optical ↠ the boyz

thirty three

The girl believed that spending one last night by his side would give her some sort of closure.

And it did, to an extent. The two sat on the bench until the early hours, neither caring how worried their parents would be.

They didn't even need to touch, simply being in each other's presence was good enough, and maybe it was what they both needed to move forward, or at least that's what they told themselves.

"What do we do now?" Sunwoo said, looking up at the stars which were so clear tonight.

"You said one more night," Nari nodded, although the thought of leaving any time soon hurt. "And it's almost morning."

The boy let out a breathy chuckle, looking down at his shoes. "I think we need to move on."

Her hand almost flew to her chest, the clenching feeling she dreaded and wished to never feel again reappeared, making her wonder why she should even bother with pursuing anyone.

"Me too," she said truthfully, scrunching her eyes at her own words. "It's funny, we didn't even get to properly date."

"I know," he shook his head with a small smile, their memories were comforting enough. "I can live with that regret, I think."

"You think?" She chuckled, looking over at the boy. "I know you can."

"You don't get to use my words on me," he nudged the girl, as she smiled warmly at him. "Why do you say that?"

"I think I put you through a lot," she shrugged, turning away. "I got involved with you and I never knew what I wanted, and when I realised it was too late. It felt horrible losing you, but I can only assume you felt worse."

Sunwoo nodded slowly, a sense of relief hearing her words washed over him, although he wished that none of this had happened.

"I'm saying, I think you're stronger than me," the girl continued, feeling like she was getting months of thoughts off of her chest. "And I think you can live with the regret, just know that I'll find it hard to."

"I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse," he looked at the girl teary eyed as her eyes glossed over too. "We look really pathetic right now."

The girl laughed, pulling down the sleeves of her jumper to wipe her tears as Sunwoo watched, taking in the sight of the girl in her vulnerability, knowing he would never see it again.

"I'll miss you," he said abruptly, before squeezing his eyes shut at the words that escaped his mouth.

"I'll miss you too," she said, choking on a cry as the two laughed at their current states. "I don't want you to cry anymore today, you've been through enough with the funeral and all."

Sunwoo shook his head, wiping the last of his tears as he nodded reassuringly at the girl with a small smile. "Thank you for tonight."

The two sat for a while longer in silence, watching as the sky only became lighter with time and it meant that their time was running out.