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They’d gone to the lake one afternoon to take pictures.  It had been a normal summer day.  The lake was sparkling, and the sky was blue.  Tae had worn a plain white shirt with a ridiculously patterned pair of shorts.  But Nia didn’t mind.  She was only taking reference pictures, after all.

They’d been eating lunch on a bench along the path when two toddlers had run past them.  Tae grinned as he’d watched them run.

“I can’t wait to have kids.”

Nia looked up at him. “Really?  You like kids?”

“I love them.  I always wanted a younger sibling.”

Nia looked up at him sadly.  She understood.  She’d asked for a younger sibling once, but her parents had said one kid was enough.  She wasn’t sure what they’d meant by it exactly.  Had they meant she was too much to handle?  Had they meant there wasn’t enough money?  Or had they meant she alone made their world complete?

“Well, we can give our kids siblings.  Would that make up for it?”

He smiled down at her. “I suppose so.”

——————–

“Yes, I think he does like kids.  Loves them, actually.”

“Did you just remember something?”

Nia grinned. “Yes.  Thank you, Mrs. Jeon.”

“Ah, call me Sua.  We’re not at the office right now.  It seems too formal to call each other by our surnames.”

Nia giggled. “Right.  Thank you, Sua.”

——————–

Sua took Nia to a pond that evening.

“So, you want to recover more memories?” Sua asked.

“Yes.  But I’m not sure how.  I’ve had flashbacks at the oddest moments.  One even came to me in a dream.”

“Hmm…” Sua spun around. “Does this bring back any memories?  This lake?  The sunset?  Anything?  You never know, you might just find a memory anywhere.”

Nia stared up at the purple and pink sky.  And looked around at the lake.  The trees.  She walked down to the patch of grass that was planted right above the rocky lake and sat down.  And then it hit her.  She’d seen a painting that was based here.  She pulled out her phone and flipped through her pictures.  And she found it.

——————–

“Niiiaaaa, come get your boyfriend.  He’s trying to steal my snacks!”

Nia laughed. “Be nice to Moon, Tae!  We won’t see her after tomorrow.  Do you want her last memory of you to be you stealing her snacks?”

Tae appeared thoughtful for a moment before responding, “Yes!” and cramming his hand into Moon’s bag of snacks.

“Tae!” both girls exclaimed before bursting out laughing.

“What?  Snacks are very important!”

“Take this, then.” Nia grabbed another snack bag out of her backpack and chucked it at Tae’s head.

“But it’s not the same!” he exclaimed.

Nia rolled her eyes before rolling him a soda bottle. “Does this make up for it?”

Tae grinned. “Yes.”

“Are you gonna make me a drawing before I leave tonight?” Moon asked, a cheeky smile on her face.

“Tonight?!  I can’t draw that fast!” Nia exclaimed.

Moon laughed. “I know.”

Nia looked up at the sunset and smiled.  She could draw that in the next hour.  She quickly pulled out her colored pencils and began picking out which colors to use for the sky.  The rest of that evening, they’d sat there in silence, just happy to be together one last time.  And Moon had gotten her drawing before they left.  But none of them knew that would be the last time they’d all be together.

——————–

“Thanks for inviting me out for dinner tonight.  I had fun,” Nia told Sua as they walked towards the bus stop.

“Of course!  I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while now, but either I was busy that evening or just so tired I forgot.  We should do this more often!  Do you want to trade phone numbers?”

Nia smiled.  Maybe making friends wasn’t as hard as it seemed.