9:15am
You'd think that after being in the hospital for three months, they'll discharge you.
That's not the case for Mark. He's still here and it sucks to the extreme.
"Happy birthday, Jackson!" Mark claps excitedly and then he embraces me tightly. I hug him so tightly, his feet lift off the floor.
He giggles.
"I couldn't get you a gift...but! I made this!" Mark skips to his bed and pulls out a book from underneath his pillow.
"Surprise!" Mark gives me the red book. In bold letters, the word 'time' is spelled out in English.
"What's this?" My mind fills with curiosity as I stare at the small book.
"A photo album."
Mark most definitely heard what Dr. Choi said during his coma.
Time is numbers. Memories are images of the past.
I open the book to see the photos that we've taken together or the ones we took for each other.
Graduation day, our first vacation, the day we moved to our house, Mark's birthday, Halloween, karaoke, a day in the snow. All the memories of those happy days flood into my mind.
"These are our precious memories." Mark smiles.
"Let's make a new one!" Mark takes my phone out of my pocket and holds the object in front of our faces.
Mark snaps multiple shots and I'm sure the pictures capture me crying as Mark smiles happily.
"This is the best one." Mark shows me the picture of a tears rolling down my face and his pink lips pressed against my cheek.
"I-It is." I cry.
Every time, on our birthday, we cry. Mark and I.
I'm not too happy about getting older. This just means that at this age, I'm going to lose my one and only light.
"At least we're the same age. Big twenty-three!" Mark cheers. "Yeah!" He shakes me so I can stop crying.
It works.
My tears cease and I shout enthusiastically with Mark until the nurses come to hush us.
We spend the remainder of the day hanging out.
Going to the riverside, playing games in his hospital room, eating/drinking in the lounge and having an overall good time together.
We took plenty of pictures today.
Even though Mark was still in the hospital, today was amazingly fun.
Great memories were made today.
