SOUR

'But God you couldn't have cared less about someone who loved you more.'

milli.

"What's that?" I ask, pointing to the small bag next to him. Sunwoo tosses it to me and I put my drink down. I peer inside; there are paper packets of seeds in here.

"Hm?" I say.

"I promised you." Sunwoo says.

I tilt my head at him, racking my brain for our memories. When I glance at his face I realize that he's already kind of drunk. His cheeks are getting red, not because he's flustered, and his eyelids are getting heavier.

I let out a soft laugh.

"It's not funny," He grumbles, and he leans the back of his head on the wall behind us.

"No it's... you're just.." I trail off. Lightweight. How very unexpected.

"I'm what?"

"... I remember what this is." I hold up the seeds.

"Do you now?"

"Yep," I point to the old wooden box of peaches where all the plants in there are dead. "That night you were up here and you met everyone for the first time. You were the only one who noticed it."

Sunwoo nods.

"I'm..." I feel myself choking up. It seems like any small inconvenience or kind gesture could make me cry now a days.

Sunwoo stands up suddenly and dusts himself off. After stabilizing his balance for a second he holds his hand out towards me.

At first I think he's joking, but then he adds, "Come on. Get up."

I take his hand and he helps pull me so we're both standing.

"So getting drunk makes you nicer?" I ask.

"What?" He says.

"Nothing."

"You sure are keeping a lot of secrets from me tonight." Sunwoo says. "Anyway, here we are." He stops at the peach box as if he took me miles away to a destination.

We kneel down and stare at the sad mound of dirt.

"This was my fault." I say glumly. "I neglected them and they died."

"Just like your relationships. OW!" Sunwoo yelps after I smack his arm.

"Not funny." I say.

"Just plant the damn seeds already." Sunwoo says.

"Oh, I thought we were doing it together." I say.

"...do you want to?"

"Y-yeah, I do actually." I say. And so he helps. We dig up the old plants all the way from the roots, and one by one we put the new seeds in the soil. "Do you have water?" I ask.

"I have beer." He begins tilting it into the peach box and I swat him away.

"No!" I say and he laughs.

We sit there for a while, staring at the dirt as if the plants would sprout if we asked them to.

I wonder if Mj would have done this with me. He probably would have, but only if I had begged him to. Just now I realize that I never told him about this little garden. I guess I just never thought he would care.

"We got all dressed up for nothing." Sunwoo says, he finishes off his can.

"Yeah." I answer. "It was supposed to be my first dance with someone I really loved."

"...you loved him?"

"Of course." I answer. I swipe a tear off my cheek. "I really did."

Sunwoo watches me for a while, as I struggle to not cry again.