Mark

The next morning, I woke up and Jackson was still there. I didn't know why, but the thought of him leaving right after we had for the first time plagued my dreams the entire night. As one can imagine, having was one of those activities that as I got older, I was told would be unsafe for me to do. So, I couldn't imagine having the first time I was willing to risk my own health being completely tainted by a sad dose of reality.

I smiled, sat up, and attempted to wake him up by lightly poking his face. He turned his head in the other direction, then back before finally, his eyes began to blink open.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," I said, sort of laughing. 

He began to smile as he stretched his arms. "I should be saying that to you," he said. That made me blush and put my head down. It was his turn to laugh at me, leaning closer and pressing a fleeting kiss to my cheek after the fact.

"We should probably get up. Your mom might kill me if she finds us like this," he said as he smiled faintly. 

"She might," I said in agreement, earning one more laugh from him before we both got out of bed. We got dressed and tip-toed our way out into the hall and into the living room. I wasn't sure if my mom was home yet, but I put my hand on his shoulder when we reached the bottom step to let him know to wait. I walked around the corner, into the kitchen and my mom was pouring coffee into her cup.

"Oh, good morning honey," she said once I caught her eye.

"Good morning. What time did you get home last night?" I asked.

"A little after midnight. I was going to come in and check on you, but I was too tired. And plus, I thought you'd be alright since Jackson was here," she said as turned back around to put cream in her coffee. I shut my eyes, cringing when I remembered that his car was still out front. "Hi, Jackson," she said before she took another sip.

Sheepishly, Jackson stepped down and smiled. "Good morning, Mrs. Tuan," he said, waving a little.

"It just kind of happened, mom," I tried to explain, afraid of the surprisingly calm expression on her face. "W-We all hung out after the talent show last night and it got late, so he just crashed here."

"I don't care what happened," she said as she set her coffee cup down, waving her hand at us. "As long as you were safe, that's all I care about." I smiled a little at her and she smiled back. "How about some breakfast before you leave, hm?"

Jackson nodded his head. "Sure, that would be great, thank you." We helped my mom cook and then sat down and ate together. I felt happy as I looked at them. 

But sometimes, happiness was an illusion, a mere curtain that was shielding us from the pain of the truth.

Jackson

I was hitting myself on the head as I drove home. I should have told him, I wanted to tell him. But at the same time, I didn't want to. I didn't want to ruin one of our last moments together for who knew how long by telling him the truth. I needed to tell him, though, and I said I would. I just couldn't do it yet.

When I arrived home, I was sad to see that my parents had already packed up some of our stuff. They said a lot of it we'd have to sell or get rid of, so they advised me to bring only what I needed and really, really wanted. But I didn't care about my stuff. I would have left all of it behind if I meant I could stay in Los Angeles with my friends, with Mark.

A little while into packing, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. I opened it and it was Bam Bam, Yugyeom, and Youngjae. I didn't say anything and let them in. I resumed packing when Youngjae shut the door.

"Why didn't you tell us you had to go back to Hong Kong?" Bam Bam asked, sounding like a parent scolding their child. I sat down on my bed.

"Because I'd knew you'd react like this," I said, glancing up at him.

"We would have reacted like this anyway. You should have just told us," Yugyeom said.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. But I was still upset about it myself, so I figured it wouldn't do me any good if I made anyone else upset," I explained with a heavy sigh.

"What did you tell Mark?" Youngjae asked of nowhere. We all looked at him as he continued to look at me.

"I didn't," I said. He let out a gust of air, kind of like a laugh, then shook his head. "What was I supposed to tell him, Youngjae? 'Hey, it was nice knowing you, but I'm leaving?'" I said, now standing up.

"I don't know, Jackson, but he isn't going to take this as lightly as we are if that's what you even want to call this," he said. "At least if you would have had the decency to say something before he'd have time to start to get over it."

"He has a point," Yugyeom said as he sat next to me. "Mark isn't going to take this lightly at all."

"Yeah. He's probably going to be yelling and everything," Bam Bam said.

"Bam Bam, that wasn't needed," Yugyeom said to him. "Look, all I'm saying is be careful with how you explain it to him. I mean, either way, he'll be upset. But the way you explain it to him could make or break your chances of ever seeing him again." I knew he was right, but I was still kind of hoping that I'd wake up suddenly and realize all of this was a dream. 

But once I finished talking with them, I pulled out my phone and texted Mark. 

To: Marky
Can you come over later? We need to talk.
Sent: 10: 57 a.m.

Mark

I heard my phone go off while I was making my bed only a few hours after Jackson left. I quickly finished and checked it to see a message from Jackson.

From: Jackson
Can you come over later? We need to talk.
Sent: 10: 57 a.m.

I narrowed my eyes. He never used proper grammar when he texted.

To: Jackson
I have some errands to run with my mom today, but I can come over after dinner if that works.
Sent: 11:01 a.m.

From: Jackson
Okay.
Sent: 11:02 a.m.

For the rest of the day up until that time, I wondered what it was he wanted to talk about. It could have been something good like a surprise, but my anxieties wanted me to believe otherwise. So, after I helped my mom clean up the kitchen, I went to go find out. I knocked on his door and he opened the door just enough so that he could see me, but I couldn't see inside. He began to step out when his dad said, "Hurry back, Jackson." 

He just nodded and shut the door behind him. He put his hands in his jean pockets and began to walk. I followed him, waiting for him to say something. When I realized he probably wouldn't, I finally said to him, "So, what did you need to talk to me about?"

"You know how I fence?" he said after a while, prompting me to nod my head. "Well, the company that sponsors me sent a letter the other day saying that something has come up."

"Well, that's good news, isn't it? You haven't fenced in a while so you must be anxious to," I said.

"It would be if I didn't have to go back to Hong Kong for it," he said as he stopped walking.

I stopped, too. "What?" I said. "What do you mean you have to go back to Hong Kong?"

"They already arranged school, housing, and even our flight there," he said, not really answering my question. "I was going to tell you earlier but..." My eyes began to fill, but I wasn't ready to let them fall yet.

"Is that why you agreed to stay over last night? Because you felt guilty for not telling me when you found out?" I said without looking at him.

"No, I never said that. What happened last night was real," he said, getting closer to me. I scoffed, feeling anger and sadness and confusion all at once. "Believe me, I don't like this any more than you do. And if I could say no I would...but I can't." He picked up my hands and held them in his. "Mark, meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me. And because of that, I will come back for you as soon as I'm done with whatever I have to while I'm gone. A-And besides, I don't leave until next week, so we still have a little more time together, yeah?" 

I looked at him, the tears in my eyes still not yet having fallen. He wiped one of them as it ran down my cheek. He moved both of his hands on my face and kissed me, pulling me into a tight hug afterward.

I wanted to be angry and push him away. I wanted to cry and never let him go. But I couldn't do either of those things. So, I just hugged him back, deciding to hold onto him for as long as I possibly could.