“In dreams and in love, there are no impossibilities.”

I said, reciting the quote written to the latest addition to my ‘secret admirer’s’ letters, or so my friends call the boy who put notes and my favorite chocolate bars inside my locker and even my mailbox faithfully for almost a week or two now.

“That’s… it?” Kyuhyun said across my seat at our lunch table.

“Yes… it that it?” Donghae commented next to the other boy.

“Ya. What do you mean that’s it? Do you know how hard it is to say those words to a person? At least he has the courage to say it, right? Not like other people who don’t…” Joohyun, my best friend, said opposing the two boys with her usual ‘matter-of-fact’ tone which made Kyuhyun to shift at his seat as if Joohyun’s words just made its way to him.

“So… where’s the chocolate bar?”

“Well… I ate it up already.” I replied to Donghae with a smile.

“Hmm, as expected…” chuckling, Kyuhyun said making the other two laugh.

“YA! What do you mean by that, huh?” I retorted and then joined in their laughter.

“S-A-R-A-N-G-H-A-E-Y-O. I-M Y-O-O-N-A…” Joohyun suddenly blurted out next to me as we lounged at her bedroom for a bit after our daily workout.

“Saranghaeyo Im Yoona…? ”

“Hmm. If you look back at the 14 previous letters, they all have these letters at the bottom. ㅅfor the first, then there’sㅏfor the second, then ㄹ,ㅏ,ㄴ,ㄱ,ㅎ,ㅏ,ㅔ, ㅛ, ,ㅣㅁ, ㅠ, ㄴ,and finally anotherㅏfor today’s letter.” I saw Donghae smile as he met Kyuhyun’s eyes, as Joohyun recited her monologue.

“Donghae yah… What are you smiling about?” I… guess I just said my thoughts out loud again didn’t I? Hehe~

“Mwo? Who’s smiling?” He said raising a brow in question as I looked at him straight to the eye.

“W-what? What are you staring at?! I told you, I’m not smiling.”

“Well… if you say so.” I said tucking my hair in my ear.

“Ah! Yoona ah… It’s your birthday tomorrow. Do you have any plans?” Joohyun asked.

“I-ah… well, I have none really. But, another note was with the letter today. It asks me to meet him tomorrow…”

“So, what will you do?” Kyuhyun said from behind his game console.

“Meet him? I-I don’t know. There’s nothing wrong with me doing so, right?” I said with a questioning tone.

“You better should…” I heard Donghae said as he flips the channel of Joohyun’s television.

9:47 pm : I began reading the past letters of my ‘secret admirer’ to me and I noticed that in most notes, some of the characters are bolded.

9:53 pm: Still awake… And still figuring out what the heck is the meaning of the bolded letters.

10:00 pm: Yup, I’m still wide-awake. I think I’m starting to lose my mind now! On one of my tries in figuring out what those bolded characters means, I came across a very familiar phrase… (for me and my notebook papers that is…) 임윤아<3 이동해. Hah! As if that would actually be the hidden meaning of those characters! I mean, excluding me, myself, and I, no one know that little secret of mine! Wah! That even rhyme!

10:02 pm: OKAY! That’s it! I give up! I really can‘t decipher the meaning of those characters! Or… maybe it doesn’t really mean anything? Ah! I. JUST. CAN’T. REALLY!

Better get some sleep or else my eyes would be puffy for my meet up tomorrow. :)

10:05 pm: ZZZZZZZZ….

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

“Yoong-ah… are you sure about meeting that man? I mean, what if he’s a bad guy? What if he’s with some mafia group? Or… or maybe…”

“Joohyun ah… it’s okay! Don’t you remember? I took on some of the biggest bullies in our school! See Kangin for example! Or… or that Taecyeon dude!”

“Arasseo… I guess, you really can’t be helped then.”

“Yes. You know me too well Seo Joohyun. You know what you’ll get when you don’t make me do what I want.”

“Call me when something goes wrong okay?”

“Ne! I will.”

“I’ll hang up now. Be careful! And happy birthday to you! Annyeong~”

I closed the flap of my hand phone and got back in choosing my attire for the day.

I really don’t know why I get so hyped in meeting this mystery guy of mine, but something just tells me that this is it. The day that I’ve been waiting for…

Dressed up with the red dress that Donghae gave me last night, a silver colored flats, and my white trench coat; I bid my parents goodbye and went out our house. 

“Man in blue… Man in blue…” I kept repeating the clue on who my ‘secret admirer’ is as I searched and searched in the park, near our school.

“Ah! There he is!” Finally, I saw a guy wearing a blue coat and white converse sneakers.

I walked to where the man was sitting and then tapped him in his shoulder just to see…

“Oh! Hyukjae ah! W-what are you doing here?” I asked my fellow dance club member.

“I-I really don’t know too… Someone just told me to wait here for you bribing to help me with Hyoyeon… So, yeah.” He explained while I just smile at him.

“Here. The same person asked me to give this to you.”

“Go to the ice cream parlor across to where you are.”

The note says. And so, bidding farewell and thanking Hyukjae for his greetings congratulatory for my birthday, I set off to go to the ice cream store.

“Annyeong haseyo~ Welcome to th-…”

“Oh! Sungmin oppa!?” I bellowed after seeing the guy who opened the shop’s door for me. It was Lee Sungmin, one of my friends from the Taekwondo class that I took up months ago, and who I haven’t seen for a while.

“Yoona yah! There you are! Someone gave this to me…” He said, handing another note to me and then continued, “He asked me to give this to you. And… wait for a bit…”

“Here~ He told me to give this to you too, saying that this is your favorite flavor here in our store.”

“Ah, thank you oppa~ I can finish this off here right?” I asked, talking about the Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream which is covered with some chocolate syrup and some marshmallows.

“Of course you can! Take your time… just like what the guy told me to tell you when you ask that question. And I hope you have a happy birthday!”

After finishing off the ice cream, I walked out the shop and went to where the note says for me to go.

 To the basketball court of our school, just to see our star player and coincidentally my friend’s (Tiffany’s) boyfriend, Choi Siwon.

“Yoona! Yoona sshi!” I heard him call me from where I am standing.

“Ne? You’re calling me?” I said slightly getting closer to him.

“Yes. Of course… unless you know another Yoona who’s near the vicinity then...”

“Okay, okay. So the reason why you called me is..?” 

“Someone told me to play ball with him and told that if he wins then I shall give this to you… and well, as you can see he won so I’m doing what he wants me to do… Here.” He handed me yet another note. This time, asking me to go to the Music Hall. Thanking him for the greeting and for taking his time in giving me the note, I set off.

Ah, chinja… if only my curiosity isn’t killing me then maybe I walked out earlier. But no… my curiosity just gets larger and larger as I walk closer to the entrance door of my school.

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

On my way up the Music Hall, I heard a soft sound of guitar. And as I get closer and closer, the music gets louder and louder (obviously.) and sticky notes are all over the place… the walls, the windows and some are even in the floor.

“There are no words that can describe how my feelings are…” One reads.

“No paintbrush, nor stokes can define how you make me feel.” Another one says.

“Hours, days, months, and even years can pass by, but this feelings of mine will last forever.”

“As long as the stars shine, as long as river flows, my love for you will last.”

The list of beautiful words just keeps going on and on as I walk through the corridor of our school. And finally, as my feet landed on the very front of the room, I can’t help but to feel nervous and anxious.

Turning the door knob of the Music Hall, I was greeted by a pitch dark room. And then a tiny light came feet across me, hitting the closed curtains of the stage. Breathing slowly I whispered to myself, “Well, this is it…” then walked up the stage where my feet unconsciously took me precisely where the spotlight was pointing.

I was about to turn around when a pair of hands suddenly covered my eyes and assisted me to turn around. And just then, I heard someone play the guitar at my back so I turned around, the hands that covered my eyes are gone.

The curtains began to open, revealing the fully adorned stage. The color of the sky and white filled it and sitting at the center of it all is my classmate, Lee Jonghyun, playing a familiar tune with his white guitar. Wait… isn’t that… “Just like now”? The song that Donghae has been practicing for these past days?

                “That it's gonna be okay
                That it's gonna be over right away
                That as time goes by, it's gonna fade away
                I've been living with that belief…”

I heard a very familiar voice sing and I turned around, seeing Donghae singing so passionately. It made my heart pitter-patter.

                “Sometimes because of my bad behavior
                I've hurt you
                now little by little
                I promise you that I'll change

                Even on cold nights, even on lonely nights
                you were always there for me
                but where are you now?”

I’ve never seen Donghae this serious… and I can’t help but to smile at this sight of him. Is he seriously doing what I think he’s doing?

                “Love Love Love, Love Love Love
                And now again, I'm gonna
                I'm gonna love you
                Always just like now…”

And that ended the song. Before turning his gaze at me he looked at Jonghyun and thanked him to which Jonghyun replied,

“No problem. Happy Birthday to you, Yoona.” I saw him leaning at the doorway, smiling and smiled back silently saying thanks to him.

“Oh, and Yoona… Don’t give my friend there a hard time, okay?” Winking at me, he took his exit.

“YA! What was that wink for?!” Donghae shouted at Jonghyun making me laugh a little.

Looking around and taking the sight in, I heard him say,

“Enjoying yourself?” Once again, my heartbeat started to hoist as I heard him talk.

“O-oh, well…”

“Do you like it?” Donghae asked me, assuming that it was about the interiors of the stage, I nod my head in reply.

“I love it.” I said turning my gaze to him, just to catching him staring at me with his infamous smile.

“Ah. Really… you should quit looking at me like that! I’ve mentioned it to you a lot of time now…” Attempting to lighten the mood a bit, I retorted.

“Sorry. I just can’t help it, you know? You’ve dressed up really nicely for today. I knew that that dress would look great on you, it makes you more beautiful and attractive than you really are…” Feeling that blood is creeping its way to my cheeks I decided to avoid his gaze and then I heard him chuckle.

“Yoona ya… Im Yoona… Yoong… could you- could you look at me in the eyes please?” I heard him say, and so I did.

“I have been wanting to tell you this for a very long time now…” Then he snickers and continued, “… For five years, ever since that day that Heechul hyung introduced me to you in our first year of high school, I’ve been looking out for you. For those five years that I’ve been by your side, I have never, not even once, thought of leaving your side… I’ve never been like this before, and you know that. I’ve never want anything, anyone, like this…” I gulped down and catch up with my breathing.

All these things makes me so nervous, even more nervous than when Heechul oppa, my cousin, told me that he would introduce me to this very boy, who at that time was very famous to my girl sunbaes and hoobaes,  five years ago.

Then I remembered that time when I saw him and Jessica, one of our classmates, walking hand-in-hand at the school garden. Opposing some of the words that Donghae said, I countered,

“What about Jessica? Never thought of leaving my side huh?” I said, crossing my arms and pouting slightly. And then I saw him took two steps closer to me while chuckling.

“Ah! That time… I was starting to lose hope just seeing your line of suitors; Jungsoo hyung, Seunggi, Changmin, and a bunch of other male who’s more suitable for you than me, and so I decided to try dating for a while.”

“Ha-hara? What about Hara then? Didn’t you pick her to be your partner in one of our projects when we are in our senior year?”

“You were working with Joohyun and Kyuhyun wasn’t around so I accepted her offer to be her partner!” He defended taking another step, getting closer to me.

“Well, I never knew that you were the jealous type…” He took another step with ease, closing the distance between the two of us.

Grinning, he tucked a misplaced hair at my ear and hugged me tightly as if the next seconds were my last. But surprisingly, I find it comfortable… and wonderful. Not like my dad’s that is full of protection. Not like those friendly ones like Joohyun’s, Kyuhyun’s, and Heechul oppa’s. But there’s something about that hug that I cannot even explain, like how every time he does it to me.

“The thought of you rejecting my heart keeps bugging me from behind my mind… if you could only say yes then all my worries would be gone…” Hugging him back, I answered him…

“You have no idea how long I’ve been dreaming and praying that you will say these words to me. And now that you have done so, I’m more than willing to accept your heart.”

“Happy Birthday, baby.” Donghae said breaking our hug and planting a soft kiss in my forehead.

“What?! Baby? Ya! Lee Donghae, that’s just too mushy!” I said, hitting his shoulder a little and laughed with him. I, then, hugged him before saying,

“But I like it… Thank you Hae. Thank you for everything. This is the best birthday present that I’ve received….”  

“Saranghae, Yoong…” He said.

“Nado Saranghae…”

I don’t know how long we have stayed at that position but one thing is for sure… That I’ll cherish this moment as long as my mind would permit me to do so. And that means, forever.   

Clearly, after today, every second, every hour and every day of my life would be perfect.

Just like now.