THE PERFECT MURDER.

21

FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE DAY, IT rains in Thistlethorn. The sky is cast, the day is dark and blue. I have returned back to the house, teeth chewing at my lower lip. The thoughts are still racing, though no longer do they run rampant of guilt. For the first time in ages, I feel like I have finally regained some control over myself.

One thing impedes me though. That raven-haired boy with ridiculously pretty eyes. He occupies my thoughts more than I want him to.

Within the past days, I've come to a realization that all of my past judgements were indeed something I had created to ignore the problems I didn't want to face. Now I had, and now the judgements...they were meaningless.

It makes me cringe at the way I had been so curt with him, so cold, and angry. Imagine that. The one person he had begun to trust in a completely new neighborhood. I had been so based.

Grabbing an umbrella, I open the front door to walk across, making a bee-line for the diner. It's been long enough, and I need to muster up the courage to talk to him and admit my faults. Rather than waiting for when I would be ready, I needed to force it out, get it over with.

I'm surprised that my presumption is correct. He's sitting at the corner booth, where we used to eat dinner together. The memory of his makes my heart throb, just wishing for the hopes that it might go back to normal. It won't, and I hate that I really fucked it up for him and I.

"Yeonjun."

When I say his name, he looks up. Tired, a little dejected, mainly the first. He has a plate of fries in front of him, a strawberry milkshake next to that, half empty. His eyes follow me as I approach, and I pause awkwardly in front of him.

"I need to apologize."

"Same." He utters under his breath, eyes darting away. "I...shouldn't have lashed out. You were right, it's dangerous."

"Well, yeah it is. But my opinion shouldn't matter, this is important to you." I bite my lip. "I'm sorry for not understanding. I do now. Maybe not as much as you, but...I've learned to not be so biased in my decisions. Your life is your life, and I'll support whatever you do. Even if it means wearing that leather jacket."

He blinks. "Really?"

"Yeah." Rocking back onto my heels, I nod. "It suits you. Like it was tailored just for you, Yeonjun."

The silence is deafening, thick, and overwhelmed with a bunch of unsaid things. Everything that I had been about to say at his house days prior are now dead on my tongue, now laced with uncertainty and doubt. This is not the way I had wanted it to go. Yeonjun nudges his head to the side.

"You can sit."

"It's late."

"Just sit, Mai."

His lips twitch when I do, taking the spot he had previously occupied while he moved aside. Snatching up one skinny fry, I nimbly pop it inside my mouth, the other hand wringing through my wet hair.

"How's the project going?"

"I..." The words falter. "It's going, I guess."

And the conversation dies again. That argument really took a toll, I no longer know what to say to him, whether it's okay to poke fun at him for being cooped up in here so late at night. So rather than going for the most superficial of things to say, I choose the opposite.

"I saw my mom. The other day." I breathe. "After we...we argued. She was on the east side, dandy as ever. I had been angry with Lisa for keeping her away from me, turns out Mom had been here the entire time, willingly staying away. She just...never cared about either of us, so thinking about it hurts a lot. And I don't want to think about it, and I want to push it away but I'm scared that if I do, it'll explode like all of this had."

"Your mom? So she...Lisa,"

"Yeah. They're all Gorgons too. And to think I thought you were being ridiculous. I'm just such a fool. An idiot, naïve and clueless."

"You're not."

"I am." I choke. "I don't know what to do with myself. I'm confused." I look at him briefly, letting out an exhale. "But whenever I'm with you, I'm not. Which is why everything about this is so much more confusing."

He lowers his head. "It's not confusing."

"It is! Because I don't know why I suddenly decided it's okay that you're a Gorgon. Is it because my family has been associated with the gang? Is it because of Lisa? Or is it..." I tuck my knees into my chest. "I don't know."

"It's not because of Lisa."

"Yeah?"

"You said it yourself." He whispers. "Back at my house." And he's right. I did, and I meant it, I really meant it. So maybe it makes sense. Maybe my judgments had been fake, I still would have gone back to him eventually despite that silly argument because I liked him. I really liked him, and it killed me to not see him, to stay away. Yeonjun drove me crazy, and in the most heartwarming and sweetest way possible. He never forced any of his thoughts onto me, though he made his side of deal pretty clear. He was protective but let me do what I wanted, and genuinely wanted to understand me. Choi Yeonjun is an amazing guy. So why was this taking me so long?

It's then that I kiss him for the first time. It's weird, my clothes are still wet from the rain, and he smells like cherries and cough medicine, but the moments our lips meet, all of the previous doubts of earlier fade.

And this feels good, this feels right. Finally.