Autumnal Equinox (JinJi)

Fourteen

"I hear you," she said. "Moving in was a bitch when I went to LA, too. Is someone meeting you there?"

"The company is sending someone to pick me up at JFK," Jinyoung answered. "Other than that, I'll be on my own."

Jisoo smiled. "I guess this is goodbye, then."

Jinyoung frowned. "I guess it is."

"Oh, before you go," Jisoo said, then she turned and went back into the house for a minute. When she came back out, she handed him a slim white device. His Nintendo DS. Jinyoung laughed as he reached out to receive it.

"I'm sorry I lost your charger," Jisoo said with a chuckle. "I turned my room upside down to find it. Then, I realized I didn't even finish that level I was on. What a waste."

"Now we'll never know if you could have beaten it," Jinyoung said, looking up at her with a fond smile.

Jisoo fidgeted with her hands. "I want to say that I'm sorry, again," she said softly. "What I did was uncalled for. All that confusion you went through because I suddenly cut you off, I'm sorry."

He wasn't hurt by it anymore. It was like the pain had just packed its things and slipped away. But if apologizing would help Jisoo forgive herself, then he accepted it anyway.

"You know that you're my best friend, right?" Jisoo asked. Jinyoung sighed and gave her a soft nod.

"And you're mine," he said. Their eyes met, and for a moment Jinyoung felt that he was ten years old again. Seeing her for the first time. He swallowed a hard lump in his throat and then put his arms around her. Jisoo wrapped her arms around his chest and breathed in his scent.

This, too, was home.

"Don't be a stranger," Jinyoung said, forcing himself to put on a smile. He could feel her shaking her head against his shoulder.

"I'll call and text," she said. "And video calls are a thing, too. I don't know when I'll be able to visit or when you can make it back here again, but... I'll stay in touch. I promise."

Jinyoung nodded and sighed. "Good," he said. When they finally pulled away, Jisoo's eyes were pools of unshed tears, and Jinyoung silently hoped that they wouldn't spill over. If she started crying, he wouldn't be able to stop himself either.

"Be safe," she said with a trembling voice. Jinyoung nodded.

He heard someone say once that the particles that made up the bodies of human beings were the same things that made up the stars and the universe. Somebody speculated that perhaps the reason some people's lives were inexplicably drawn together was because once upon a time, their molecules sat side by side and were suddenly scattered when an explosion set time on its never-ending forward course. And now their molecules would do anything to be together again.

Jinyoung wasn't sure he believed that, but... if he did, it would explain why he felt so strongly, even as they bid farewell, that he and Jisoo would see each other again.

But for now, he let his eyes linger on her face a little while longer. He was trying to remember every dip and curve of her face, trying to make this moment enough to last him the next however many years it would be until the next time they could be together.

"Goodbye, Jisoo," Jinyoung leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

Then he got back into his car and began the long journey back to Seoul. Above them, another day cycled into twilight, and summer said its goodbyes, too.