Ryeowook looked at his seatmate named Kibum, who was busy writing. Ryeowook knew that Kibum wasn’t writing notes but instead, he was writing love letters. A lot of people went to Kibum to ask him to write love letters for them because Kibum was good and had his way with words. Kibum was smart enough and studied in advance so he doesn’t need to listen to whatever the teacher was blabbering. On the other hand, Ryeowook would listen attentively to the teacher and calls out Kibum’s attention when the teacher was approaching or asking towards Kibum.

There are times when Kibum would ask Ryeowook to send the love letter to the person who asked him to write it or directly to the person that was dedicated to. “So to whom shall I send this letter to?” Ryeowook asked as he received the envelope that obviously has a love letter inside.

“It’s yours.” Kibum said casually.

“…huh?” Ryeowook was dumbfounded.

“Someone asked me to write a love letter for you.”

Ryeowook wanted to ask who it was from but Kibum instantly left. He opened and read the love letter. Correct grammar, correct spelling, nice choice of words. It felt meaningless because he knew that it was Kibum, who wrote it and that it didn’t come from whoever his secret admirer was. That’s when Ryeowook thought that what Kibum was doing wasn’t right. The person who would receive a love letter and knew that it was actually written by someone else would obviously feel hurt and disappointed. Exactly how Ryeowook felt now.

“Hey Ryeowook, can you give this to…”

“No.”

Kibum was shocked when Ryeowook suddenly declined him. Ryeowook had always said ‘yes’ to him. It was just a simple favor after all. “So you’re too busy now that you couldn’t deliver a love letter?”

“You should stop this, Kibum. It’s not right.”

“The person would asked to write this would be happy. The person who would receive the letter would be happy. I would be happy for getting paid. What’s so wrong about making everyone happy?”

“I received a love letter and I definitely wasn’t happy.”

“Well, you’re an exception because you knew that I wrote it.”

“No, I’m not an exception. Anybody who received the letter and found out that it was actually you who wrote it would be sad, hurt and disappointed. Heck, if you’re unlucky, maybe they’ll get mad at you and make your life a hell or something. I’m telling you, Kibum. Stop it while nothing bad happened yet.” Ryeowook warned but Kibum didn’t listen to him anyway. All that Ryeowook wanted was to be a good friend but Kibum completely ignored him after their last conversation. He’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

A year passed by. Kibum and Ryeowook were no longer classmates. But one day, Kibum approached Ryeowook and handed him a letter. “If a secret admirer asked you to write a love letter for me, then you could just throw it away to the trash can. Tell him that I hate love letters with cheesy and flattery words and especially if it is written by you, Kibum.”

Kibum blinked. “It’s not a love letter. It’s an invitation to Yesung’s birthday party. He asked me to give it to you since I would be able to pass by your classroom on the way to the cafeteria.”

“Oh.” Ryeowook blushed in embarrassment and accepted the letter. “Thanks.”

Kibum chuckled. “Don’t hate me too much. I already stopped writing love letters. So I guess I’ll see you on Yesung’s birthday?”

“Uh…yeah.” Ryeowook was dumbstruck. He hadn’t talked with Kibum for a long time yet their last and longest conversation was still fresh in his mind. He actually felt surprised and happy that Kibum decided to be friendly with him again. Perhaps they can become really good friends this time around.

During Yesung’s birthday, Ryeowook and Kibum ended up having a friendly conversation at Yesung’s balcony. It was just a small balcony that could only fit two persons and that was them. They talked until they ran out of topics and silence reigned over them.

“So what made you stop writing love letters?” Ryeowook tried to start up a conversation again. He had always wondered about that but they were having such a nice conversation that he would always forget that question.

“I fell in love with a girl named Julie. I wrote a love letter to her but she gave it back to me and asked how was that love letter different from the others. She said that she was able to read the other love letter I made but she couldn’t tell any difference to what I gave to her. I was really hurt because I wrote all my feelings into that love letter but she couldn’t even ell that the love letter was special and only for her.” Kibum the rim of the wineglass before taking a grip on it and drank its contents. “My heart was filled with feelings of rejection. I couldn’t bring myself to write another love letter after that.”

“Writing love letters isn’t the only way to express your feelings or to confess to a person. There are other ways such as customized fireworks so when it blows up in the sky. There will be a large flash of ‘I love you *insert name here*’ for everyone to read or you could bake a delicious cake with a ring inside.”

Kibum chuckled at Ryeowook’s enthusiasm in sharing ideas. “I think you watch too much dramas or movies. So how would you prefer to be confessed?”

Ryeowook stayed silent and thought for a while. “I think a simple personal confession would do. I just want to feel the sincerity from the person.”

Days later, Ryeowook received a letter again from Kibum but this time, he didn‘t assume that it was a love letter. “What’s this?” Kibum simply shrugged and hurriedly left. Ryeowook wondered why Kibum was acting weird but he decided not to think too much about it. He simply opened the envelope and found a blank piece of paper. “What’s this?” Ryeowook asked again but the question is directly to the blank piece of paper.

Shindong sniffed. “I smell the scent of lemon.” He took the paper from Ryeowook’s hands and sniffed at it. “There’s a lemon scent on this paper.”

As Kibum said, Ryeowook watched too much dramas and movies, he was sure that this letter with a lemon scent is like one of those letters in mystery or detective movies. Ryeowook instantly went to the science lab and lit the alcohol lamp. He placed the paper over the small fire. The writings on the paper started to appear.

I want to make it different and special this time. No more fancy or flattery words. This is probably the most shortest and creative love letter I’ve ever done. I love you Kim Ryeowook. Please accept my feelings this time.

Ryeowook’s eyes widened as he realized two things. First, this actually came from Kibum even if Kibum’s name wasn’t written anywhere in the letter. He was completely sure of it. Second, this time…this time…this time?!?!?! It meant that Kibum had given him a love letter before…. Could it be…?!?! Ryeowook made his way towards Kibum’s classroom. “Where’s Kibum?”

“Well, he said if a guy named Ryeowook comes by, I should tell him that Kibum is waiting at the school gym. Are you Ryeowook?” Ryeowook didn’t bother to answer that question anymore. As soon as he heard where Kibum was, he instantly turned to leave and look for Kibum.

When Ryeowook entered the school gym, he saw a trail of roses from the entrance of the gym. It lead towards behind the ledges. Underneath the ledges, there was a cloth laid on the floor with small plates, utensils, glasses with red tea and a heart shaped cake at the middle. “Hey.” Ryeowook’s soul almost jumped out of his body when he heard Kibum’s voice behind him. “Don’t scare me like that.” He placed a hand on his fast-beating heart.

Kibum chuckled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Then he slowly opened his hand in front of Ryeowook, where Ryeowook could clearly see the ring sitting innocently on Kibum’s palm. “I forgot to place it in the cake so I decided to just give it to you instead.”

“Uh…Kibum…what about, Julie?”

“There is no Julie. I only created her for the story. The love letter that I gave to you in the past was from me and not some random secret admirer.” Kibum took Ryeowook’s left hand, which was not holding the letter, and slipped the ring in his finger.

“No wonder the story sounded familiar but I didn’t think that Julie was actually me all along.” Ryeowook admired the ring on his finger. “But I thought you stopped writing love letters.” He showed the love letter to Kibum.

“I decided to give it one more try. But I swear that will be the last time. From now on, I’ll express my feelings in a different manner…in a much more personal manner.” Kibum leaned in and placed a quick kiss on Ryeowook’s lips. “Are you still going to reject me?”

“You’ve over done it yourself. I would be an idiot to reject you after what you’ve done.” Ryeowook held the lemon scented love letter close to his heart as Kibum leaned in for another kiss.

Years went by. The lemon-scent was gone. The paper had turned brown. The writings could barely be read. But every time Ryeowook would look at it, his mind would be filled with memories. It would be as if he could smell the lemon scent, as if he could read the writings which he memorized by heart and felt the feelings as if Kibum had confessed to him all over again.

THE END