“Are you sure you’re fine with it?”

“Yes ma,” I replied through the phone, “I mean, it’s just Mark right? Unless you have something else to tell me…”
“Nope, it’s just Mark,” my mom’s voice crackled through the phone, “but it’s been like 14 years since you last saw him. Won’t things be a little….you know…”
“Awkward?”
“Yeah that’s the word I was looking for.”

I couldn’t help but smile a little at how much my mom cared as I paced back and forth in my apartment living room. The bustling noises of New York City played in the background, decorated with the occasional horn honk every now and then. But after living here for 2 years, it didn’t really bother me anymore. It’s become the soundtrack to my life, more or less.

“No ma. Everything will be fine. I mean, we were really good childhood friends before right?” I fiddled around with a fake flower I had put up as decoration with my free hand. Real flowers were too much of a hassle since I’m a college student and all.
I heard my mom sigh from across the line. In my head, I could see her running her hand through her hair, the way she always does when she gets anxious or worried about something.
“Yeah, but like I said, that was 14 years ago. You guys were too young to remember anything.”
“I was like 7.”
“Exactly!”

I rolled my eyes and focused my view on the busy streets below. The people looked like little dots scurrying back and forth from sidewalk to sidewalk from the floor I lived on. I was going to retaliate and say something back, but there was no point in arguing over this. My mom can win this time.

“There’s pictures right? Of me and him back when we were kids?”
“Yeah, but you told me that you remember him so I didn’t send you any.”
I turned away from the huge ceiling to floor window and sank onto the carpet, picking my laptop off the coffee table behind me. Opening it, I replied, “I said I remember him, but not what he looked like. Send me a pic.”
I heard a faint “ok”, followed by a bunch of shuffling and the hum of the scanner. A couple minutes my mom’s voice broke through the silence over the phone.

“Ok, I emailed it to you.”
My fingers automatically took me to my email and opened the unread message from my mom. I downloaded the attachment and opened it on my laptop. A huge picture of Mark and me popped up and filled my entire screen. The date at the bottom read 2000, the last year we saw each other before he moved to Brazil. My mom told me he had moved back to LA a while later, but I had moved away to the east coast by then. To New York City.

“Ma,” I felt my face gradually get hot the longer I stared at the picture, “out of all pictures, why send me this one?”
“Cause you two look way too adorable in this one.”

I face palmed so hard that I’m pretty sure she heard the smack over the phone.

“But it’s embarrassing! What if he sees it?”
“Oh please ________________. He’s in the picture too, calm down. It’s not like you’re hugging air in the picture.”
“You made us take this didn’t you?”
“His mother did. Before he moved to Brazil, you and him were so close that you had sleepovers together sometimes. His mom treated you like her own daughter, considering she doesn’t have any,” she chuckled and continued, “So before they got on their flight, you and him were pretty much inseparable until the very last minute. This is picture is actually a candid shot of when you two said goodbye to each other.”

I touched my cheeks with the back of my hand.
Yup.
Warm.

“Ok, I remember him, but apparently not the details.”
“Which is why I’m asking,” my mom replied as I stood up from the floor, “wouldn’t it be awkward? Since it’s just gonna be you two living in the apartment together.”

“Nah, I’m sure he doesn’t remember much anyways. And we both have classes so we might not even see each other that often.”
“Ok…but if you need anything, call me!”

Ding-dong
I could faintly hear the doorbell ring over my mom’s loud phone voice. If she hadn’t paused, I probably wouldn’t even known the bell rang.
Either that was him or the pizza that I ordered. And at this point, I’m not sure who I’m more excited to see.

“Ma, the door rang. I gotta go,” I quickly said, walking slowly over to the door.  I knew she had more to say, but I didn’t have time.
“Oh…Ok. Well, make sure he feels at home! And help him if he needs it! New York City is really different from Los Angeles so-“
“Ok ma, I got it. Bye!”

I took the phone from my ear and checked the time. It was too early for that to be him. My mom said he would get here around 5 and it was only 4 in the afternoon.
Must be my pizza then.
I slipped my phone into my back pocket with one hand and opened the door with the other. I was totally ready to say “lemme go get my wallet” too, but thank God I didn’t cause the person standing in my doorframe definitely was not the pizza delivery guy.

Author's Note
chapter title: Heaven's Door-Eric Nam [x]
HI EVERYONE! :D it's been a while haha xD and i know i'm not done with my other 2 fanfics yet but i had such a bad urge to write a mark tuan one. cause mark tuan literally ran into my life and tore up my entire bias list =.= like seriously...he fits my description of my ideal guy. down to every. single. detail. so here it is! ^^ hopefully i won't get writer's block too often with this one cause i have a general idea of where i want this one to go :) anyways, ENJOY! don't forget to subscribe and upvote the story if you liked the first chapter! more chapters coming very soon hehe.