Chapter 5:

"Come on, this is enough.", Jin said in a whiny tone. They just got to a small side gate guarded by a skinny metal rail that supposedly led into the park. Mei laughed and finally let go of his hand. "Sorry, I got carried away.", she responded in a cheery tone. She radiated a bright smile while she kept both of her hands interlocked in front of her. "Anyways, let's sit down. We walked for a while. Sorry about that!", she said as she sat down on a bench. "It's no problem, really. I enjoy walking anyway.", Jin says as he walks over towards the bench. 

As he sits down, Mei let out a long sigh and leans back onto the bench's backrest with her hands resting on her lap. "Do you know this park?", Mei asked as she turned to face him. "Not really.", Jin responds. "I don't really go outside much other than for school." As he says so, he immediately hears his own dialogue inside his head. "Why'd I say that? Makes me seem like an idiot.", he thought. "What about you?", Jin asked. "Was that too soon?", he wondered. He never really got the chance to talk to a girl before, so he wouldn't know what to talk about. "Hm? Oh, I found out about this park just a little bit ago.", Mei says. She has this energetic vibe that lit up the dimly-lit park. There were only a few lampposts around, and they were mostly around the main gate of the park highlighted by a wooden arch on the other side of a small pond that engulfed the center. They were surrounded by dark oak trees, warping their branches around each other over their heads. "It looks beautiful out here.", Jin said softly as he admired the beauty of the park. "Mhm.", Mei hummed in agreement. "It is. That's why I like to come out here after school. Well, that and another place." As she said that, Jin turned his head over towards her with a look of curiosity on his face. "What do you mean?", he asked. "I moved here from Guigang a little while ago.", Mei said as she gazed off at the scenery. "It's different here. There's so many buildings and people... And it's kind of stressful. That's why I like to find places like this park to go to." She's looking at Jin now, as she says this. "It's relaxing here. I can just come here and draw or listen to music and no one would mind." She smiles.

Jin nods in acknowledgement as he listens to her talk. "Her voice is really intriguing.", he thinks to himself. "So she comes here often. And she draws. Or listens to music. I wonder what kinds of pictures she draws. Nature maybe? What else would you draw at a park? And what kind of music does she listen to…" As Jin idly thinks, Mei leans forward and looks at his face as he's looking down. "You okay?", she asks. "Oh, y-yeah.", Jin answers. "Ah, there goes my stammering again.", he thought. "What about you? What do you usually do around here?", Mei asks him. "What do I do? Hmm…", he pauses for a moment to think. "Well, I live in that building I showed you earlier with my Suk. He isn't there all the time though, since he works at a fish market.", Jin pauses again, this time to see if Mei had any suggestive comments. "Oh, really? What's it called?", she asked. "It's called Mandarin Boat Village.", Jin replied. Something about that was funny, he assumed, since Mei started laughing afterwards. "What's so funny?", after she calms down a bit, she answers. "What an old name! You know businesses use Western names now right?", Mei says in a joyful tone. "Yeah, well it's an old business." Jin says stubbornly as he looks past her towards the trees behind her. 

The sun was setting now, and the sky was turning a glamorous gradient of yellow and orange. The lights seemed to shine brighter, and their shadows on the stone brick sidewalk slowly absorbed into the shade of the toppling trees. A breeze blows through the park, picking up stray leaves and rippling the calm water inside the pond. The trees rustled and Mei's hair was blown slightly to the right as she faced towards him. She let out a soft gasp as if she was bracing against the wind and lifted her right hand up to one of her bangs to keep it in place. "Are you still cold?", Jin asks. "What? Of course not.", she says with a cheerful tone again. "I've already dried up an hour ago y'know.", she says as she laughs. "That's not what I meant.", Jin says, his stubborn voice comes out again. Mei liked it. "And besides… Your jacket's keeping me warm.", she says softly. Jin's eyes widened a bit once he processed her words. "O-Oh. Well I'm glad I could help…", he responds. Mei laughs at this. "Well, it's getting dark. Wanna go home?", she asks him. "Sure. I'm sure your parents are worried you haven't come home yet anyways.", Jin says with slight sarcasm. "Hm? Oh, I live by myself.", Mei responds. "O-Oh." "Seriously? 'Oh?'", Jin thought. "That's the best you can say?" Mei stands up and stretches as she looks over at the pond. "Ready to go?", she asks Jin. "Oh, yeah.", he says as he slings his bag over his shoulder. "Let's go." Mei hums in agreement as they walk back into the calm street; the sun sinking into the horizon and the sky shifting into darkness.