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She raised her hand, determined to drop the topic. “Fantastic. The fish cakes, the japchae, the kimchi—the leftover kimchi … oh my heart … I left them all in the fridge,” she lamented as her stomach growled. “Dear me, what if all of them expire before I get back home?”
After hearing her complain about missing food, I pulled out the cinnamon bread from my pocket to give it to her, but I instantly remembered she was allergic to it. “Oh man,” I muttered under my breath, “too bad you get rashes when you eat cinnamon.”
She paused and stared at me. Judgingly. “How did you know?”
“Who doesn’t?” Maybe I just paid more attention.
“Everyone else,” she replied, her expression stamped with discontent before she looked away and dragged her feet forward. “Whatever. When we get out of here, I will study until my eyes bleed. You and your zombies can’t stop me from becoming an ER doctor,” she began rambling as usual. “Or perhaps, instead of studying, I could just go straight to a Korean BBQ restaurant and eat all I can. Ha ha, right, because I’m not gonna get in trouble for skipping classes with a genius like you.” Her eyes widened. “Heol.Hold on a sec.Iamgonna get in trouble. I’ve completely lost my mind. I don’t think anyone in the medical field was failing in high school as badly as I am now.”
“Are you panicking because you still want to take my shirt off?” I called after her, pleased when her responding laugh floated over the forest noises. Then all of a sudden, she kneeled down with both of her hands on the ground, startling me.
After processing her actions and how she resembled the Korean emoticon of desperation, I scurried to her side.
“What is it?” I asked her, distraught. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Should I take you back?”
Aera lifted her face to show me her teary eyes, pouty lips, and oily skin. “But we already made it this far …” she moaned softly. “Take me back? You’re just going to give up that easily after I’ve wasted … all … this … energy to hike with you?” she puffed, still looking up at me.
I gulped, annoyed at my morbid sexual drive as I felt utterly enticed by her haggard and disheveled look. I shook my head so hard I got dizzy for a second.
“Come here. You’ve got to see it,” I said as soon as I regained my composure, taking Aera’s hand into mine and lugging her with me.
She got a second wind upon seeing the clouds up close, which helped obscure the beware signs. She retracted her hand away from mine and sprinted toward the opposite ridge of Skyhigh Falls, in awe of its beauty.
I followed, pausing to watch as she spun in a delighted circle, swishing her arms through the clouds. Her face was as beautiful as the atmosphere when she cupped her hands together as if she could hold the magical steam captive.
The clouds in her hands were like floating giant marshmallows, so full and mesmerizing, especially when there was someone out there appreciating it.
I had an urge to snap a shot of the view. It would have been perfect, with Aera underneath the clouds, gleeful and honest, experiencing pure nature.
Her innocence looked like hope to people like me. She giggled like a child who had never seen a bubble bath before, gazing at the light in the sky as if it would be her last, and caressing the clouds scattered above and around her. She tried catching some of them by opening and closing her hands, doing so repeatedly to see if any of the particles remained in her palms. It vanished, but when she lifted her chin to the sky, her lips curved. All her worries and hunger seemed to have disappeared. Her once haggard face glowed radiant and rosy under the sun’s rays, giving me a sense of comfort.
Watching her right then made me realize I still had a reason to stay.
Her.
We had bantered with each other, but at the end of the day, Aera was the one who saved me. She didn’t have to do anything. All she had to do was be there.
She said yes when I needed her to.
One look at her rare but genuine smile, and I could breathe again. Her mere presence put me out of my misery, and I couldn’t have asked for more.
Don’t Jump
I had never seena view as beautiful and heavenly as the sight at Skyhigh Falls. It was a hidden gem, an oasis that used to exist only in my dreams. A place kept within bounds for unknown reasons. The tallest mountain top I’d ever been, novel in its own way. Not only because the clouds were within our grasp or because the breathtaking waterfall moved gracefully along with a rainbow surrounding it. There was something else—like how it made me feel.
Being there made me feel powerful and at peace. It helped me see things in a new light, that even if my first relationship had failed, it wasn’t the end of the world.
It was only the beginning.
The light shining through the clouds reminded me of how blessed I was for being alive and able to dance right then and there, in the middle of the clouds that I could finally reach without having to dream it. And Gray led me to it.
“Do you think we can see the sun and the moon closer from up here?” I asked, closing my eyes as I held my breath and inhaled the unique fresh air of the mountaintop.
When Gray didn’t reply, the dark vision of this place flashed through my head.
“Gray!” I whirled around, searching through the fog for any sign of him but nada. “Gray!” I tried again.
Soon, my breathing became raspy as my desperate calls for him pierced through the sullen silence. Straining my ears, all I could hear was the pounding of the waterfall, once entrancing, now ominous.
