It has been two years since I last saw her, she still looked the same. I walked up to her and she looked at me. Did she really lose her memory? I saw my mother looking at me with sad eyes.

Jiyoung and I were childhood friends. I remembered the bright smile her family welcomed us with when my family shifted house ten years ago. Jiyoung and I always played at the garden near our house and it holds uncountable memories for me. "Next time, you must marry me, and only me." I told her. She nodded happily. Being only seven year old kids, what do we know? It was just my immature thinking. However, I did not know that Jiyoung would take it so seriously.

Eight years later, I had to leave for America because of my father's job. The day before I had to leave, I went to look for Jiyoung. However, she wasn’t home. There was not enough time so I left her a card. After that, I left. Little did I know that during that year, Jiyoung was already sick.

Her mother told me that she was suffering from leukemia. It was quite a terrible one too, although it wasn’t the final stage yet. No wonder... No wonder she could not remember me. I had also been away from her for a long time too. I wanted to spend more time with her now that I'm back and bring all the memories back to her.

The next day, I went to her house to look for her. She was sitting at the doorsteps. "Hi." I greeted. She smiled at me. “Can we go somewhere together?” I asked. “Sure!” She replied and stood up. I took her hand and we left her house. While we were walking, I asked her tons of questions and she couldn’t remember most of them. I brought her to an arcade where we used to go after school every day. I asked her if she remembered that we once broke a game machine. She simply laughed. A day had passed so quickly, it was time to bring Jiyoung home.

Six months have passed. My relationship with Jiyoung grew stronger. However, Jiyoung’s conditions grew worse as well. One day, she was rushed to the hospital. I quickly made my way to the hospital. I saw her parents, her mother was crying very badly. I finally realised that Jiyoung's days were numbered. I went into the ward after her parents left. I saw her sleeping peacefully. I held her hand and sang her a song right there, a song that we used to sing on our way home from school, every single day...

Jiyoung woke up two days later. She saw me sleeping by the bedside and woke me up.

"You're awake!" I cried out happily. However, she could not remember me, again. I was shocked and really disappointed. I wanted to break down and cry at that very moment. Then she spoke,

"You... You're back? I haven’t seen you for two whole years!" then she hugged me. I was confused. So... Did she remember me? I then found out that she forgot the recent things and only the past roughly. I spent my time with her in the hospital that day. We were like old friends, reunited again. A few days later, Jiyoung told me that she wanted to go to the garden that we used to play in.  Her condition was so bad, how could she still go somewhere else? But I wanted to do something for her and make her happy. So that night, we sneaked out of the hospital and boarded a bus. During the journey, Jiyoung could not stop coughing. What really shocked me was that she coughed out blood too. I was really worried. I asked her if she wanted to go back to the hospital but she just said she was fine. If anything bad really happened to her, her parents would seriously kill me.

We sat down on the swing at the garden and I put my arms around her.

"Kevin, you promised me that you will only marry me right?"

I looked at her. She still remembered that promise after all. I had to say yes.

"Then... Can we... Get married here?" She said as her eyes sparkled. I had promised her after all... I must do something about it. So we had our “wedding” right there and then. She tied a small branch around my finger, decorated with a flower on top. I did the same.

'Thank you ... Thank you for the promise that you made. Now, I can watch over you safely when I am in Heaven." She said weakly.

I shouted frantically, "What are you saying?! You won’t die!"

Suddenly, Jiyoung coughed out more blood. I really wanted to bring her back to the hospital but she did not want to leave. Her eyes were closing slowly.

"Jiyoung ah! Wake up!" I patted her cheeks as I was tearing up slowly.

She smiled at me and I held her hand. "It's so warm here, I'm really happy..." she said as her voice faltered. She couldn’t speak anymore. She closed her eyes and they never opened again. I cried really badly. But now, at least I know that she was happy, and I kept the promise I made to her. I held her close and sobbed. "Goodbye. Next time we meet again, I will marry you..."