Nari's POV

     Noraebang had ended, and I won two rounds. Even though I wasn't in the mood at first, I still ended up enjoying myself. I guess being around my friends and seeing how much they care about me really took my mind off of everything that stressed me. But even at the end of it all, I still ended up thinking about Yifan. It pained me so much to know that the last words I said to him before his disappearance was that of an arguement. And it was about something so stupid too.
     I feel like such an idiot. I could have stopped him from leaving. Why wasn't I emotionally strong enough to stop him? I keep asking myself the same question over and over again. The more I ask the more I begin to hate myself. Now I feel like it's my fault that he left. If I wouldn't have pushed him away when he asked me to marry him, he wouldn't have gotten upset and left. I should have gotten over myself and thought about how he felt instead, because he's more important to me than myself. I wish I didn't think negative thoughts like this, but I couldn't help it.
     
     After the party, I decided to head home. Tao insisted on walking me home since I lived a few blocks away, and he didn't want me walking that far late at night. He thinks he can protect me, which is funny because I could have sworn he's more afraid of the dark than I am. But I think in the past few weeks he's gotten more protective over me, and since Yifan left he's gotten stronger about it. It took some time though because they were such good friends and it hurt him a lot. He definitely hasn't been the same since.

    We headed down the sidewalk on the side of the street where my house was. It was about a fifteen minute walk, and the sounds of the night were freaking me out a bit. I nearly tripped over a tree branch in front of me, but Tao immediately held me back before I even fell forward. "Are you alright?" He asked as he looked up at me with his sad panda eyes.

     I nodded, "Yes I'm fine." And we continued walking. It was silent for a while, besides the weird nocturnal noises we kept hearing from the trees.

 
     Suddenly, I felt Tao put his arm around my shoulder and my heart jolted. What exactly was he trying to do? I know Yifan has only been gone for so long, but my heart still belongs to him. I didn't do anything about it though, because it felt nice to be comforted by someone. He sighed and pulled me closer to him. "Even though things haven't been going the right way for you, everything will turn around for you eventually. I promise."

    "O...kay?" I thought to myself. This was getting awkward. What was he talking about exactly? Maybe he was just trying to comfort me again? Or, knowing him, it could have been something else. I felt like he always changed moods so quickly. I could never keep up with him.

     We kept walking and eventually got a break from all of the trees in the neighborhood. There were so many, but only few at that point. The moonlight shone through them so magnificently that it looked like something from a storybook that I read when I was a little girl. There were so many stars too. I looked up at the sky and couldn't bear to look away from it. Tao noticed it too after a few seconds and he looked at the sky with me.

     "Hold on a minute," I said as I stopped walking and then found a patch of grass in front of an abandoned house to sit on. It was a little damp, but not even dry. It was kind of nice. Tao sat next to me and we both admired the night sky together. "Isn't it beautiful?" I asked out loud. 

     "Yep," he whispered after taking a breath. We just sat there for a few minutes staring at the stars. It seemed like they were all twinkling simultaneously, almost like they were performing a song. Tao sighed and whistled a tune. Then he moved his hand closer to mine and held it. Feeling uncomfortable, I moved my hand away.

     "What are you doing?" I asked him. He said nothing at first.

     "I'm sorry," he answered finally, "You just seem so lonely."

     "Well I'm not lonely," I replied as I got up quickly. "I'm still in love with Kris. And I'll wait forever for him if I have to."

     He got up as well, and tried to find the right words to say as I walked away from him. Tao followed me with every footstep. "Nari-yah! Wait!" He called out to me as soon as I started walking faster. "I just want to talk to you!"

     With that, I started running from him frantically. "There's nothing to talk about! He's coming back! I know he is!" The more I thought about it, I started to cry. I felt like I was lying to myself about him coming back just to make me feel better. He probably wasn't going to come back. I had a weird feeling about it. 

     Eventually, Tao caught up to me and grabbed my arm to pull me to a halt. He spun me around and saw that tears were gushing out of my eyes like a waterfall. "I never said I wanted to take his place. I just can't stand seeing you like this. You're not happy."

     "But I am happy when I'm with him," I said, sobbing.

     Tao wiped some of my tears away. "But look what he's doing to you. He left you and now you're upset about it. He won't even contact you. How will he ever make you happy again after what he's done?"

     "I," I sighed, "I don't know. But I still love him."

     Tao rolled his eyes and hugged me forcefully. "He's not going to hurt you anymore. You'll see soon that you don't need him to be happy. We'll be okay. No more suffering, for anyone. As long as I'm here, I'll make sure nobody hurts you. That's my promise."

     Even though it felt nice to have him promise me something like that, it was still wrong. It all felt so wrong somehow. No matter what anyone says or does, I'll still be in love with Yifan. I don't know why, I'm just so in love with him. I can't help it. Nobody will ever change that. Ever. 

Big thanks to alicejes94 for making the cover to this chapter! <3