Wish (Jung Hoseok)

Twenty Three

"Sarah! You made it!" Natalie greeted the girl at the door, a large party hat placed on her auburn hair at the oddest angle imaginable.

Sarah smiled and made herself at home by kicking off her shoes and fishing out a bottle of water from the cooler that sat by the door.

"Is it just you and I tonight?" Sarah asked, praying the sparkle of hope in her eyes wasn't visible.

Natalie nodded and plopped on the couch by Sarah, popping open what appeared to be a beer.

Sarah cringed in disgust. "How can you drink that! It tastes like old underwear"

"How would you know what that tastes like?" Natalie retorted, taking the biggest swig she could. Only to gag. "Jeez... you're right."

"As always~" Sarah beamed.

"Board game?"

"Hell no."

"Uno?"

"That's better." Sarah laughed as Natalie dug through a case of games by the couch until eventually, she pulled out the glorious Uno deck.

Three games later, the ball began to drop.

Natalie and Sarah counted down, just like they did every year since they were six, every New Year's Eve party which they later discovered were fake when they caught their parents switching the times on all the clocks.

"5... 4..." Natalie counted.
Sarah bit her lip as she counted as well, more so a murmur than an excited shout like Natalie.

"3... 2..."

"Natalie, I lo-"

Fireworks outside flashed through the living room, the tv, and reflected of Natalies eyes like a rogue strobe light.

Then, Natalie fell.

"She died on New Year's Eve?" Jungkook had asked.

Sarah's food suddenly was hard to swallow, but with a wince, it eventually went down.

"actually, she died New Year's Day. At 12:00 am exactly."

Jungkook's face twisted as he struggled to understand, then, it made sense. He was slow, due to the sake he had downed before.

"I'm so sorry. I never knew about her sister, either. I can't believe she never told us..."

Sarah drew in a whistle of a breath through pursed lips. "She's still mourning, even four years later. If nothing's changed from the last time I checked on that subject, Natalie is always in Riley's dreams. I think she believes if she came with me that night instead of slept, she could've prevented it."

Jungkook eyed Sarah as he took the final slurp of his ramen.

Once he noted she was finished, he plopped a card on the checkbook and cleared his throat. Suddenly, his hand was on hers. "I think it would be best to head home before Namjoon kills me for keeping you out so late."

Sarah smiled, her cheeks pink from his sudden contact.

"I don't mind being out late. And if it's Christmas, wouldn't there be lights on?"