The sun was hiding behind the thick clouds that day when Daehyun finally decided to visit the special place once again after how many years. The wind was then fairly cold and gentle, like it was echoing the man's feelings, telling him it knew and it understood. A few small birds decided to accompany Daehyun too when they hovered in the skies, chirping melodies of... Sympathy? None could tell. Maybe they were, indeed. The sun, the wind, the birds--they all share in the visitor's sentiments, whatever it could be. He seemed to carry with him a heavy spirit.

Under all these lay a broad hill filled with tall olive grass and blooms of small flowers here and there. In the middle of the hill stood a rather big tree. Its trunk was strong and dark brown but its leaves were withering and falling. The place was different now, Daehyun reckoned with disappointment. Once, the place was lush, flowers grew everywhere, and the big tree boasted of its green and flourishing leaves. 

It's happening too fast--change was. Daehyun feared he could not keep up with it. 

With strides of a tired man, Daehyun walked up towards the tree. Upon reaching it, he put a hand into its trunk and, feeling the rough and dry texture, remembered the memories he had been trying to move on from. He sighed. He was never gonna do it; he was never gonna forget everything. It was something he was not capable of. Not now, not ever. 

"I used to come here when I was a child."

"Does your parents approve of this? It's far away from your home," Daehyun asked his companion. 

"I never told them!" she laughed, and it was the sweetest thing Daehyun ever heard. 

Daehyun's vision blurred as tears were unintentionally filling both his eyes. He immediately wiped them away with the back of his hand, and he started to debate with himself whether it was a good idea to come here at all. It just made the pain grow worse, the memories more vivid. But he can't help it. He just missed her so bad it hurts. 

He knelt down to the roots of the tree despite the knowledge that doing so would only trigger more images of her. For there he saw, in the base of the tree, a handwritten carving with the following words: 

Daehyun and Eunji. Always is, always will.

Then pangs of sadness gripped his heart, making it feel very tight, as he recalled. 

"Done!" Eunji squeaked, a grin on her face. She and Daehyun were sitting below a massive tree, enjoying the shade its green leaves brought. For the past thirty minutes, Eunji had been busy carving while Daehyun prepared their little snack by laying them one by one on the blanket they were sitting on. 

"Always is, always will?" Daehyun read the carving on the tree. It was in Eunji's familiar handwriting-the J was stylish and was larger than the rest of the letters o