" Onni, where are we going?" Ah-ra voiced out and observed her surroundings.

" Your fiance wants to see you." Dal-rae calmly answered her and focused on driving.

Dal-rae's heart pounded at the thought of Jinyoung. The person that had once treasured her, told her that he would love her forever, cherished her with all of his heart, all that she had ever gave him was hurt and lies. She missed him so much that everything felt real for the first time. He had given her so much to remember and cherish, now that he had given his heart to Ah-ra, she couldn't help but feel upset, angry. But this time, she wasn't angry at Ah-ra, she was angry at her ownself for not realizing it earlier. She felt stupid for dumping him, thinking that he would come running and begging to her to take him back. Instead, he had finally found his true love.

" I love him." Dal-rae expressed herself and glanced at the ring that was on Ah-ra's finger.

Ah-ra blinked her eyes repeatedly, she didn't know how to respond to those words. She wanted to open , but there was nothing coming out from it. She turned to look at Dal-rae who was staring at her ring, Ah-ra awkwardly curled her fingers up and placed her right hand over her left hand. She swallowed the lump that was forming in , she felt guilty towards Dal-rae. All these while, she had always been the one receiving the love from everyone and at the end of the day, she was going to be the happy one. 

" You really love him?" 

Dal-rae only nodded her head and focused on the road again. Ah-ra regretfully stared out of the window and tried to calm her thoughts down. That uncomfortable feeling in her chest came again, this time, it hurt from thinking about Jinyoung. She fully understood Dal-rae's feelings, that awful feeling of unrequited love. 

" Anyways, be happy. I'm really excited for you." Dal-rae grinned and excitedly uttered those words.

She had no idea how much it pained Ah-ra to hear those words coming from her. 

" Onni, you'll find your happiness too. Don't worry." she tried to reassure Dal-rae but at the same time knew that Dal-rae was only faking a smile to make herself feel better.

-----------------------------

Jinyoung ran a hand through his hair and slapped himself, he was afraid of showing the cheesy side of himself to Ah-ra. Although, it was a little bit late to officially ask her out, he felt that he ought to say those words to her because there might not be a next time. There wasn't even a time where he could hold her hands and enjoy her company. 

" Oppa!" Ah-ra came running towards him.

Jinyoung could feel the blood rushing to his head as soon as their lips met, he hadn't expect her to make the first move. Ah-ra removed herself from him and pulled out something from her bag, it was the diary that Jinyoung had gifted to her before he left for America. He couldn't help but smile and grabbed the diary away from her, without even saying a word he turned to the front page of the diary. His eyes scanned through the meaningful words and thoughts of Ah-ra, she had even left him birthday messages from when she was seven years old. In the last page of everything, there was a neater scrawl.

Happy 23rd birthday!

Ah-ra tried to tip-toe and realized how embarrassing it was now that he was reading it. He regretfully turned around to look at the girl that had faithfully loved him for more than ten years, her love for him was no longer one-sided now, because he knew that he wouldn't be able to find someone like her. His life was beautiful now that she was in it.

" You know that I love you even if I don't say it right?" he uttered those words and gazed into her brown eyes.

Ah-ra nodded her head and intertwined her fingers with Jinyoung's. 

" You have to say it. Say it everyday." she chuckled and changed her attention to a couple who was riding a bicycle.

" So we're official now? So you're saying that you feel the same way for me right? I want to hear it from you." he got a little bit excited and began to pester her with his words.

Ah-ra stopped in her tracks and squeezed his hands. She pursed her lips at the thought of how much Jinyoung had changed over the past few months, the first time she had met him was on her first day of school, everyone called him the 'ice prince' and he really did act like one. She couldn't believe that he had actually slammed her beloved notebook on the school table and called her work 'garbage'. 

Now, she was standing in front of the same person but now Jinyoung had a pleasant side to him. He never failed to make her smile and give her the support that she needed. All these while, she had only been the one receiving from him, she felt guilty and awful for that. 

" I feel the same way for you." Ah-ra calmly spoke and stared into his eyes.

" And..." Jinyoung widened his eyes and patiently waited for her to utter those words.

Ah-ra hung her head down and slowly removed the ring from her finger. 

" What are you doing?" he panicked and tried to stop her, he didn't want to hear it. 

Ah-ra giggled and gently hit him on the shoulder, she tried to calm him down.

" It's not what you think it is. Keep this with you, in 3 years when you meet me again... give it back to me." she calmly uttered those words and placed the ring into his hands.

" You want me to propose to you again?" he argued and gazed into her eyes. He was confused.

" That proposal isn't valid." Ah-ra answered him and rubbed her head against his arms.

Jinyoung sighed and kept the ring in his pocket, if that was what Ah-ra wanted, he would gladly comply to her wishes. After all, 3 years would flash pass him in no time and he would be able to see her again. They could get married, have their own house, their own children, do everything that they could do together. The thought of it made him happy.

" Oppa, let's ride a bike together." 

" Let's go ice-skating? How about that?" he suggested and even before she could answer him, Jinyoung dragged her to the place that he had been dying to visit with her.

It took them an hour to enter the ice rink, Jinyoung wrapped his arms around Ah-ra's waist because he couldn't balance himself. Ah-ra shook her head and sighed, the person who had suggested to ice-skate couldn't even skate. She gently pried his fingers away from her waist and held his hands that were covered in the thick glove, she made him grab the railing and patiently taught him to balance himself.

" Oppa, just focus." she grabbed onto his hands and slowly glided.

" Where should I focus?" his legs trembled as he tried to find his centre of gravity.

" My face." Ah-ra tried not to laugh as she explained to him.

Jinyoung realized that the faster he moved, the more easier it was for him to balance and little by little, he removed himself from Ah-ra. Ah-ra kept her eyes on Jinyoung, his fingers were slowly slipping away from her hands, she knew that he was going to be able to skate on his own now. 

" You'll be able to live without me." Ah-ra thought to herself and finally his fingers slipped away from hers.

" Yah! Wah! I can do it!" he exclaimed excitedly and moved forward towards Ah-ra.

Ah-ra showed him the thumbs up and flashed a smile. Love was painful, bitter and sweet at the same time, to let a person go is never easy. But to Ah-ra, it was the easiest thing to do. She loved Jinyoung with all of her heart because of his presence during her childhood days, after he left, she was only left with a broken heart. After finding out about his relationship with Dal-rae in high school, she vowed to never love a person like him. Because she was a foolish person, she fell for Sandeul easily. Then back to Jinyoung again. 

" What are you thinking about?" Jinyoung questioned her.

" Nothing." Ah-ra faked a smile and ruffled his neat hair.

Jinyoung held her closer to him, the both of them glided on the ice and finally stopped. The both of them stared at the Gwanghwamun gate, Ah-ra's eyes sparkled as she admired the magnificient gate, she wondered why they would preserve a gate that would bring back painful memories to the Koreans. It was the same exact gate that many had died to protect Daehanminguk, to fight for its independence.

On the other hand, Jinyoung had another story to the 'Gwanghwamun' gate. Since he was a passionate song composer, he had always been exploring different genres of music, and coincidentally he had heard of the song 'Gwanghwamun' sonata, it was a song about a tragic love story of two lovers. 

" Yah, Shin Ah-ra. Do you know anything about that Gwanghwamun gate?" he questioned her and wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders.

" Not really..." she shook her head and looked at him.

" Ever heard of Gwanghwamun sonata?" he raised his eyebrows and studied her facial expression.

Again, Ah-ra remained silent.

" It's about the untold story of two lovers. A boy and a girl liked each other but somewhere along the way, they didn't end up with each other. The guy was a music composer and the girl was a singer? I'm not sure whether she was a singer or a trainee... Years later, that girl married his good friend. Sad isn't it?" he explained and turned to look at Ah-ra.

Her eyes began to glisten with tears, she laughed and wiped away the tears. Jinyoung laughed it off thinking that she was touched by his story, seeing that she was distracted, he decided to pull a trick on Ah-ra. He pushed her to the ground and glided away, not forgetting to stick his tongue out at her. 

" Catch me if you can!" he yelled at her and waved happily.

Ah-ra looked around to see the other skaters staring at them. She hurriedly picked herself up and stared at his back, he was going further and further away from her. Since it was his birthday, she had wanted it to be a memorable one for him. She quickly gave herself a pat on the shoulder and chased after him. 

A good two hours passed and Jinyoung was already dead tired. He plopped onto the back of the bus and leaned his head against Ah-ra's shoulders. He had really enjoyed himself, especially with Ah-ra by his side, everything seemed to be better, even the sad-looking night today made him hyper for no utter reason. 

" Shin Ah-ra, thank you for today." he whispered those words into her ears and showed his gums.

" Umm... you're welcome." Ah-ra tried not to look at him and placed his head onto her shoulders.

" I'm really happy. I'll work hard for the both of us." he uttered those words and shut his eyes.

Ah-ra only nodded and changed her attention to the beautiful city lights. The rain looked like tears that came down from the night sky, it softly fell onto the bus window, and in it, she could see Jinyoung's reflection. He was soundly asleep, seeing the innocent side of him made her heart ache because there was never going to be a happy ending for them. The pitter-patter sound from the rain overwhelmed the sniffs that she was trying to control. Ah-ra covered and tried not to wake him up, tears trickled down her red cheeks.

An hour later...

" Aish...it's raining." Jinyoung held Ah-ra closer to him as the both of them alighted the bus.

He kept an arm in front of Ah-ra so that she wouldn't get soak. He removed the jacket around his body and covered her head with it, he held her closer to his body and ran towards the direction of her house. Every second mattered, because he didn't want the girl he loved to catch a cold, his grip around Ah-ra was so tight that his knuckles turned white.

" Oppa, you should cover yourself too." Ah-ra tried cover him with his jacket but failed.

" Yah, go in. Quick!" he pushed her towards the gate and waved.

" What about you?" she yelled and held his jacket in her hands.

" Just go! I'll be alright!" 

After seeing her off, he sped off to the bus stop to seek shelter. He was soaked but he was on cloud nine, he enjoyed every single minute that was spend with Ah-ra. The rain had always brought them together, even tonight, he had assumed that it rained so that he could have a reason to hold her close to him. He rubbed his temple and foolishly laughed to himself. Again, he wouldn't be able to fall asleep due to happiness.

" This is the happiest day of my life." Jinyoung searched for the ring in his pocket and took it out to admire it.