A girl sits quietly by herself at a local café at the heart of Seoul with a warm latte placed in front of her. However the latte seems to be un-touched, the girl is looking out the window at the beautiful scenery in front of her with a small camera in hand.

Click.

Another picture is taken by her. The staff here in this café is used to the sound of a camera clicking every day, because this is where the girl is seen almost every afternoon. No one knows why she takes so many pictures or dared to disturb the girl to ask. It’s not that she looks scary or anything, but that no one ever hears her say a word other than her order her latte.

“Does she even have any friends?” one of the staffs whispers to another.

“I doubt it. She never even talks. Who would want to be friends with someone who never talks?” the girl replies.

The girl sitting there at the small table next to the window can hear the whole convocation, since the staff really fails at whispering. But it doesn’t bother her anymore. She’s gotten used to it. She only has one close friend. And never thought to make anymore. People think she’s anti-social, but no one ever knows the real reason. Not even her only friend Seulmi knows why.

The girl looks at her watch and notices that she should probably go back home before it gets dark.

She puts her camera into her pastel blue bad slung around her shoulder and slowly stands up and grabs her cup of latte. She walks with her head down like always avoiding eye contact with anyone. But suddenly bumps into someone spilling a bit of coffee on the person.

Her eyes widen as she bows constantly and apologizes slowly but never lifting her head up to see the stranger, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry…”

What the girl doesn’t see is that the stranger is holding a chuckle, “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s just a shirt anyways,” said a low voice.

The girl who is now curious about who was in front of her, looks up and sees a boy who seems to be about her age.

“I-I…” The girl stutters but lost herself midsentence, not knowing what to say. She never talks to any strangers.

The stranger lets out a small smile hoping to make the girl stop being so nervous, “I moved in a while ago, and I’ve seen you around a lot here at this café with your camera. Why do you take so many pictures?”

There it was. The question that no one has asked before. This stranger here is defiantly someone special. The question was answered with a sad smile which left the stranger confused.

But that was the start to the blossoming friendship that the two strangers will later experience. 

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03.14.12

After only 2 weeks, the girl opened herself more and more to the stranger who she now knows the name of. His name was Park Taehyun, a 20 year old boy who majored in music at Seoul University.

Taehyun learned a bit about the girl as well. He learned that she too went to Seoul University, but she majored in writing. The girl was a year younger and went by the name of Lee Eunmi.

Eunmi never thought that she would talk to anyone when Seulmi was away on a trip. She never thought that the stranger who she had spilled coffee on would be her new friend. She would have never thought that this one person would mean so much to her.

But the thing is, Eunmi always felt something very foreign whenever she’s around Taehyun. She doesn’t know why or what she feels.

Later on she asked Seulmi about it. She said the answer was simple. But it was something that Eunmi should figure out herself.

Eunmi never stopped thinking about it. What was it that she was feeling… Love? It can’t be. She shouldn’t be feeling this. It will just hurt him. I can’t do this.

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06.07.13

The two become closer over the course of one year. The shy quiet girl when they first met was never there when Taehyun was around. Instead a smiling, bright and talkative girl was there in her place. But one thing was still the same. Eunmi would always have her camera with her, taking pictures any time she could.

Taehyun loved her laugh, the way her eyes are when she smiles, the way the girl could talk so freely when he was around. He loved everything about her.

Everything seemed to be perfect when the two were together. As if nothing could separate the two apart.

So one day Taehyun confessed. It was a summer day at the café where they first met. The two were seated at a small table near the window enjoying a cup of freshly made coffee.

“I was thinking of asking you this earlier,” Taehyun starts rubbing the back of his neck looking at the scratches on the table, “Lee Eunmi, after meeting you a year ago at this exact spot, I think I’ve developed a strong feeling for you. Every time we separate I miss you dearly, but when you are with me I wish to stop time so that we’ll be together forever. That’s why I’m asking you now,” Taehyun take a deep breath and looks into Eunmi’s eyes, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

A soft smile spreads across the girl’s face; words don’t seem to come out since she is speechless at the sudden confession. But she does manage to give a small nod.

Taehyun grins as he notices the nod, “You really mean it? Is that a yes? Or was I seeing things?”

“Stop asking so many questions. Of course I would say yes. Who in the right mind would say no to such a wonderful person? You brought back color in my life. You changed me, in a positive way of course. Thank you so much,” Eunmi replied as she stood up to walk to Taehyun’s side, “Let go to the park?”

Taehyun took hold of his girlfriend’s hand as they both made their way out of the café.

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07.30.13

Taehyun and Eunmi are sitting on the edge of the Han River during the night. The girl’s head rests gently on Taehyun’s shoulder.

“The stars are pretty aren’t they?” Eunmi remarked as she lifts her head to turn to Taehyun.

The boy turns towards Eunmi and admires her beauty in the moonlight. She looked beautiful in his eye, her little imperfections makes her special and unique in her own way, which only made him love the girl in front of him even more.  

“Hhm? Of course the stars look beautiful. Aren’t they always?” Taehyun smiles and looks up into the night sky, “The night sky is pretty. I sometimes wish it was darker longer, just like in the winter. Don’t you think?”

A sad smile spreads across Eunmi’s face. And after a moment of silence she responded, “That can be true, but once you’re lost in the darkness, you’ll miss the light,” she whispered the last part softly.

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01.31.14

Finals are coming up, and that means studying late at night till the library closes and students are forced to leave.

Taehyun and Eunmi walk hand in hand out of the library. It’s winter time so it gets dark quicker. Taehyun decided that he should walk with Eunmi every day when going home.

But sometimes, like today, the two would go out to the night markets and get some street food.

The two eat at their favorite doboki place, which defies the cold weather around them.  

Suddenly the girl turns to the boy and trembled, “T-taehyun-ah… can we go home? I’m scared the monster will come out again.”

“Are you scared of the dark baby? There are no monsters out to get you,” Taehyun joked.  

“You could say so,” the girl says with a soft whimper at the end.

After hearing the whimper escaping Eunmi’s lips, Taehyun noticed that Eunmi didn’t seem to be joking around.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Taehyun asked with a worried tone.

“J-just take me home please…” Eunmi replied leaning against his shoulder.

Taehyun just simply nods but his eyes show that he’s worried for her, “I’ll take you home then. Can you walk? Wait, no. Let me carry you on my back.”

Without waiting a response from the girl Taehyun squats down mentioning for Eunmi to get on his back.

Eunmi hesitantly get on Taehyun’s back gently, not wanted to hurt him.  She leans on his back and softly whispers, “Thanks you.”

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04.17.14

The past few months have been perfect for the couple. They would see each other every day. And dates were frequent too.  Nothing about the two changed over time. They were still happy, cheerful and Eunmi would always have her camera along to capture every moment that she wanted to.

“Why do you take so many pictures? I asked you this when we first met, but never got an answer, you know,” Taehyun inquired when the two were sitting on a bench in the park.

“I just like keeping memories of things I like. I like seeing them, so I take a picture to keep it forever,” Eunmi responded simply.

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05.25.14

The frequent dates became less and less frequent. The couple didn’t see each other much anymore. Eunmi never seemed to show up. It was one excuse after another.

“Did I do something wrong?” Taehyun muttered to himself looking down at the bouquet of flowers that he bought for his girlfriend.

His finger played with the couple ring that they had gotten a few weeks back. He couldn’t think of why Eunmi seemed to be avoided him these days. What had happened?

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06.07.14

It wasn’t normal at this point, thought Taehyun. It was over a week since he last heard her voice. He lied down on his bed, scrolling through the unread messages he had sent her, after a moment of staring at the phone, he quickly sat up and reached for his shoes, sliding them on as he grabbed his car keys.

“Where have you gone…?” he said in a bare whisper as he got into his car and almost too fast drove towards Eunmi’s house.

Driving up onto the driveway, he turned off the ignition. Without knowing why, he felt his heart skip a beat and his surroundings become a little more enhanced than comfortable.

Slowly walking up to the porch, he knocked on the door that led to his love’s house. After a few moments of pure silence besides the birds that chirped around him, the door opened slowly to reveal a petite girl with baggy eyes showing her exhaustion. But it wasn’t the girl that Taehyun so hoped to see, but her best friend, Seulmi.

She studied him for a good minute, her eyes showing pain that kept him staring at her in pure confusion and distort. She ushered him to sit on the sofa as she ran to a nearby room coming back with a scrapbook in her hand.

He blinked a couple times as she handed it to him, not looking at his eyes. As he grabbed it, a greater sense of worry overcame him as his heartbeat increased.

Opening it slowly, he saw many photographs, some of which Eunmi and himself took together, others of the trees on a windy day, the snowman that children built, and of the small café where they met.

Behind the small pictures were small messages, plenty that sparked Taehyun’s interest.

 

03.14.12 – I want to love but I know I shouldn’t.

06.07.13 –You’re mine... Let me spend every moment I can with you.

01.31.14 – I wonder when the monster will go away.

04.30.14 – my doctor said, there’s not much hope.

05.25.14 – I need to stop it now, I can’t hurt him any longer… I have to let you go.

 

Only muddled mind came across Taehyun’s face as he read through some of the writings, it wasn’t till he reached the last message that he lost himself completely. The writing at this point was messier, the words slanting after each line.

 

05.19.14 –

How do I tell you, Taehyun, that I am sorry.

If you see this, it means my operation failed. I’ve kept it to myself, I know, and for that I am sorry. For the past two years, a tumor developed within my brain. I’m… losing my ability to see, I’m becoming… blind. There was a 20% chance of my survival from the surgery. I was willing to risk it. To be able to see. I don’t want to lose myself into the darkness. You know why I take so many photos? It’s because I was the capture every moment special to me so I can see them until I can’t anymore. I wished I could celebrate our anniversary together. But I couldn’t run anywhere else even if I was against… my months of life were ending.

I will never forgot the moments we made together, our memories will always be a part of me, like our photographs that we took together.

I will always remember your smile, your laugh, your voice.

I will always remember being by your side.

I will always remember how much I love you.

I’m sorry…

Taehyun, my love. Thank you for being my light.

Sincerely,

Lee Eunmi

 

We are all treasuring the past and running towards the future at the same time.

“Happy anniversary Lee Eunmi.”