The next day, instead of waiting for Hyunseung at my house, I decided to wait for him at the park. The organ inside my chest still couldn't stop itself from crazily thumping within, as I thought of him. Even though I lost a lot of sleep last night, twisting and turning, and just basically thinking about how close we were to a kiss, I still felt wide awake to be able to see him.

When he showed up, his surprised face told me that he didn't expect to see me there. With a shy smile, he took a seat down next to me on the bench, and then we both watched the little ducklings swim around in the pond in silence. He soon brought up the subject of University, and how his break was almost over. It then hit me that my break was almost over as well, and it saddened me; partly because I was now going to be overloaded with assignments, but mostly because I wasn't going to be able to see Hyunseung as often as I wanted to.

"Just promise me that we'll still be able to keep in contact with each other, yeah?" I asked, trying my best not to show how disappointed I was about the whole thing.

Seeing this, he gave me a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I'll try my best to visit you as often as I can."

As soon as the depressing topic was over, we then went back to talking about anything and everything, which mostly involved Hyunseung's absurd questions, such as, "Why is water, water?" and it just boggled my mind as to what really goes on through that head of his. Talking to him made me forget about the ending of our Spring break, and I was secretly hoping to myself for more days such as these.

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Sighing, I took another glance at the clock for the nineteenth time. It was already five thirty, and I knew that within half an hour, the sun was going to be fully set, which meant that it was going to be night time. Even if he was suppose to have been here two hours ago or so, there was still this glimmer of hope within me that told me that he was maybe, possibly, running late.

"Jiyu, can you come and help me cook dinner?" called Umma from inside.

"Just a second!" I replied back.

Waiting for another ten seconds, I then hesitantly stood up from where I was, and reluctantly made my way inside.

Hyunseung didn't come.

——————————————— 

This whole 'disappearing' act continued on for another week. As each day passed, I was faced with the same disappointment that somehow got heavier each time. Forcing myself to stay strong, I blinked away the hot tears that would strangely form within my eyes, whenever I was to get up and walk back inside the house.

And because of this, I had decided to give up on sitting outside, and waiting for him.

I went back to reading my books indoors, and didn't bother to go back outside to the park like how I normally would.

And now, today just happened to be the last day of Spring break, and there was still no sign of Hyunseung. The two of us never had a chance to exchange numbers, and it was upsetting to not even be able to send a simple 'hello' text message. Since today was the last day before I had to go back to University, I was hoping to at least see or speak to him one last time. Getting up, I decided to just head back towards the park, just for old times’ sake.

Before leaving the house, I grabbed some crackers from the cupboard, hoping to be able to feed the ducks there, as an attempt to get my mind off of him.

During my walk, I realized that I was going to miss going out to the park, and to be able to breathe in the fresh air. As soon as I reached the pond, I began sprinkling the crumbs of the broken crackers into the water for the little ducks. They eagerly ate them and quaked in satisfaction, as they waited for me to sprinkle in some more.

"There you go..." I mumbled to them, after scattering in the last remaining crumbs.

Standing up, I turned back and saw the empty bench where we were supposed to be sitting at right now, and just simply enjoying each other's company. For some reason, my lips began to tremble, but once I realized that, I forced them to tighten themselves into a straight line.

Why am I so upset?

Or better yet, why am I still waiting?

My legs automatically took me back over to the bench, and I took a seat. All of these confusing questions wouldn't stop bubbling within my mind, and the more they stirred, the more blurry I found my vision had become. And soon, much to my dismay, I found myself quietly sniffing to myself. He wasn't coming, and I had absolutely no idea why. For all I knew, he could have been in an accident, and I wouldn't have had a clue about it.

"Jiyu!" called out a sudden familiar voice.

My head instantly moved to the sound of the voice, as I quickly wiped away the tears and took a deep breath, once I saw a panting Hyunseung in front of me.

"H-Hyunseung?" I stuttered, my heart beginning to pump faster than necessary.

His happy expression quickly turned into a shocked one, once he got a better look at my face, "I'm...I'm so sorry, I--"

I shook my head and put up a hand, silencing him, "It's okay, I'm fine."

He wasn’t convinced, which made him continue on with what he was trying to say, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disappear on you for a week. My University began a week earlier than I thought, and things have been pretty stressful."

I continued to listen to him, and for once, I noticed that it was Hyunseung who was starting the conversation between the two of us. He must have noticed how much of the talking that he was doing, so he stopped, move around in his seat for a bit, and then tried to engage me into talking.

"So how are you?" he asked.

"...Good," I replied, rather slowly, which was obviously a lie.

"That's...that's good to hear," said Hyunseung, with the same speed as my reply.

It went back to being quiet again for a few seconds, as the two of us both stared at anything but each other.

"Hyunseung...?"

"Yes?"

I swallowed down the lump in my throat before speaking, "I...I want to say thank you."

Hyunseung blinked, slightly puzzled, but I went on, "Thank you for being such a nice person to me over the Spring break. Hearing about how passionate you are about wanting to achieve your goal has been a great motivational boost for me, in wanting to reach what I want."

Another silence enveloped us for a bit, until Hyunseung broke it, "Jiyu-ah...can I give you something that's important to me?"

Hearing this had caused a warm feeling to stir up within me, as I turned my head to face him, the curiosity inside growing larger and larger, "Sure...?"

Hyunseung then scooted himself closer and then took my hand, which greatly startled me. The blush on my face was now a shade darker, as the expression on his face softened. Just when I was about to open my mouth to speak, his lips had met my own, silencing me. A joyous feeling awoken within me, as I thought how someone like him had become my first kiss.

Kissing him back, I was sure enough that I had finally been able to find the answer as to why I had been waiting, and how important he had become to me.

And as cliché as this may sound, but I was definitely sure that this was going to be one unforgettable Spring.