the way I wanted. I remove myself and they start to forget about me. Life has gotten better, not good but better than before. I made a few friends at the new school and caught up with all the classes. Today is actually the last day of exams, then it would be graduation and prom.

"hey______, how do you think you did on the test?" MinWoo walked up to me right  after the exam is over. The both of us walking out of the gymnasium where the school wide exam is held in.

"I hope I passed... " I shrugged. MinWoo is in my Math and English class. He is super nice and understanding, he was actually one of the few people who actually bothered to approach me. He is also pretty cute. Apparently he is the school's most wanted boyfriend.

"ayyy you probably aced it" he nudged my shoulder playfully.

"I'm not a math person... " I shook my head.

"oh I can help you with math if you want"  he offered and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"I just finished my last math exam in my life. I don't think I'll ever learn more math." I chuckled.

"oh Umm speaking of not needing math anymore... Umm do you have date to prom yet?" he tried to smoothly change to the topic he wanted to talk about from the very beginning. I know because a new friend of mine told me that MinWoo is planning to ask me to prom. Yes I know she ruined the surprise.

"I'm actually not planning to go" I told him the truth. There really is no point of going when I barely know anyone.

"why not??" he asked a bit more loudly than needed.

"Shhhh other people are still writing the exam" I playfully smacked his arm and looked back at the closed doors behind us.

"oh sorry.. Why not?" he lowered to a whisper.

"I don't really know anyone" I raised my voice to a normal volume as we walk further and further away from the gym.

"you know me!" he beamed happily.

"do I?" I raised an eyebrow just to joke around with him.

“hello, my name is Kim MinWoo” he offered to shake my hand.

“hello, my name is _____” I gladly shook his hand.

“do you ____, want to go to prom with me?” he asked formally, as if we are getting married or something.

“..I do!” I smiled and a wider smile spread across his face.

“one problem” I disturbed his little celebration.“I don’t have a dress and prom is tomorrow”

“well let’s go get one now!” he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the school and straight to the bus stop.

“wow...you are willing to go shopping with a girl??” I raised an eyebrow as we sat down in the bus.

“I have two older sisters…” he shook his head.

“Lucky!! I want a sister” I said with envy in my voice.

“are you close with your brother??” he asked.

“..I don’t have a brother..” I chuckled.

“Oh really?? You seem so..” he tried to think of a word.

“manly?” I chuckled again.

“no no.. you just seem to communicate well with guys” he shrugged.

“...my childhood bestfriend is a guy..and at my old school seven out of eight of my close friends are guys..maybe that’s why” I explained with a light and bitter chuckle.

“wow..so you were popular with guys” he said.

“...no not like that..” I mumbled, not really sure if I was popular with guys. Well I did somewhat date both of the most popular guys at school.

“do you have a boyfriend??” MinWoo asked straight forwardly.

“...no” I replied, still feeling a bit of the pain. Not just a bit but a lot of it, although it is easier to mask over it now. I’ve gotten a lot of practice after all.

“have you ever had a boyfriend?” he continued to attack my fragile heart without noticing it.

“...no” I lied.

“you’re lying” MinWoo narrowed his eyes, I just looked at him with nothing to say.

“I always see you reading your old messages with these two guys” he pointed out.

“..ever heard of privacy?” I snapped back.

“ever heard of a friend worrying about another friend?” he asked.

“can we not talk about this?” I took a deep breath.

“yeah, sorry I brought it up” he apologized sincerely.

“I appreciate that you care about me though” I thanked him.

----

“Welcome, are you looking for anything in particular?” the nice lady that works at the boutique that we entered welcomed us with a warm smile.

“she’s looking for a prom dress” MinWoo pointed at me.

“do you have anything specific in mind?” she asked.

“umm..no..not really..” I scrunched my nose a little.

“do you want a long of short dress?” the lady asked.

“...long..?” I turned to look at MinWoo and he shrugged.

“we have all of our long dresses on this side and short ones on the other, if you need any help or when you want to try it on, feel free to tell me” the lady smiled once again before walking away to help other customers.

“what about this one?” MinWoo picked out a white gown.

“it’s prom, not a wedding” I shook my head and rolled my eyes playfully.

“same thing” he shrugged.

“um..no.” I said very clearly while still looking through the dresses. “I’m going to prom with a friend and when I get married, I’ll be with someone I love.”

“...I guess I just got friend zoned” MinWoo rubbed the back of his neck bitterly. I stopped and looked at him. He doesn’t like me does he?

“I’m just kidding, you’re like a brother that I’ve always wanted” he brushed it off after seeing my expression.

“and you’re like a sister that I’ve always wanted” I laughed and slung my arm around his neck.

“hurry up and pick your dress, we still have to figure out your shoes” he removed my arm from him.

“wow..you do hang out with your sisters too much” I raised an eyebrow, then went back to searching for a dress. I’ve always imagined myself shopping for my prom dress with BuRin or maybe even with my prom date, which I thought would be Mark, but then recently thought it would be Jackson. But here I am now looking for a last minute dress with my new friend as my date to the prom of my new school that I’ve only attended for a month. Nothing really worked out the way I planned. Well at least Mark and Jackson are out of my life now and I’m out of their lives. I wonder who their prom date is. I’m sure they have lines of girls just waiting for them to ask, or some of the girls might’ve even asked the guys to be their date.

“what about this one?” I pulled out an elegant light peachy pink dress with a lace top and long chiffon bottom. The back of the dress is completely open from the shoulders down to the lower back.

"go try it on" MinWoo nodded his head and I carried my dress over to the lady.

"I want to try this on" I notified the middle aged lady.

"oh this dress is gorgeous" she smiled and grabbed it from me to help me set it up in one of the dressing rooms. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.

"how is it? " I asked MinWoo while still focusing on the mirror outside the room.

“beautiful” a different but familiar voice replied. I looked at the reflection of the mirror to see Jackson standing beside MinWoo. My heart dropped to my stomach and my arms and legs froze. This is my first time seeing him in a month. The last time he saw me, I broke his heart before leaving. Now a month later, he sees me shopping for my prom dress with another guy.

“____, can we talk?” he asked sincerely, still looking into the mirror to search for my expression. Of course I want to talk, not only talk, but I want to hug him, inhale his scent, taste his lips. But I don’t want to cry. I don’t want to break my broken heart again. But since I did talk to Mark, it is only fair that I talk to Jackson too.

“give me a second” I said without actually turning around to look at him and then I walked back into the changing room.

As I slipped out of the dress with tears b my eyes, I couldn’t help but to listen to what is happening outside while I put my own clothes back on.

“You a friend of _____’s?” MinWoo asked awkwardly.

“was” Jackson replied with his deep voice.

Was?? Are we not friends anymore?? Oh yeah, I forgot that I took his heart and smashed it by going to his best friend. Of course we’re not friends.

“oh..” MinWoo mumbled.

After enough stalling, I finally decided to walk out of the room with the dress in my arm. I ignored both of the extremely handsome men standing in front of me and headed straight to the counter. I patiently and slowly paid for the dress, trying to buy some more time. But eventually, the lady wrapped up my dress in a special cloth bag, then folded it in half to fit it into a large box, then she put that box into a rather large bag.

“thank you” I thanked the lady as she handed me my purchase.

“you look amazing in that dress, but don’t forget to smile when you are wearing it” the lady smiled warmly. I returned the smile before turning around to finally face Jackson.

“you can go home first” I told MinWoo with an assuring smile.

“okay, call me if anything happens” he stole a glance at Jackson and then back at me. I wouldn’t be surprised if MinWoo found Jackson a bit threatening. He got a lot bigger, as in his arms and body over all. The way he dress does not say he is a good boy. Of course he has his snap back on, but this time it is not backwards, instead it is worn in the front, casting a shadow over his eyes. His chiseled jaw just adds another manly component to his features. It’s only been a month, and it seems like he is so much more mature.

“don’t worry” I assured MinWoo before pushing him further away to get him started on leaving. He gave Jackson another glance before turning his back to  walk away from us. After MinWoo left, Jackson and I just stood there. I am not facing him and he is not talking to me.  This continued for about a few minutes before I got annoyed and walked out of the store and he followed. Still nothing coming out of his mouth. I continued to walk until we reached the outdoor parking lot of the mall. Jackson just followed me out there like a shadow.

“I thought you wanted to talk” I finally stopped, but my back still facing him. I then feel a pair of arms gently snake around my waist and secured it. I gasped and held my breath. Jackson’s head rested on my shoulder as his scent slowly reached my nose. He can probably hear my heart hammering my chest right at this moment. He can probably feel the butterflies in my tummy on his arms.

“I missed you so much” he breathed, giving me goosebumps but at the same time causing me to squint my eyes to keep my tears from falling.

“I tried to erase any trace of you for the past month, I thought that it would be easy. I deleted all of our photos, threw away anything that reminded me of you. I even tried to get lost in fencing just so that you could stay out of my mind for at least a few minutes or even seconds. But nothing worked." his voice is full of frustration and pain, yet it is so gentle.

"try harder" I said bluntly. The colder I am to him, the easier it would be for him to move on.

He let go of me and turned me around so that I am now facing him. Of course my eyes are glued to the ground. I am afraid to look into his eyes. The eyes that made me fall for him, the eyes that hid so much emotions behind them. The eyes that are so full of pain now.

"look at me" he said, but I refused to.

"_____" he said my name, but I continued to disobey. Until he decided to lift my head up by placing his fingers on my chin and tilting it up. As if I was being hypnotized, the moment our eyes met I could not look away. It is like some sort of magnet. A magnet from hell. His eyes are so full of pain, regret, guilt. You name it and it's there. It's almost like he is trying to talk to me through his eyes. He is trying to show me how much pain he is in.

Seeing him like this really breaks my heart. As if it's not broken already. But seeing the person I love so much in pain is just too much to handle. I can feel his pain. When he is hurt I am hurt too. We have this special connection of some sort.

"I'm sorry" I finally cried. Jackson's face softened ever so slightly and his eyes also softened. Now he just looks like a hurt puppy.

"no, I'm sorry... I knew from the beginning that you and Mark had a thing before. But I've already noticed you before I found out about it. The first time I saw you, I thought you were cute. Then I saw you again, I thought you were beautiful. Everyday I would go to your school just to steal a look at you. I was going to tell the guys that I'm interested in you. But Mark beat me to it. He told us that he still had feelings for you, but he thought that you hated him so he wished for you to move on. I knew that I should've just left you alone after hearing that my best friend likes you. But something about you just made me fall deeper. Remember the day we met? When you slipped and dropped your hot chocolate? I was debating whether or not to approach you. I knew the second I talked to you, or looked you in the eye I would never want to let go of you and I would want to protect you."

"then why did you pick to approach me?" I asked with tears fogging over my eyes. "if you didn't come to me, I wouldn't have known you. I wouldn't have been able to hurt you like this"  I let tears freely fall down my face.

"you didn't hurt me. I chose this myself. I knew that I wouldn't like how we would turn out. I knew you still like Mark, but I just wanted to love for once. Even if it meant you don't love me back" he said quietly.

"I do love you" I whispered but loud enough for him to hear.

"I  promised myself that I won't fall for you from the day we met, because I knew you would be someone special to me. I didn't want to lose you. I didn't want to use you to get over Mark. But then, I realized that you are not a replacement. You are someone who I've actually fallen for. I've fallen for you. Your smile, your eyes, you name, your voice, your kind heart. I'm in love with you Jackson Wang-"

He interrupted me by sealing his lips on mine. My heart is racing and from furrowed eyebrows, it went to shocked. This feeling is so familiar, so sweet, so bitter. I closed my eyes as I give in and let him kiss me. There is something about this kiss that reminds me of the kiss that Mark and I shared a month ago. It feels sad rather than happy. It almost feels painful and full of sorrow. This kiss feels like he is trying to express so much more just through one kiss. This is like a goodbye hug, no one wants to break away, no one wants this to end. As our skin are in contact, the memories we shared replayed itself. Jackson is the first to pull away, but he cupped my face and looked into my eyes.

“just know that I will always love you” he wiped away my tears with his thumb.

-------

“thank you for tonight” I smiled at MinWoo as the both of us stood on the porch of my dad’s house.

“no, thank you” he smiled back.

“I’m glad I met you” I said what I am thankful of.

“same here” he said.

“okay, it’s getting late you should go home now” I gave him a friendly hug, before watching him get in his car and drive away. Although a few students in my new school may think that MinWoo and I are together, we are honestly just friends. He is like a brother to me, sometimes even a sister. He is super sweet and understanding. On top of that, he said he has a crush on this other girl from school. So we will not work out as a couple.

Just before I was about to walk into my house, my phone rang and BuRin’s face appeared.

“hello?” I said as fumbled with my keys.

“____ where are you?” BuRin asked urgently.

“home why?” I asked as I unlocked the door, but decided not to go in yet just because BuRin sounds like she needs me to go somewhere or something.

“go to the airport right now.” she demanded.

“what why?”

“Mark and Jackson are leaving.” she said seriously. My heart dropped to my stomach and my legs froze. Did I hear that wrong? What did she just say? I am just imagining this right?

“take the taxi and go to the airport now.” BuRin ordered. “_____, this may be the last time you will ever see them”

I ended the call with BuRin without saying a word and grabbed a bunch of my dress and began to sprint down the street in my heels to search for any taxis in sight. Due to the adrenaline rushing through my body, I still can’t really process anything right now. All I know is that I need to get to the airport now before it’s too late. The moment I see a free taxi, I waved at it and jumped in even before it came to a complete stop.

“Incheon airport” I demanded and the driver sped off after seeing the situation I am in. He probably knows that I am trying to stop someone from catching a flight just because of the way I am dressed right now and the look on my face. I’m sure this ahjusshi has watched enough korean dramas to know this. My heart is beating like crazy and I hear my blood rushing by my ears. What did BuRin mean when she said that Mark and Jackson are leaving?? Where are they going? She said if I don’t go now, I may not be able to see them ever again. What the hell does that mean?? Where are they going?! I immediately scrolled through my contacts on my phone and searched for either one of their numbers. Due to the alphabetical order, Jackson’s number appeared first. I immediately tapped on his name to dial his number. As I placed my phone by my ear, waiting for him to pick up my heart is pounding and my hands are shaking. What do I say when he picks up? What do I do if he doesn’t pick up?? What if he already got on the plane? Is he going back to Hong Kong and is Mark going back to the states??

“This number you are calling is unavailable at the moment”  a voice said on the other line. I ended the call in frustration and dialed Mark’s number.

No luck.

“ahjusshi may you please go faster??” I asked desperately. “I’m trying to stop someone from getting on the plane”

“I’m on it.” he replied and stepped on the gas, causing me to press my back against the seat. The kiss...both of them were goodbye kisses. That’s why it didn’t feel right. How can I not know that?? I’m so freaking stupid! Why are they leaving if I already left?? They don’t have to do this. Do they really need to go this far?

The taxi pulled up to the main entrance of the airport. I pulled out a few bills out of my clutch and shoved it at the driver without really counting how much I gave him. But I’m sure it is enough for a round trip.

“good luck!” the ahjusshi shouted right before I slammed the door shut and sprint into the airport. It is not really busy inside because it is around 12 midnight. With my phone and clutch in my right hand and a handful of my dress in my left, I stood up straight to scan the building. I looked up at the time of flights and searched for Hong Kong and LA.

Flight to: LA 11:50pm

Flight to: Hong Kong 12:00 am

With a cry of frustration and disappointment, I ran around the airport to look at the entrances for each flight. Only a few people here and there, but none of them are who I am looking for so desperately right now. I stopped after having no more energy left to move. I looked around and it seems like everything is spinning around me. I am the only one standing still as everything is spinning causing me to feel dizzy and creating pressure on my chest. Tears officially streamed down my face after letting what is happening now settle in. So the two guys that changed my life is now gone..the two guys that caused all the laughter, protection, tears and pain are now out of my life. Was it not enough that I left??

Feeling that my legs are getting weak, I crouched down and hugged my knees then began to cry my heart out. The least I am worried about right now are my tears staining my dress or how people are looking at me at this moment.

“_____” a voice called my name and then footsteps are heard. I slowly looked up to see a tall figure approaching me. He is in a nice suite with a royal blue tie and his black hair is a little shaggy. He crouched down beside me and wrapped an arm around my fragile body.

“...they left…” I stuttered.

“They wanted you to come back home” JB said softly as he rubbed my arm. “they didn’t want you to suffer by yourself, just so they can live better”

“it’s not home if they are not here…” I cried on his shoulder.

“let it all out..” he patted my back as I continued to sob. “when you have everything figured out, just come to me and ask for their address”

Will I ever figure everything out?

HAYYY GUYSSSS!!! What did you guys think of this chapter??? Sorry if it progressed a bit quickly! I really wanted to get to the ending because I sort of know what to write. I think I might just make two different endings just to satisfy y’all feels ;) I MIGHT write my original ending...but I really don’t think you guys can handle it..LOOL it’s not a happy ending..You guys should be expecting the two endings to be posted after this chapter. I will try to post both of them at the same time just to be fair to the ships out there! But this also means that it will take a while… >.< AND on top of that I am going on a family vacation and I don’t think I will have time to write and even if I do, I don’t think I can post it..I will try to write as much a possible and post it write when I get home!! Thank you guys so much for the love and support <3 !!! LOVE YOUUUUUUU SOOOO MUCHHHH

TBH: I kind of don’t want to end this story because I’ve grown so attached to the story itself and you guys.. :(

Oh here is ____’s dress by the way: http://www.babyonlinedress.com/images/201312/goods_img/101490_P_1388361378695.jpg