This story started in the summer and ended before the next summer came fully, or maybe it has started way before that.

This is a story about me and my bestfriend, and a boy, of a year I would never forget. It’s a story about life, friendship, but most of all love.

DARA

I was silently cursing Bom for the predicament I am in right now. It was our last summer together before we start our senior year in high school and before preparing for college but she had to go to Japan with her mom. I was missing her badly, spending the start of my summer alone.

I was hitting the streets of Seoul, eating streetfoods and shopping in our favourite thrift stores. I should be doing this with Bom as we’ve planned but she exchanged me for Japan. Not that I blame her though, she told me she’d be visiting a hospital there with her mom. Must be serious I thought, hoping her Mom was okay.

We’ve been bestfriends since we were 5, when we started kindergarten. Having the same surname Park we were logically seatmates which, developed into our sister-like bond. It must also be because we were both an only child and had no one to play and fight with so we were naturally attached to each other. We shared secrets and our stuff. We often have the same likes and dislikes.

We were each others biggest ally and rival especially with our grades. We always exchanged places each year. Last year she was ranked 1^st while I was 2^nd.  I hate being 2^nd. It’s like being the first loser. But I can take it if it’s 2^nd to her but not with anyone else.  

Not to brag or anything, we were also both considered one of the prettiest in our class. Between the two of us she was known as the sociable one, always accommodating and ready with a smile and hello. It’s no wonder guys flock her.  I was better known as ice princess. I think you get my drift, no need to elaborate why.

But both of us were serious with our studies and had no time for boys, or rather no boy has caught our attention yet. However, she was the one always gushing about prince charming and finding Mr. Right. She was the one excited to fall in love.

Me, I was always a little wary of love. I’m scared to be like the other women in our family. They fall in love hard and once only. It was like a curse or something.

My grandmother fell for a man but left her when she got pregnant. Her sister was stood up in her wedding and so became a spinster.  I could go on with other disaster love stories in our family. But the ending is always the same, they end up alone. As for my mother, she fell for her childhood sweetheart, my dad, but he died when I was 5 just before I started school. My mom never re-married.

So who would blame me for being cautious and on guard? After all, it’s my heart I’m trying to protect.

It was very hot even as I was wearing a summer dress. I could feel my hair sticking to my sweaty neck. It was almost 4pm. I better get home before it gets dark. I headed for the train station and got suddenly swamped by the rush of people also on their way home.

Aargh! I silently cursed Bom again, hoping she was having a better time than me.

BOM

We’ve just arrived in Japan, to visit a famous hospital known for their medical research. We were hoping, my mother and I to find cure. We were inside a cab on the way to the hospital when my mother experienced one of her headaches.

I handed her medicine, worried. “Ma, here take this” I said.

“Thank you, Bommie. I shouldn’t be bothering you” she said.

“It’s okay, Ma, it’s okay” I reassured her. I was silently enjoying the scenery of Japan, hoping I could tell all of it to Dara when I get back.

I was anxious and nervous as to what will happen when we get to the hospital. I wish Dara was here to hold my hand and reassure me, just like when we were children when we would go to the dentist.

She was small and fragile-looking, but between the two of us she was the tough one. She never cried. Even when she fell from her bike when we were 5 and broke her wrist, she didn’t shed a tear. I knew she had stopped crying when her dad died. I wish I could be just like her.

I was thinking of what Dara was doing now, hoping she was having a better time than me.