“Earth to Jessica, hello, wake up,” YoonA said, waving her hand in front of Jessica.

Jessica was leaning on a table, zoning out as she stared out the window.

“Huh?” she said, breaking her concentration.

“Come on unni, it’s time to close up. Seul Gi unni gave me a set of keys to lock up the café since she had to leave early for her date.”

“Oh right,” Jessica remembered. She checked her watch and the digital clock read 11:00 pm.

“I’ll go wash dishes in the kitchen, can you finish wiping off the table tops?” Yoona asked, throwing her a towel. “There’s a spray bottle over there,” she said as she pointed to another table.

“Got it.” Jessica began wiping each table top. She couldn’t help but think to herself wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off, as she cleaned each one. She saw how the table glimmered after wiping it – “Jja jjan! (Tada!)” As she finished up the tables in the front she started heading to the back of the café. Table after table she continued to clean.

Okay, just one more, she told herself as she wiped a bit of sweat off her forehead with her forearm.

Oh, she gasped to herself.

 At the farthest table in the back there was a guy, maybe a little older than her, sitting at the table. A bit nervous, she slowly approached him. He was just staring out the window, minding his own business; he must have not really noticed her. But he looked like he was concentrating hard on something. She was about to feel a slight pang of guilt for bothering him.

“Excuse me,” she began with a slight bow, “I’m sorry, but we’re closing up. You’re going to have to leave.”

The boy turned his head to her, he was quite lovely. His hair wasn’t too long, but it fit his youthful face quite nicely.

“Oh,” he seemed a bit startled. “You…you saw me…”

“I’m sorry, not to be rude, but we’re closing up for the evening.”

“Uh-um…chwehsonghamnida (I’m sorry),” he apologized, getting up from his seat and heading for the exit.

“Good night,” Jessica said as she watched him leave. As he went through the door, he peeked over his shoulder to catch a quick glimpse and then he was completely gone. She walked up to the door and turned the open sign around so that outside it would read “closed.”

Well he seemed a bit out of it, Jessica thought.

“Who were you talking to unni?” Yoona asked as she came back from the kitchen.

“Oh, no one. Just some person who was sitting all the way in the back,” she said as she crossed her arms and nudged her head to point to the table the guy was sitting at. “I told him to leave. I felt bad, he looked like he was thinking deeply too or something.”

“There was still someone here?” Yoona said, peeking over Jessica.

“Yeah, maybe you didn’t notice him.”

“Strange, how’d I miss that?” Yoona thought. “Well, whatever. All done?”

“Yup. Actually, I have to clean the bar and I’ll be completely finished.”

“Oh alright, want me to wait up for you?”

“Nah, you go home, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’m gonna be just a tad late tomorrow. I have one more exam to make up. Tell Seul Gi for me?”

“Sure, sure,” Jessica assured her. “Go get some rest then if you have an exam.” Yoona let out a small giggle.“Thanks unni, be careful going home. Make sure you lock the door. Good night,” YoonA said as she waved goodbye before departing out the door.

Jessica waved back and finished off the evening by wiping off the long counter. After she locked up she walked back home to her apartment. Looking at the sky she noticed all the lovely stars that were out. When she made it home she took a nice, warm shower. Although work is not hard at all for her, when you add up school plus work, it just sums up to stress, stress and sleepiness. Thankfully, she finished up all her classes and exams for the first full year, and now she can officially start her summer vacation and relax a lot more. The warm water and steam helped her tense joints finally fall at ease and she even almost fell asleep. After washing her face, brushing her teeth, and going through her normal evening rituals she was finally ready to go to sleep. Before going to bed, she looked at her calendar. When she flipped through the several months, there was a mark on each day that passed without him beside her. She crossed out May 31^st and let out a sigh.

There goes another day without you oppa. Just three more months then we’ll finally be reunited, she told herself with a hopeful heart. She was still able to remember the day he told her he was going to enlist in the military. It was quite difficult to even try to forget.

-Flashback­-

“What…is this?” Jessica said as she unfolded the letter in her hands.

“It’s a letter of notice. It’s for the enlistment,” he replied. Jessica’s arms suddenly froze. She didn’t even bother to read the letter. Enlistment, she said to herself surprisingly.

“I thought it would be nice to get it over with as soon as possible.” Her head shot up, she realized that he had already made his decision.

“Wh-why are you only telling me this now?” she asked, her voice demanding.

“Well, I wanted to spend at least one nice summer with you before I left.”

“So you knew about this since before now?” She pieced the whole summer together. She thought seeing him every moment of every day was just him being clingy. But really, he was just using the time he had left, to make the best of it before he would leave. Her eyes began to water and unwillingly, the tears began to fall over her satin cheeks.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Like I said, I just want to get it over with so we won’t have to worry about it later.”

“But why now?”

“I thought it would be good to leave at the end of the summer. That way, you’ll be in school by the time I leave,” he explained.

“A distraction?”

“Exactly.”

“You think school will distract me from the fact that you’re going to be leaving me for two whole years?” she said, waving the letter around.

“I was afraid you’d be like this,” he said, grabbing her chin. She pushed his hand away.

“How did you expect me to react? You thought I would have been entirely okay with this? You should have told me earlier!” she stood up and looked down at him angrily.

“And spend a summer arguing with you about why I should go instead of spending a beautiful summer with you, making memories before I leave?”

She was still angry at him as she clenched her fists tightly. But her anger couldn’t cover up the sadness that was spreading throughout her body faster than a virus. Her fists opened up and the crumpled letter from her hand dropped to the floor. Siwon watched the letter fall to the ground and he looked back up to her once he heard her crying develop into sobs. He immediately stood up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, closing her in tightly into his chest. He was so tall that only her eyes could reach above his shoulder, causing her tears to soak into his shirt.

“Aish~ when you cry like this it makes me really want to take back my decision.”

“But you won’t right?” He put his hands on her shoulder and released her, looking at her reddening eyes and tear-stricken face. “You’ve made your decision. No matter how many tears I shed, you won’t change your mind.”

Siwon nodded his head in affirmation.

“Jessica, I’m not doing this to hurt you,” he explained. “This was going to happen to me, to us” he corrected, “at one point.”

“I guess…I understand,” she reluctantly replied, turning her eyes away from him.

“Besides,” he said, trying to regain her focus, following her eyes that went astray. “This can only benefit us. The distance will just make us love each other more, right?”

Jessica returned to his gaze and slowly nodded her head.

“I thought I was going to meet your parents first,” she said, wiping away her tears.

“We’ll do it, as soon as I get back. Once I make it home safely, I’ll tell them ‘Eomeoni, abeoji, this is the girl who kept me sane the whole time I was gone,’” he said.

 Jessica laughed a little bit, but tried her best to not let it show.

“I saw that.”

“Saw what?”

“That smile,” he said, pointing to her face.

“So what? I’m still mad at you. I can’t believe you’re really leaving.” He wrapped her in his arms again, letting his chin rest on her shoulder.

“Take good care of my heart,” he asked of her, “I’m leaving it with you.”

-End of flashback-

Jessica jumped onto her bed, landing on her face – it was just calling her name. She tucked herself in and stared at the ceiling. She looked to the picture of her and Siwon on her nightstand and she couldn’t help but smile.

It’s almost been two years. Two, long, lonely years without you. Let’s hope I can wait it out just a bit longer. I miss you, do you miss me?

She rubbed the ring on her finger – Siwon’s class ring. She caressed the large blue stone on it with the forefinger of her other hand and another smile came to her face. She turned off the light and she fell into a peaceful sleep without struggle.

---

i'm so excited to continue with this story ! i hope my new readers will enjoy~ i'm already thankful!

jasmineleir

currently writing: Intricate Hearts (also on AFF), Heavenly Whispers