“We’ll have everything.”

Lying next to each other on the green grass, the stars burned brightly above us. The diamonds twinkled in contrast with the total blackness of the night sky. Surrounded by towering pines and oaks, the chilly breeze made itself known; it blew in our direction and I shivered. He turned his pondering gaze towards me and smiled. That simple act instantly brought just the warmth that I needed.

“Everything.”

Those words resonated in the quiet solitude of the paradise we had built for ourselves. My head rested on his chest, just beside his heart. Its rhythmic beating was something I could listen to my whole life. Huddling so close to such an amazing being, I could believe that I was the luckiest girl in the world.

“Your debut’s so close,”

I only realized how melancholic I had sounded after I had already spoken.

“I’m really really happy for you.” I said, making an effort to turn my tone up a notch.

Joonmyun had always been a dreamer. Nothing meant more to him than to make those dreams come true.

I turned my attention to him.

My dreaming angel.

Nothing meant more to me than to watch him make all of those dreams become a reality.

I watched the stars that hung overhead. The galaxy was so vast, infinities, satellites, planets, moons, stars.

I felt myself getting lost just by glancing back at it.

And yet, beside me was my very own eternity.

My galaxy.

“It is, isn’t it?” he said, stealing my gaze in his stare. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You’ve always been there. Thank you.”

Joonmyun whispered these words to me, his breath tickling my neck. The slight touch of his lips on the side of my face quickly followed. He drew me closer to him and I let myself be dissolved in the gentleness of his embrace.

He was so happy.

"Anything. For you."

The boundless hush that surrounded us paralleled with the quiet meeting of our eyes. The quiet meeting of our eyes coincided with a special kiss that lit up everything in sight like a billion burning suns.

It was effortless; it was perfect in every single way.

He broke away, simply to utter three distinct syllables:

“I love you.”

I drew back a breath, dwindling to a place where only dreams made out these things to be true.

“And I love you,”

Immersed in such intense emotion, I made my reply unthinkably. How ironic that he had said those words just as I was going to say some of mine.

Regret was drenching my very soul worse than the strongest of storms.

The only long-running love story that I believed in was that of an ordinary girl who was fortunate enough to have captured the eyes of an extraordinary being.

“Joonmyun,”

The plot was about to end.

One story had to be sacrificed for the success of another.

“I love you enough to set you free.”

“What?”

I blinked back what was inevitable in coming.

“Let’s break up.”

Though they were as calm as the sea, the words gnashed through me like unseen daggers in the wind. It hurt even more that they had been initiated by my own tongue.

Joonmyun said nothing and yet I could hear his disbelief like the sound of a pin-dropping in an empty room.

I stood from where I had laid next to him. He mirrored what I had done and I wished that he had not. If I wanted to forget his scent, to forget his touch, to forget all of the things, I had to start severing ties as soon as possible. If I were to slowly inch away from my heart, now would be the time to do so.

I was doing it for his sake.

I was doing it for mine.

“What are you saying?”

He faced me with tears b at the corners of his eyes. I looked back at them, dazed in the blur of my own gaze.

“I’m letting you go.”

A sad smile crept at the edges of my lips. Though I wanted to, I could not comfort him; I could not even get a hold of myself at the moment. The reality of heart-wrenching pain became my impending reality.

“You can’t,” he said, bringing my hand close to his moistened cheek. “You can’t do this.”

It was hard to deny the fact that he was achingly beautiful, still.

A crying angel.

Kim Joonmyun.

My crying angel.

I’m sorry.

The tips of my fingers grazed the softness of his doll-like features. I wanted to keep them there.

I wanted so badly to keep him here.

With me.

But I knew the impossibility of it.

I remained quiet, afraid that the wrong words would fall with my unkempt emotions. I feared that I would not be able to build the right front to let him go.

And I had to.

I had to.

“You can be so much, Joonmyun,”

My hands stayed where they were, cradling the face of someone who was bound to be an angel, if he was not already.

He was an angel missing his wings.

I had to find them for him.

I wanted him to fly. Even if it meant that he had to fly away from me.

I wanted to watch him take flight and soar.

“You’re meant to be so much.”

I could see that he wanted to speak, but I restrained him. My grasp left the warmth of his cheeks and instead, clasped his trembling fingers.

“I want to see you be the person you’ve always wanted to be. I want to watch you take that path free of anything that might stop you.”

“No,” he uttered, putting his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t do this to me.”

“If you’re worrying about me, don’t. If you’re worrying about you, don’t. Ever.”

I let my fingers graze his face, catching the tears that were falling.

“You’re stronger than this. I’m going to set you free and you’re going to fly, higher than you ever thought you could.”

He was going to.

I knew it.

From below, I would be glad to see him do so.

My angel was going to fly.

I shrugged away his touch and it felt like I was cutting off a part of my soul. I let my arms drop to my sides and it was as if I was letting go of the very element of my heart that enabled it to function properly.

But it was all for the best.

I turned my back and I finally let the dew drops that were threatening to fall, fall away. Behind me, I heard him move, but he did not follow. Behind me, the distance grew longer and longer with each step that I took.

Now was the time. I knew that he would be able to find them.

His wings.

I let my feet take me forward; further and further away. I did not stop until the trees had hidden our presences from each other, completely.

From now on I would be his silent guardian, like he was mine. And I was contented with that.

I would be the one to see him be his best.

I would be the one to cheer him on. No matter what.

I would be the one to watch him fly.

Fly.