The Jung throws a small party for Soojung during the last week of summer. It’s supposed to be a farewell party, but the celebrated girl doesn’t like the word ‘farewell’ because she thinks it’s like saying goodbye – and goodbye, for her, is forgetting. Blame Disney and Peter Pan for burying the thought deep down inside her heart. So it ends up as some kind of congratulatory party, with the two Kims and the Son and some of the workers from the bakery enliven the Jung’s backyard.

Soojung looks up from the cocktail she has in her hands, and a smile lights up her face as she sees how well her people are doing. Her mom is doing her women talk with the other moms. Her dad is, too with the other dads, probably talking about business or golf or men things – she doesn’t know. But she knows it must be a good topic, since their laughter would erupt once in a while. Jessica with her small, visible baby bump is at the table with Kris, eating the food and she could see her sister has been gaining weight, but that doesn’t make her less beautiful. In fact, she thinks Jessica is more beautiful that night compared to any other days before. She believes it has something to do with the little soul she has in herself. She’s literally, like, she couldn’t think the perfect word, but if she has to pick, she’d pick the word ‘glowing’. That’s what Jessica is – glowing. Naeun and Myungsoo, of course, are there, too, with cameras she doesn’t know what series in their hands, capturing a moment after another.

It’s such a beautiful sight, really. Endearing. And she’s going to miss it all. Her parents. Her sister and Kris. Myungsoo’s parents. Jongin’s. Naeun’s even though it’s the first time she ever meets them two. And of course, Myungsoo, Jongin and Naeun. Her co-workers. She’s going to miss the life she has been living in California, just like how she misses the life she had been living in Seoul. But, it’s okay. She knows it’s one of the ways of living – reminiscing. Remembering all the good and the bad. The good makes her smile. The bad gives her experience and lessons she couldn’t gain at school or university she’s going to enroll. There are some things you don’t learn at school – or maybe you could, but at that point, curriculum is somewhat more important than the unseen things. And as long as you live, you’re never too late to learn. There are more to life than what lies in the textbooks, she learns young.

She takes a sip of the cocktail, eyes following the way Jongin slips away from Naeun’s grip. He has been her model in almost all pictures she has taken, and Jongin being himself, does his things when he feels like it – and that’s the reason why he’s now sitting beside her and no longer being an unpaid model. She gives a light smile to him, and he returns a tired one to her.

“Man, that girl for sure knows how to drive me mad,” he sighs dramatically as he runs his fingers through his hair. “How can a person never get tired? How can a person be so lively, so bright all the time? Has she ever gotten sad?” he asks, more to himself but Soojung couldn’t help answering.

“How can you be so sure with your conclusion on her?” she returns the question, earning a confused look by the boy. “Naeun might seem like she’s never tired, all lively and bright all the time – like her world is made of rainbows and glitters and unicorns and all beautiful things – but it’s the image she chose to show us, you know? You can’t be happy all the time. That’s just...” she breathes for a moment before she continues, “that’s just impossible.”

“She’s not real. Is that what you’re trying to imply here?” Jongin asks, quite unsure.

She immediately shakes her head, afraid if Jongin might have the wrong idea. “No, no. She’s real. Of course she is. You couldn’t feel the happiness if one’s faking it anyway. But, there might be days when her days aren’t that bright either. Emotions, I learn, need to be balanced. You’ve got to see her at 3 in the morning, and only after that you can decide.”

“I’d probably be sleeping at the time.” Jongin mutters to himself before he looks to the cheerful girl ahead of him, a smile is visibly seen through her lips. He notices that the girl hasn’t had her bloody red lipstick for so long already. He chuckles unknowingly. “I always wonder why she puts on make-up in the first place. Not that she’s less beautiful if she has make-up on her face, but, I don’t know,” he turns his head to Soojung after that. “Like, why would you cover something so naturally beautiful with something that gives you an idea of how a beauty really is? The irony.”

“I don’t know. You should ask her that by yourself, you know? Some people dress to impress. Some people dress for their goddamn selves. Some do that out of insecurities. We never know. But, I could see she’s taking your suggestion into consideration – judging on how many times she has been seeing you with her lips like that,” she says, shrugging.

“I’m lucky, am I?”

“You sure are stupid and ungrateful if you feel you’re not,”

“So, I guess I should see her around 3 a.m. sometimes,”

“If you could stay up late watching your favourite tv shows, then why not her?”

He chuckles once again, ruffling her hair from the side. “You know what, Soojung? I think 23 isn’t that early to be getting married,”

Soojung almost chokes on her saliva. “Where’s the fire?”

He shrugs as he looks up to the sky, so dark as if it’s letting the stars to shine so bright for Soojung’s day. “You’re just wise and matured enough to be married, I think.”

Soojung laughs. “I’m not, Jongin. I’m still learning.”

“For him?” he asks. Even without mentioning Myungsoo’s name, he knows she knows who he means.

She shakes her head. “From him.” she corrects.

He breathes. “Wow.”

“I know right? Wow.”

“You have finally grown up, an adult, I could say.” he playfully teases.

She rolls her eyes, a sigh escapes from her lips afterwards. “Should I be scared? Now that I have finally grown up.”

He shakes his head. “As long as you know where you’re going, what you’re doing, there’s no reason to be afraid,” he says, patting her back ever so softly, “people are afraid to become an adult because they have no idea what to do or where to go once they become one.”

Soojung stares at the boy, letting what he just said to sink in deep into her mind and heart. “How about you? Are you afraid?” she asks.

“I am, to be honest. Even though I know what I want to do, and where I’ll be heading, too,” he answers.

And it’s true. Jongin has his plan laid out in front of him already. He’s going to work for his father – his father owns an automotive company – and he’s going to be a part of it in September. Why September? It’s easy. Jongin and Soojung have been best friends, and now that she’s leaving in September, he decides to move into a new phase at the same time with her. It makes him feel like no one’s left behind. Soojung never questions Jongin’s choices – it’s his life, anyway, even though she has never imagined Jongin and automotive in a sentence together. “At least I have something definite to go after this,” is all what he said when he first told the group many weeks ago. And she couldn’t agree more. At least he has somewhere to go now, even though he has to begin from the very bottom, in which he added later on, “Nothing worth comes easy, you see. Starting from zero makes the outcome much more satisfying – or at least it seems like it, and it’s enough for me to accept my father’s offer,”

“And you told me there’s no reason to be afraid if you know what you’re doing,”

He smiles. “I know, I know. But, that’s the thing with human, you know? We’re all a little bit afraid of things sometimes.”

“You know what, Jongin? I think 23 isn’t that early to be getting married.” Soojung playfully retorts back.

He laughs then, averting his gaze back on Naeun, who’s apparently laughing as well. “I don’t feel like wanting to b