How do you say goodbye? It was a question Amber herself had never been able to answer. Even the girl who ran away from everything and everybody hadn't learned to let go. Which is how she found herself walking onto campus, surrounded by crowds of people, all anticipating the Senior class of Seongnam University. Purposefully, she stayed in shadow, hiding behind a large pair of sunglasses, wearing a hat. She'd donned an outfit provided by her grandparents, the only one she owned anymore. After cutting contact and leaving town, she'd kept one of the expensive, feminine outfits, just in case she had to make an appearance in a place where she didn't want to be seen. Just like today.
The graduating class had elected a speaker, who gave them advice, talking about life, love, lessons learned and things lost. The cheesiness fit the occasion somehow. Despite Amber not being one to partake in cliche often, she looked back at her time as a student at the University with a certain fondness. This was her school. No matter where she, or any of the other students had started, they'd ended up here. She had to purse her lips to stop from sniveling during the speech. It wasn't the words doing this to her, but the onset memories every way her eyes darted. Though they met on the school lawn, seeing different buildings brought up different times at the school. Even the path that students often took to Casi beach, or the bus stop on the way in had shaken her resonance a bit.
The ceremony felt long, but she stayed for the full thing. Even when the audience was dismissed and the graduates were walking among the chairs, after they'd finished announcing names and degrees. The masters program had been particularly tough for her. One side of her was proud, seeing her former peers actually graduate, the other upset they now were officially moving on. The University would always be there. The buildings weren't going to disappear over night. But as the last of her friends left. Packing up their dorms for the final time, she knew her Seongnam was gone. There was no going back now. This chapter was closing. Closing quickly.
When the mass of people has dissipated a bit, she slipped away, but not towards the parking area, where her friend's motorcycle sat. She'd feared her car would be a bit recognizable to the ones who knew it. Instead she headed off, across the lawn, through a stone doorway and into the library. It sat totally silent for once, what with all the students celebrating the end of term outside. She'd made a promise to not come back the first time, and she hadn't listened, obviously, so instead of making a promise to never return (if there was one thing she'd actually learned in school was never to make a promise she couldn't keep), she closed her eyes and let herself forget that in a minute she'd be leaving, probably forever. Maybe not forever. Amber sighed, feeling like she had been the one to gently close the book on SNU, instead of gripping the binding tightly, holding it open.
She'd gone to make her way out exactly as she'd planned, but it took her running into a vaguely familiar face for her to reminded, nothing ever went to plan for her here. "Amber, right?" They asked, smiling in recognition. She remained silent for a moment, and they spoke "We met a few years back, had- we had a good time." Ohhhh. Okay, this was fine. Suddenly her look of suspicion melted to a comfortable smile "Sadly I don't remember meeting you." This seemed to dishearten the person addressing her, as they obviously had the intent to remind her of some party or concert- something. They didn't have long to be disappointed, because suddenly Amber had reached out, grasping the collar of their shirt. Pulling them close to her, she smirked- "Maybe you ought to refresh my memory."
