"Ready to go buddy?" I peek my head into my little brother's room. He pops his head out of the closet.

"Almost." He smiles and disappears back into his closet. I lean on the doorway and wait patiently. He jumps out seconds later and smooths out his shirt. "How do I look Li?"

My little brother is sporting a designer t-shirt, pair of khaki shorts, and a pair of black and white chucks. He looks cute but seeing as he's not going for cute. I say the next best thing.

"Better than Justin Bieber bud!" He tosses his hair to the side and smirks.

"Obviously." He answers knowingly and I wink as I leave him to finish grooming himself. I head downstairs and find my mother not in the kitchen. Ha! Just kidding, she's always in there.

"Hey ma."

"Hey honey. How was your night last night?" She passes me a smoothie and I thank her.

"Wow mom getting right to the jugular. Not even going to give me a second to drink my breakfast." I playfully and she tuts.

"I'm just asking, seeing as you look a lot happier this morning than most."

"I do not." I say as I try not to smile. I manage to stop for a second but then it shoots back up again. Damn you face for not sticking with me!

"Uh huh." Is all she says as she leans on the island waiting for me to say more.

"It was fine. Nothing crazy."

Do I mean nothing crazy like hot make out session with Jisoo nothing crazy. Then yes nothing crazy.

"Did you have a lovely time with Jisoo?" My mother says lovely in a way and I don't like it very much. I squint my eyes at her like I'm trying to read something that she's not saying.

"What are you insinuating here, mother?" I sip my smoothie making sure to make my slurp extra obnoxious.

She glares right back at me and her eyebrow twitches once. She's daring me to deny the chemistry between Jisoo and I. How dare she act as if I'm hiding some monumental thing? Nothing monumental is happening besides the fact that I'm falling for this girl every second that I spend with her. It's the type of falling where you see something that has nothing to do with anything and you somehow relate it to that person you're smitten over.

For instance when I was running this morning, I saw a bird and I thought to myself I wonder if Jisoo has a favorite bird and if she does which is it? Does she even like birds? Is she allergic to birds and if she is, does that mean she's allergic to down feathered jackets or pillows. Then I start thinking if she's allergic to down feathered pillows does that mean she has regular cotton stuffed pillows, and how many pillows would she have on her bed. Is she a throw pillow kind of girl or is she more of the bare necessities kind of girl and it went on like that the entire run.

My mother snaps her fingers in front of my face and I gently smack them away.

"Oh good you're with us."

I roll my eyes and take another sip of my breakfast. I wonder if Jisoo likes smoothies. Dear God someone stop me.

"Yes mom I'm still here."

"So your night?"

"I already told you it was fine."

"Well Mrs. Kim called me last night said she had a lovely time with you and Jisoo, that you two were a cute couple."

Ugh old women and their gossip.

"Mom...leave it alone." I shout Lucas name so he can hurry up and stop messing with his hair and save me.

"I would just like to know about what's going on in your life sweetheart there's so much you already don't tell me. So are you and Jisoo a couple?"

"No! I don't know...No. Maybe. Ugh! Mom stop. We are just taking things slow, like going to the zoo together with Luke. We're just spending time together. When I figure it out and it's serious I'll send you a postcard telling you all about it."

"You don't dance with your maybe girlfriend's when you're here." My mother says in a sad tone. Really how on earth is that even a thing to be sad about?

"I'm sorry mom, next time Jisoo's here we'll put on a two woman show for you, kay? Kay good. Luke let's go!" I shout with urgency, backing my way out of the kitchen. For the love of God boy come on! I sigh in relief when I see my little brother running down the stairs. "Bye mom!" I yell, grabbing Lucas and practically running out the door.
 

"This place is awesome." Luke stops, turning in a circle as he takes in his surroundings.

"It's only the entrance buddy." I chuckle at him. "How about we go look at some animals, yeah?"

"Sure." He nods and smiles wide. He skips a few steps ahead of Jisoo and I as we follow closely behind.

"Thanks for inviting me out with you guys today." Jisoo turns to me with a smile.

"Actually, this little guy invited you." I correct her, nodding my head in Luke's direction.

"Yup, all me!" Luke says in front of us.

"Well thank you." Jisoo chuckles before turning back to me. "But you didn't have to ask me, so I'm glad you did." The tone of her voice is doing things to me right now. Or it might just be me remembering last night's events.

"It's my pleasure." I mirror her face as she easily slips her hand in mine and leans over to give me a chaste kiss. My eyes flutter shut at the feeling. I don't think I could ever tire of this feeling.

The kiss is over way too soon and I think I whimper. The giggle that escapes Jisoo has to be the most adorable thing I've ever heard in my entire life.

"We always have later." She leans over and whispers in my ear. "And trust me, I want more." She adds before releasing my hand and jogging a bit to catch up with Luke. That meanie!

I smirk at my... hmph...um... my Jisoo as we walk further into the zoo.

Well today has been amazing... for Luke and Jisoo at least. He stole her! He stole my Jisoo! And the fact that he's so freaking adorable with her kills everything in me that would normally pull her away to be with me.

After seeing all the lions, tigers and panda bears; we saw some penguins, elephants, and fed a ton of barn animals, during which I had a run in with a goat. Seriously! That goat attacked me. I think I was ready to go an hour ago, but Luke and Jisoo are both having a blast still so that's all that matters.

The more we hang out the guiltier I'm feeling. I have to tell her that I'm set to leave in 20 days time. I'm not a hundred percent sure how she's going to take it and that's what's scaring me. But I'm being selfish. I love how she's making me feel; the fact that before her I felt nothing and now... now I feel everything. I've come leaps and bounds since I first got here and none of it would have been possible with her.

We sit down on a bench as we watch the woman discuss the giraffe habitat. Luke is in his own little world listening so I take this as my opportunity to tell her. I mean she rode here in my car so she can't really just get up and drive away.

"Jisoo." I say softly. She turns to me with the most loving smile I think I've ever seen on her. My heart pangs. I close my eyes and sigh, when I open them her smile is gone.

"Lisa what's wrong?" She leans in and whispers.

The weight of the words I'm about to speak are too much. I don't know exactly how she'll take it and I really don't want to hurt her, not when she's been so amazing to me.

"Well, um." I clear my throat softly. Don't be a  Lisa! Just tell her!

"Lis look I'm feeding the giraffe." Jisoo's gaze breaks from mine as we both focus our attention on Lucas. I smile, then pout as he calls Jisoo over. She tells him to hold on and she's back on me.

"What's the matter?" Her hand grips my wrist softly and she pulls me a bit closer to her. I nibble on my bottom lip and contemplate if I should do this right now or wait. She sees that I'm having trouble deciding on what to say. Her hand drops mine and she gently caresses my face. "You can talk to me about anything you know that by now right?"

I just nod because I do know that, but that doesn't make the situation any easier. I nod towards my younger sibling and tell her to go. She hesitates but I lean in a kiss her softly and mumble the command against her lips a second time. I feel her smile before she turns to join Lucas. I watch the both of them realizing that leaving had never been this hard before. She's given me so much life and now I want to live it, but prior commitments have me in a bind. I'm more than positive that she'll understand, she doesn't seem like the overbearing, unreasonable type.

I sigh and drop my head, resting my arms on the banister between me and the giraffe cage. I look up at the animal and smile. "Got any advice for me?" I ask it playfully. It stares at me like it's looking into my soul. It never takes its eyes off me as it lowers its head to grab a tongue full of leaves and back up. It's freaking me out a bit and I turn away, I jolt a bit in surprise as I see that Jisoo has returned. She's laughing at me.

"Don't worry I ask Dalgomie for advice all the time but I mean a giraffe is a good choice too."

I shake my head and turn her around wrapping my arms around her and we slowly walk back over to Lucas.

"So what were you asking the giraffe advice about?" She asks me curiously and I'm almost honest with her.

"When I should tell you about leaving, you two look like you're having a blast and I don't want to ruin the day." See? Almost honest.

We end up staying at the zoo for another two hours. I never want to see another animal again. I'm all zooed out for a while and I'm just ready to be alone with Jisoo. I pull up to her house and she turns around to say bye to my little brother. She looks at me and confirms our plans for tonight.

"See you at seven." I answer and she smiles. A quick kiss and she's out of the car. Lucas climbs over the console into the front seat and puts his seat belt on. He flashes me a smile because he knows I am not a fan of him up here. "I'm going to drive like mom if you sit up here."

"Cool more time for us to spend together." He jokes and put my car into drive taking my time to pull away from the curb. "So does she know yet?"

I steal a quick glance at him making sure to keep both eyes on the road. I'm pretty sure I'm going twenty in a forty. I really don't give a damn to be honest with you. My little brother is in the front seat and I'm just keeping him safe. It'd be better if he wasn't asking me such adult questions and causing me to hyperventilate. I say a quick no and check my rear view mirror. There's a line of cars starting to form behind me. They can go around.

"Why not?"

Oh the innocence of children. The simple question why, always produces such complicated answers. He has so much to learn in making things more complicated than they have to be.

"Because I don't want to make her sad."

"But won't you not telling her and you leaving make her more sad?"

Horns are starting to blow and the only thing breaking my concentration is Lucas's third degree.

"I don't know maybe."

"I think it will. I think that if I didn't find out and walked in your room one day and you were gone. That'd make me super sad."

Great. Hey guilt, long time no see. Oh what's that? You couldn't bear to be away from me anymore. Yeah well I wish I could say the same about you. I sigh in defeat. The little twerp got the best of me. I pull off to the side and seven cars zoom past me.

"I'm going to tell her." I start to explain. I'm not entirely sure why he is only seven and I don't have to make my life clear to a seven year old. Maybe though saying it out loud will make it clear to me. "I'm not going to disappear anymore Luke. I promise. I like her a lot."

"Like a lot a lot?" his brows raise as he awaits my answer.

"More than that." I say and he whispers out a 'wow' in astonishment. "Yeah. I know. So I will tell her it's just that sometimes we have so much fun together I don't want to ruin it. Like today at the zoo when you were feeding the giraffe and we told you we were leaving soon."

He giggles. "Yeah but then you let us stay even longer."

"Exactly because I knew leaving would make you and Jisoo sad and I just wanted to make you happy. Make the both of you happy."

"Yeah but Li even though we had to leave at least I know we could go back so it's not all bad. Maybe just promise Jisoo that you'll be back so that way even if what you tell her makes her sad you can still make her happy."

I'm floored. I stare at him. Is this like a Benjamin Button situation where he's older than he looks or something? I shake my head as I sit straight in my seat.

"How on earth did you get so smart?" He doesn't answer he just laughs and I seriously think he's an evil genius. I shake my head and smile at my little brother.

"Get back in your booster seat buddy." I nod my head towards the back seat. He groans but does I say nonetheless.

"I'm too old for this thing." He whines as he buckles himself in.

"I agree, but it's the law buddy." I watch as he buckles his last strap in the rear view mirror, before putting the car in drive and heading home.
 

"How was the zoo, Luke?" My mom asks as we walk into the kitchen. Lucas climbs onto a stool, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the island.

"It was so awesome!" He shouts, full of enthusiasm. "Me and Jisoo fed the donkeys and the goats and then Lisa got chased around by a baby goat." My little brother laughs, probably reliving the moment in his head. My mother's head snaps to me.

"Animals have never liked you baby, ever since you were a kid." She shakes her head and laughs.

"Ah." I tut and pout. "That's not true. Jisoo's dog Dalgom loves me." I tell them matter of factly.

"Well that goat didn't." Lucas chimes in, bursting into laughter again. Okay, I think I've had enough of this for today.

"I'm gonna go." I shake my head at my mom and little brother.

"Aw come on Lisa, we were just kidding. Stay and have treats with us." My mom begs, Luke joining in.

"No thanks." I hold my hands up. "I'll be back later tonight. I'm gonna take Jisoo out later."

"Speaking of Jisoo, when will I be seeing her again? Oh I know," My mother claps her hands together like she's just thought of the best idea in the world. "How about you invite Jisoo over tomorrow and we'll spend the whole day together as a family." She suggests. I cringe at the thought. Do I really want Jisoo spending an entire day with my family? "Oh fix your face Lisa, we're not that bad."

I choke out a laugh. "Yeah okay mom." She rolls her eyes, turning back to the stove to grab her apple pie, I'm assuming from the delightful smell that's filling the air. "Plus have you ever thought that maybe I just wanna spend time with my girlfriend alone before I have to get shipped overseas again." I scoff. I narrow my eyes as my mother turns quickly to look at me with wide eyes. "What?" I question as a smile appears on her face. "Mom, stop being creepy." I glance at my little brother and he's sporting the same smile as my mother. Seriously, what's going on right now? "Will the both of you stop being creepy and just—"

"You called Jisoo your girlfriend." Lucas speaks up.

I did no such thing. I shake my head and scoff at my little brother. "You're hearing things bud." I grab an apple from the bowl on the island as my mother nods and smiles wider.

"You did." She confirms.

"I did not." I shake my head, looking back between my mom and brother as they both nod 'yes.' "No I didn't." I practically shout, dropping the apple back in the bowl. "You people are crazy, I'm out of here." I say then pretty much run out the house to my car.

–
 

I walk up the path, feeling like I haven't been here in forever. I sigh when I reach the creek we used to play in for hours upon hours.

"Hey guys." I greet my friends with a smile. I imagine Jiwon chasing Rose and me with some creek creature he'd found, knowing the pair of us hated it. "I feel like it's been forever even though it's only been a couple of days." I say then look down at my hands.

"Love does that to you." A faint voice says. My head shoots up, looking around.

"Jiwon?" I call to my friend. His voice sounded so real just now. Not like it was in my head at all. A slight breeze blows my hair at my shoulders and I flinch. "Jiwon is that you?" I call again. I hear his laugh as I close my eyes. I've never felt him so close before, it's like he's right here next to me. "Jiwon are you here?"

"I'm here." My eyes shoot open. That was Jiwon's voice. I know that voice anywhere. Seriously I'm getting really freaked out right now.

"I don't know what to say." I whisper softly. I don't know if this is my subconscious playing tricks on me right now but I don't care. My friend is here and he's talking to me. I feel him, I hear him and that's all that matters.

"Tell me about Jisoo." I smile at the mention of her name.

"She's amazing." I breathe out, closing my eyes again as I picture her face. "She's funny and smart. Oh and she likes to write. She's been the most amazing ray of sunshine in my life for a long time."

"Not to mention she's really pretty." I can hear the smile in his voice.

"Isn't she?" I sigh, opening my eyes.

"How are you?" I ask stupidly. I shake my head at the sheer dumbness of that question.

"It's not a stupid question." He chuckles. "I'm good. You know just, hanging around."

"I miss you. Both of you." I tell him honestly as my heart constricts a bit.

"We know." I can see him nodding in my head. He walks closer to me, kneeling down in front of me. "We miss you too, Lisa. So much. But we want you to be happy, we want you to live your life and we're glad that Jisoo is helping you do that."

"Speak for yourself." I hear Rose's voice and the tears I felt building now fall.

"Rose?" I question.

"Yeah I'm here."

"Stop it Roseand tell the girl you're happy for her." Jiwon scolds our friend and I can't help but chuckle at them.

"I'm happy for you Lisa. I really am. Jisoo seems like an amazing girl."

"Say it with a little more enthusiasm." I laugh sadly, wiping the tears from my face.

I can see her shrug, "That's the best I got." A smile appears at her lip and I swear I can see all this as though they're both right in front of me. "I'm happy you're happy Lisa, that's all I ever wanted, it's all I ever want. Jisoo makes you so happy so I'm glad you found her." Rose nods and turns to Jiwon.

"She's gotta go, Lisa." He looks at her then back to me.

"What why? No stay, both of you." I beg.

"I'll see you soon." She tells me then walks away until I can't see her anymore.

"Why'd she have to go?" I ask my friend, wiping the tears that continue to fall.

"Wanna know something funny." Jiwon says, avoiding my question. I nod and he smiles a little. "I think I always knew she never loved me."

"She loved you." I tell him. He chokes out a laugh before shaking his head.

"She didn't. But that's okay. I've come to terms with it. She loved you, I think I always knew that." I narrow my eyes at him. "I'm more perceptive than you think. I guess I was just in denial or selfish." He shrugs. "One of the two."

"I'm sorry , I didn't mean for it to happen that way." I tell him honestly because as much as I loved Rose I'm not sure what I would have done if the time came for me to choose a relationship with her or a friendship with him.

"It's okay." He shakes his head, waving me off. "I know what you're thinking and I know you would have made the right decision." He smiles. "Speaking of right decisions, you wanna tell me why you haven't told Jisoo you're leaving in 20 days yet?" He pops a brow, waiting for my answer. I stumble over my words and he just shakes his head chuckling at me. "You need to tell her Lisa, it's not fair for you to have kept her in the dark so long."

"I know, I know." I shake my head at myself. "But in my defense, I didn't expect to come home find someone that I want to spend every waking moment with. This was so unexpected."

"Most amazing gifts are." He smiles and I can't help but smile back. He looks behind him briefly before turning back to me. "I've got to go, Lis."

"No." I shake my head. "Please don't."

"Don't worry." He stands, smiling softly. "I'm always around." He leans down, kissing me on my forehead. "You're never alone, okay?" I sniffle, nodding my head. "Go, tell your girl before it's too late and she doesn't forgive you for the bombshell you're about to drop on her. And Lis..."

"Yeah?" I look up.

"Tell her I'm sorry okay?" I narrow my eyes, confused.

"Sorry for what?" He closes his eyes and as quickly as he appeared he's gone. "Jiwon wait!" I shout. "Sorry for what?!" I open my eyes, looking around. There's no use, he's gone. I sigh dropping my head in my hands. I have no idea what that was but I know what I have to do now.

As I knock on her door, I gather myself. She's either gonna understand or completely hate me. And the latter is what scares me the most.

"Oh hello, Lisa." Mr. Kim greets me. I look down to see Dalgom staring up at me expectantly.

"Hello Mr. Kim." I give him a warm smile before bending down to rub behind Dalgom ears. "Hey boy, how you been?" He wags his tail and my face.

"He really likes you." Mr. Kim chuckles, opening the door wider. "Come on in. I'll let Jisoo know you're here."

"Thanks." I smile, glancing up at him. I rub Dalgom a little more before standing up, closing the door behind me. Mr. Kim disappears into the kitchen and reappears with Jisoo.

"Come on boy." He calls Dalgom as Jisoo smiles, engulfing me in a hug.

"What are you doing here? I thought we were going out a little later." She kisses me sweetly and I can't help but feel guiltier.

"Can we talk?" I thumb towards the front door.

"Sure." Her smile fades a little as she shouts to her mom and dad that she's stepping out with me for a moment. Her mother yells a 'hello, Lisa.' I decide not to shout and opt to peek my head briefly into the kitchen to say a proper hello. "So... what's up?" Jisoo asks a little timidly. I think she senses my mood right now. We take a seat on the curb as I try to figure out the best way to tell her this. Should I just rip off the band aid? "Lisa you're kinda freaking me out." Jisoo says, pulling me from my thoughts. I nod and apologize.

"Well you know that I'm in the army and that well... we have times where we get to come home from tours and things like that. Of course you know, your dad was in the army." I shake my head at my rambling. "Well basically, what I'm trying to say is that I-"

"You're on leave and you're not gonna be here for much longer?" She pops a brow.

"Basically." I nod. "The thing is I didn't expect to come here and find someone. Honestly, I didn't come here to do anything." I glance down at my hands, finding them interesting at the moment. "I just... I promised my parent's that on my next leave I would visit and so I did and then I went to the graveyard and you were there and then I went to your party and we hit it off and I just, I don't know what happened. I started falling for you and I didn't know how to tell you that I was leaving because I didn't want you to be mad at me but then I realized that the longer I waited the more angry you would end up being with me, so I'm here now telling you because I don't want you to be mad at me. ." I tell her. I don't think I took one breath during that monologue. I look up to see Jisoo smiling. I'm confused. I don't know what I said that was funny.

"Are you done?" She questions, smirking at me. I nod quickly. She turns to face me completely, taking my hands in hers. "Lisa, you're so cute." She says and I have to look away briefly to hide the blush. "I knew you were leaving. I mean, I didn't know but I kinda figured. You know, cause my dad was in the army and all when I was a kid. I'm not upset with you and I definitely don't hate you. I'm so happy that you allowed me into your life even though you didn't plan on it. I thank God every day that you allowed yourself to open up to me." She moves impossibly closer. "I don't care that you have to leave, as long as you promise me that you leaving won't change anything. That we'll still be us." She looks at me, waiting for an answer.

I nod. "I promise." I can't help but smile because I honestly don't know how I got so lucky. "Where did you come from?" I question her as I pull her into a hug.

"Well when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much—"

I shriek out a laugh, lightly slapping her on the arm. "You know what I mean." I shake my head and continue to chuckle at her.

Her face turns serious as she says, "I ask myself the same question about you every day. You may think you've done nothing for me Lisa, that this relationship is one sided." She shakes her head. "You've done more for me than you will ever know." I smile and drop my head. She lifts my head by my chin. "You're so amazing." I try to drop my head again but Jisoo's not having it. She leans in, kissing me sweetly. I whimper when she goes to pull away. She chuckles and reconnects our lips.

I'm not sure what I did to deserve this amazingly beautiful girl...but no amount of words could begin to tell you how happy I am that I have her.