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A year into our marriage, Minkyeong and I owned a small café two streets away from where we resided, in a cozy neighborhood. She used to manage the cash register and orders around here while I prepare the drinks and food. It was a small café, with only the two of us managing the store. Even with me still signed to our record label and entertainment company to produce music alongside Youngmin, we managed to work out a suitable regime where MinKyeong would still be able look after the store while I was gone. It wasn’t extravagant, just a small café by the road, and although it did not bring much wealth to the family, it was sufficient to put a roof over our head and food on our table. Most impoprtantly, we were contented with our lives the way it was. We would wake up together in the morning and would send the kids off to school first before heading to the store. We would display the freshly baked pastries on trays designed by Minkyeong. Then, we wait for the 9am crowd to enter. We would waffle in and out of the kitchen endlessly, balancing trays on our palms while attending to customers.

But now as she had gotten ill, she would only visit the café occasionally and sit by the counter to take orders. There were no more pushing and shoving in the kitchen, with her hitting me with the kitchen towel to get me out of her way or us mixing up our orders during peak hours. With a lesser pair of helping hands, I had no choice but to hire another barista, my best friend Minwoo, who was willing to help me during the morning rush, before rushing off to teach dance to his students at our record company. Even so, Minkyeong often came down to the café on days when she was feeling better and to take a breather from those little monsters at home. She never fails to put a smile on my face with her corny coffee jokes or when she simply looks at me with love and happiness while I did my job.

As we sat down together today, in our favorite corner of the shop, we admired the sunset while enjoying some peace and quiet without any customers. We pinched on the cakes we desired this evening, talking about everything under the sky. It was almost a routine for us to do this every other day, and it was probably one of the few things that never changed ever since she fell sick. As always, our conversations were disrupted by a couple of customers sauntering in and admiring the variety of pastries we offered. Grabbing my apron from the chair beside me, I excused myself and quickly wrapped it around my waist while rushing to attend to the customer.

After seeing the customers off to the door, I returned to seat and plunged into the soft cushion of the chair. As I raised my cup to take a sip of the coffee, I noticed her eyes fixed on the far end of the Han River, staring at nothing. The sunset magically brought life to her face as she kept her gaze fixed. Staring into her vacant eyes, I am reminded of the girl I knew more than ten years ago in high school. Picking her up by the hand, I locked up the café and led her towards the river. As she sat on a cold bench, overlooking the river, she closed her eyes, contented, and took in a deep breath. The setting sun highlighted her facial features as she tilted her head slightly to observe the pinkish sky. At the sight, my lips crept into a blissful smile and swiftly I took a picture of that moment with my phone. Indeed, the girl who loved the sun in her face and wind in her hair didn’t change a bit…

First spring.

I remember that spring, when I met her for the first time in my second year of high school. It was the second week of school. At lunch, I lingered around the field as I watched my brother and our friends participate in their own game of soccer. Having hurt my leg in an accident during term break, I sat quietly on the bleachers while listening to music on my iPod. Tilting my head back, I felt the cool spring breeze brush across my face and the sun warming it. As I looked back at the field, I noticed the view of the guys playing was blocked by a group of girls who happened to be walking by.

Then 18, I wasn’t rushing into having a relationship with anyone. However, as the patch of white I see caused by looking at the sun began to clear , I caught sight of a girl with honey brown hair amidst them, quietly walking alongside her friends as they laughed and joked. Dressed in our school’s track and field team jersey, they headed in the direction of the sports hall. She flashed a shy smile in my direction when she noticed me staring at her, my mouth slightly agape, before turning her head away quickly. All in just a moment, my heart began to flutter. It raced as I noticed my eyes following her as she walked further away from where I was and finally disappearing behind the gate. Unknowingly, I smiled to myself. It was an unknown feeling to me. Foreign, and a little strange, but I liked it. Then, I felt, indeed, spring has come. With just a smile, she captured my heart.

I started looking out for her in school, though I never understood why we never seen each other in the past year. I promised myself that if I saw her again, I would smile at her and maybe… ask for her name. Whenever a group of girls walked by I would sub consciously scan through the group to see if could spot her again. Unwilling to confess my feelings that I had for this mysterious girl at first, it was eventually exposed by my brother and Minwoo, to which they kept on teasing me non-stop. Time and time again, Youngmin attempted to help me look for her, seeing how frustrated I was, by getting me to describe what I saw of her but to no avail.

Just as I was about to give up my search, convincing myself that it was my eyes playing tricks on me and that I should never look at the sun directly again, she appeared…

My friends and I formed a popular band in school to which we named ‘Boyfriend’, and we made a deal with the school to be able to use the music studio every Friday by performing during lunch period at the cafeteria on Wednesdays. That week, too, we stood true to our ‘deal’. Plugging in the microphone to our portable speaker, I tapped it a couple of times to ensure it were working, while the group once again joked about how we formed this band mainly to get girls. Laughing it off as a joke, the other members too prepared their equipment. Students scurried towards the stage as usual as they anticipate our performance that day. The music boomed across the cafeteria, attracting more people towards us. As the music started to play, I felt myself absorbed into my world of music. My eyes caught sight of a certain girl approaching the crowd, as she tip-toed to get a better view of us on stage as well, and I felt as though I was hauled out of it. Just as my part was about to come on, I took a deep breath and convinced myself that this is it. As I rapped my part of the song, I kept staring in her direction hoping to get her attention, my face naturally creasing to form a smile on my face. That moment, it was like as though I understood the feeling of our fans being mesmerized by us, I was mesmerized by her.

 Immediately after the performance I dashed towards her. Noticing her tie being of a different color from mine, I realized the reason why I hadn’t seen her before was because she was a on a first year student. And without the confidence I had on stage, I stuttered as I asked for her name, entirely ditching the cool image I was supposed to have as a senior to her. Thankfully for me, she told me her name and also willingly accepted my date. And since then, I gained a friend, and a love. And that is the one girl I got, maybe, because I was in the band.

Minkyeong once confessed, years into our relationship, that she first became interested in me because she thought I looked silly when I looked directly at the sun. She claimed it looked idiotic but at the same time, kind of magical. Burying my face in my hands, I quickly changed the topic as I flipped to the next page on the book and pointed at the scribble of my name at a corner, to which she tease was “unintentional” and that it was a dishonor to her book to have my name there in ink. I remembered having quite a good laugh because of the remark.

“Kwangmin uh,” My thoughts were instantly cut-off when Minkyeong started speaking after a while. “I love you.”

My heart skipped a beat upon hearing that as I quickly turned to face her. “Is anything wrong? Are you feeling unwell?!” I exclaimed, obviously overreacting, causing her to smile.

“I’m fine, silly.” She replied, and after another short while of silence, she asked, “Kwangmin uh, do you remember how many times you’ve told me you loved me?” I looked ahead, trying to avoid eye contact with her, obviously not knowing the answer to her question. Ever since I was little, I was not the kind to be able to express my feelings with words easily. Seeing that I remained silent, she continued. “It’s 5 times. It was when we first got together, when we got married, when JunHyun was born, when MiEun was born and that time when you thought I was the girl who got knocked down by the car.” At that last point, she chuckled.

Instinctively, I took her hands into mine and looked her in the eye. “And one more, on an ordinary day as we admire the sunset together, 10 years from when we first met. I love you, MinKyeong uh.” I stopped. “From now on, I will keep telling you I love you, if it’s the last thing I do.”

Heres the next chapter !!!!! ^^ Hope you guys enjoy it ^^ This chapter is kinda like a calm chapter with flashbacks and stuffs. :) We thought itll be nice to have something not so depressing for a change. Please be patient with us :) We will give it our very best to present to all our readers a story worth reading :) 

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