Goodbye

"Stop it, Natalie, I'm not good for you," Jonathan looks at her, the girl who was still looking at him with heart in her eyes could only stop. The boy sighs as he continues, "I'll be leaving all of this behind." He looks at her, "I will forget you, Natalie, don't you get it?"

"Then I will remember for the both of us, Johnny," The girl was persistent with what she said. She was trying to assure the boy in front of her.

"I wouldn't care what you do," Jonathan looks at her. In his heart, he was trying not to break down his walls. The girl in front of him could not know why he was doing all of this, it was not fair for any of them, it was not fair for her. Well, that is what he had thought. He couldn't do it for Natalie to wait for him like this.

"I'm going to forget everything that happened here, I don't want to remember," I'm so sorry natty, he thought.

Natalie, whoever couldn't understand why her best friend was doing all of this. They were supposed to be unseparated. This was supposed to be her fairy-tale and her happy ending. She could only look at him, trying to grab his hands which he pulls back, "Even me? I know you don't like me, but why are you like this?"

"Natty…"

"No. Johnny, you can't use that nickname on me right now, why – why are you doing this?" She asked her best friend; she was taking it well. But what he had thought that day, it must be done.

"I promise I wouldn't be a nuisance! I wouldn't even say I like you anymore, I promise! But please don't forget me!" she rubs her skirt sadly," I promise. I promise I will stop liking you, loving you, but please… don't forget."

Jonathan, who couldn't help to feel bad, could only sigh. He knew how much Natalie Miller liked him. He knew that. But his heart didn't beat the same way she wanted. That day was one of the worst days Natalie had. She didn't know what was going on, she had thought that he was only joking, and everything would be alright.

But she was wrong. Jonathan was not joking when he said he would forget because as soon he had left, he never came back. He didn't tell her what he was doing, nor if he was going to go back from it. But he had dropped out of school. It shocked everyone. Even Seoyeon had asked Natalie about it, but before the girl could ask, she saw Natalie crying.

"Se- Seyeon, w-what am I-I s-supposed to do," Natalie breaks down crying, Seoyeon looks at her friend and can only comfort her best friend's heart. She felt a sudden urge to punch Jonathan. Seoyeon knows the struggle Natalie had to go through.

Every day she had to see her friend lovestruck with Jonathan Hills. Seoyeon didn't think it was a problem since she had seen the two being all friendly. Hell, she wouldn't be too surprised to hear the both of them finally dating.

But it seems the world was not going to be friendly with her friends.

"Natty… what happened? Why is –"

"He l-left Seo, he told me he didn't want to r-remember m-me," Natalie cries harder, " I- I didn't think I did anything wrong… I felt he m-might l-like m-me."

"Hey… You need to fall in love with someone who wants you, who waits for you," Seoyeon said, rubbing her back. She felt terrible for her friend, "You need someone who understands you, who helps you and supports you, you need to find someone who will still talk to you even after fighting with each other. If he's unwilling to see you, he's not worth it."

"What am I supposed to do… he – he was –"Seoyeon saw her friend crying.

"I know it's going to be hard –"Natalie sobs –"but I don't want to fall for Jonathan Hills anymore."

She could still remember the face Jonathan had made when he had told her that day. The way he told her, he didn't want to remember her. Since then, without her realizing it, Natalie Miller, who they knew, started to fade away.

After what had happened, Natalie started to close herself. She started to be quieter than usual. She even heard from someone else that Jonathan had decided to be an artist; ironically, she didn't hear the news from her friend, from Johnny himself, but from someone else. It had hurt her that he didn't even bother to tell her, and she confronted Jonathan that day. He looked so excited, and all she could do was smile at him. She couldn't even try to be mad at him; it was like he had smiled at her that day. Even after hurting her in a way, she had shamelessly asked if he could be in contact with her.

He was far too excited and had agreed, and he did keep the promise.

Natalie would try to ask him about his days since then, and he would answer, but it seemed like he was out of reach once again.

Right now, he sat in front of her. Natalie had asked him to meet her since it's been a year and a half since he started to learn his guitars yet again. Natalie knew that Jonathan had a fantastic talent with his guitar. Before, it felt like it was only her who knew about his love for guitar. It felt like talking about becoming an artist was just a dream.

He was always anxious for the past few days, so Natalie wanted to help him. His agency had a day off, so you asked him if he wanted to grab a smoothie. Thankfully he had agreed.

It was quiet between them, so she initiatively asked him.

"Johnny… are you okay?" Nami nervously asked him, and all he did was nod his head.

"That's good… I'm also doing good, and I – "

"Are you going to do it again, Natalie Miller?" he suddenly asked, and he looked at him, taken aback by his sudden outburst.

"W- what? I – I don't understand –"

"Again? Are you going to complain about your life again? Don't you see I'm stressed, with training all I wanted was peace, but you're always talking and –"

"I – I didn't know I –"she trembled in her feet. She didn't realize that Jonathan was always annoyed by her. She had always thought that Jonathan was listening to her laughing together whenever she said something. She didn't know he didn't like what they had.

"Natalie… can we not do this every time? Can we talk about it some other time? I have to go," he stood up. She was surprised by his sudden outburst. She grabs his hand.

"Again? I – I don't know what I did. Are you leaving again?" The last time she had asked him, he looked back at her, but this time.

He didn't even spare a glance at her. She was looking down, and Jonathan looked at her, and he bit his tongue. He did not just burst out to Natalie like this. It was not like him. He had been stressed because the company was demanding his songs. They had promised him he would be the next star. That he, too, would be like Ed Sheeran was a promise the company had made, and it made Jonathan want that.

As he was processing what he had done. All Natalie could smile even at the end, even if it hurt. For the first time, she let go.

She walks away.

After spending years her days trying to impress Jonathan, she had gotten lost along the way, and because of him, she didn't want to fall in love anymore.

And she didn't.

After that day, Natalie and Jonathan had never had contact with each other. Jonathan had gone back to practice and never seen her again. For Natalie? She had cried to Seoyeon that night, and Seoyeon made Natalie promise never to call about it ever again.

"It's okay, Natty. It's okay to be hurt, and it's okay for you to cry, but don't you ever cry for the same person twice, alright?"

That what kept Natalie going. She was going to prove her way up and forget about him.