Though still weak, my dragon hangs onto every word and flits scales down my skin whenever Nori needs encouragement to continue.
My heart beats faster as I realize this is really it, that there are no more goodbyes needed between us, and that fate has truly smiled down on me, letting me keep my Nori for the rest of my life.
“I have one more thing for you, my lovely Shinsu,” Nori says as she reaches into her big tote bag.
Body stilling, breathing shallow, I gape at the handmade bracelet in Nori’s hand. “It’s just like the ones you used to make me. When did you make this one?”
Nori fastens the bracelet around my wrist, and I admire the intricate patterns as she explains, “I’ve been holding onto this bracelet for twenty-two years. I remember working on it for hours every night, weaving together the orange, blue, and white threads over and over again until I got it perfect. Just like I did every year for your birthday. I’ve always loved you, Shinsu. And a part of me never gave up hope that I would see you again.”
“Wait here.” With speed summoned out of pure desperation to show Nori how long I’ve loved her too, I rush up the stairs and dig into my nightstand drawer for the old box I’ve not opened in years. I race down the stairs again and place it in Nori’s hands.
Slowly, Nori lifts the lid. “Shinsu,” she breathes, her eyes wide as she traces the remnants of bracelets, her fingers gliding over the frayed threads of each one she made me since we were seven years old. “You kept them all?”
I pull my chair closer to Nori’s and let her read the truth in my eyes. “I wore them every day until they were frayed. When they couldn’t stay safely on my wrist any longer, I saved them in here, waiting for the next year you’ll give me a new one again.” I brush my thumb across her quivering lip. “I’ve always loved you too, Nori. Have you noticed the color of my front door? When I moved to Starry Hill, I was told to pick a color. Any color. I had to pick my favorite—the shade of your hair when it catches the brightest rays of the sun. Even the chairs in The Dancing Daisy I picked out for Lucille are inspired by your hair. You’ve always been a part of me, Nori.”
Nori laces our fingers. “That last day I saw you when we were kids, do you remember it was the day before your thirteenth birthday? I was planning on giving you the bracelet the next day, and asking you to be my first kiss.”
My breath is knocked out of me at the realization, and my dragon retreats guiltily into my chest.Please don’t leave,I tell him.That’s all in the past. We’re looking to the future now.
I hold Nori’s face between my palms. “Nori, I may not have been your first kiss, but I want to be your last first kiss.”
“You already are,” she whispers as she leans forward and presses her mouth to mine.
The world outside of us dissipates into inconsequential atoms as we breathe each other in. Our tongues caress languidly like we have all the time in the world. Because we do. Today is the start of our life together and the end of our goodbyes.
Later that afternoon, when my stomach is full and my heart light, Nori asks, “Do you want to go for a swim?”
“Yes, but let’s go sit on the dock and watch the sunset together first. I want to tell you everything that happened to me the day I left.”
“Okay.”
Once outside, I eye the stack of luggage resting on the dock. Viggo did well with how quietly he was unloading, or maybe I was so disconnected with the world that I couldn’t hear him.
I lead Nori to the edge of the dock, to the same spot we had our first kiss not so long ago, and I relish in the calm beat of her heart. She’s not scared anymore and that means a lot to me.
My dragon hesitantly comes forward again and lifts his head toward the ocean, closing his eyes as he breathes in the salty air.Soon,I promise him.Nori first.He agrees wholeheartedly and gives me the space to explain our history to the woman we love.
In front of us, long, rolling ribbons of water stretch out toward the horizon and golden droplets of sunlight dance in the valleys of their swells.
I take Nori’s hand in mine, keeping my gaze straight ahead as I start talking. “That day before my thirteenth birthday remains one of the happiest days of my life, because of you. But throughout that day, there was an odd sensation in my chest, almost like a scratching from the inside, and when I went back to my grandmother’s that evening, everything intensified. It became an aching, roiling mess inside me, sending goose bumps all over my body which sharpened into pinpricks. My grandmother sent me to bed early with some painkillers, promising to call a doctor in the morning if I still felt unwell.”
Nervous scales flicker down my arms and Nori pulls my hand into her lap, calmly tracing them as she lends me her silent support.
I clear my throat. “That night, everything got worse. The pinpricks ruptured into scales covering my entire body, and from my head… two horns sprouted. I screamed when I saw myself, effectively summoning my grandmother who screamed even more. She called my father, who surprisingly, welcomed the news. At first. There hadn’t been a dragon in our line in a couple of generations, so they were unsure of what to do with me. This also meant I wasn’t safe in their human neighborhood because I couldn’t control my dragon. What if I shifted into his pure form right there? What if I gave away my kin’s secrets? They couldn’t risk it.”
Memories of that night, of the fear, the uncertainty, race through my mind. I needed to be comforted, needed a friend or a parent to hold me and tell me it was going to be okay. But I got none of that.
I wasn’t raised in a hugging family and physical contact was sparse, yet I still craved to be held that day, to be told I was going to be okay.
“The next day,” I continue, wanting to tell Nori every single detail, no matter how hard it is to relive it all, “I was forced to stay inside while I waited for my parents to collect me. All day, I watched you from my window. The way you sat on that swing in the backyard, waiting for me to show up, it pained me more than seeing my body covered in scales. Watching you gather the courage to come knock on my grandmother’s door, only to hear her tell you I went home without giving you a believable reason why, broke something in me. The image of you crying as you walked away, and not being able to do anything about it, made me vow that one day when I could control my dragon, I’d come back to you and explain everything.”
“It’s okay now. You found me,” Nori whispers.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” I whisper back. “I went to your house right after I graduated, but you were already gone.” A different family had moved into Nori’s at that time and didn’t have any forwarding address for her. I tried to contact her mother through a number the new owners gave me, but she pretended not to know who I was. There’s no need to tell Nori this right now, not when her emotions are still raw after she decided to break all contact with her mother when she moved here.
Nori shakes her head and brushes one of my tears away. “You have nothing to apologize for. My heart hurt losing my friend, but I can’t imagine how hard it must’ve been for you to go through all of that alone.”
I take in a shaky breath, knowing this story is far from done. My dragon sends scales across my chest, reinforcing me in his own way. “When my parents arrived, they were proud to announce that they enrolled me at an exclusive boarding school for magical creatures tucked away in the middle of a forest, surrounded by all kinds of wards to keep humans out. I wasn’t allowed to leave there until I could shift at will and control the appearance of my scales and my horns. Some students received glamour rings to help them control their shifts, but my father refused to get me one. He said I needed to train myself and my dragon, that using a glamour ring is a sign of weakness.”
