The welcome mat stared up at her with its yellowing letters, green and soundless at her feet. On normal days she would've looked at it and thought that it badly needed cleaning, but everything, even the wooden door in front of her and the doorbell that hung innocently were mocking her.

She looked up at Henry's house and sighed.

It was almost funny how nostalgic it all was, not too long ago she was standing in front of a daycare building and wanting with every inch of her body to leave. Now, with the cool suburban air tickling at her nape, she knew that hell could break loose, but nothing is going to make her go away unless he talks to her.

So she knocks.

Instead of a 5 feet 8 inches tall man, Amber was greeted with a teenage girl at the front door. She had on a white shirt and her hair in a ponytail, and her eyes were youthful and shining in a way that hers are not.

"Uhm, I'm looking for Henry Lau? Or did I get the wrong address?"

The girl shook her head. "No you've got the right place. I'm sorry, but you are...?"

"Sorry, it's Amber."

"Okay, if you could just wait here?" Amber nodded. "Sure, thanks."

The girl left the door open, walking to a side of the room which Amber assumes is the kitchen. She heard a soft call of mandarin muffled by the cemented walls, followed by Henry's voice. Long after, his head pops up on the hallway.

"Amber?"

She gulped. "Hi. Can we talk?"

He hesitated for a while, just looking at her with that expression that she can't seem to put a finger on. But then he decided upon it and called to the kitchen in English. "Mei, I'm going to walk the dog for a while." An 'okay' resounded through the house, and soon he was putting on his sneakers with a leash on his hand.

"Let's go."

They walked about three blocks in silence, the golden retriever in between them. The air was still a little bit cold from the afternoon shower. She shivers a little, and warms up her arms.

This time there are no borrowed jackets upon her shoulders.

"So what's his name?" Amber asked, scratching the dog's head. The silence was suffocating. "Mars. He's our neighbor’s dog and we're taking care of him while they're on vacation."

"We? Right, you and- her. I didn't know you lived with somebody. Is she-"

"My sister. Unlike you I would've mentioned it if I had a girlfriend."

"Okay, I get it you're mad."

"Mad?" He stopped at his tracks, facing her. "Amber, I know that we haven't really talked about exactly what this is. But a simple 'Oh, and by the way I have a boyfriend back in L.A., for your information' wouldn't really hurt anybody."

"Can I just explain myself first? He's not exactly my boyfriend!"

"Then what is he?!"

By this time, their voices are already raised, and Henry's neighbors have started to give them side eyes through the windows. The dog even whined, sniffing his hand.

Soundlessly, Henry tugged at the leash, Mars following suit. "Let's not wake anybody up." He told Amber with a sigh.

They continue walking through the neighborhood, stopping at an old playground right on top of a small hill. Henry sat at the wooden bench and unclasped the dog's leash. It lay motionless at his feet, napping.

Amber sighed, speaking first. It was now or never, she thought. She was going to open up Pandora’s freaking box or god forbid she’s going to lose it. "You want to know the real reason why I came to Korea?"

"Mi-geng told me it was for vacation." He said. Amber chuckled and shook her head. "Not really. I was actually expelled. And it's because of him. And don't worry, he's gone. He’s back in Seoul for some business trip with his father, or something like that. But the important thing is, he’s not here.

"We were actually high school classmates when we met. I was already kind of out of it then. My family, we own this big chain of malls in America. Since I was little I was already under a lot of pressure to 'Learn your Chinese' or 'Stand up straighter Amber; eat this, don't eat that' or 'A lady shouldn't act like that' or 'Be more smart, be more prim, more proper, more perfect.'

"I knew I wasn't cut out for that. I can't be an elegant woman like my mother; I can't be as business minded and analytical as my dad. I'm standing in between these two people, trying to fit me in there little ing box for a perfect little daughter. They never even asked me what I wanted, they just always assumed. I just couldn't take it.

"Have I ever told you how I met Aunt Rose?" Henry shook his head. "She was my childhood nanny. She took care of me practically from the day I was born. She thought me everything: Eating on my own, riding a bike, even writing and reading. She used to say I was her 'summer child'. I never really knew why, but ever since I could remember, that was how she called me. I kind of get it now, looking back. Maybe she saw a sparkle, a kind of innocence that vanished the day she left."

"Like the season changing from summer to fall?" He quipped.

"Maybe. But nevertheless, I knew that was when it started.

"At first I was truly doing it for myself. I got the hairstyle I liked, the clothes I wanted to wear, the art that I wanted to be immortalized." She touched her arms, tracing the lines. "But as the years went by; the disappointment on my parents' part piled up, the gossip got worse, the school was just barely tolerating my behavior.

"I knew then that I wasn't doing it for me anymore. Maybe, at that time, I was proving to them and to myself that all they thought didn't matter to me; what they talked about. When actually it's the opposite.

"And then he came along, and things got worse. It was a miracle that we were even accepted to uni. But there we were, a pair