After that dinner we began to date again.

Jiwon would come to my office or I would go to his. There were days we would take long walks through the campus grounds and held hands. We drank coffee and giggled like kids.

I didn’t realize how much he had really succeeded until I had invited him to a faculty dinner. I introduced him to others as my good friend from Korea, but it wasn’t long until members of the engineering faculty came up to us.

“Are you really Bobby Kim?”

“Ah, yes. Dr. Thompson, correct?” Jiwon greeted smoothly, shaking the professors hand.

I felt a sense of pride, as if I had brought the most interesting item to a show and tell day at school.

“I’m impressed.” I admitted to him as we got back into his car.

“Really? I’m more impressed with you, Dr. Lee.” He cooed, his left hand leaving the steering wheel to hold mine.

We drove in a comfortable lull with only the sound of the radio. When we got back to his apartment he uncorked a bottle of wine and we sat on the couch watching television.

“Hayi, there’s something I need to tell you.” Jiwon spoke suddenly.

“What is it?” I had secretly been waiting to find out that things would still somehow fall apart. Maybe he had a secret wife or a family. Maybe he was dying.

“I’ve been asked to go on a mission to the space station to repair a piece of equipment I designed that was damaged during transport.” He confessed, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. He watched my reaction. “I’m sorry, I knew about this before we met but it hadn’t been finalized until a few weeks ago.”

“Wow,” was all that I could say.

“Wow?”

“Jiwon, this is your dream.” I squeezed his hand. “I’m so happy for you.”

“You’re happy?”

I nodded. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I’m leaving. I’ll be gone for over a year, I have to attend training, too. Could be longer, something could go wrong.”

“I don’t care about that, Jiwon.” I shook my head. That was a half-truth, I would miss him like hell, but I couldn’t tell him to stay for me. “I just want you to be happy.”

He observed me for a moment longer before excusing himself to pour us another glass. When he returned, he placed the glass on the table but did not sit down. Instead, he knelt in front of me.

“Let’s get married.” He insisted, placing a box in my open palm.

“We’ve been dating less than a month!” I said in shock, looking at the ring in its box.

It was pretty, I wanted to put it on. I used to think about marrying Jiwon. But now that he was on his knees in front of me, I found it harder to say yes. It didn't feel real.

“It’s been a long time coming, right?” He joked, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I real