Howon smiled proudly as his principal called out Eunhye’s name. He watched as she made her way up the stairs and crossed the stage, her steps small and calculative as she tried not to fall in her heels.

An entire year had flown past, and most of the time was spent building their relationship. Not everything went perfectly, like when she tripped and fell down three flights of stairs, but they had made it to the point of graduation.

After the ceremony was finished, Howon and Eunhye were greeted by Junhyung. It took a while to convince the thousand-year-old man to take a photo of them together, but they eventually got him to press the capture button on the camera Howon had brought. Howon was a person who cherished memories and diligently made scrapbooks, so there was no way that he would let this event pass without a few photos.

Junhyung handed Howon the camera. He waited until Eunhye went off to find her teachers to talk to before he said anything. “Today, then?”

“Oh, shush.” Howon muttered as he flipped through the photos on the camera. “I could give her the rest of her life to make the decision.”

“But if she makes it when she’s ninety, you’ll have a grandma as your wife.”

“I’ll be six times her age by the when that happens.” Howon snorted as he looked up from his camera. “I don’t mind at all, if that’s what you’re asking me.”

“Love sickness.” Junhyung shook his head and stuck his hands into his pockets. He glanced at Eunhye for a brief moment, shaking his head once again before leaving the school grounds.

“Ancient people.” Howon sighed, but had a smile on his face.

“Howon, let’s go to a place less crowded.” Eunhye had weaved her way through the crowd back to Howon’s side, and she grabbed onto his hand once she was close enough.

Nodding his head multiple times, Howon firmly held Eunhye’s hand as he pushed through the crowd, shoving fellow classmates out of his way. A bunch of people gave him dirty looks, but all he did was smile smugly at them as he passed by. Howon himself wasn’t a fan of crowds, and if it wasn’t for Eunhye’s attendance, he wouldn’t have went to the graduation at all – he had way too many high school certificates at home, and he owned enough to call himself a high school certificate collector.

“Eunhye, there you are!”

The couple turned around to see Jihoo, who was holding a bouquet of Casablanca lilies. Eunhye let go of Howon’s hand and ran over to Jihoo, almost knocking him over when she caught him in a hug. Howon suppressed the urge to scowl, and he let his hands dangle at his sides.

“Congratulations, you’re finally with prince charming! Congratulations for getting away from your evil stepmother, too.” Jihoo chuckled.

“She’s not my stepmother, though.” She lightly hit his shoulder, her eyes glaring at him in annoyance.

“You ruin all of my jokes.” Jihoo pouted as he gave Eunhye the flowers.

“Maybe she should ruin you along with your jokes.” Howon bitterly uttered under his breath.

Over the past year, Eunhye had developed a close relationship with Howon, but she had also gotten friendlier with Jihoo. Not that he was suspicious of her fidelity, but he simply did not enjoy seeing her being flirty to other people, even if it was the slightest bit. They had quarreled over his definition of “flirting” once, and it ended with a week of the cold shoulder from Eunhye. In reality, he was just paranoid that she would run away from him because of his identity.

“What was that?” Eunhye turned around and looked at Howon questioningly.

“What?” Howon feigned innocence. “Oh, I was just saying how the flowers match you nicely.”

“You always say everything matches me nicely.” Eunhye rolled her eyes, but was smiling at his compliment.

“You know what else matches you very, very nicely?” Jihoo grinned widely as he waited for her to finish his cheesy line, but all he received was a pointed look from Eunhye. Despite the clear sign from Eunhye that she didn’t need him to finish it, Jihoo took it upon himself to complete his sentence. “Lee Howon!”

“You know what matches you very, very nicely?” Eunhye batted her eyelashes at him in an act to be nice. “You staying home and sleeping.”

“Ouch!” Jihoo acted as if someone had shot him in the heart with an arrow. He cried out in despair, his face scrunching up as he pretended to cry. “I came all the way here to congratulate you on your graduation, but I’m unwanted here!”

“Oh, it up, you baby.” Laughing, Eunhye hit him on the chest. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat together. You’re paying.”

“I’m dead, though. All my money’s been donated to the Save the Innocent from Eunhye foundation.”

“Do you want that to actually be true?” Eunhye threatened as she half-skipped, half walked back to Howon’s side. She held onto his hand and began walking away from Jihoo, giving Howon a smile when he looked over to her. “We’re going to leave without you!”

Eunhye bundled herself up under a scarf and three layers of clothing, staring longingly at the summer dresses in her closet as she pulled clothes out of her closet.

Winter was barely ending, and spring was almost arriving. She knew that her answer for Howon was due a long time ago, but she couldn’t find the words to say it. At the same time, Eunhye didn’t want him to directly ask her out of the blue one day.

“Are you ready yet?” Howon called to her, annoyed. He had no need to layer his clothes, as he didn’t feel much of the cold, but he still wore a thick jacket so that he wouldn’t appear to be abnormal. “You’re the one who wanted to go out for breakfast together!”

“I am now.” Eunhye said as she opened the door to her room. She whined when Howon reached out and ruffled her hair, and hit his arms as if he was attacking her. “I spent a lot of time working on my hair!”

“What are you talking about?” He scoffed as he helped Eunhye fix her hair. “All you do is brush it. You take most of your time dressing up because you get distracted by your phone.”

Eunhye stuck her tongue out and pushed him to the side, heading over to the front door so that she could grab her shoes and put them on.

By the time they made it out of the door, it was already ten. Normally, the guy would have complaints, but Howon had no interest in regular human food, so all he did was poke fun at her time management skills.

After eating, Howon suggested to walk home the longer way, which Eunhye didn’t object to. She usually would, but for some reason indecipherable by Howon, she agreed with him.

They strolled leisurely down the path to home with their fingers intertwined, enjoying the time they had together. On both sides was a line of trees that outlined the path, their branches faintly tinted with colours as blossoms were only beginning to grow.

Eunhye let go of Howon’s hand without any notice, and he turned his head to look at her. Howon sighed quietly when he saw her pull out her phone from her pocket, and he returned his gaze to the space in front of him as he took in the beauty of nature. There was barely anyone else walking on the path, as most people were either at work, school, or home.

Howon stopped after a dozen footsteps, realizing that Eunhye was no longer walking by his side. Confused, Howon looked over his shoulder to see her staring at him with her hands in her pockets. He furrowed his eyebrows at her strange behavior, and then turned around to fully face Eunhye. “What happened?”

“I’ve made up my mind.” Eunhye smiled – it wasn’t an “I love you, you’re perfect!” smile, but an “I’m finally relieved of this burden, thank god!” smile.

Although he didn’t understand what she meant for the first few seconds, he caught onto what she meant, and his expression softened. Howon took in a deep breath to prepare himself for her answer - not that oxygen would do anything to help him if she were to reject him, though.

Eunhye remained silent for at least a full minute, and all they did was stare at each other. Eventually, though, Howon began to smile brightly.

Eunhye’s smile grew wider, and she slightly nodded her head as if Howon had verbally asked her a question.

“Yes.”