"Just tell me her name." Jackson pleaded while throwing a baseball at Mark.

Mark just grinned, holding his gloved hand out and caught the ball snugly in the center of his palm, "It doesn't matter, dude. It's not that big of a deal."

"Are you kidding me? Mark Tuan has a girlfriend. This is big news. Huge. I feel like it should be a national holiday." Jackson snorted as Mark pulled his arm back before letting the ball fly across the soccer field, into Jackson's outstretched glove.

Mark tilted his head as if he was working out a crack in his neck, "I don't have a girlfriend. We just . It's a mutual thing."

"Oh!" Jackson yelled loudly, scrunching his face up, "That was unexpected of Saint Mark."

Mark scrunched his own face up in response, "Why? You do it all the time."

"First of all, I'm not someone you should be using as a benchmark of moral character and second of all I figured you to be someone who got emotionally attached." Jackson said before throwing Mark the ball.

Mark shrugged, "Intimacy and attachment comes in all sorts of forms. I wanted someone to work out ual frustrations with because that is the intimacy and attachment that I need and she felt the same way. Physical intimacy and physical attachment."

"Wow." Jackson said, "I feel like I'm learning more than I need to about you."

Mark threw the ball at Jackson, "She's not my girlfriend because I don't need that sort of emotional support right now in my life. What's your excuse?"

"I don't have an excuse." He said simply.

"Can I give you my two cents?" Mark pondered.

Jackson made a face before looking up at him and tossing the ball, "No, but I feel like I'm not really being given a choice."

"In class, we were taught that humans are insanely selfish. That every single thing we intentionally do is to make ourselves feel good. I don't think that's true. I think we as humans would hate if all we felt was happiness. If we felt that and nothing else. It would become numbing and boring, like if everything was monochromatic I think that's why sometimes we purposely do things that run the risk of our unhappiness, that we are attracted to situations that give us a hard time. Humans are the most sadistic by nature. We claim we want happiness but do things knowing we probably won't get it. But it's understandable, if everything is happiness, you'll never feel accomplished or pride and things you work hard for will feel no different than the things that fall  into your lap." Mark said before whipping the ball so hard that it flew straight over Jackson's head.

Jackson followed the ball with his eyes and watched it land on the other side of the chained fence up the hill, "What does that have to do with me?"

"I think you just need to find someone that kinda makes you feel like a dumbfounded . Someone who reacts to you differently to all the people before her. Someone who might run the risk of making you really unhappy but also might be the best thing you've ever had."  

-----

"Hey, asshat." Jackson said with a laugh into his phone, "You really like her more than me, don't you? You're ignoring my calls but text back the minute she texts you, you're replying at the speed of light."

He leaned against the wall and watched Mira as she paid for gas and two bottles of water, "But I think I'm starting to get it. Why you like her so much. She sort of latches on and grows on you. I mean, it's not that I like her and I'm not her number one fan or anything…but she's alright. She's just broken." He looked down at his feet and kicked at the gravel, "A lot of us are, I guess. I don't know if this is your cheeky way to trying to play cupid but I don't think two people like us fit well together."

"If you are happy with your message, press one."

He ran his tongue across his teeth and pressed one on his phone just as Mira walked up to him with the water bottles held out to him, "Mark just texted me."

Jackson gaped at her, "Are you kidding me?" He asked in frustration.

"No." She said while blinking at him in confusion, "Why?"

He rolled is jaw and shook his head, "Never mind." He breathed out. "What did he say?"

"Take a look."

Jackson stared at the text, his eyes running over each word.

To: Mira

You guys are so bad at this ^^

Hurry up, I'm getting bored without you two.

"He's really starting to piss me off." Mira muttered.

Jackson smiled before taking a water bottle from her, "You're just pissed that he made you run from that detective."

"Oh please." She said while rolling her eyes, "Don't act like I haven't seen you stiffen every time a police car drives past us."

"You're bitter and rude." Jackson huffed jokingly, glaring at her, making Mira smile as she pointed to the car, "Let's go, it's going to take a long time before we get to the toy shop and they close at 6."

Jackson stared at her unfocused eyes and chewed on the inside of his cheek as they walked to the car, "Do you have your prescription? Could you get it refilled somewhere?"

"Wow. Do I look that tired?" Mira snorted.

"No. Sorry. It's just…can't you?" He asked helplessly.

She chuckled and opened the door, "No, I don't have it on me."

"Will you be okay? I don't know how long this whole thing will take plus the time we spend with him." He asked cautiously while getting into the seat next to her.

She hummed and buckled in before cranking the window down, "We'll just have to wait and see."

-----

"We're lost."

Jackson's brows were furrowed as he leaned forward, "We are not lost."

"We are most definitely lost. I told you that you took the wrong exit." She said with a sigh while tying her hair up. The sun was a few hours from setting but the heat wasn't giving them any leeway. "And there are like zero street signs. We don't even know where we are."

She had her feet up on the dashboard and when Jackson complained she had fired back quickly with it's not your car. She fiddled with the GPS on her phone which had constantly been redirecting for the last hours, not giving them a proper route to follow.

"We must be off the grid at this point." She said under her breath. "Why don't we find a gas station and get directions?"

Jackson's frown just grew, "Can't you just check your phone? We don't need to ask anyone for anything."

"Well, we must be in the middle of nowhere because I'm not getting any service out here." Mira said while holding her phone up. "So if you could shelf your male ego for just a second so I could get directions, it would be much appreciated."

Jackson let out a long breath through his nose before loosening up his grip, "Fine but if we can't even find the main road, how are we supposed to find a gas station."

"Slow down, let's ask that family over there." Mira said while pointing at a family of three walking towards them on the side of the road.

Jackson huffed, muttering under his breath before pulling over next to them. Mira rolled down her window and poked her head out with a smile, "Hi there, sorry to bother you but we're a little lost here. We're looking for Stones Toy Store. Is that nearby?"

The older woman looked to her husband who just frowned, "You folks are a longs way off. Stone's is about 3 hours the way you came from and then another hour on the freeway."

"It's already 2." Jackson said with a sigh, "We're going to make it just as they close up and that's if we don't hit traffic."

"What should we do?" Mira asked Jackson.

Jackson sighed and paused for a moment, thinking, when the woman spoke up, "If you guys need a place to spend the night, my husband and I run a bed and breakfast up the road. We're actually throwing a barbeque with the other tenants, you can set out in the morning."

Mira looked at Jackson with a look before nodding, "That sounds great. If you guys want, we can give you ride back and you can lead the way."

-----

"Oh, wow." Mira breathed out as they pulled up to the large country house that the Lee's, who they had just met, had renovated into a bed and breakfast. "I didn't think a house this big existed in this area."

"It's cool, isn't it!" Their son Jaeho quipped. He had taken a visible liking to Mira during the drive, answering all her questions and actively talking to her whenever there was a moment of silence.

Mr. Lee chuckled while getting out of the car, "That's why people love coming here. It's a beautiful location. We've been open for 25 years."

"You can leave your things in your car. Everyone's in the back by the lake, you guys can go swimming and we should have the food ready by then. After dinner, you guys can bring your luggage up." Mr. Lee said as his wife nodded dutifully behind him.

Mira smiled and nodded as her and Jackson got out of the car. "Thank you."

"Now Jaeho go put your swim trunks on and show our guests to the back, okay?" The 12 year nodded and raced into the house. "The gate to the back is around the corner."

Jackson waited until the Lees were gone before looking over at Mira who was slipping her sunglasses on, "Are you okay with going back there?"

"What are you talking about?" She said as they walked to the gate.

"People you don't know will be staring at you." He said as they walked through the gate into the large backyard that was lined by trees.

"This is the first time I've dealt with this, Jackson. I have my way around situations like this." She said while waiting by the back porch.

"This way!" Jaeho screamed excitedly before leaping off the porch and racing off to the trees.

Jackson and Mira shared a look before following the boy through the trees to the edge of a crystal clear lake. "Damn." Jackson mumbled while surveying the water.

"Let's go!" They looked over at the kid who was standing atop a larger boulder a few feet next to them.

Jaeho ran over the rock and screamed as he fell into the water. Mira froze, her eyes wide as she watched Jaeho sink. "O-Oh my god." She rasped out, blindly grabbing at Jackson's shirt.

"What are you doin--"

"J-JAEHO!?" She screamed while looking around frantically. Her breathing started to grow heavy and her body shook. Her eyes grew wide and hysterical and her voice cracked as she trembled violently. She threw her sunglasses off to look for him.

"Mira wha--"

"W-Where is he? S-Someone HELP!?" She screamed as she stumbled forward, her knees scraping the rocks. Her fingers were still curled around Jackson's shirt and had yanked him forward when she fell. He tried to wrap his arms around her in an attempt to stop her from moving, but she was already up on her feet.

Other swimmers started looking over at her as she stood up and started to wade her way through the water, still fully dressed. Jackson had tried to pull her back, but she just shoved him back yelled Jaeho's name until one of the others met her half way, "Is something the matter?"

"J-Jaeho. He's drowning. We need to find him. He needs help." She sputtered.

The person looked confused, "Jaeho? You mean the Lees' son?"

"What's going on?!" Mr and Mrs Lee were panting, standing by the edge of the lake.

"Mira!" Jackson gripped her arm and forced her to turn and face him as he stood knee-deep in water, "Mira. Jaeho is fine."

She stilled and froze, "W-What? R-R-eally?"

"Yes." He panted out. "Look."

He pointed across the lake where Jaeho was standing in the distance, playing. "Look. He's fine. He must've just swam away after you saw him."

"O-Oh." She said dumbly, her body trembling as she stared at him screaming and laughing. "But I heard him scream when he fell."

Jackson's brows furrowed, "No, he didn't. He barely squealed. He jumped into the water from the rock. When did you see him fall?"

"R-Right…right after he said let's go." She whimpered.

He shook his head, "That didn't happen, Mira. He cheered let's go and then jumped in. Voluntarily. He didn't fall."

"W-Wh--I don't understand. I saw--Oh." Realization washed over her as she quieted down but she made no attempt to let Jackson in on her thoughts.

"Why don't we get out of the water?" He coaxed.

She fisted her hands and did not move, "I-I can't. I can't move."

"Why not?" He said in confusion, "Did someone get caught around your ankl--"

"I don't want to move." She gasped out like she was running out air.

Jackson lo