*UNBETAED*

Surprise! Happy June 18th!

Read the A/N below for more explanations and announcements!

Goodbye Summer - f(x)

Epilogue

Another Summer of June 18th

The 18th of June had always been quite eventful for Aerin. Every year it was her indication, much like a wake-up call, that summer—her once dreaded season—was just two to three days ahead of her. It was a day where all of her memories suddenly start to rush into her mind like it was just the first time, and just like before, just like the year before, here she was, in a church, being reminded of why the 18th of June became so memorable for her.

“Do you, Kang Heegun, take Cheon Seongim[1] to be your lawfully wedded wife and live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?”

With a loving gaze towards the bride, the groom answered. “I do.”

It was June 18th, 2013, the summer when Aerin was almost eighteen years old and the day where she entered a church to witness the second marriage ceremony of her mother in her white, sparkling, tube top dress, holding her bouquet of yellow sunflowers and white rosemaries while shuffling her feet that bore 4-inch silver stilettos. Every person inside the church was full of smiles—naïve smiles. Everyone was in high spirits. She remembered her grandparents weeping endless tears, but it was not because of sadness nor grief. It was tears of joy—tears of meaningless joy.

The same kind of joy that Aerin felt ever since she was still a child—faux and fleeting joy.

The place was filled with white and shining decorations that brimmed with stargazers and there were veils and even little sparkling diamonds hanging on the high coloured glass ceilings. Aerin thought it was a lovely place, but such beauty didn’t impress her anymore like how it did when she was still a child. To her, all those decorations were just displays to make the event seem more grand and authentic, contrary to how it really was.

Even as she saw the beautiful bride and handsome groom reuniting rather emotionally after a day of no contact, she wasn’t fazed. The same indifferent feeling that she had when she was still a child was still there.

Weddings are just demonstrations of how foolish people can be.

Aerin had witnessed how her real parents were wed at the age of five. It was the age where children still believed in fantasies. It was the time of her life when she still believed that fairy tales always had happy endings.

The time when she still believed in love.

But exactly two years of the exact same summer, that marriage turned out to be a lie. In the end, at the tender age of seven, she had witnessed the separation of the two most important people in her life. At the age when she was still supposed to believe in fantasies, she had begun to learn the harsh reality of life. At the time when she still believed that all fairy tales have happy endings, she had learned that it wasn’t always the case.

At the time when she was still supposed to be loved, she had felt pain.

And at such a young age, Aerin had learned how harsh life could really be. It wasn’t as sweet and happy as how fairy tales portray it to be. Because of that day, Aerin learned that love wasn’t as beautiful and precious as how she thought it was.

Yet even so, she still fell in love.

At the summer when she was fourteen, she had her first love. And much to her delight, the one she loved, loved her back. She still had hopes for love at that time. She still believed of the possibility that their love wouldn’t be like how her parents’ turned out.

She still hoped that love would be her true happiness.

Yet reality struck her again and ruined all of her hopes and dreams.

The same summer when she had her first love, she also experienced her first heartbreak.

It was cruel, she thought, how fate always seemed to play with her. It’s as though the entire universe was against her happiness. As though she was never meant to be happy. Out of all the people who could have experienced everything that had happened to her, she just had to be the one.

She just had to have a broken family. She just had to have a broken heart.

And every little hope and faith she had left for love vanished. Every little dream that she had left for love disappeared.

People die, things change. Nothing lasts forever.

And as she grew older, she had begun to realize that love wasn’t her true happiness. That love was only fleeting and it never lasts for a lifetime. So why should she even try? The same kind of pain would only happen to her. The same kind of foolishness would be experienced by her. And she wouldn’t let herself experience that again. She had enough of all the s that life would have to give her. She couldn’t possibly fall for it again.

But considering how unpredictable and mysterious fate was, she was bound to eat her words again. And she really did. Just when she had lost all expectations and aspirations from love, she had fallen in love again.

The same summer when she had witnessed her mom taking another chance at marriage, she too, was given another chance.

The same summer when she had turned eighteen, Aerin felt love again.

But it was different. That love was different.

She didn’t treasure it, yet she was still treasured. She didn’t expect much from it, yet she was still given so much. She had been so clueless, yet she still managed to see the hidden beauty in it. She had taken it for granted, yet her faults were still forgiven. She had remained broken because of the past, but that love healed her and brought her back to the present, uncaring about the mysteries and possibilities of the future.

And she realized that all this time, she was wrong.

Love wasn’t foolish, but she was.

Love was indeed precious. Love was indeed undying.

Even as she had managed to hurt the person who she loved, she still felt so treasured. Even as they had parted ways, the love remained the same.

But because of the one true love that she felt, she had changed.

 “Do you, Cheon Seongim, take Kang Heegun for your lawfully wedded husband to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?”

Reciprocating the same loving gaze towards the groom, the bride smiled sweetly. “I do.”

Now, on June 18th, 2014, Aerin stayed planted at one of the front row seats in the same white