“Can we go somewhere private?” she mumbles, her voice hoarse.

      “Sure,” I rub the leaking tears in my eyes before she looks up and smile hesitantly. “We’ll use my car.”

      She nods and slams money bills on the table then sprints out of the café, not once looking back. I close my eyes and rub my face roughly. What have I ever done to deserve this?

      Leaving an abdicate amount on the table, I pick up her money and head to the car. I see her facing the tinted windows and her small hands griping the door handle tightly. The moment I unlock the car, she gets in quickly, not bothering to look my way.

      Something tightens in the bottom of my stomach, and my throat constricts. I knew this was going to happen. I sigh, give her the money and start the engine before she could say anything.

      She doesn’t.

      Within minutes, we are racing in the main road.

      I muster up my courage and ask as normally as possible. “Anywhere in mind?”

      She doesn’t answer me at first and instead turns her focus on the road outside. I bite my lips and hold the steering tighter. “Anywhere private.” She stutters, repeating what she had said earlier.

      We drive in silence, and I immediately take the road to a park near the University. It was familiar route I had taken numerous times, and only one girl had ever been there with me.

      Her deadpan silence scares me. The outspoken Sandara is now minimized into a shocked and broken Dara. I swallow down the ache in my heart. There would have never been an easier way to tell it to her, right?

      I did the right thing.

      Kwon Jiyong never runs away.

      Especially not from Park Sandara.

      We take a hidden turn behind the University buildings, entering a route leading to the mountains behind it. It’s a rough one lane way, the ground made of soil and thousands of pebbles, guarded by lanky trees on either sides.

      She cranks her neck, looking around the yellowing natural beauty. “Don’t worry, I’m not abducting you,” I try to joke. I sneak in her direction, and see a tiny curve to her lips behind her tear stained face.

      My heart flips at the sight, no matter how minimal.

      When I find the mark I had made years ago, I stop the car. “We have to walk from here on. Let’s go while the sun is still up.”

      Silently, she leaves the car first, but waits outside. When I lock the car, my hand is about to go up and hold hers, the way we’ve always done it. I awkwardly keep it to my side, and go to the tree with ‘88’ painted on its trunk in white paint.

      A narrow path is cut through the woods. “Stick close to me, it’s not far from here.”

      She nods her head and follows me in the moment I start in. The only sound is the rustling leaves under our feet and the birds above us. Every once in a while, I look back to check on her.

      The path widens not too long after, and she immediately moves in besides me, her hands unconsciously grabbing the sleeve of my shirt. I smile. Like the magic nature is, the long trees stop somewhere in front, opening up into a meadow of sorts.

      The ground is covered with dewy green grass, tinted with burnt-red and golden leaves of different sizes and shapes. Somewhere within the mountain overlooking the open space, water weeps heavily down the edgy rocks, collecting its tears at the bottom in a crystal lake.

      Standing tall and frayed against the prying eyes of others, the trees from before cover the other side of our God sent heaven. Bushes of flowers peaking around the borders crown the place – pink Lilies.

      I look back at Sandara who is gaping at the place, the sun rays leaving through the trees hitting her face, making her look like an angel in disguise. She was beautiful, her short hair tickled by the subtle winds. I see her five years ago, her long strands of golden hair flying around.

      I had joked that she looked like Medusa.

      Feeling the prickling in my eyes, I cough the memory away. “Is it private enough?”

      Snapping out of her daze, he nods her head and sits down cross legged in the middle of the meadow, facing the thrashing water stream. Like a magnet is pulling me closer, I follow her and sit down a couple of meters by her side.

      “How did you find this place?” She whispers, but it was loud enough to be heard in the silence of the woods.

      “Instead of running away, I wandered around for a sanctuary during high school.” I smile sadly at the memory. “It just so happened that I graduated from the university here.”

      “I wish I had wandered around. I could’ve come here before.”

      “You did though.” I mumble.

      She doesn’t say anything after that. Burying her head deeper into herself in a sitting foetus position, she rocks from side to side. Not long after, her sobs echo alongside the tweeting of the birds and the gushing of water.

      I close my eyes, and fight the urge to go over and hug her. To caress her face and wipe away her tears and kiss her worries away. But I can’t. I won’t. She wouldn’t want me to now. With every heart-breaking sound she makes, I clench my fists tighter on the damp grass.

      A while later, the sun hides bellow the edge of the mountain, turning the azure sky into shades of amber and golden yellow. Her sobs gradually slow down, then she speaks. This time, she sounds more grounded, her tone sharper.

      “Were you ever going to tell me?”

      Was I? “I don’t know.”

      A dry chuckle escapes her lips. “So you were just going to pretend you’ve never known me.”

      I sigh. “You don’t understand-”

      “But I do,” she raises her voice, still neither of us looking at the other. “Why does everyone tell me I don’t? I’m not a kid anymore.”

      “It’s no