I went home and lay on the bed. I had left Mark so many missed calls and messages but he wasn’t answering. I bit my nails and I could hear Jaehyun on the phone. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was already 8 pm. He would already be in the airport, would he? I kept my eyes on my screen. He would be back, wouldn’t he? He would be back, and all I had to do was wait and talk to him as soon as possible.

Clang.

I jumped, seeing that it was a rock. The rock had flown in through my window and landed on the floor. I stood up and walked over to the window to see Haechan’s sports car parked in my driveway. He stood there with his biker jacket and his sober companion beside him. He was holding something that looked like balloons.

“Hey!” Haechan yelled at me. His voice was unusually high and I frowned.

“Why do you sound like that?” I asked and Haechan pointed at the balloons.

“I can’t drink or get high so I took in the helium!” he sounded like a minion. “Anyway, here—Read them as fast as possible.”

“What—”

“Do it and let’s leave!”

The balloons flew up to my window and I grabbed it, confused as to why it was given to me. Haechan stood down there with Renjun on my lawn, who was keeping a close eye on my friend when I grabbed the box that came with the balloons. Opening up the box, I saw a bunch of crumpled letters. They were crumpled into little balls and I sat down on my bedroom floor, slowly opening them up when I began to read.

The lines were short, but it was obvious it was Mark’s handwriting. I squinted under the dim light of the lamp when I read the first letter.

You looked very beautiful today.

Love, Mark

I blinked. Okay? Were these just Mark’s recounts of memories?

His handwriting was scrawled through the page and I found myself opening the rest of the papers and smoothing them out with my hands.

I know you’re my best friend.

But I keep hoping that one day you’ll see me as something more.

Love, Mark.

My heart dropped and my jaw hung open. I hastily opened the other letters and there were countless ones that made my friendship with Mark make so much sense.

I want you to know how hard it was to see you with someone else.

Love, Mark.

I tried to go on a date today, but all I thought of was you.

Love, Mark.

I can’t imagine leaving like this. But I don’t want my heart to break over the one person I do not want to lose.

So, I’ll sit here and write letters that I will never send and maybe you’ll understand.

Love, Mark.

Please, don’t be in love with someone else.

Love, Mark.

I want to love you all alone.

Love, Mark.

Will you be mine?

Love, Mark.

My hands trembled as the letters dropped to the ground and I ran over to the window to see Haechan waiting. His hands pressed down on the car key and I saw it activate. Suddenly my door opened and Jaehyun popped his head in and upon seeing me, he frowned.

“What are you still doing here?” he demanded and my eyes widened. “His plane is leaving soon!”

My brother knew?

Jaehyun grabbed me and pushed me out the window, our feet slamming against the stairs loudly. My mother and father were on the couch and they saw us together, my mother asking me if we had done something wrong.

“Jaehyun? What’s going on with you and your sister?” I heard my father ask from the kitchen, my brother pulling me out the door. “Kids, where are you going at this time?”

“I’ll explain later!” Jaehyun yelled and at that moment, a car came barreling over the lawn. My mother’s flowers were crushed and Haechan honked the car. “Haechan! Why would you—”

“Get on, get on, get on!” Haechan hollered, the window going down and I jumped to the front seat. I saw Renjun at the back, still confused as to what was going on. “That’s Renjun. He’s my sober companion.”

“Is it because you’re always drinking?” Jaehyun asked, Haechan nodding. “Hi, I’m Jaehyun.”

Renjun shook my brother’s hand sleepily as the car raced down the road.

“What time is his flight?”

“In thirty minutes. The gate closes earlier though so—” Haechan taking a rapid U-turn. I could see Renjun gulp, his small frame body getting crushed by Jaehyun. “Sorry! I’m taking a shortcut.”

“What’s the shortcut?” Jaehyun asked, Haechan pressing his feet against the accelerator. “Haechan—Why are you driving backward? It’s a one-lane road!”

“Short cut!” Haechan replied, his hand on the back of my seat as he squinted to look behind him. “Oh my, quite a lot of cars today.”

“We’ll get caught!”

“I’m rich.”

But alas, it worked and the fact that he did what he did made the car stop right in front of the entrance of the airport. We just went through a one-way backward and as drunk and high Haechan always was, he was a terrific driver when he was sober. Air knocked into my lungs and I jumped out of the car.

Where would he be?

“Here, here!” Jaehyun said, pulling me to the international depart