Remember me.

part fourteen.

Amelia never knew that sneaking out was such a tedious task, after all, it was only her second time doing so in the past 19 years of her life- the first was when she first met Nathan on the beach coincidentally. It should be known that growing up, her parents' words and warnings always rang in her ears, loud and clear- that staying out late is dangerous or that she should never go anywhere without informing them. Her father was always stricter about it- he had grown up in a small city of South Korea and that's just part of their culture or maybe it was just how her parents were or maybe it was both. But ever since she made a promise to her parents to never sneak out ever again, she had stuck to it for the longest time. It should be noted that it was only because she never liked defying them anyway and she hated conflict.

Yet this time, she still found herself sneaking out for the second time, the promise she made slipping out of her mind without her realising. Or maybe she did, but she knew she needed to see him despite everything that had happened. So this time, she cautiously made her way out of the room and headed downstairs with careful and quiet steps.

The night was quiet, only the sound of her heart thudding against her chest echoing in her head and the crickets chirping right outside her windows reverberating throughout the entire place as it filled the still air. Adrenaline was pulsing through her body every second and with each step she took, the wooden floor creaked lightly beneath her weight. It was a wonder how her parents remained asleep in their rooms, she thought. But in actual fact, her mind was only messing with her, exaggerating every little sound that reached her ears.

She twisted the doorknob ever so carefully and lightly pulled the door open to reveal Nathan standing right in front of her face, barely a few inches away from her. She was startled, of course. She jumped the moment her eyes landed on him, letting out a small yelp which was quickly muffled. He was amused as he looked at her, the way her eyes were wide open as she stared into his own eyes. It only took a few seconds for her to register what had just happened before she pried his hand away from her lips. "What do you think you are you doing?" She asked in a quiet voice, a small frown etched onto her face.

"You don't want to wake them up, do you?" He had replied swiftly as he quirked an eyebrow at her, the grin still plastered across his face. For a while, he thought he had ruined everything, that he had ruined his one last shot when she stared at him blankly. But lucky for him, she couldn't help but let the corners of her lips twitched upwards into a small smile. He wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't for the small lamp hanging above them on the porch, illuminating her soft features.

"You scared me, appearing out of nowhere," she pointed out this time, the smile still remained on her face as he let out a deep chuckle. It felt good that he finally got to talk to her again after all this time. It felt good that the door wasn't slammed in his face again. But it felt even better to see a smile graced her lips once again- it was something he missed the most over this past week.

"I didn't mean to," he laughed, raising his arms up in mock surrender. "I'm sorry," he said but he wasn't, all that was on his mind was how he was finally standing in front of her and how fast his heart was beating. He felt nervous for a mere second but he couldn't tell if it was due to the fact that he was this close to the girl he was in love with or the fact that her bright eyes were boring right into his. Forget butterflies, it was a whole damn zoo he was feeling in his stomach. He continued staring at her, his mind a blank as the silence stretched between them- it was the kind that happened only because he was speechless and all he could feel beside the nervousness was the happiness.

"So, why are you here?" She finally asked the grand question, part of the reason why she even came down in the first place. She waited eagerly for his reply, not that he would know. She didn't realise but she was leaning in closer and closer with each second passing, any further and her body would simply tip over, falling right into him. She wanted him to spill everything, to tell her exactly what was going on or what was going to happen next. But that's just not how Nathan would do it, it was never his style- he prefered keeping things a secret. He thought it was more fun that way, but Amelia never really liked being kept in suspense, she was always dying to find out more.

She was staring up at him with her bright brown eyes, hopeful for a clear answer only to be met with "You will find out soon." Great, one of her worst nightmares. A frown naturally formed on her face as her eyebrows furrowed together in frustration.

"God, I hate that."

"I know," he sang, mischief twinkling in his brown eyes under the moonlight and the grin on his face grew even wider than before. Of course, he knew. He knew every little thing about her, including the very fact that she hated suspense. "Come on, let's go."

Amelia didn't understand why they were back at the same beach again. They had just been here the last time and it didn't exactly create the best memories for her. In fact, it was the very reason why they had stopped talking but she let that thought slip from her mind purposefully this time as her eyes wander about in the darkness. There were barely a few street lamps nearby, barely lighting up the place just enough for them to see one another. The sounds of the crickets and waves crashing up against the shore lingered in the air, drowning out the sound of his heart pounding loudly against his chest.

Unlike the previous time, he knew exactly why he felt nervous this time. After all, he had just spent hours planning on how to make it up to her, how to fix this. He thought that this might have been his only chance and he wasn't about to ruin it. Because if he did, he wouldn't have known what to do next and he could not afford that, not again. It was as though everything was riding on what he was going to say next and that was enough to scare him.

"So, you brought me here to look at the stars?" She asked, turning her head to look at him. They have been lying side by side on the picnic blanket he kept at the back of his car as they basked under the moonlight. He had his eyes fixed on the night sky that was painted with some of the most beautiful stars he had ever seen. He knew exactly what he needed to do 20 minutes ago but still he laid there with all the thoughts running wild and a small smile on his face to hide whatever was going on inside his mind. Bottom line, he was just afraid this might be the last time he would ever see her, that maybe she wouldn't forgive him for what he did ultimately. What he didn't understand was that if that was the case, she wouldn't have even step foot of her house in the first place.

"Amelia," he muttered under his breath, finally sitting up. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being so rash and impulsive that night, I know I shouldn't have done that. It was completely my fault and my fault only. I wish we could go back to where we were a week ago." He couldn't even look her in her eyes for more than a second before looking back down onto his wringing hands.

"Hey," she said, her voice soft and gentle. This time, she found herself sitting upright too. "It's alright, I understand." She really did understand, she had spent the last few days thinking about every possible reason why as he beat himself up for it. She had her hand placed over his as she gave him a reassuring smile. It was something he never dared to even wish for or think about, at least not this soon.

But he was glad nonetheless, glad that she gave him another chance, glad that she took that first step out of the house.

A/N:

Hey everyone! I am so sorry for the lack of updates, I have been really tired and busy and of course every writer's worst nightmare- writer's block. But fear not, hopefully I will have more time and inspiration to work on new chapters and I will be uploading them soon :)

Thank you for all the support thus far and for 100 reads! I love every single one of y'all <3

Much love,

Rachel xx