After breakfast, the three debated on what to do for the rest of the day.

Apparently Mark and Jackson had decided to stay at her house all day without consulting her, which she didn’t really mind to be honest.

They settled on the idea of watching a movie but once again started debating when it came to which one.

Youra wanted to watch National Treasure, Mark wanted to watch Train to Busan and Jackson wanted to watch Miracle in Cell No. 7.

Mark and Youra had immediately vetoed on Miracle in Cell No. 7, on the grounds that it was too early to start crying, and Jackson and Youra had vetoed on Train to Busan because like the scaredy cats they were, they didn’t want to watch it.

Which meant they ended up watching Natural Treasure, one of Youra’s favourite movies.

Jackson and Mark looked at each other and sighed.

How many more Riley references they would have to go through in their lifetimes, they had no idea.

Youra looked through her collection of movies to find the movie while Mark and Jackson seemed to be having a silent conversation.

So you gonna stay here the whole day too then?

Yup, why?

Mark shook his head and shrugged. No reason.

Jackson furrowed his brows and followed Mark’s line of sight. Oh.

What?

Nothing, I could go if you wanted.

No, stay.

Jackson wasn’t convinced. Really?

Mark shrugged and tried to look indifferent. To which Jackson just patted his shoulder and smiled.

“Hey Youra.”

“Found it!” She looked up from her collection. “What?”

“I just got a message for an interview. I have to go.”

“Interview? For what? University starts in a few weeks.”

“I um, decided to apply for one on a whim. You know how important getting experience is and all that.”

“Aww man, Jackson. Do you really have to go?”

Jackson looked from Mark and back to Youra. “Um I, I guess I could stay for a few minutes?”

“Yay! I’ll put the DVD in now.”

Youra turned back to the TV and the DVD player before opening it and putting it in.

Mark looked at Jackson and shook his head. I’m disappointed in you.

Yeah well, how about you try lying to her? As much as I annoy her, I hate lying to her.

Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?

I think we both know whose side I’m ultimately on.

Mark clicked his tongue in annoyance. Jackson had a point, both of them knew that at the end of the day, they would both choose Youra. He had no idea how or why but they had somehow made a silent agreement that this would always be the case.

Apparently they just loved her too much.

Which for him in the moment.

Youra turned the TV on and sat in the middle of the two of them, cutting off their conversation. She pressed play and started forwarding until the start of the movie, all the while absent-mindedly threading her arm through Jackson’s.

Jackson looked at their arms and back at Mark, whose face was blank but nevertheless scary to look at.

Sure, Jackson would always be on Youra’s side at the end of the day, but he had to admit, he had forgotten how scary it was to not be on Mark’s side.

It only got worse when Youra leaned her head on his shoulder.

God, why on Earth was Youra such a skin ship monster?

He looked back at Mark, not giving heed to the movie at all.

Mark was now staring at him with a raised brow, his face resting on his palm.

Jackson cleared his throat and got up, startling Youra. “I think I should be going now, Youra.” He made a show of looking at his watch. “I’m late. I’ll see you later.” He ruffled her hair before grabbing his phone and walking out.

She blinked, trying to process what had just happened. She looked at Mark, who was trying to look like he had no idea what was going on either.

“Did you know about his interview?”

He shook his head. “No, this is the first I’m hearing about it too. But you know Jackson, always the spontaneous one.”

She leaned back into the couch and looked at the TV. “Spontaneous.” She mumbled, still dazed.

Mark’s phone chimed and he took it out of his pocket.

JW: You owe me one man.

MT: I’ll get you your clothes and toothbrush.

JW: I had forgotten about those but that works.

He put away his phone and focused on Youra whose focus had now returned to the TV.

Of course, Youra would never give up an opportunity to fawn over Riley.

He never understood why she liked him so much.

He was sarcastic? Yeah well, so was half of the world, including him.

She caught him looking at her. “What are you staring at?”

“Nothing, I’m just trying to figure out why you like Riley so much.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just like how negative he is.”

Mark stared at her, confused. “Excuse me?”

Youra chuckled at his reaction. “It makes him funny is what I meant. Like when he goes ‘Not to be a nudge’ with that annoying intonation or when he calls the president a tattletale, he’s just cute to watch. Besides, it’s not like Nicholas Cage’s face is very interesting to look at.”

“Are you trying to say you like pessimistic and sarcastic guys? Because that’s the sort of vibe I’m getting from your answer.”

“Maybe, I wouldn’t necessarily want to date a pessimistic, sarcastic guy. I mean, look at me, I’m a pretty bright person. But having someone like that in my life even as a friend would be nice, he’d make me laugh and he would be realistic which helps sometimes.” Youra reasoned with a fond smile on her face. “I also think I like him because You-Jin and I liked referring to him. It was an inside joke of sorts, remember?”

He nodded, he did remember. Noona and Youra loved quoting movie, books and other forms of pop culture, it was just their thing.

He often found them giggling just because someone had referred to a funny YouTube channel or because something reminded them of a movie.

One time Mark was especially confused when they had burst out laughing just because Youra had said the words “Wo shi Ling Ling” and “40 hours”. He had no idea what was so funny.

It was something he liked seeing though, it was moments with her sister that made Mark realise just how bright of a person she was. It seemed like just a mere glance or mention of her sister could make her happy.

It hurt to think that he would never get to witness that again.

“What are you thinking of now?”

“Noona.”

It was a simple answer. Youra knew how easy it was to get down a black hole of memories that included her sister once someone mentioned her. She knew because it had happened to her on multiple occasions. She would watch National Treasure and sometimes she would turn to look at her sister, only to remember that she wasn’t there, that she was long gone.

Then she would start thinking of the time they had argued over popcorn and ended up dropping it all over the floor.

The list of associations her sister seemed to have with her life was endless. And Youra figured that was why even the mere act of watching TV or walking or even laughing, all led back to her.

“I visited noona’s grave the other day.”

Youra broke from her reverie about her sister to look at Mark.

“I know.”

Mark’s brow knitted. “You do? How?”

“I went to visit on her birthday but you were already there. I decided that I would go on a later date, maybe with a tub of ice cream so that I could eat something sweet and talk to her.”

Mark chuckled. “Of course you wanted to take ice cream with you.” He paused. “You think we could go see her now?”

“Now?” Youra asked, surprised at his sudden want to go see her. It was like he had read her mind.

He nodded. “If you aren’t too busy fawning over Riley, then yes, now.” He meant for that to be a joke but the way Youra’s face had softened when he said that made him realise she didn’t hear it that way.

“Nothing’s more important to me than my sister.”

She stood up and he watched as she walked towards the fridge, grabbing a tub of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce from a nearby shelf and two spoons. She put the spoons in the tub and looked up at him.

“Coming?”

He got up and walked out the house with her.

-

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Maybe we could come another day.” Mark offered as they stood in front of the cemetery gate, Youra was staring at the arch and the font that was used to spell the words ‘Seoul Memorial Cemetery’.

She had never noticed until now how pretty the font used to write the words was. Now that she thought about it, she realised You-Jin would have probably liked the cemetery she was buried at.

It was peaceful and well maintained, it seemed like a nice final resting place.

She shook her head. “No, let’s go in.” She opened the gate with one hand and walked in, Mark walking behind her. She walked down the central path just like she had the other day, making her way over to the grave that she would probably never be able to forget.

She had seen her few share of graves, family members she didn’t know really well, family friends she had never met. But there would always be one grave that had etched its image into her mind.

And that was her sister’s.

As a child, she could never really bring herself to feel bad at a funeral. She knew someone had died, but that feeling of loss and grief, it seemed like a concept very foreign to her, until of course the day her sister passed.

She finally understood why she had seen her parents shed tears at funerals, why her aunts couldn’t seem to help themselves from crying and why her uncles would always look so solemn, as they watched their loved ones be lowered into the ground.

She paused at the diversion that led to her sister’s grave. Mark not really paying attention to the fact that she had stopped, bumped into her but she didn’t notice. She could see her grave clearly, it was just the same as it was the day of the funeral, and just the same as the day she had found Mark by it.

She didn’t know why she always expected there to be something different each time she visited, maybe because it seemed anti-climactic that they seemed to find t