After time passed, they managed to catch up on those eight years of being separated from each other. It honestly didn’t feel like they had been apart at all. The comfortable feeling among the two had always remained there, and no distance or time could erase that bond.   “I can’t believe you gave up soccer after everything I had done for you,” Hyun Mi spoke, pursing her lips as a small protest. Her heels were clicking loudly against the trottoir of the cold night streets as they walked back after dinner. They both lost track of time when they caught up on so many things.   “I pursued writing thanks to you though,” Woo Hyun replied, meeting her eyes as she smiled at him. If it were eight years ago, he would’ve tousled her hair the way he always did, or casually drape his arm on her shoulder. But things were different now. She was a grown woman, a beautiful one at that. It was true what people said: beauty grows over time. He had always realized her inner and outer beauty, and time only enhanced it.   “NIT Magazine is one of the biggest news portal in our country now. If I had known you were the writer, I would’ve subscribed to it,” she told him with a laugh, not knowing he had stopped paying attention to her speech since a while ago.   He couldn’t help but keep staring at her. His eyes trailed to her plum lips as she constantly rambled on about whatever was on her mind; a habit she kept whenever she was with him. He was still the only person she could open up with even after all these years. She was no longer wearing those thick glasses, and he liked being able to see the way her eyes glistened when she spoke passionately. He felt like drowning in those warm eyes that showcased an array of different emotions since years ago. And now, her big eyes squinted into a glare, and his vision was blocked by her waving hands.   “We met after so many years and you’re just blatantly ignoring me?” She asked him with fake anger.   He picked up on it, of course, and could only laugh. Who was she trying to fool anyway? But he found himself so amused whenever she showed a bolder and playful side like this. It reminded him of their first meeting; how much she had grown from that timid character she once was.   “Maybe I should leave,” Hyun Mi her heels to walk away, just to fish some reaction from him. She thought Woo Hyun fell for it when he grabbed her by the wrist and spun her towards him. The pleasant sound of his chuckle came to an abrupt stop the moment she landed against his chest. His warm breath blew against her forehead, and she lifted her head up to meet his eyes from such a close distance. It still sparkled such a rich chocolate color even against the moonlit night sky.   They both thought being apart for eight years would not change a thing. Maybe it didn’t, considering it rekindled their friendship they had missed out on. And maybe it did, considering something had always laid behind the surface of their relationship.   “Stay.” His voice was a soft whisper and she could feel his breath softly brushing against her skin. “I let you go once, and I am not going to make the same mistake again.”   Hyun Mi didn’t even realize she had been holding her breath, too intimidated by this weird feeling that appeared when she was physically so close to him. It was pleasant actually; a little too pleasant. He had seen her cry before, he had hugged her for comfort, he had used his fingers to wipe the tears away from her cheek, and during all those time, she felt nothing. He was just mere friend.   But tonight, she felt something.   “I… I told you not to wait for me.” She awkwardly pushed him away from her, and continued to stroll down the street. She heard his footsteps following her, and he was soon standing by her side, the one place where he belonged.   “And you really thought I could do that?” Woo Hyun carelessly uttered those words in a casual manner, not realizing it could have a different implication that made her feel all giddy and bashful again.   “I knew you weren’t the brightest guy academically, but I thought you’d be a bit smarter than this,” she told him teasingly, back to the way she would occasionally diss him.   Woo Hyun scoffed a laugh and decided to remind her of the things she used to tell him. “I thought you were the one who said to always place a high expectation on others. The pygmalion effect?” He placed his hand on her head as a reflex, ruffling her hair into a mess.   That was when he realized they had truly changed within those eight years. He saw the smile from her face momentarily stiffen as he himself felt an unexplainable electric jolt pass through his body. He soon retracted his hand back to his side and kept staring out in front of him, clearing his throat softly.   “You messed up my hair. It took me one and a half hour just to get it right,” she then spoke, and there was a clear attempt at her part to cover up the awkwardness. It wasn’t awkward because they felt uncomfortable with each other; not at all. Perhaps it was the opposite. They were too comfortable it became questionable at some point.   “Aw, you spent that much time because you knew you were gonna meet me?” Woo Hyun asked her playfully, his hands in his pocket as he kept walking.   “No!”   He grinned at her denial, quite proud to see her being able to say “no” so easily now. He’d like to give himself some credit for her change. Though there was a tiny bit of disappointment since she had once again rejected his form of affection, as usual.   The sudden ringtone playing from his phone surprised the two of them as Woo Hyun clumsily tried to fetch the item in his hand. “Hello?” He greeted, seeing Hyun Mi slightly chuckle at him and he couldn’t help but smile along.   “Hey, have you not sent the article that were due for today?” It was Dong Woo, and he sounded panicked.   “Yes I did. I already emailed them to you a few days ago,” Woo Hyun replied. He knew he had some deadlines, which was his reason for finishing the first half of his assignments before the reunion day. He planned to finish the other half once he returned.   “I don’t see it. I tried looking over your laptop and it’s not there,” Dong Woo spoke. His voice was in despair now.   “I also saved it in the USB.” Woo Hyun tried his best to recall everything.   “The blue one shaped like Stitch? Yeah, I checked it and it’s empty.”   Woo Hyun brushed his hand through his hair, looking entirely frustrated now. Was he going to become a failure at the job he loved doing? He didn’t want to let it go. “Don’t tell me we lost all the files.”   “I don’t know. Just come back here right now so we can check together.” Dong Woo ended the phone call.   Hyun Mi blinked her eyes at him, watching him grunt as he wabbled around in circles. “Everything okay?” She carefully asked him, though knowing it wasn’t.   “There’s some problem with work and I have to go home right away. I’m sorry I can’t take you home,” he said apologetically. He had known her too well by now to see that slight disappointment on her face even as she tried her best to disguise it behind her smile. She could fool anyone with that sweet smile, but not him.   “That’s okay. I can go home with the train.”   And then a crazy idea popped into his head.   “Unless you wanna tag along?” He suggested.   And the girl was seemingly just as crazy.   “Sure, I could try to help you out,” she had replied, a little too eager.   They didn’t know whether it was out of sheer panic, their natural instinct to help one another out, or the hidden unwillingness in their heart to part ways, but they were now heading towards the same destination.     The front door flung open and Woo Hyun came marching into the apartment, seeing Dong Woo and Myung Soo already towering over his laptop.   “Shoes!” Hyun Mi had yelled from behind him.   “Oh right,” he uttered in the midst of his hurry. He walked back to the front door and obeyed the girl as he untied his shoe laces. He remembered the way she had scolded and nagged him whenever he walked inside a room with his dirty shoes on. And out of habit, he always obeyed her nagging, even though they were currently in his very own apartment.   Dong Woo and Myung Soo gave the girl a look, exchanged looks with each other, and continued staring at the unfamiliar girl again. Woo Hyun never brought a girl back to their apartment, especially not when work was in a crisis.   “Err.. Who is this?” Myung Soo trailed off, raising his brows at the way Woo Hyun was comfortably leaning against the girl for balance. She then tidied his shoes up in a neat line while making a slight disgusted face.   “Dong Woo, Myung Soo, this is Jang Hyun Mi,” Woo Hyun quickly introduced them while pointing at each person respectively. He saw the look in their eyes and almost immediately regretted the introduction.   The two guys exchanged another look with each other, this time beaming with pure amazement as they turned to the girl. “The love of his life!”   Woo Hyun’s eyes grew wider, struck with a new case of panic. Those two had always dubbed her that way ever since his excerpt was published. He didn’t actually mind the name, as long as it wasn’t in front of the actual person herself.   “What?” Luckily Hyun Mi could be occasionally slow with things like this. Woo Hyun grabbed her by both shoulders and led her to sit on the couch, away from his weird housemates.   “Let me take a look.” He then returned to take a seat in front of his laptop, rummaging through all folders and documents to find the file. But the more he looked, the more he had to accept the file’s disappearance. He was ready to give up.   “You can use system restore to set your computer back to a previous date.”   Woo Hyun was so surprised to hear her voice next to him, but even more so when he turned around to face her with his lips almost brushing against her cheeks. Almost.   “Oh, we didn’t even think of that!” Dong Woo shouted overjoyed, seeing solution right in front of their eyes.   “Yeah, it should be able to retrieve your writing saved on that date.” Hyun Mi sat down on the one seater dining chair as Woo Hyun automatically scooped over to give some space to her. Both ignored Dong Woo and Myung Soo’s stare as they sat so closely crammed against each other as if it was the most natural thing for them. Some things didn’t change after all.   She had taken it upon herself to type several stuff on his laptop to activate the system restore menu. All the while, she did not push his hand away and chose to continuously let their hands touch oh so subtly.   Woo Hyun noticed, and he deliberately did not remove his hand from the keyboard, secretly enjoying the way he felt her skin brush against his. It was a sly attempt, but he was sure she noticed and chose not to push him away either.   It was amazing how even after all these years, she was still his saviour. Woo Hyun was busy copying all the retrieved file to his USB, making sure they were in there. His eyes focused on the laptop screen, but he couldn’t help steal glances at the way Hyun Mi was being so friendly with Dong Woo and Myung Soo. She did change. She didn’t used to be this friendly to strangers—especially males.   “You saved our lives and career! We should repay you!” Dong Woo told her, extremely grateful at her help.   “Actually Woo Hyun should. It was his mistake,” Myung Soo uttered nonchalantly, grinning a little at the brilliant scheme.   “That’s okay. This isn’t the first time I’m saving him from a mess,” Hyun Mi replied with a smile. She then glanced over at Woo Hyun, catching him stare at her a second longer than he intended before quickly looking away. Strange, he would usually reply with a smile when she had caught him staring.   “I can’t believe you guys didn’t date,” Dong Woo suddenly muttered out bluntly, surprising the others. Woo Hyun cleared his throat out loud, Myung Soo awkwardly looked away, and Hyun Mi blinked her eyes, probably missing the words.   Woo Hyun shook his head to brush any unnecessary thoughts away, and quickly finished the copying of the files. “Dong Woo, I emailed everything to you again,” he stated.   The guy checked his mail through his phone and immediately gave him some thumbs up. “All set! Thanks guys!” Dong Woo cheered.   “I should probably get going then, it’s late.” Hyun Mi got up on her feet, adjusting the bag strap on her shoulder. She noticed the way Woo Hyun had been staring at her once again, and it made her nervous.   “I’ll take you,” he said.     They were once again walking side by side during the cold windy night. As it turned out, her house wasn’t all too far away. The idea of her taking a train late at night all by herself was one he had never been fond of. So he decided to drive her, as crazy as it sounded. He didn’t even realize he was trying so desperately to come up with excuses to stay with her a little longer. Perhaps, a part of him feared she’d disappear again the moment she was out of his sight.   “Your roommates are really nice,” Hyun Mi spoke after they had stepped down from the car, heading to her place that was a little further away and could only be reached by foot.   “Of course,” Woo Hyun uttered proudly, glad she was able to get along just fine with them. “They were the ones who told me to go to the reunion in the first place.”   “Good thing you went.” Hyun Mi nodded, adjusting her steps to Woo Hyun who had slowed down a lot.   “Where were you though? The only reason I went was to see you,” Woo Hyun stated, too focused on her mysterious whereabouts he did not realize his indirect confession.   Hyun Mi flinched a little, aware of the words he probably didn’t mean in that particular way. She kept her eyes on her heels now and kept walking. “I wasn’t that close to them anyway. It didn’t matter if I were there or not.”   “But you were close to me. Didn’t you think your presence would matter to me?” He asked, making the girl look at him wide-eyed. Maybe she didn’t entirely change after all. There was still some negative mindset hidden in her.   “I’m here now, aren’t I?” She then asked him cheekily, attempting to avoid the topic. And it worked. He got distracted by her smile, as much as he hated it. She always managed to calm him down, except for that one wretched day he still regretted.   He looked at the girl who was walking in front of him now, unable to see her expression. Though he was good at reading her true feelings, there were still some hidden blind spots to him. He had always wondered whether her departure had something to do with his words. He wondered if things would’ve been different if he could take back those words. The guilt was eating him alive.   “Hey, Hyun Mi,” he called her, seeing her turn around to face him quizzically. He had been trying to avoid this topic, but knew it would eventually guilt trip him in the future. He had to come to peace with it now before it him any further.   “I’m sorry…”   Hyun Mi was momentarily lost, but soon realized what he was talking about. Out of curiosity, she decided to act clueless. “What for?” She questioned, wanting him to confess everything from his own lips.   “You know…” Woo Hyun trailed off uneasily.   “No, I don’t know,” she sang, and Woo Hyun immediately knew she was teasing him.   “You do know,” he uttered, shaking his head as he was about to walk away.   “Wait!” Hyun Mi quickly grabbed the hem of his jacket, preventing him from moving. And when he turned around to respond to her, she only smiled. “That’s not how it works.”   “What?” He frowned.   “Someone’s maturity is measured by the ability to apologize for their mistakes, no matter how big or small. Confess everything with your mouth so that the guilt won’t eat you up,” Hyun Mi told him wisely.   Woo Hyun was unconsciously grinning. He missed this. He missed her advices. He missed his accountability partner. But whenever she was getting serious, he’d always respond with either a joke or an awe of amazement. This time, he went with the joke.   “Are you hoping for a love confession or something?” He meant it as a way to , but noticed that one split second of change in her face, stiffening again. He wasn’t sure what it meant, cause she was back to playfully slapping his arms now.   “Serious, Woo Hyun,” she prompted him.   “Fine.” Woo Hyun knew there was no escaping to it now. He took a deep breath, faced her, and uttered the apology that was long overdue. “I am sorry for lashing at you that time. I have said things I didn’t mean. You never wasted my time; you are the essence of my time. Everything felt so empty without you and I came to realize the only way I ever want to spend my time is together with you.”   Hyun Mi blinked her eyes at his words, and began to chuckle a little to cover her own embarrassment. “Are you confessing your guilt or your love?” She asked playfully.   “Today I’m confessing my guilt.” Woo Hyun grinned at her, so charmingly she was too mesmerized to look away. He purposely left his answer as vague as possible, and she probably noticed as she looked away as soon as she found the ability to.   “I really regret that day and wished I could turn back time,” he continued in a whisper. He clenched his hands into a fist, the memories still haunting him. The teasing mood was gone and he could only inwardly blame himself.   “Don’t be,” Hyun Mi interjected him before he could say more. “Every hardships and incidents in life is what makes you who you are today.”   “But what if I could’ve been an even better person if that incident never happened?” He still insisted so stubbornly.   “Then there’s still a chance for you to become better starting from today onwards,” she replied with a smile. “You know why a car’s windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror? Because what is ahead of you is much more important than what is behind you. You need to let go of the could have and focus on the could be.”   Woo Hyun was silenced, honestly missing this so much. He was glad to know she was still able to encourage him when he had the wrong mindset, likewise how he’d do the same for her. It was in this sense they always needed each other more than they realized.   “Today you should know I had already forgiven you the moment those words escaped your lips,” she then told him, seeing him still frown after her words.   “Really?” He looked bewildered. “That soon?”   “It’s not good to live with grudge or hatred. The only person being damaged by it would be myself. Why live that way when I can be happy?” She answered with a smile, but he was rather focused on something else she said.   “You were happy being separated from me?” Being able to speak so openly to her caused him to speak whatever was on his mind, even if it came off rather clingy. But the thought itself saddened him.   “Of course not,” she replied with no hesitation, noting the small frown forming on his face. “I also apologize for leaving without any notice. It was probably unfair to you.”