( ⛅️ )

❛ don't ever leave me
for more than a day. ❜

—

miyong wrapped her hands around the sides of her arms in an attempt to warm herself, as the cold late afternoon spring breeze blew across the school grounds.

she hesitantly walked towards her favourite place on campus, a million thoughts passing through her head as she took each step.

what was her favourite place you may ask?

well, it was a quiet secluded path where multitudes of blossom trees resided.

though most of the flowers on the pretty trees had just begun to bloom — leaving trails of petals on the ground — there was one tree that was unlike the rest.

the wilted blossom tree.

it was a singular tree whose flowers only bloomed for one day in the entire year. one day only, before its petals would disappear the next day and the tree would wilt away until the next year.

it was a peculiar discovery that miyong and mark had made together in their freshman year at seoul high. mark had accidentally stumbled upon it when he was purposely playing a game of hide-and-seek from miyong in hopes of scaring her.

rather than frightening her, instead, they had found a gorgeous colonnade of trees a little distance away from the school.

the blossom tree path was known to them as their place — a place they would go if they had nothing to do. a place they would go to find each other if they were ever feeling down. a place that felt like home.

the girl slowed her steps as she neared the area, looking around she didn't see anyone in sight. miyong was rather relieved, as she didn't know if she was ready to see him again after she had gone off on him like that.

what if mark was secretly mad at her? what if all of it was actually her fault? maybe she should apologize to him instead.

she fidgeted with her hands anxiously while staring at the ground, clearly overthinking everything — failing to hear the light patter of footsteps approaching.

"hey." his gentle voice whispered behind her.

slowly turning around to meet his mocha-coloured eyes, miyong could see the clear regret and pain that flooded mark's face. he stood a distance away, giving her space as he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable in any way.

they stood in silence facing each other as neither spoke, listening only to the sound of leaves and petals rustling on the ground around them.

"i'm sorry." he suddenly blurted.

"i'm a stupid idiot who shouldn't have gotten in the way of your conversation. i'm a fool for getting mad at you when it clearly wasn't your fault, but i made it seem like it was — and i'm sorry for upsetting you. you don't know how much it hurt me when i realized that i had hurt you and i feel like i don't deserve you. i'm a terrible pers—"

"oh, shut up." miyong suddenly said cutting him off. she secretly smiled inside as mark's face fell, looking even guiltier than before.

"i—"

before he could say anything else, she ran towards him and wrapped her arms around his torso tightly, face pressed tightly against his chest, the smile on her face growing as he put is arms around her shoulders.

"i accept your apology. don't ever leave me for more than a day again, okay?" miyong said muffled into his chest, holding back the tears forming in her eyes.

"i'm sorry, mimi. i'm sorry— i'm sorry — i'm sorry," he whispered, squeezing her tighter, and closer toward him each time he said it.

miyong suppressed a laugh as she tried to push away from him, but failing terribly as he only squeezed her harder.

"love you, stupid."

before she had realized it, the words had slipped out of her mouth. mark surprisingly didn't seem fazed by her words, instead he and replied, returning a warm smile, "love you too."

for a minute the pair stood in silence one again in each other's embrace, with the realization of what had just happened sinking in.

but both knew that to each other, their words were only platonic.

miyong suppressed a sigh as her mind returned back to the same thought that had run through her mind a million times.

friends. best friends. that's all they would ever be. maybe they'd hug, maybe they'd kiss, but none of it would ever mean anything.

"mi?" mark slowly whispered, as she raised her head to look at his face.

"yes?" she responded.

"i want to take you somewhere." he replied, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"where?" miyong asked curiously at his sudden proposition.

"it's a secret, dumbass." he snickered, as miyong rolled her eyes, "you'll like it, i promise."

"fine, i trust you," she reluctantly said as she slipped out of mark's embrace, intertwining her hand with his tightly. "should we go? it's going to get late soon."

"that's the point." he smiled as miyong raised her bro in confusion, "you'll seeee," he said wittily, as he dragged her by the hand to the parking lot where his car awaited.

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a/n !

WE HIT CHAPTER 20 !!!! i'm so proud of myself you all have no idea. i've never gotten this far with a book and it feels so good to hit this mark. many easter eggs in this chapter, that i'm excited to reveal to you all soon :')

ALSO STICKER DAESANG !!!! to all the sticker antis out there how does it feel to be proven wrong <33 ALSO ALSO one two three four five six seven you make me feel like ELEVENN