Harper sat on the swing in the park, gripping the chain link on either side of her as the stars twinkled into view above. It had rained earlier that afternoon, causing a thin layer of water to remain on the equipment that reflected the stars' glow. Turning her head up to look at them, she tried to search for the star that would be the brightest. Even though she had never been one to believe in wishes, she found herself tonight wanting to cast a wish more than anything. Something as impossible as that seemed to be the only chance she had left to keep from losing the one person that meant the most to her in this world.

"I thought you might be here."

Her eyes were brought down from the stars as she heard his voice. Turning on the swing, she saw Chris walking towards her. He had the hood of his black hoodie tugged up over his hair as a way to combat the night chill. He had one hand in his pocket and the other hand was wrapped around his cell phone.

"Didn't you hear my texts?"

"I...I did, but I was distracted."

"The stars have your attention more than me?"

"I should be asking that question of you, future idol."

A flicker of a smirk crossed his lips as he sat down on the swing beside her.

"I'm just going to training. We might not even debut," he said.

"Oh please. You know you're going to make it. Just don't forget the little people, alright?"

"You aren't a little person, Harp. You're my whole world."

"Oh shut up," she tsked, rolling her eyes. "Don't be getting all sappy on me right before you leave."

"We have phones Harp. Just because I'm leaving town doesn't mean you're losing me. I promise."

She remained silent as he dug his phone out of his pocket. Flicking the camera app open, he held his phone out at arm's length as he leaned towards Harper.

"One last picture before the road?" he asked as she nodded.

Resting her chin on his shoulder, she gave his camera a grin as he used his free hand to make a 'V' in front of one eye as he smiled too. Having one hand holding the phone while the other made a 'V', it left him a bit uncoordinated on the swing. Seconds after he had snapped the picture, he felt his body rock backwards. Harper saw him shift and tried to reach out to grab him, but it only caused her to fall on the ground with him. With an 'oof', they both landed on the ground under the swings, Harper landing partly on Chris' chest.

"Well hello there!" he said as he smiled up at her.

The hurt of him leaving became too unbearable then as she stared down at him beneath her. With tears in her eyes, Chris barely had time to register their existence before she buried her face in his shoulders and hung on to him.

"Harp?...Harp, are you crying?" Chris asked, feeling her body shake slightly as she clung to him.

Chris managed to shift to sit up, still holding Harper against him as he hugged her back.

"Hey...don't cry. This isn't goodbye," he whispered.

"It feels like it," she said.

"This is just a 'see you later'. I swear. Just pretend I'm on vacation or something."

He felt tears of his own prick his eyes, but he swallowed them. It was just in time too as Harper finally seemed to settle and pulled back to lock her eyes on his.

"Finishing up high school is gonna be unbearable without you."

"You're going to be okay," he said as he used a hand to brush the tears off her cheek.

The air between them felt as if it were supposed to be filled with something, but silence remained between the two of them. Chris helped Harper to her feet as they both got up. The chill that the night brought with it was enough to make Harper shiver, sniffling slightly from having cried.

"I probably should get going," Chris said, "but I will call. I swear. You can call me any time too, yeah?"

She nodded, watching as he dug his phone out. Five seconds later, she heard her own phone ding.

"To remember this moment," Chris said as she dug out her phone to see that he had texted her the picture they had taken together.

She looked up from the picture with tears glistening in her eyes, but she refused to let herself cry again. Harper knew that she wouldn't be able to survive if she kept giving in to those kinds of emotions.

"See you later, Chris," she said as she watched a grin flicker across his lips.

"See you later, Harper," he said.

---

"Just go out there and pretend the whole crowd is made up of me, okay?"

"I shouldn't pretend they're all in their underwear then?"

"When has that strategy ever worked?" she asked, smiling a bit with relief when she heard him chuckle.

Leaning up against the shelving in the janitor's closet, Harper could hear the chatter of students on the other side as they all rushed to class. Chris had messaged her sounding panicked, causing Harper to find some sort of private place where she could call him up quickly. She was relieved to see that within a matter of seconds she seemed able to calm his nerves like old times.

"Just go out there and break a leg, but not really!" she said with a smile. "You've got this Chris."

"Oh, that reminds me, I'm going by a new name now," he said as she cocked a brow.

"Oh?"

"Bang Chan."

"Bang Chan," she said, testing the name out, repeating it a few times as he looked at her weirdly.

"What? You don't like it?"

"No...no I do. Can I call you Channie now?"

He chuckled, rolling his eyes, "Whatever you want, Harp."

"Because Channie just sounds so freaking adorable," she said in a cutesy voice as he fought a blush, turning away and clearing his throat as a knock sounded at the door.

"Sounds like it's time for me to go on..."

Harper could still tell he was nervous, locking her eyes on his on the video call as she said, "I know you and your group will win them over. You've got this."

"And if we don't?"

"Then your number one fan will still be here waiting at home for you to chase the next opportunity that will present itself, because trust me Channie, if for some reason this doesn't work out, then another opportunity will. I promise."

"You're the best, Harp. You know that?" he said before letting out a sigh. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," she said. Even though it had only been six months since he left, it felt like a lifetime. Their near daily calls weren't enough to fill the void of his actual presence.

"After this, I'm hoping I'll have some spare time. I was thinking I could come back home, and you and I could maybe hang out for a bit."

"That'd be great!" Harper said, her smile matching his for a moment before she noticed him turn his head aside.

"They're looking for me. I've got to go. See you later, Harp."

"See you later."

- - -

"Harper, are you really just going to stay home all summer?" her mother asked her she looked at Harper sitting near the window looking like some sort of sad and lost puppy.

"No. I'm going to go out."

Harper's mother sighed, not believing what her daughter was saying. Walking over to where Harper was on the couch, she noticed that Harper's cell phone was sitting out nearby. Though she didn't know Harper's friend that had moved away, she could tell that communication between the two of them had lessened over the last few months.

"Maybe you ought to get out some, Harper. Get some fresh air. Don't spend your whole summer vacation waiting for a call."

She felt a blush race to her cheeks but nodded her head to appease her mother.

"Want to go on some errands with me?"

"Sure," Harper said, standing up from the couch. She couldn't wait around all summer for Chris to call. The hope that he eventually would still filled her. She knew she could count on him and that he wouldn't let her down.

'After all, it's a see you later,' Harper thought as she followed her mom out the door.

When she got to the shopping center with her mom, she left her about halfway through shopping to get a coffee. The moment she stepped foot into the adjoining coffee shop, she could overhear some girls nearby chatting with each other. Harper was going to ignore them until she heard Bang Chan's name mentioned in conjunction with another name. A female name.

"Bang Chan and Shin Jiha look so adorable together."

"I know, right? They are going to be couple goals."

"Going to be? They already are!"

The girls stopped talking when they noticed Harper standing rooted to her spot and staring at them.

"Can we help you?" one of them asked.

"I umm...I heard you talking about Bang Chan..."

"Ah yes! Have you seen the new pictures of him and his girlfriend?"

Harper shook her head as the girl came rushing over to show Harper the pictures. With each new picture the girl swiped through, the more Harper felt her heart break.

'No wonder he hasn't called,' Harper thought. 'His life is completely different now, and I don't fit into it anymore.'

Excusing herself before she made a fool of herself crying, Harper walked away and soon stood outside the shopping center. She dug out her cell phone and stared with blurry eyes at the picture she had taken with Bang Chan on the swings what felt like a lifetime ago. There was a part of her that knew she was probably over-reacting, but it was the part that was taking control then. Her finger hovered over the delete button near the picture before deleting it entirely. She then went into her contacts and deleted his number.

"You're not the only one that can erase someone from their life," Harper said out loud to herself.

When she eventually went back into the shopping center and found her mother, her mother could tell that something was wrong even though Harper had thought she had collected her feelings enough. Thankfully she was able to evade her mother's questions for now, not wanting to start breaking down again with others around.

Over the next few days, Harper kept her cell phone turned off. When she eventually turned it back on, she noticed a few calls from unsaved numbers, but none of them were from Bang Chan. Eventually in the months and then years that followed, their promise of 'see you later' became nothing more than a memory of the past as the two of them began to live their separate lives.