As soon as he saw her he stopped and stared just as she had done, but only for a moment. Then he was running and came right up to her.

“Hannah,” he said and she pushed away her crutches to let him pull her into a tight hug. She buried her head in his shoulder and he held her so tight she couldn’t breathe. But that was okay because all her loneliness, all her fear instantly vanished and all she wanted to stay in his arms forever. She never wanted him to let go. And he didn’t. They stood like that for what seemed like eternity. She started to cry against him but even then he only hugged her tighter. Finally he bent his head to her ear and whispered, “I’m sorry Hannah, I’m so, so sorry.” She pulled away but he held on to both of her hands. She shook her heads at him but he continued.

“I'm sorry about last night, really truly. I judged you and said things I didn’t mean. I've been standing out here for hours and hours and I realized something very important. I loved you back in Seoul, very much, but what’s more important is that I love you still. And that’s the most important thing. No matter what happens to you or to me I will always love you and I can’t live without you Hannah. Please…please forgive me. I will never judge you again. I promise.”

She could only stare at him. Was he serious? Did he really just as her to forgive him?

“You want me to forgive you?” she asked bewildered and he nodded seriously. “But you have nothing to be sorry for I am the one who…who left you to start with. I'm so sorry and I forgot to tell you that before.” He smiled at her shaking his head and brushed her soaking hair from her face and his face was like that of an angel to her. But it was distracting her and she needed to say everything, now. She grabbed his hand, “No, Kyuhyun wait. I need to say this,” she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“When we were dating in Seoul it was the first real relationship I’d ever had. It meant a lot to  me that you took things slow and treated me so well and I tried to show you how much you meant to me, but…but I’m not normal. I’m not normal Kyu...I...” she choked and tried hard not to cry and to finish.

“Hannah-” he started but she shook her head to cut him off.

“No…wait,” she took a deep breath and continued in a shaky but strong voice. “When you told me that you loved me that first time it was…overwhelming. You were ready to go the next step and if I was a normal girl that would be fine, but I'm not. You see when I was still living here, in the states, before I met you, I had…problems. There was this guy...and we dated...sort of...and he turned out to be… not so nice…and…and…and,” she was sobbing so hard that she couldn’t get it out. All she could do was lean into Kyuhyun’s strong chest and he took her into his arms once again.

“Sshh, Hannah calm down, it’s okay, it’s all okay. He isn’t here, it’s okay,” he murmured reassuringly but she could tell he didn’t get it. He was comforting her but his voice was confused.

“The past is over,” he said, “Don’t worry about why things went bad between us before. It won’t ever happen again and you know I’ll always go at your pace. Sshh.” She pushed away from him then, “No, Kyu. You don’t deserve me, don’t you see? I'm damaged goods! That boy, he…goddammit he abused me! Kyuhyun… he did things to me that left me scarred and…and you deserve so much better than some girl who was and doesn’t know if she can ever get close to a man again-” her voice broke on the last word and she looked down. Finally, finally it was all out. What she had needed to tell him for so long he knew at last. She had thought she would be more eloquent, more dignified, not so choppy and emotionally wrecked, but at long last he knew it all and whatever happened she had done her part. She felt a little relieved to finally tell someone even if it was him and like this. He had deserved to know for a long time, yet it was the hardest thing she’d ever had to say to anyone.

The silence lengthened as she stood staring at her casted foot. She didn’t dare meet his eyes for fear of what she might see. Disgust, anger, confusion, horror, pity? That’s what she felt and she didn’t want to see it mirrored in him.

“Hannah,” his voice sounded strangled and he grabbed her hand. But she refused to look up; she didn’t know what her expression was and definitely didn’t want to see his. “Hannah, I'm so, so sorry, I…I had no idea…you should have told me…I…” his words were just as broken as hers had been, but the pain in his voice surprised her and when he pulled her face up, very gently, the only thing she saw was…love. His concern for her was so evident that she blinked in utter surprise. She had thought, no she had convinced herself, that he wouldn’t ever want to look at her again after seeing how broken she was. That after she told him the truth he would be so disgusted by her that he would instantly leave. But, by some strange miracle, it didn’t seem to matter to him at all. She hadn’t expected him to be so focused on her, that he wasn’t repulsed by such a revelation. He slowly wiped a tear off her cheek, also at a loss for the right words but only wanting to comfort her.

“It’s okay,” she told him weakly, “I’ve had a lot of time to recover and you had a great deal to do with that, I just needed to tell you. I'm sorry I left you without making you understand first, but I thought that, maybe, if you didn’t know than things would be better for you and for me. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. And you were so caring and wonderful that I got scared of what might happen. So when my feelings for you became stronger I did the only thing I saw I could do and I ran. I'm so sorry, so sorry that I did that to you, I’ll never forgive myself. But I love you, Kyuhyun, I love you with all my heart and I always will!” She said it with such conviction that her voice rang on the last word.

“I love you,” she whispered again. He took her face in his big hands, “I love you too. So, so much.” He leaned down to tenderly kiss her with his heart on his lips and in that moment everything in the world became right again. Both forgave and were forgiven, perfectly happy and treasuring what they had almost lost forever.