MARCH 24

I am smack-dab in the middle of the Great Hall at Leeum Samsung Museum of art, exactly three feet from the spot where I barfed on my tenth birthday. But this time there are no fanny packs, no sounds sneakers squeking againts well-polished floors. Pooling in my feet this time isn't bright pink vomit flecked with Lucky Charms pieces. It's a fifteen pound gown, encrusted with crystals, just like the one SNSD wore to the MAMA. Tonight, the lights are bright And flashing and people are wishpering and looking in my direction. Tonight, for some reason, I am someone. I sip my cherry coke and glide to rom room to room, admiring the art. And that's where Jungkook finds me, standing in front of a painting on display of flowers and butterflies drawn by a 19th century Korean painter, Nam Gyewoo.

"You know, I can dance, too." He slips an arm around my waist, and my body feels instantly warmer.

"Prove it." I say, I don't to look away from the painting to feel his eyes on me, to know he is smiling. I have every inch of his face mapped in my brain, all of his mannerisms. I am constantly afraid of forgetting him.

He takes my arm and give me a twirl, and I close my eyes. When I open them again, we're inside the cruise, swaying. 

"You look good in a tux," I mumble into his neck.

"Thanks. It's the one SNSD wore to the MAMA," he says in a serious tone, and we both burst into laughter. Before I can even catch my breath, Jungkook's arms grip me tighter and he kisses me, tipping me so far back i lose all balance and sense of self. I didn't realize there was a good kind of dizzy until this.

"I missed you," he says then, twirls me again.

The delivery guy from Domino Pizza appears, looking impatient.

"You hungry?" Jungkook asks. "I ordered."

But inside the pizza box there's no pizza, just a giant Oreo cookie cut in eighths like a cake. We reach our hands in and ecah pick up a heavy slice. No sooner have I brought it to my mouth than I catch mischief reflected in Jungkook's light brown eyes, he swiftly smushes his cookie into my cheek. Whap. I throw mine right back at him.

We race throught the galleries, ducking behind Korean Buddhist Sclupture and dodging mortified patrons as we hurl handfuls of Oreo cake at each other. I notice the museum security guard marching in our direction. When I look more closely, I see he's also my middle-school science teacher. I always hates the guy. We run faster.

When I'm finally cornered in the courtyard of Geumgwanchong Tomb. We're covered in cookie. I don't even noticed since when we're wearing a pair of fancy hanbok. We look like a royal couple gone horribly awry. A country under our rule would surely revolt.

"Let's take a time out," Jungkook says. We lie on our backs in the courtyard of the tomb, listening to the symphony music and the low hum of chatter continuing outsid. Above our heads, where ceiling of the Met should be, there is instead a starry sky.

"You know when Silla royalty died, they often had loved ones burried with them," I say.

"I think it was just servants, actually, so they could be waited on in the afterlife," Jungkook corrects me. Always such a know-it-all.

"Well, if I died, I'de have you burried with me." I turn over on my side to face him.

"Oh, babe, thanks," he exclaims. "That is by far the creepiest thing you have ever said to me."

A low echoes againts the stone walls, and I notice a small white rabbit lying beside Jungkook, staring at him fondly.

"Who is this?" I ask.

"This is Nayeon." Jungkook nods to the rabbit. "She's been following me, I think she's in love."

"Well, get in line, Nayeon," I say, resting my head on his chest and breathing deeply. As always, he smells like laundry detergent and something woody. The sound of his heartbeat lulls me.

"Don't fall asleep," he pleads. "We haven't had eoungh time."

But I disagree. This evening was perfect, all I could ask for.

"I'll see you soon," I say, praying I won't drift off until I hear him say it back. It's our thing, and almost superstititous habit, to make sure we find each other again.

"I'll see you soon," he finally says with a sigh.

My eyes float slowly closed, the sound of Nayeon lightly snorting in my ear.

***