Here I am in the train station in a cold foggy rural city called Barcons. I watch the train stop, I watch passengers get out and the next ones get in and leave and repeat.

I've been there since 10 a.m., and I'm waiting for someone in particular. Even though I was shivering from the cold wind, I don't care. As long as I had my phone so I could listen to my songs to entertain me and the deli shop outside the station where I buy steamed bun and tea, but I wanted to spare some space in my stomach to eat pho ramen in our favorite Vietnamese restaurant with the person I love.

We used to do that a lot, and I cherish every moment of it. Those wonderful moments will always stay in my memory. Every small detail of it.

You know, people say I have a very good memory, of course, I knew they meant it as a compliment because I remember a lot of things since I was just a baby, and I get good grades since I didn't have to review my textbooks, but that doesn't mean I'm intelligent though.

I remember the gown I wore when I was two. It was tailored and pink with ruffles and embroidered with sunflowers. I remember in kindergarten, I watched how an older kid colored his drawings with ombre colors, and I tried doing that in my Mickey Mouse coloring book and many more.

I would say I'm sentimental. That's what I am.

By the way, my name is Audrey Picardo, but I have a nickname that my father used to call me. It's Pepsi. I don't know why, but I like it. I guess that he liked to drink Pepsi whenever we had anything fried, but he passed away when I was just seven from an illness.

I'm twenty-six now, and people say I looked like a female version of him from my Creole skin tone, his ash brown straight hair, almond-shaped eyes, and a Roman-like nose.

I still have my mom and my big brother, Alden, who is two years older than me. They live in the city where I grew up about seven hours from Barcon Town.

Way before my dad got sick, he used to go to London to get his MBA so that he could work in my grandfather's company as a VP. I rarely saw him for two years, but Mom told me when I was a teenager that it wasn't his dream. He wanted to be a photographer, but Grandpa didn't support it.

One time, he came home and brought a digital camera. I remember asking him about it, and then he taught me how to use it. "Here, Pepsi," he said to me when I held the camera in my little hand. "Just push that button over there, and you get your picture."

I pressed the snapped button, and there was the flash, "Like this, Daddy?" I asked him.

"Yes, exactly like that. You got it."

My first shot was just a vase in the living room, but being a little kid at that time, I was so intrigued by it that I would take pictures of random things around the house. I know that I got my love of photography from my father, but I love the idea that I can capture a moment and then store it in my memory.

So whenever Dad was home, I borrowed the camera and used it. I just wanted to do that all the time then I found out from my school library's book that you can pursue it as a career and that was when I decided that I wanted to be a photographer.

-------

So anyway, it started in the year 2011.

I was fifteen. My brother and I went to one of those private schools in our high school years. Alden was on the basketball team while I joined the school newspaper as a photojournalist.

I believed it was a stepping stone for my photography dream, and I would help out the sewing club students with photoshoots for the clothes they made.

I had a camera that the club provided me until my mother gave me my own Canon DSLR. Unlike most kids in my school, my parents were very supportive of my interests and didn't think of it as a 'hobby'.

One day, I was just in my bedroom editing photos on my laptop, and all of a sudden, I heard my door open, and I thought it was my brother. "Hey! What did I say about knocking first..." Then I looked up, and it was not him but a guy who was also on the basketball team with Alden. He was very cute, with curly brown hair and dark, dreamy eyes.

"Oh, sorry, wrong room," he apologized, and I could see he looked embarrassed. "I'm looking for Alden's room. He said that it's the end of the hall, he didn't say which one."

"That's okay, it's across the hall," I told him with my voice cracked because he was so cute.

My brother came. "Oops, I should've told you which room is mine," he said, cringing at his mistake.

"You think?" The guy responds bluntly.

"Anyway, this is my little sister, Audrey. Audrey, this is Jake."

"Hey."

"Hey," I said back while putting out a goofy grin at him, and he smiled back at me.

"We'll... get out of your hair now." Alden unintentionally interrupted the moment as he and Jake started walking away from my doorway.

"Sorry again," Jake apologized.

Jake was so friendly and nice to the people around him that he even looked out for me. I fell for him hard until that unfortunate night that broke my heart.

The basketball team won a game and the celebration was in our house. I had too much to drink that I wanted to go to the bathroom, so I walked through the hallway, but then there was this sound. That was when I realized that it was coming from the guestroom. I don't know why, but I thought about checking it out. So I opened the door a little, enough to see who was inside.

You know when you take a bad picture and you can just delete it well this one, I couldn't delete this off my head like the time there was this awful teacher that humiliated me in front of my classmates when I was not able to solve a math problem, the time I remember the names the bully calls me before when I gained weight in middle school and the time I saw the horrible scenes I unintentionally saw in a thriller movie that my brother loved to watch in the living room.

I saw Jake and another girl. They were half-naked. I saw them making out at first, then the two got into the bed, and that was when they did it. I just couldn't help but stare in horror how the guy, I liked a lot, making love with a girl. I could feel someone shoot a bullet through my heart because it was so painful that I just ran from there and went straight to my room crying.

I could never see that guestroom the same way again after that, and Jake, too. The next day, the pain in my heart was still fresh, I felt so numb that it felt like I couldn't feel physical pain even if a stray bullet shot me. "Hey!" My brother called out to me loudly to get my attention.

"Huh... what?" I flinched and turned to my brother. "What do you want?"

"Audrey, you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone. "You've been staring at your phone like.... a zombie, is everything okay?"

He couldn't be any more right, but I couldn't tell him. He didn't even know that I liked his best friend. "Oh," I uttered. "Yeah... yeah..."

"Are you sure? Did something happen last night?"

"What? No, no, nothing happened."

"Come on, Sis, you know you can tell me anything."

"I'm fine," I insisted or at least lied to his face. Since then, I had never told my brother how I felt about Jake, and how could I anyway? They were the best of friends.

The next thing I remember, Jake and that girl, Stephanie, were in a relationship. She was a cheerleader and a friend to my brother. It was sheer torture when they had to hang out in our house after school. By the way, was it wrong to wish a horrible death to them?

-----

Then came December of 2011.

My mom took me and my brother to Barcon for Christmas to visit the grandparents from my mom's side, and we took the train to get there. I remember my heart still ached from what I had witnessed. It was the first time I went there because our grandparents usually came to us in the city so I didn't know what it looked like.

Like I mentioned. It was a seven-hour trip and we arrived in the afternoon. When we exited the train, we saw our grandparents sitting on the bench with their happy faces they ran to us and hugged us.

Afterward, we rode in their car, and on the way, that was when I felt love again.

"Welcome to Barcon," my Grandpa said while driving.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. The first time I saw the town, it was cold but not snowing. I saw the gigantic pine trees and there was fog everywhere. Along the way, there were towns with European structures, this one hill filled with blueberry fields, and I swore I smelled milk as well. I immediately took out my camera and took lots of pictures.

Not long after, we got to their house, and boy, it was magnificent. "Ah... I miss this house." I heard Mom express her nostalgia when we got out of the car and took our bags from the trunk. It was her childhood home.

It was one of those heritage homes up the hill, I think they call it Antebellum or Plantation homes like from the Notebook film, one of those going back from the great-great-great-grandparents' Red bricks, a blue roof with white decks, doors, windows, and a balcony surrounded with a beautiful garden. "Don't worry, kids, we have wi-fi," Grandma assured us.

Once we got inside, the interior felt like we were inside an old doll house. I loved it, but my brother, let's just say this is not his style. Suddenly, we heard a small dog bark because apparently, they had a chubby black pug running towards us, "Oh! hi! little guy," I greeted and petted it because he was so adorable.

"That's Joe. He's the baby of the house," Grandma introduced.

Later, we got to our rooms, and I took lots of pictures because it felt like I was in another time like a fairytale room with some modern touch into it. I couldn't even sleep that night because I was already in a dream. I wish we had gone here more often. It was a dream with Prince Charming on the way.

Once we were settled and well-rested, we explored the city. I was taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, and I could see Mom enjoying walking down memory lane.

After taking three shots, I turned around, and there he was, the love of my life, the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, though I didn't know it at that time.

I accidentally aimed my lens and shot a photo of him and vice versa because I heard his camera click. I mean, what are the odds that you just turned around and saw the guy that will make you the happiest person on the planet?

But we didn't get the chance to talk that time.

Until a few days passed, and Grandma asked me to walk the dog for her while she and Mom were preparing breakfast. I didn't mind, I am a dog person anyway and I wanted to check the area more on foot so I brought my camera with me.

Joe stopped at a street sign a block away from the house, and he started sniffing at the pole while I admired the surroundings. It was cold, but I could manage.

I was lost in my thoughts until another dog appeared. It was a cream-colored poodle, and it started smelling Joe. I thought it was lost, so I gazed around from where it was running from, and that was when I saw him again, an angelic-looking guy with honey blond bowl like-cut hair bouncing as he was coming our way.

"There you are," he said, but once he came, the poodle barked at Joe that they were circling me while the guy tried to take his dog though he did, then he looked at me. "Sorry about that. Her leash got loose."

"Don't worry about it," I replied. "Is that your dog?"

"No, it's my neighbors." He fixed the loose leash while carrying the dog. "I offered to dogsit while his paw parents are out of town.

"Aww... cute."

Once he was done putting the leash back on the poodle, I noticed his eyes glancing at my camera, "Cool camera," he complimented. "I always wanted a Canon, but for now, I have Pentax."

"It's still good, I'm thinking of getting a Pentax anyway," I said, and then it hit me. "So you're into photography too? I just noticed because... the other day and all."

"Yup," he nodded and had this crooked smirk. However, his phone vibrated, so he took it out and checked it. "Oh, I have to go."

"Oh, yeah, sure."

He was about to leave, but then he stopped. "Wait, what's your name?"

Listen. We had the same interest, and he seemed decent too, but I wasn't going to give a stranger my name, "Pepsi," I blurted.

"Like the drink?" His brow raised.

"Yup." My voice got high.

"Okay." Then he paused like he was thinking. "I'm... Jack."

Ugh... it was almost the same as Jake. Although I knew it was a real name, something told me that it was not his name. Then again, who was I to complain if it was his name or not, right?

"Anyway, nice to meet you," he added.

"You too," I replied, then he walked away with the poodle with him.