[May 2010]

[Author POV]

Daesung smiles as he sees a familiar looking house coming up the road. He glances outside his window, seeing the neighborhood he grew up in.

“Where are we?” Mi Sun’s voice enters his ears.

Daesung looks at her, but Mi Sun is looking out the side of her window. “My parent’s house.” Daesung replies. Mi Sun looks at him.

“Your parent’s house? Why?”

He shrugs. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to meet my parents.” He sees her sigh in relief as he focuses his attention back on the road. He doesn’t want another accident happening.

“Then why are we here?”

“Just to walk around. I like my neighborhood. It’s a peaceful place.” He smiles, remembering all the memories he had with Mi Sun before. His smile drops as her sudden memory loss enters his now saddened mind. Will she be able to remember their most cherished childhood memories?

~O~O~

[Daesung POV]

I park my car a few feet away from my parents’ house, just so my parents won’t be able to see my car from the windows. I turn off the engine and climb out. I quickly walk to the passenger side and open the door. I extend my hand out to Mi Sun. She looks up at me with wide eyes. I give her a smile, feeling like that teenage boy again.

Red creeps up on her cheeks as she takes my hand and gets out of the car. Once out, I close the door and find her in front of me, looking at my parents’ house. I come closer behind her. Her scent surrounds me. I smile wider.

“Is that your parents’ house?” she asks.

“Ah, yes.” I say, snapping out of my trance. I stand next to her.

“It’s huge.” She says in awe. Then she mumbles something.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.” She smiles shyly at me.

I take a few steps ahead. “Come on. Let’s walk.”

She falls in step with me. We pass my parent’s house when I feel her grip loosening. I tighten my hold without looking at her. I start leading her and turn left. My smile returns as I see the neighborhood playground. It was the playground Mi Sun and I used to play at when we were kids, actually we still played there whenever we wanted to go back to our childhood days. Hopefully, this will get her memory back.

~O~O~

I lean against the tree as I watch her eyes light up at the sight of the playground. She smiles as she spots the two swings. I smile as well. Mi Sun always did love the swings the most. She sits on the swing then hesitates. I frown and walk towards her from behind. I grab both of the chains holding the swing and look over her. She looks up at me, our noses almost touching.           

“What’s wrong?” I ask before I do something I might regret later on.

“Can you push me?” She asks after a moment of hesitation.

I smile and move my face away. I remove my hands from the chains. I was about to push her until another memory flashed in my mind. I smile wider. I grab the chains again and hoist myself up, planting my feet on the seat in between her. She jumps and looks up.

“Yah! What do you think you’re doing?” She asks, surprised.

The side of my lips twitched, but I kept my smile up. She doesn’t recognize it… “What? This is how I push people on swings.” I say. I start pushing my body back and forth. After a few seconds, we were already swinging back and forth as high as the swing could handle.

The only sound in the whole playground is filled with our laughs and the creeks of the swing every time we move. I look down and see a bright smile on Mi Sun’s face. Whenever Mi Sun and I would visit the playground, we would always do this at one point. Mi Sun loved it whenever I would swing with her. Now, I wonder if she remembers anything like this…

Snap!

We were up in the air when the sound echoed. Next thing I knew, our bodies were flying across the playground. I land on my chest, a hard impact. I cough a couple of times. Good thing this place is covered with sand. I look up and see that the chains of the swing broke. Maybe we shouldn’t have done that…

Mi Sun! Aish! Where is she? I look around me frantically and find her a few feet away from me, in a little puddle next to the slide. I run over to her and hold her in my arms.

“Mi Sun-ah. Talk to me. Are you okay?” I breathe. Her eyes are still closed. Her lips aren’t moving. I lightly slap her cheeks. “Mi Sun-ah! Yah! Can you hear me?” I shout. I bring my head down to her chest, listening for a heartbeat.

I suddenly hear a soft giggle above me. I look up at her with wide eyes. There’s a huge smile across her face. She opens one of her eyes, peeking at me. “You should really hear yourself.” She giggles once more. I look at her, not even blinking. She opens her eyes and looks at me. She sits up, my arms dropping to my sides.

“What a ride that was, neh?” She laughs. I don’t reply, just simply staring at her. “What?” She asks, cocking her head to the side.

“Aish.” I mutter as I enfold her in a tight hug. “Don’t…” I sigh, calming my nerves. “Don’t do that ever again.”