Mark's Perspective
9:52am
I woke up in denial.
I knew that today was my last day in this apartment and it almost made my stomach hurt. I turned around to see Melanie wrapped up in all of the covers while still managing to look cold.
Her eyes slightly open, mouth agape, and hair a mess.
She so beautiful it's ridiculous. Even with the little puddle of saliva on the side of her mouth.
I got up and started packing the last bit of stuff in my closet. I tried to pack as softly as possible making sure to not wake Mel, too bad she's a light sleeper.
"What are you doing?" She asked as
she rubbed her eyes slowly,
"Packing the rest of my stuff up,
I'm sorry for waking you-"
"Can you just come lay with me a little longer?"
"Of course baby"
And with that I crawled back into bed with her and began to wrap myself around her body entirely.
Trying to pry the covers from her body felt like trying to wrestle a sumo wrestler. Eventually she noticed my struggle and gave me back some of the blankets.
As we snuggled I thought about how different our lives were going to be. What if Melanie moves on?
I tried to shake these thoughts away and only think about the moment we were living in currently.
-
3:23pm
Melanie and I spent the day packing up the last bit of my things while also trying to watch tv.
My flight departed at 11:15pm. So I tried to avoid looking at the clock all day because it just brought me anxiety.
A few hours later Taeyong and Johnny came by to wish me their final goodbyes.
"I can't believe my little brother is really leaving," Taeyong said seeming very emotional
"Me either it felt like just yesterday we came up with the foreign swaggers, how can we swag without you?" Johnny asked
"Melanie can fill in for me!" I said
trying to lift the spirits in the room
"But Melanie isn't foreign nor has any swagger-", Jaehyun added as he finally decided to come out of his room, earning him a slap on the arm from Melanie.
We continued to make jokes with each other until Taeyong handed me a small box full of little cards,
"What's this?"
"Well you have to open it to find out!" Taeyong replied with a smile
As I opened it, there were little notes from all of our friends and classmates, even some of my professors.
"Good luck Mark! Make us proud!"
"Don't forget about us!!!!"
"Tell Psy and G-Dragon to follow me on instagram"
"We can't wait to see everything you will accomplish"
I felt tears begin to swell up in my eyes. I going to miss New York, I'm going to miss this family. My little family of friends and professors, the people that truly believe in me and everything I have to offer. Melanie must've sensed that I was becoming emotional since she came behind me and gave me the tightest back hug known to mankind.
I continued to read through a few more, and decided to leave some for when I'm feeling homesick. Until I noticed Ten's peeking out,
"To Mark,
I believe that you have everything it takes to become a success, not only in Korea but everywhere else in the world. And trust me you're already a star to all of us in New York."
I felt a tear stream down my face, and then I noticed another note attached to the back of Ten's
"Hey someone wrote a note to Johnny!"
"Read it out loud!!" Everyone yelled,
"I want to have XXXX with you. fatass. love you forever. Um I don't think I was supposed to read-"
"Yea I don't think we should read that, it was
Ten though!" Johnny exclaimed causing
us all to laugh
-
9:12pm
Melanie looked incredibly sad all night, and I know that it wasn't on purpose but I couldn't help but to feel bad.
We began to load all of my suitcases into the car and waited for Haechan to come. The airport was almost an hour away so began our mini road trip as soon as he arrived.
Jaehyun drove while I sat in the passenger seat, leaving Melanie and Haechan to fight over the aux cord in the back,
"The first problem is that your car still has an aux cord instead of connecting through Bluetooth!" Haechan yelled
"Hey! I love my old school car okay?" Jaehyun replied with a smug smile
"It actually hurts me how old you guys act"
Haechan replied sarcastically
As we drove Haechan and Mel began to screech songs at the tops of their lungs together in the backseat,
"LOVE UH UHH SCenAriOOOOO"
"GET AWAY OUT OF MY FACE!!!"
"I WANNA KNOW KNOW KNOW KNOWWWW WHAT IS LOVE?!!!"
"REEL IT IN REEL IT IN"
"TAKI TAKI TAKI TAKI"
"RUMBA!"
Jaehyun and I laughed at how Haechan and Melanie managed to share one brain cell. As time went on Melanie began to play Daniel Caesar causing herself and Haechan to fall asleep.
The closer we got to the airport the more nervous I became. My hands were sweating profusely, and I felt my heart beat in my butt. Jaehyun must've sensed how nervous I was causing him to whisper to me,
"Everything is going to be okay, stop worrying"
-
10:46pm
As I checked in I knew it was finally time to say my goodbyes. I talked to Jaehyun first, and seeing him cry for the first time ever broke my heart. He became one of my best friends and now I was leaving him. We hugged for what felt like forever and it was hard to let go.
When we finally pulled away, I looked over to see Melanie and Haechan crying like babies while still doing their handshake in perfect rhythm. I couldn't help but to laugh a little bit.
I walked over to Melanie slowly, however she collided herself into me and clenched onto me for dear life.
"I love you Mark, I love you so much. I'm sorry for all the dumb things I've ever done or said. I just want you to know I love you."
"I love you more lovebug, and no matter how far away I am, I'm still your best friend and I deserve to hear all the tea too. Okay?"
Melanie shook her head yes as she continued to cry in my shoulder. We stood together in complete silence, and I didn't want to let go.
Soon enough our managers came and announced that it was time to go. And once again I don't think I've ever seen Melanie cry so hard before.
It wasn't a dramatic cry, or a loud cry.
It was quiet, soft, but still strong. It pained me to have to leave her.
As I walked away things became a blur, I entered the plane and sat down across from Haechan. And all I could do was cry.