Mira walked out of the exam hall with a cramp in her hand from writing nonstop for 3 hours. She was glad it was over and part of her enjoyed spilling out every single thing she knew onto a piece of paper. It was oddly gratifying to her.

Her mind was blank as her brain started shredding up the information that she had jammed packed in every fold her skull.

But there was one thought that she couldn't get rid of.

He wasn't there today.

He missed his exam.

They had promised to meet up before the exam so they could sit next to each other but he didn't reply to any of her texts and when she walked into the hall she couldn't find him anywhere. When he walked up to the front to hand back her papers, she couldn't find his silver hair anywhere.

He skipped his ing exam.

"Mira!"

She glanced over at the door where a girl from her class was waving at her from. She didn't speak to her classmates often but she had a few group projects with a couple of them and got along with them well, "Hey, what's up?"

"How was the exam?" She asked as they walked through the doors.

Mira stretched her arms up, "Good, but I think I'm just biased because I'm finally done. You?"

"The last question stumped me but I feel good about the rest. Any plans now that exams are over?" She wondered as they strode to the off-campus houses.

Mira shrugged, "My parents are on a cruise for the next two weeks so I'm planning to stay here until they get back."

"Aww, that's a bummer. Basically, no one's here. You can always come and stay with me and my family."

That was an odd offer.

Mira barely knew that girl that meeting someone's parents and stay at their house was a wildly intimate thing for someone who barely knew you. Mira hadn't ever introduced her past boyfriends to her parents, but less someone she knew for one semester.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I know how to keep myself busy."

The girl wiggled her brows, "Wouldn't have anything to do with a handsome swimmer, would it?"

"You were at the party?" Mira asked simply.

The girl blinked, probably surprised that Mira was neither shy nor bashful about her alleged hook up. Most girls would turn beet red or laugh it off awkwardly, "Uh…yeah. I was."

"It was fun." Mira said with a shrug, "But athletes aren't really my thing."

The girl nodded in understanding, "I feel you. I dated someone on the soccer team once. Apparently away games in another city was code for I'm single for the night. It's messy."

Mira didn't exactly know what to say to that.

I'm sorry you have such awful taste in men?

No, so she figured she'd keep shut about it.

"I'm guessing you're into scholars then? Where's that friend of yours? I didn't see him at the exam."

Mira frowned, showing an honest emotion for the first time, "I'm not sure."

"Oh, well I hope he knows what he's doing because he's about to fail."

Mira nodded blankly and pointed over her shoulder, "Well I need to go, see you around, Hyeri."

The girl blinked and watched Mira walk away before turning around with a scowl, "It's Hana."

-----

Mira grabbed her belongings from her friend's apartment and dragged them over to her small sublet when she noticed something taped to her front door.

She frowned before setting her belongings down and pulling the note off the door. Just as it ripped off, something fell to the ground under it. She bent to pick it up, her frown growing when she stared at the map of Korea with notes written on it in permanent marker. She tucked it under her arm before opening the note.

She recognized the hand writing right away.

Daisy,

Don't get mad and don't be worried, I just want to have a little fun and I think of all the people I know, you're the one that needs pure, soul lifting, baggage-free fun. That's why I want to invite you on this journey with me.

I skipped exams this year.

That's right.

All 5 of them. Every single one of them.

But don't worry about me, I figured that we all need to face failure sooner or later right? I might as well make my own failure, one that I am prepared for rather than one that blindsides me and leaves me knocked out cold on the ground.

Control your own destiny, they say.

I'm tired of sitting in a building with people who are no smarter than I am, judge away at my intelligence and decide my future for me. I want to make the best of the life that I have and enjoy the things that the world tells us that we don't have time to enjoy.

And I think you should too.

Where am I?

Somewhere where the sun shines brighter and the water here tastes like gold. An oasis where responsibility doesn't matter and no one knows your name.

And let me tell you, it's a ing amazing feeling to be in a place where you're a nameless, faceless stranger with no reputation or title to live up to. You are the truest, rawest form of yourself and that might be scary but it's also exhilarating.

I want you here.

I want you to find me and meet me here, but I don't want you to go alone.

I want you to bring Poseidon.

I've left you a map and I promise to help you out along the way when you really need it. You're smart and kind of weird and you know exactly how I think. Crazy to crazy, right?

I'm sure you'll find me without a problem. Look at big things in small places.

Locke said that all men are naturally free, wasn't that your favourite quote? Knowing that you were born free and at some point in your life possessed utter and total freedom? Well,I want to go back to that time.

When we all meet, we can laugh about how angry I made you and how you're so much happier now, because life is short and you need to grasp onto every moment and squeeze the soul out of it. It doesn't matter if your car breaks down or if you get lost trying to find the right exit ramp, just have fun and enjoy the journey.

It's supposed to be more fun than the destination, right?

So, are you up for the chase? I know you and I know how you are, You can never say no to a challenge.

Catch me if you can, Daisy.

-Mark Tuan

Mira stared at the note, almost in disbelief and let out a laugh. He can't be serious. He wanted her to get in a car and drive around the country trying to find him? She always suspected that his lyrical way of speaking was just an effect of smoking weed and now she was almost positive that she was right.

"You ." She muttered to herself before pushing her door open.

This was exactly like him.

He would leave her no warning and just do things the way he wanted and would just try to drag her along for the ride, convincing her to just close her eyes and let him drive. She used to tell him that he was a toxic influence on her and he'd just laugh and tell her that there were a lot worse forces in the universe other than him.

She hated the way he spoke, everything was a poem and every syllable was a mystery.

But for some reason, she didn't hate him.

She actually liked Mark quite a lot.

A part of her aspired to be like him. Happy, honest, fearless and strong. Nothing in his world ever went wrong because he never let it feel like it went wrong. He accepted every obstacle in his path and enjoyed the enigma of trying to work his way out of it.

If he failed, he'd just nod and take it as a lesson to be learned.

Mira sat in her lecture hall, watching as timid faces and nervous steps entered the classroom one at a time, like a herd of deer circling around the watering hole. The first week of university, of being without parental supervision and endless access to alcohol with not curfew breathing down your neck. Every kid's dream.

It was also the place that students were expected to get to know themselves and find out what they want in life. Which she found ironic considering they were expected to make decisions that would carve out the rest of their lives while trying to figure out what they wanted at the same time.

"Welcome to the Introduction to Philosophy, or as a student once so eloquently put it, Take The Exam High 101." The class laughed as the professor dusted his hands.

Mira jolted her head up when the front door of the lecture hall burst open just as the professor turned to start the class. Everyone turned and stared at the door as a boy with a beanie pulled over his head stumbled into the hall.

"Sorry, I'm late." He said to the professor who just nodded.

The boy kept his gaze low and jogged up the stairs, taking the stairs two at a time, looking for seats in a hall that was nearly packed. Mira looked at the empty seat beside her and stealthily lifted her bag and  set it down. Sighing, she turned back to the course syllabus in her hands, fitting in the due dates of assignments with the ones for her other classes, making a mental calendar.   

Then she felt something shift beside and she turned to see the same boy