a thread of colors around her wrist

Of everything I have seen,
it's you I want to go on seeing:
of everything I've touched,
it's your flesh I want to go on touching.

                         --Amor, Pablo Neruda

~

Some things just never changed.

Like the way her hair swayed in a graceful dance when she walked down the ground beneath her soles. Or the way she smiled with her eyes almost closed, leaving trace of two crescent moons painted on her face. The way she sipped strawberry milkshake not from the straw, but by putting the edge of the glass between her pink lips.

Many things about her never changed for over fifteen years he knew her. Junhong could easily list all of it within ten minutes.

He remembered back that hazy September day filled with the smell of rain and dry flowers, a cut of season between late summer and early autumn. They had known each other for two years when she appeared on his porch with a wide smile on her face, asked his mother politely whether he was home. They were barely friends back then and the talks which exchanged were simply polite remarks.

They were twelve. A geography assignment in which they were partnered up was the first knot of their bond.

Bikes and cheap chocolate pies, lay down their backs on dewy grass, staring above to the blue skies. They explored the parks and meadows, rocky cliffs and sandy beaches in their neighborhood, pretending they were Columbus or Vasco de Gama. They drew maps and played tag, hid treasures they found in a wooden cart from his father's garage.

Soon, the assignment was a mere excuse to cling together. They kept seeing each other even after the project was over.

"We're gonna conquer the world." She said one afternoon when they hung out in the meadow, laying on their stomach while facing a hand drawn map placed in the space between them.

Junhong rolled his body to face her, chilly autumn breeze blew on his black hair.

"How?"

"We'll be pirates and sail the oceans and hunt the treasures. I'll be the commanding captain and you draw the maps. What's the word? Navigator?"

Junhong chuckled, his hand reached out for her head and brushed a fallen petal of yellow from her ebony hair.

"It's cartographer, silly."

Sooyoung still loved pirates and treasures up until now.

Once, when they were in tenth grade she terrorized him to get the newest game from Pirates of Caribbean franchise for her birthday present. Junhong ran out of money at that time. He didn't buy her the game, instead, he gave her the game.

He drew a map and set up a treasure hunt just for her. A bracelet made from sea glass in midnight blue and lime yellow, dusty pink and translucent charcoal, framed in alloy, was the final prize.

Sooyoung wore the bracelet, even when she had a boyfriend.

There were many things changed throughout the years they were together. The times when she fell in love, the times when he found a taste of loving someone.

His first girlfriend was a high school student when he was in junior high school. They met at the cram school and dated for three months before broke up. Her first boyfriend was a friend to both of them. Her relationship lasted longer than his, counted for almost a year.

When she broke up with her boyfriend, it was catastrophic. She lost her appetite and refused to leave her room. School was a nightmare for her because she would see her ex there. It was a dreadful period, for both of her and him. Junhong was angry at her ex because he hurt her, but the guy was also a dear friend of him. He couldn’t casually take sides, because he knew both side’s stories.

Still, he chose her. He would choose her over and over again, no matter what the situations or lifetimes they were in.

The second guy who came in her life was when they were in high school. A senior who liked street fight and race bike, the one who you’d like to avoid if you could. But Sooyoung was a challenger, she loved the rush and adrenaline of loving a trouble.

Junhong didn’t like it a bit at that time, never liked it at all.

“I don’t want to see you hurt,” he said one day. They were sitting on his porch, surrounded by papers and books and homework, iced lemonade and cooled watermelons. It was one hot summer day, with dry wind idly caressed bare skins.

She blew few strands of hair fell on her face and shot a glance to him who was writing down equations in his book. Her sea glass bracelet dangling from her wrist, catching the white gleam of sunlight and gave out sparkles on its glossy surfaces.

“We talked over this already. Besides, I like bad boy.” There was a tingle of playfulness in her voice and she was clearly amused with his concern. Junhong liked it when she was in a good mood, but he still disliked the idea of her being with a bad boy.

“It’s not healthy. The way he looks at you as if, like he wants to eat you.”

The girl sighed. She patted his shoulders in a light tap to reassure him, and whispered, “Are you jealous? See, that’s your problem. You love me too much.”

Sooyoung was right about those things. Junhong loved her, but it didn’t mean that he was in love with her.

They were sixteen at that time.

One year passed by, and her relationship was still going strong, so he decided to stop his nag. It was when he fell in love for the second time.

Junhong was getting popular as he joined the student committee. He was towering kids around him with his height, and o