Fleeting Moments With You

004

After packing some sunblock, towel, tissues, shades, and my phone inside a waterproof bag, I hurriedly got out of my room as the guide had been checking if I was ready since thirty minutes ago. Worried that everyone was waiting for me, I rushed down and saw that indeed, other tourists have already gathered but there was one figure that my eyes automatically searched for.

"Good morning!"

I almost jumped when a girl suddenly popped beside me with a huge smile on her face.

"Were you looking for me?" Dahyun stuck her tongue out.

I flicked her forehead and told her, "You wish."

"Ehh. You were looking for me, turning and elongating your neck like a giraffe!" she argued as she rubbed her forehead while mimicking my actions earlier.

Instead of arguing back, I put my arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer to me as I said, "Come on. We need to take the front side of the boat."

I was expecting her to remove my arm but instead she just laughed and allowed that physical contact to last much longer. I carried her bag as she cheerfully made her way towards the boat, battling with the soft waves of the sea. She held out her hand in order to help me climb up and we shared a high five as we successfully occupied the front row of the boat. In celebration, she took a picture of the both of us and then we wordlessly sat beside each other while enjoying how the wind seemed to carry away all our worries.

"Hey," she called my attention and I immediately glanced at her direction. She asked, "So how's your sleep?"

"Short but good. Yours?"

"Same," she beamed, sighed shortly then added, "Since this is our last tour together here... let's take lots and lots of pictures and have lots and lots of fun."

With a small smile, I nodded and my hand seemed to instinctively ruffle her hair. She teasingly glared at me before effortlessly fixing her hair again. I stared at her as I wondered how spending a day with her made me feel like we already knew each other for years.

I suddenly remembered how those few novels I've read used to narrate conflicting emotions and I used to dismiss it as unrealistic sentiments that writers made up just to make their stories interesting. But now, I am experiencing it – that conflicting feeling when your heart feels so familiar to someone who's foreign to your mind.

Then, I started wondering where the familiarity is coming from. Perhaps we knew each other in our past lives... but that thought is just too imaginative for my mind to accommodate.

"You're staring for too long, you know," Dahyun halted the trance I was in as she playfully waved her hand in front of my eyes.

I smiled yet again. Perhaps, in the short while that we've been together, Dahyun had already infected me with her hobby of smiling.

Without thinking, I asked her, "After all these... would you miss me?"

Without hesitation, she shook her head and said, "No."

"Ouch," I held my chest.

"Because I can't," she argued.

"Why? I'm allowing you to. Just miss me whenever you want. It's okay," I playfully convinced her.

"No, not that kind of 'can't'," she chuckled. I then saw how her eyes shone with a little bit of sadness as she said, "It's just that... even if I want to, I wouldn't be able to miss you. It's not an option for me."

I pondered on her words and even before I could ask her a question for clarification, she drifted away from the topic as she pointed forward and said, "Oh. We're here. The helicopter island which looks like a fried chicken in a different angle."