Nari:

As the weeks went on, I saw Jr. and his group of friends more often, meaning I saw Mark more often also. It was getting more and more difficult to avoid him. And each time we saw each other we'd result in some argument or one of us leaving awkwardly. It's not that I hate him... It's because I can't hate him... I decided to take the day off and took a train down to the beach for a weekend. Just me... I needed some time to think. I told Areum, she stood strongly against it but she didn't stop me either. I think she could tell that I really needed this weekend also. I boarded the train that Friday, I bid goodbye to Areum as I got on. 

I sat down in my seat and plugged my earbuds in. I watched as the train rode past the country side. I knew that it was too late to turn back now, I was out of the city and in the country now. 3 hours passed and my stop was next. I got off and hailed a taxi, we finally arrived at my hotel and went to check in as the cab driver helped unload my luggage. It was only 2 pm, so I went up to my room to put my luggage away and went out to the beach. 

I could feel the hot sand burn under my feet as I walked closer to the ocean shore. The waves crashed against my toes. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. This... Is where we first met... Mark and I.

 

-Flashback-

"Omma! I'll be fine! I promise!" I hung up the phone. Here I was on a retreat with a few friends and my mother couldn't bear to let me have some fun. It was the summer before we all started college. I walked along the ocean shore with my shoes in my hands. My friends were off somewhere nearby getting drinks.

"Watch out!" Someone called. I turned around to see a volleyball hurdling towards my face. Knowing my lame reflexes I wasn't able to move out of the way fast enough. I fell onto the shore, my getting all wet. I began rubbing my forehead.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Someone asked. I looked up to a beautiful red haired man. I nodded slowly.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you." He smiled.

"I'll be fine. Thanks." I said trying to stand up. He grabbed my arm and helped me up. I looked down at my shorts. He started laughing. 

"Sorry, I'll get you a towel." He ran over to his bag and grabbed a towel.

"Here. This'll help." He handed me the towel. 

"Thanks." I took the towel and wrapped it around my waist. 

"My name is Mark. What's yours?" He asked. Ahh, so cutie has a name?

"Nari." I replied.

"How old are you Nari?" He asked. 

"18..." I replied.

"Nice, I'm 19!... Well umm, as an apology, would you want to come to a bonfire my friends and I were having later tonight? It'll be here on this beach. You can bring friends if you wanted." He offered.

"I'll think about it... I have to go, so yeah... Bye." I said awkwardly. I turned to walk towards the pier then stopped. I turned around.

"Mark!" I called out. He turned around to me. 

"Thanks for the towel. I'll return it to you somehow." I smiled. 

"Tonight." He smiled. Damn, and what a beautiful smile it was. I turned back around towards the pier. 

I was sitting on the pier when my friend Areum came running up to me.

"There you are! We were looking for you! When did you get a towel?" She asked. 

"I fell... in the water... And some guy let me borrow his towel." I explained while taking a sip of the drink. 

"Oh, well... Was he hot?" She asked. I looked at her and grinned.

"OH MY GOD! YOU MET A HOT GUY AND YOU'RE JUST TELLING ME THIS NOW?! WHAT WAS HIS NAME!? DID HE HAVE FRIENDS?!" Areum shouted.

"Calm down Areum. He invited me to a bonfire tonight." I smiled. 

"We're going right?!" Areum shouted. I shrugged.

"Who knows, what if he's weird?" I asked. 

"YOU'D BE THE WEIRD ONE TO SAY NO! HE'S HOT!!!" Areum screamed. I flicked her.

"You didn't even see him! How would you know?" I shot back.

"Cause, you never say a guy is hot, so if you did this time, obvi he probably and most likely is." Areum counter attacked. I laughed. 

"Well I have to return his towel anyway, so we might as well go." I smiled. 

"YAAAAAASSS!!! I knew being friends with you would pay off someday!" Areum cheered. I gave her an ugly look. 

"What!? I'm just kidding! You know that!" Areum laughed.

 

Later that night we made our way down to the beach again, I changed into a flowy top and a pair of denim shorts. As we made our way closer I could see them starting the bonfire. 

"Nari!" Mark called as we got closer. I smiled. 

"Hey... Here's your towel." I handed him his towel. 

"Don't tell me you came only to give me my towel?" He said as he grabbed the towel. 

"I don't know, I'll stick around to see if its worth my time." I smiled. He laughed. 

"Who are they?" Mark asked looking at my friends.

"My friends Areum, Nana, and Elise. This is Mark." I introduced. 

"Ohh, so you're the cutie who hit her with a volleyball?" Areum asked. We all bursted out laughing. Mark lead us over to the bonfire and we sat down on the logs. Areum and the other two were getting acquainted with Mark's friends while I was staring up at the sky. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Mark. He held out his hand to me. I turned to Areum and told her I'd be back and stood up to follow Mark. He lead us towards the shore.

"So, where are you from Nari?" Marked asked. 

"Seoul... You?" I asked.

"I'm from California." Marked smiled. I stopped. 

"You're from California? But your korean is so good!" I said astonished. He laughed. 

"Right? I'm not even Korean!" Mark grinned. 

"You're not Korean either?!" I asked in shock. 

"No Taiwanese American, you couldn't tell?" Mark asked while laughing. I shook my head. 

"I'm only here on vacation with some of my friends." Mark said continuing to walk. 

"Oh, me too..." I said following. 

"So are you starting college next year then?" He asked.

"Mhmm..." I replied. 

"What are you majoring in?" Mark asked. 

"Music and maybe Creative Writing." I replied. 

"No way! You're into music too?" Mark asked turning to me. I nodded. 

"What are you majoring in?" I asked. 

"Right now? I'm majoring in music and dance in California." He replied. I nodded. 

"What do you like about music?" I asked him.

"I see music as a time machine. All these centuries have gone by yet music is still around. Though it has evolved, it can still take people to all those different decades that it once existed in... Yet it still exists today in our generation." He said.

We continued our walk along the shore, getting to know each other. 

"How long are you going to stay here?" I asked. 

"Maybe another 2 weeks. What about you?" He replied. 

"I'm leaving in 3 days." I answered. 

"So soon?" He asked. I nodded. 

"We should hang out again until you have to go then." Mark suggested. I smiled.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." I replied. 

"Tomorrow at noon then? My friends and I will be playing volleyball again, so you guys can just come and join." Mark offered. 

"Okay, sounds cool." I grinned. 

The next day came and we met up at noon, we hung out with Mark and his friends until midnight. The next day we all hung out again, this time we toured the town and traveled their market. Our last day came and I had to say goodbye to Mark. 

"You're leaving today?" He asked. I nodded.

"What time?" He asked again.

"The train comes at 3." I answered.

"Oh... Do you mind if I came by to say goodbye?" He asked. I smiled.

"I would like that." I blushed. I looked over at him, he began smiling. I returned to my hotel and packed up my things. The four of us left for the train station at around 2:30 pm. 

I sat down looking around for Mark. 5 minutes before we had to board  I saw him running towards us with his friends. I began to smile. 

"I'm here!" Mark shouted running towards me. I laughed.

"Nari... Since... We won't be seeing each other anymore... Here's my number. Make sure to call me, okay?" He said putting a piece of paper in my hand. I smiled and pulled him into a hug. All of our friends began to hoot and cheer. 

"I'll definitely call you Mark." I smiled. the train pulled into the station and I knew it was time. I grabbed my luggage and said goodbye to the rest of the guys. Before I got on I turned around to Mark. I ran up to him and kissed him on the cheek. 

"Thanks for making this vacation fun Mark." I said and ran back onto the train. I put my things away and sat down by the window. I looked out at Mark, it was obvious he was blushing. I smiled and waved goodbye. Our train pulled out of the station and we were off back home. I pulled out my phone and quickly put Mark's number in my phone before I forgot. 

The next day I decided I would call him. I sat on my bed debating if I should or not. I hit the call button before I could stop myself. 

"Hello?" His voice echoed through the phone. I smiled.

"Hi Mark..." I answered.

"Nari?" He asked. I laughed. 

"Yeah." I replied. 

"Oh god! I thought you were never going to call!" He laughed. 

"What? Hahaha why did you think that?" I laughed. 

"Cause, I mean what if you forgot about me." He said quietly.

"I couldn't forget about you even if I tried." I answered sincerely. 

The days went on and we began talking more and more. Eventually those days became weeks, and those weeks became months. 

It was a warm day and Mark had just skyped me from California... Our first Skype date ever. 

"Nari?" He asked.

"Hmm?" I replied 

"Will... Will you be mine?" He asked. I smiled and looked up at the screen. 

"Yes, I would love to be yours." I smiled. He couldn't stop smiling after hearing my answer. 

Not long after, we began talking to each other less... His answers and replies were getting shorter. I'd check up on his Instagram to see how he was doing and I would see girls comment about how cute he was. That never bothered me before because he'd never reply back to them, but now we were talking less and each time I checked he would reply back to them now.

Each time we talked he'd get angry and annoyed, I could tell. Our skype dates went from an hour long to 20 minutes, to none at all. 

Out of no where he called me one night...

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi baby..." He said. I smiled.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I- I just wanted to say... I love you." He hesitated.

"I...love you too baby." I replied. Something about that just didn't feel right... 

"Okay, well I have to go. I'll talk to you later okay?" He said. 

"Okay." I hung up. 

Through out the night it kept bothering me... The "I love you" just didn't feel right. Wasn't I suppose to feel happy? Why was it that I felt troubled and confused by those words? Each time we talked he'd say I love you before he hung up, and I too would say it... But something happened.

I guess we both just got fed up with the distance...We've told each other multiple times how much we hated that we were so far from each other and how hard it was. Is it wrong to say that I saw this coming? That I knew that eventually we would both crash and burn? 

I came out of the shower and saw that I missed his skype call. I got dressed and called him back. He hung up my call. I texted him. 

"Sorry baby! I was in the shower, what's up?" I waited for 3 hours. Still no reply. I went about my day. Pretending not to be bothered by him. Later that night I got in bed and he texted me back. 

"It's okay." He replied. I scoffed at my phone. What the hell... From there on, everything went downhill. We both had too much pride to give in and text or call each other. I gave up. He'd given up. But I missed him so much... A month passed since we last talked to each other. It was Valentine's day... So I gave in.

"Happy Valentine's day." I texted him. I had regretted it the second I sent it. I got a reply 30 minutes later.

"Haha." He replied. 

"^^" I replied back. After that we both just never said anything anymore. It wasn't until 2 weeks later when he unfollowed me on Instagram that I really lost it. 

I unfollowed him, deleted every picture we had together. I even went so far as to delete his phone number... Hoping that all of that would erase him from my life. 3 weeks later, I found out he had a new girlfriend... Don't ask how I knew. I just did. 

It was like someone had taken a shot at me. The bullet piercing right through my chest and blowing my heart up. I locked myself in my room. Forcing myself to accept the fact that he was not going to come back. 

I fought so hard to forget. I met new guys. Went on multiple dates. I drowned myself in school work and actual work. The best way to release my anger and pain was to write music. So I wrote and wrote until I ran out of things to write about. 

 

I let the ocean water wash between my toes as I let go of the painful memory. Mark Tuan... 

I turned around and headed towards my hotel room. I smiled when I saw some people gathered around a bonfire. Nostalgia sinking in to my thoughts. I saw a familiar figure walking my way. What was he doing here?