Mina walked silently with Haruka as they went from the bus stop to their apartment building. Haruka clutched onto the picture of her late husband to her chest. When they reached the building, a voice called out to Mina. It was Mark.

    Both Mina and Haruka stopped, turning around to see Mark riding down the street on his bike. “Mina,” he said stopping just in front of them.

    Mina turned to her mom and spoke to her in Japanese. “Go inside, I’ll be in later.”

    Haruka nodded and disappeared into the building. “Yes, Ma—” before Mina could finish saying his name, Mark pulled her into a hug.

    “I know saying this won’t make you feel better, but… it’ll be okay, Mina,” Mark muttered as he held onto her tightly.

Tears welled in Mina’s eyes as she listened to his word. She soundlessly wrapped her arms around him, hiding her face against his shoulder. She shuddered as she began to cry and knotted her hands in his uniform. Mark shushed her quietly as he gently rubbed her back. There wasn’t anything he knew that he could say or do to help her feel better and doing this was the best he could think of. He had to let her know that someone was there for her.

At a distance stood Jackson. He felt jealous bubbling up in the pit of his stomach as he watched them, his hand clenching into fists at his sides. He watched as they broke apart from each other. Mark raised one of his hands to Mina’s cheek and wiped her tears away.

    Jackson grit his teeth. “That …”

    He began down the street toward the both of them.

    “Don’t worry, Mina. I’m here for you, okay?” Mark smiled as he gently tilted Mina’s head up so they made eye contact. Mina opened to reply when Jackson yanked them apart. “Yah—” Mark said but not before Jackson was running away with Mina. Mark frowned watching both of them disappear around the corner and breathed out. “That damn bastard…”

Mina said and did nothing as Jackson dragged her through the streets to the park. He led her through the trees and into a small field of grass just on the riverside.

    Jackson sighed as he let go of her arm and sat down on the grass. “I come here when I’m feeling sad or mad,” he said. “This is a great place to just relax, watch the water as it rolls by, and scream it all out.”

    Mina stood quietly as she watched the water run by. She slowly stepped out closer to the water and suddenly felt tears pouring down her face as her chest tightened. She remembered her dad’s smiling face and his comforting voice. She remembered all the times he would hold her in his lap when she was sad or when he would read to her. She remembered the spontaneous beach days she had with him during a school day that they never told her mom about. All the road trips and the visits to his parents. Every good memory was suddenly flooded over with the bad ones.

    The first time he got sick, the countless doctors visits, and him being bed ridden. The first time he ended up in the hospital after an episode. The stale environment of the hospital and the first time she and her mom found out he had fallen into a coma. And the last moment she saw her dad take his last breath and the heart monitor stopped beeping.

    Mina’s heart tightened as she dropped to her knees and broke down. Tears streamed down her face as she yelled out loudly, screaming for her dad. Jackson stayed quiet as Mina continued to cry and scream. He got up and went over to her, wrapping an arm around her. He gently rubbed her arm as she cried loudly.

    “Just let it all out, Mina,” he whispered. It took a couple minutes before Mina had finally calmed down. They both sat quietly next to each other staring out at the water. “What was he like? Your father,” Jackson asked.

    “He was…a good man. He spoiled me a lot as a kid,” Mina replied. “He was hard working and very loving; the nicest guy you would ever meet. I remember one time when I was little, we had just moved to Busan from Osaka and there was this family living next door. My dad was the first to greet them; he greeted everyone we lived near actually, but our next door neighbors were the most memorable. They always talked about how nice my dad was to them. They would always let their sons over to our house because they trusted my dad that much. There was one around my age and they wanted to arrange for us to get married.” Mina laughed along with Jackson. “We were even in the same contemporary dance class, me and the boy.”

    “Arranged marriage, huh?” Jackson questioned. “Why?”

    “They wanted my dad as an in-law.” Mina giggled. “I mean, I totally would’ve married him too if he hadn’t been gay.”

    Jackson chuckled. “Ah, I see.”

    Mina smiled and looked up at the sky thinking of her dad. “I miss him already. I hope it gets better as time goes by…for my sake and my mom’s.”

    Jackson hummed and rubbed her back gently. “It will.”

    “I hope so.”

    “Hey. It will,” Jackson said, tilting his head to look at her. “You can count on me when you’re feeling sad, okay? I’ll become the important male figure you need in your life—not like your father or anything that’s weird but—okay, I’ll shut up now.”

    Mina giggled and nudged him gently.

    Jackson smiled and put his hand to her chin turning Mina’s head toward him. “I promise I’ll protect you. I really do love you, Mina Fukujima. You can count on me.”

    Mina’s eyes widened slightly as Jackson pressed his lips against hers.

    W-What? Mina thought.