Chapter Text
"Amelia, I told you, I need to meet your friend's parents before I can allow you to have a sleepover with her," I told my daughter in the nicest way I could.
"Parent, singular, by the way. I don't know why you need to meet him. Haven't you met Jenny's parents? Both of us will be at her house only," Amelia replied. I sighed. Well, she's my baby. I felt as if taking this protective measure of just meeting the man whose house she'll be sleeping at wouldn't enrage her enough to argue with me, but I was wrong.
"My dear," I walked over to her. "It's not that I won't allow you to go, but I just need to meet the parent…"
"It would take time. He's a busy man, I guess, Marie says he doesn't have enough time for her… I doubt we'll have the time to meet, and summer ends before the 2nd. So we want to have the sleepover done the day after tomorrow…"
I smiled a bit at her innocence. Because of this 'busy man', we'd been giving each other silent treatment for days.
"You know what you should do?" I said as she looked up at me. "Tomorrow, as Marie comes over to pick you up for the group study time, tell her to bring her parents-"
Amelia cut me, saying, "Parent, mom, she only has a father…"
I gulped, "Bring her father with her. It's a Saturday, so I don't think he's going to be that busy. I'll meet and talk to him over lunch to make sure I can allow you to go to that sleepover, hmm?"
She sighed, "Fine."
I just stared at her face. She looks just like her dad. She's got nothing from me except my attitude, of course.
"Get your head up, dickhead!" My friend told me as she dragged me into a rave. I wasn't a big fan of being in crowds—I usually just stay with the girls and drink a shot.
But this crowd was kinda lit.
Still, I wanted to get the fuck out, so I did.
"I'm just not feeling it, Annie," I told her as I walked my way out. I might've stubbed my toe, too.
"When do you feel anything?" She jokingly remarked. I fixed my pencil skirt and got another glass of that alcohol they'd been serving at this party. Tasted so fucking good.
"You're gonna get wasted if you drink all that. Don't want your parents to know, do you?" Another one of my friends said. "Oh, shut up," I replied as I gulped that shot up. "Ah, nothing like the taste of sweet high school in 19-fucking-98! Let's go, baby!" I held the glass up high and almost tripped backwards 'cause I bent my back too low.
"Oh, lord," Annie caught me, helping me regain my balance. "Hey, you do know that nerd behind you likes you, right? He's been asking around a lot, most of it about you…" A girl came up and told me.
I looked backwards to see a boy, just standing there, no drink in his hand—God, he's not even smoking a blunt! He just gazed at me for a while, and then he just left.
"Wait, Annie," I held onto her, "Who is that? I can't see much because of the fucking fire…"
But as he walked away, I saw him. I recognised him.
Jay Park.
Oh, fuck off.
"Jay?! He likes me?!" I immediately got off Annie and raged in our circle.
"Yeah. I mean, he's got it all, except that he's one fucking nerd."
"It's not that, Annie, he's a scumbag!"
She raised her brow like she didn't understand.
"I said, he's a scumbag, don't you know?!"
I was just done clearing Amelia's plates off the table.
"Oh, Marie says they just got here! I'll go get them!"
"Sure, hon, don't run off!" I told her. She chuckled as she walked out so excitedly.
I immediately put two more plates of dinner on the dining table. For me, and for the father of Marie, whom I had to meet and discuss a few things with, so that I can let Amelia go to a sleepover.
Should be easy.
I walked into the hallway, where Marie and Amelia were. "Good afternoon, Mrs Collins!"
"Good afternoon, Marie! Have fun and learn a lot today as well!" I told her, trying to take a peek out of the door to see where the 'Busy Man' was.
"My dad will come over, Mrs Collins, he's just parking now. Anyways, I got my bike, so Amelia and I will head out first!"
"Oh, sweetie! Have you eaten your lunch yet, love?" I asked. It was almost 6 P.M. now.
"Yes, Mrs Collins, no need to worry!"
I just smiled at her. Marie felt somewhat familiar. Her face resembled someone I hid in the trenches of my mind, yet I could trace it all on her.
Well, that's what happens when you've seen a lot of faces in the forty-five years of your life. Some of them start to match.
I heard a knock on the door. "Dad, come in!" Marie said. The white door screeched open yet again…
It was none other than that fucking scumbag.
Jay Park.
I should've known it when I saw the surname itself.
It was the end of school again.
"Honestly, I don't know why you keep calling him a scumbag all the time," Annie told me.
"I mean,
I was at the park, he was in there too, back when I didn't know who the hell he even was. I moved to a corner, took out a blunt and, goddamn, some guys just screamed at me to show my tits or whatever, and he walked over to me… so I was like "Yeah, dude, just got fucking catcalled, what do you want from me now?"
He fucking said, "Smoking is bad, especially when you're this age," and he took the fucking blunt off my hand."
"Whoa, goddamn."
"I'm fucking telling you, I thought he needed a cig for himself so he just stole it from me, but then he throws it into a trash bin," I shrug, "And this was before I remembered the effort I put into stealing those cigs. So, I went up to that Jackass to fight, but then, he says the same damn thing and walks off.
I thought I won't be meeting this scumbag again, till I saw him the next day in fucking Biology class."
"But he does play the guitar well, though."
I had to admit it myself, too, "Yeah, he does. That's basically his charm. I think he does a bit well in the looks department too, but he's a scumbag and a nerd—can't fight that off with a face."
We'd been staring into each other's eyes for a minute now. He looked peaceful, rich… He didn't change, no, not at all, but the way he looked at me when he realised that it was me… He looked as if he was about to cry from joy.
"Okay, Mom," Amelia said.
"Yeah, hun, you both can go," I bluntly said. "O… kay!" She said as she got out with her friend.
Now, he and I were left alone, yet again.
"Hallie," he said.
"Jay," I replied.
I shook my foot in class. I could feel him burn holes into my head.
I turned around, "Could you maybe stop staring at me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just trying to learn the sketch of this heart," His head was down in his notebook. "Also, you and Annie better not miss Practice in music class, again."
I rolled my eyes and turned over to concentrate on the heart diagram the teacher had been teaching.
"Sure won't." I opened my notebook.
I turned back to him again, "I'm sorry, what's today's date again?"
"October 3rd."
I turned to my desk again. October 3rd. Got it.
"How've you been?" He asked. "Fine, well, uh, please," I smiled, "Come over… I made dinner."
I waited for his reply.
"Sure."
And so, we were in the dining room, seated opposite each other, just staring at our food because we knew if we just glanced at each other once more, we would…
"So, I wanted to meet you so that I could ensure that my daughter would be having a sleepover at a safe house… right…"
"Right," He said, quietly. "I never thought this would be the way we'd meet again."
"Right."
Music class. I took drugging myself off the schedule for it, because otherwise, I'd have that scumbag up my ass again.
Now, this is supposed to be a choir… and I'm a soprano, barely. I'm trying. You see, I don't give two fucks about music when the guitarist is burning holes into my head AGAIN.
I know he's looking at me, but when I look up again, he's just finger-fucking his guitar or whatever. How the fuck can I literally get goosebumps from his gaze… when he isn't even fucking gazing?
"Ann, Ann, psst, Annie.."
"WHAT?!"
"Observe Jay and see if he's looking at me," I told her. "What if he thinks I'm looking at him?"
"I don't know??? Pretend to look at the window behind, I guess."
"Okay, fine."
A few moments later,
"That man is staring his eyes at you."
"You just see how he ducks his head back down when I look at him," I turn to him, "Whoa, he didn't."
He's just staring at me. We're just gazing into each other's eyes.
"Have you made your judgment yet?" He asked out of the blue.
"...what?" I said, startled. "It would be safe enough for Amelia to have a sleepover with my daughter at my house."
I took a deep breath, "No, well, you tell me."
"Well, it's my house, first off, second… I…" He sighed.
"Amelia said that Marie told her you don't have enough time for your daughter," I said. I shouldn't have.
"Yeah. The past few years have been quite hectic, you see."
"They were so hectic, you came back to America?"
"Yeah. They were… I came back after Marie was born."
I have been bringing up memories of years and years ago, and I know that this should not be the time to dump it all on him, but I desperately, desperately needed to know what happened to him.
"What happened… to… your wife?" He slowly shook his head, "She passed away after giving birth."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
Days passed. And now, I'm getting real fucking tired of this scumbag around me.
He hasn't stopped staring at me, nor has he continued in doing so, because I don't know if he was staring at me in the first fucking place.
The thing is,
I feel a bit sad, as if I want him to be around me or to stare at me or something. When I'm with my friends or whatever, I feel him staring, and then, I don't.
I act like I don't care at all.
If he's there, I don't fucking notice him, and that makes me feel bad because, all these days of turning around in the blink of an eye, all these days of "Are you staring at me, you asshole?", all these days of just ratting out at him when he remained the most calm and collected person on the whole damn planet, got to me. I missed his presence.
It's as if he's igniting something in me with a mere gaze.
These days, though, we've been fighting like fucking Tom and Jerry.
He was acting for a school film, and I walked up to his team.
"Mind if I barged?" I asked. "Sure don't," they replied as they cut off the camera. "What's Mr Pretty-face-scumbag writing?" I peeped into the notebook he put his pencil in. "Something Miss Delinquent-Paranoid can't read."
"Dang, I actually can't."
"Because this is Korean Hangul, smarty pants."
"Well, what can I-" I moved my hand way too quickly, bumping into his, and the ink he'd been carefully handling spilt onto the book.
…
Fuck.
"Are the cameras still recording?" Jay asked.
"They are, right?" I said.
Fuck this shit.
I ran away.
Bitch, he's following me at lightning speed.
"Hallie," He stopped me… by wrapping his arms around my body and throwing his back on the lockers, "Stop fucking running so fast."
"You cuss?"
He unwrapped his arms.
"That one was the first." I brushed off imaginary dust from my clothes.
He just walked off.
"Wait," I ran behind him. "You'll just walk off like that? What about the notebook?"
"What about it?" He asked.
"Well, I ruined it."
"Thanks for admitting that, I'll handle it myself."
I laughed, "So you are a pretty fun guy to annoy."
"Woman, I come from South Korea, you're not getting anywhere near my patience."
"I thought Asian people had a whole lot of patience."
"Yeah, you're correct!"
He walked into a room and slammed the door in my face.
That was funny.
Honestly, I didn't think I could be so entertained by him. He's so different, yet it feels like we're the same person, like we're two sides of a coin, but the same, fucking, coin.
"How… Will you be there on the night of the sleepover?" I asked him.
"No, really. I…" he closed his eyes, as if trying to remember, "I have this meeting due so, I can't."
"Who will be in the house," I asked, "when you're not there?"
"The Nanny and the Butler. And I pay them a heavy sum; you don't have to worry about the servants."
"...Okay."
We'd been talking to each other so slowly and softly.
Dinner was getting cold, so I took a bite, and he followed a bit later.
You're too slow; we're graduating now.
I'm pretty scared about colleges. I didn't think it would be scary, but it is.
My scumbag and I have been kind of off and on in the platonic sense in the past few months.
Somewhere, somehow, I found him cute.
Yes, I found the scumbag of all time cute.
He was built like a prince, I have to admit, and come hell or high water, I still would have liked him.
You wouldn't know it, but I lost my Delinquency just because I wanted to get closer to him.
He makes me feel as if I'm locked in the cage that is his gaze, and whenever he leaves one of our stupid catfights by just walking out, it hurts like a wound. It hurts my heart that I can't think of even being with him, because he's so far away. Still, I wasn't the woman to smile at the man she wanted from far away, but I couldn't bring myself to just tell him that I…
That I liked him.
Yes, I like the fucking scumbag. But he is my scumbag! I'm lost in love with him, and I can't even tell why, how or when it ever happened — I just started missing and loving him from nowhere.
And now that it's graduation, I wanted to move him to the back of my mind, but I also wanted to tell him.
I should let this go. Maybe I would be okay if I let this go forever.
Anyway, I got a call from him right after I went home from the graduation after-party.
"Could you come to the camp with me? The one we hung out on on the 15th of November. Just us. I'll pick you up," He quietly said. He always says stuff quietly, softly.
At the camp, he lit a fire. It had been autumn, but where we were, I barely saw leaves on the trees. I'd see bare barks, but still, it was beautiful. An endless, vast land with a tent and a campfire, stretching itself out into the wilderness—I liked that concept.
But it was too cold. I was shivering. Jay took off his sweater and gave it to me, leading me to sit on a log beside the firewall.
As we sat down on the log, he told me he loved me.
And that he wanted me to know,
Because I was the person with whom he felt complete.
I wasn't sure what to say to him because, deep in my heart, I knew I liked him, but I didn't think I would have to decide to tell him.
I curled up in his sweater, quietly saying, "What about your parents?"
"What do you mean?" He smiled. "They'll… they'll be fine."
"With this?" I pointed at myself. "They're gonna hate me even before I come into the room."
What could you find so conservative-ideal-daughter-in-law in me? My bleached blonde hair? My thick eyeliner? My smokey eyes? The lingering smell of Marlboro Reds from my mouth? My miniskirts? My graphic tees?
"Who are they, anyway? Who are they in front of you?" He bluntly said.
"Your mom and dad?"
"And? If the sun doesn't like you, I'll kiss you in the moonlight," he stood up,
"Only if you say yes."
"Yes, but,"
"No buts," He said, and he kissed me.
I was stunned.
Nerdy scumbag turned punching bag turned boy I liked turned the man I'm fucking kissing right now.
He pulled back, "What?" He said.
I shook my head and kissed him back.
And the kiss deepened.
And the kiss deepened.
And we'd already taken each other's shirts off.
And in between it all, he told me that he loved the way I was me. He loved my smoky ass breath, and he loved these chains I decorate my body with, and he loved my eyes, and he loved my hair, and he loved me, and I was just perfect. Perfect. Perfectly me.
And he wouldn't dare change anything about me.
"The food's good, great, even," he commented. "Thanks," I replied.
"Thanks for the dinner, Hallie."
I opened my mouth to speak, but then, I wondered if I needed to say it or not. "I go by Heather now. Heather Collins."
He looked at me as if I had wrenched his heart out of his chest. "Heather Collins," he slowly repeated.
"What about Hallie Ferguson?" He asked, with a silly vibe, or so. We giggled. "Doesn't exist anymore…"
"I'm scared," I told him.
"Don't be," He comforted, "It's a one-shot anyway. If they like you, they like you, and we go to college together."
"What if they don't?"
"They don't like you, and we run away somewhere," Jay said, bluntly.
"...Are you being serious?"
"Yes."
The doorbell rang, and I quickly adjusted my dress as Jay opened the door.
"Good Evening, Mr. And Mrs. Park."
Following was a dinner filled with sly, backhanded remarks and utter hatred on both sides. And, I knew that they didn't like me.
At the end of it, his mom walked over to my purse, just looking through it. I had nothing to hide, so I just stood there till she took out a pack of cigs.
BITCH, I STOPPED SMOKING LIKE THREE MONTHS AGO.
THAT THING IS NOT MINE.
I looked at Jay as he realised it all, and it broke my heart a little. I knew it wasn't mine, but it still hurt seeing him lose all the hope he had about this. It hurt knowing that he would now be choosing between his parents and me.
I knew it would be me, but I didn't want to take a little boy away from his mother's arms.
He pursed his lips, and I noticed that he had been stopping himself from crying all this time. As his mom scolded him in some Korean I didn't know, I kept my head down. Their conversation ended with a simple "Yes" from him. They left the room, just like that.
"Jay," I called out to him.
I sat down on the couch to check the pack again and realised that it was a complete fake. Marlboro doesn't fucking look like this.
"Jay, these are…"
I looked up, and he had his face in his hands.
"Jay, no,"
"I know, I know that she's framing you, but I never thought that they'd go this far…"
He came over, and as he knelt in front of me, he wrapped his arms around my waist, sobbing in my embrace.
"I thought they'd like you too because I liked you, but… I knew they wouldn't, but I had a bit of hope…"
"Shh, Jay, it's alright…"
"Summer ends before the 2nd, we need to get out of this town."
The doorbell rang.
"Oh h-" It's Andrew. My husband and Amelia's father.
He came in, saw both of us eating dinner and stopped his words.
"Considering how you both didn't freak out when I came in, it proves that my wife isn't a cheater, haha!"
Haha. He'd always been somewhat of a joker.
And I liked him.
He is stable.
But looking at both of them, I feel my heart has been engraved in Jay. The invisible string has been tied around our bodies too closely that I can't look at this man without remembering how I loved him, how he loved me, our kisses, our fucks, the nights we spent in that wooden cabin — everything crashes into my mind, and suddenly, I come to the realisation that I still love Jay.
And he honestly looks hurt, too.
He slowly looks back at my husband and stands up.
"Oh, no need. Who are you now?" Andrew asks him, his hands in his pockets.
"I'm Marie Park's father, Jay Park, Sir," He said, holding his hand out. Andrew confusedly shook it. "Ah, yes," Andrew said as he grabbed a chair and sat down beside me, "Amelia said she wanted to have a sleepover with Marie at your house, right? So that's what this is all about?"
"Yeah," Jay replied.
Fuck Andrew.
My parents had a wooden cabin near my community college in a rural town in Oregon. They were quite supportive of us.
So Jay and I packed our shit and left for that place.
When we reached it, I'd been so tired that I just plunked myself down onto the bed.
"Bae, wash up," He said as he took his clothes off.
"You first!"
"Us together?" He asked. I got myself up and smacked him in the head, as a joke, saying, "What's gotten into you?"
And then I lay my back down on the bed again.
And it all hit me.
I ran away with Jay, who could face deportation if his parents ever catch him. I could be in jail too.
But, somehow, I felt that it was all right.
I should get a job. He'll get one, too. We'll save up money. Then, we would move somewhere where his parents wouldn't even be able to find a trace of us.
He came out of the shower, and then I showered.
Tonight, we were just in bed, with our robes being the only thing covering our bodies, besides this blanket. We just stared at the ceiling.
"Jay," I called him, "Do you really think that this is right? You won't regret it, will you?"
I was still staring at the ceiling when I felt him move his eyes to me.
But, I didn't budge. After a long moment, I asked him one last question:
"Do you love me? Really? To run away like this just to be with me?"
He answered.
"More than you think I do. For you, I'll run away with my knees scraped and my ankle sprained. I'll run away from the greediest loan sharks and the strongest of the military. I'll make it so that with one final move, we could be settled somewhere, because I don't want you to have the life of someone who has to run every year or so. I want it to be peaceful for us, for there to be nothing God could forbid to be between us. I want us to be normal. But alas, I sure hope my parents don't find us for the night."
"Why are you both so silent?" Andrew chuckled a bit.
"Nothing… Mr. Collins. We realised that we'd gone to High school and College together," Jay said.
"That's crazy! High school and College? Woah. Same classes too?"
"Yep, Biology, Music, you name it."
"Whoa! Babe, you never told me about this."
Can Andrew shut the fuck up?
"Anyways, what do you do for a living, Mr Park?"
Days passed again. It was 1999 now. It had been six months in the cabin.
I went to community college every day, and he got a job at some local carpentry firm. The job description was still prestigious, though. An assistant inventory manager.
He'd been earning around 8,000 dollars a month, and with that, we thought that another move in the next few months would make it practically impossible to find for his parents.
Apart from that, we were like every other normal couple. Nights were filled with kisses and fucks, and mornings we busted our ass at college and workplace, knowing what to expect at night.
We'd have no problem with food or shelter. I've been writing letters to my parents every now and then as well. It was hard to reach any of my other friends, though. The last thing I heard from Annie was that she would continue with modelling.
And, with Jay, it felt tranquil. It felt warm. I would say that he still isn't a scumbag, but he still is. He's my scumbag. I can't believe that I'm waiting in a wooden cabin, in a white nightgown, for him to come back home; I've lit the candles and prepared the tea and the bed. If you had told me (1998) that this was what I would be doing, I would've punched you in the guts.
"I'm the Chief Executive of a Norwegian Carpentry firm. We work on anything from custom woodwork to larger builds, so if you want some woodwork done, you know who to call," Jay said, standing up to give my husband his business card. "That's awesome, I work at the bank, and here's my card. Always appreciate helping out a friend… of my wife, of course." We laughed.
"Hallie, I got a permanent, PERMANENT, job at that Carpentry firm!" He ran into the room with his arms spread open as I nearly choked on an apple, hearing the news. "You did?!" I said after I calmed down.
After a while, he sat me down to talk. "With this, we could move to Norway to live there…"
He'd been hesitating, so I told him, "That's awesome!"
"But, the thing is, we'd have to learn Norwegian, which, I mean, wouldn't be a problem, 'cause we would have time till the immigrant application is processed, and all that, but, you won't be able to continue your education, if you come with me to Norway…"
"...Okay, and?"
"You don't care? I want you to care!"
"Education doesn't come with college degrees, Jay," I got off the couch. "I could get an education in Norway, too!"
"Yeah, I guess I overlooked it, but with the visa application process and all that. It would make it really easy for my parents to find us."
"Ah, fuck."
So, he's still working over there.
"Well, you must be a very busy man," Andrew commented. "Yeah, haha, I guess I'll go home by now, there's a meeting I need to catch at eight," Jay said as he shook my husband's hand with a big, bright smile again.
"Yeah, all the best, drive safe, man," Andrew said, walking him to the door,
"Thanks, I'll take care of the girls on their sleepover," Jay told us. "But you said you wouldn't be there?" I asked him.
"I'll clear my schedule," He told me.
He looks at me as if I betrayed him by marrying Andrew. And yeah, I probably did.
The very next day, as I came back from college, I found the mailbox open. My parents must've written back to me, so I ran to check the thing.
I didn't even read what was written in the envelope. I just opened the letter, right on the front porch, and in front of me was a script of another language I couldn't read, just there.
And it took me three more seconds and the address written to realise who sent it.
I screamed as if I saw a cockroach.
Jay opened the door; I guess it must've been a day off for him today, and he just stared at me, saying, "Your parents drew you a roach on the paper or what?"
"Excuse me, your parents drew you a roach on the paper!"
I handed the letter and the envelope to him, walking into the cabin and closing the door behind me.
"Impossible, they couldn't even draw a line if they wanted to," he said as he took the paper from me.
"Oh, this is bad."
"No shit, Sherlock," I locked the door. "What did they say?"
"That I'll be stoned."
"That was nice of them."
"I lied. They said they found this cabin and will be sending a report to the INS, about some made-up crime that will definitely get me deported."
…
"Oh."
"Yeah," he said, his voice cracking a bit. "I'm honestly tired of this."
After he left, I felt a sense of dread.
Ignoring Andrew's hand on my waist, I ran up to the attic.
"Babe, you alright?" He shouted up.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just needed to do some digging," I told him.
I don't remember much after that. I just remembered the night we innocently drifted off to sleep in each other's arms without knowing what awaited us the next afternoon. I didn't want to lose him.
I was still half-asleep when Jay woke up. He kissed me on the forehead, and then, we'd been the only things to exist in the world. That was until I heard the banging on the door.
"I didn't think they'd come this early. Stay here, I'll be back," He got up. I had caught his hand, but after a second, he just left the room, as if he'd already expected that we would be torn apart.
I slowly sat up on the bed, my hair still messy. I set it up, and then I heard Miranda Rights being recited.
A female officer walked into our bedroom and screamed, "Look over her. Could be a trafficking ring too."
"What the, I'm his girlfriend…"
"So, you must be in it," She came over with her handcuffs.
"In what?"
"Jay Park, your runaway lover, has been arrested for drug dealing."
"Bullshit. He'd never even do drugs, let alone deal 'em. You got the wrong guy, you know, the parents are framing their kid." I stood up.
"How do you know it's the parents?"
"Guessed."
"Well, take your time being a witness for him; till then, he'll be put in a detention centre."
"Whoa, what the fuck?"
I ran out to the hallway.
"You can't just take him like that, without any evidence!"
"Oh, don't be worried, dear, we'll take good care of him," They said. And they handcuffed him and dragged him away.
I was shouting his name and asking them about the bullshit evidence they had, and if he actually gets deported, then it'll be a great show of his parents' wealth.
But, fuck it all.
That was what he'd been wanting.
To fuck it all up.
About a month later was his hearing. That'd been the first time I'd seen him since the INS raided our house.
It was a great show of his parents' wealth.
I was appalled.
But could I do anything?
I could do nothing, nothing at all.
He will be deported back to Korea in a week. The cabin had been seized by his parents, who sent people every single fucking day to get his things.
As for me, my life would continue in Oregon anyway.
But I'd met him on the last day he was in the States.
We only had 2 fucking minutes.
I ran into his fucking arms, sobbing my eyes out. "See," he told me, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, and for the fact that I should've never called you to the campfire. I should've just been a scumbag. But, thank you, because I still love you, like I always have."
"You were never just a scumbag to me, Jay."
He looked into my eyes and took a deep breath.
"They said that they'd arranged a marriage and a job."
I chuckled, "Have fun with her."
"No," He instantly said. "But you have fun," he held my face, wiping away my tears. "Just remember that I love you, Hallie, and I know you have my diary."
They started dragging him away.
"Wait, you don't want it back?" Some bitch held me from the back, "Wait, it isn't over, Jay, I love you too, you better remember that," I screamed.
"Jay, you scumbag!"