Eunji lets out an exhausted breath as she places both hands on her knees. 

Beads of sweat race from her hairline to her chin before plopping onto the wooden floor boards of the theater. 

"That was incredible!" The stageplay director shouts above the exasperated sighs coming from the cast of dancers. "We're almost ready for opening night. Four days away!"

Eunji's heart lurches to as the reality of her first stageplay debut nears. 

Four days away, she repeats to herself as she rights her posture and plasters a smile on her face. 

"Ah, before I forget. Each of you get complimentary guest tickets, so file in a line and get them on your way out. Five for main cast, three for secondary and two for ensemble, got it?" 

Most people nod and begin to make their way to the exit. Eunji walks to the edge of the stage and retrieves a bottle of room temp water before heading toward the director.

"Eunji, I have to tell you. Sometimes I wish our rehearsals were the real thing. I'm always so impressed. You give your all to every performance as if the house was already filled. I've seen a lot of talent in my day. But your talent, humility and hard work, that's a rarity in this field."

Eunji blushes at the director's kind words. It did help to hear that to quell the nerves surely tying and frying within her. 

"Thanks so much Director Lee. Your guidance in all of this has been remarkable. I will deliver my best come opening night." 

Director Lee casts an eye smile and nods his head. "I'm sure of it. And as promised, your tickets."

He hands her five glossy tickets with the show title bolded in gold letters: Hello from the Mountaintop.

Eunji accepts the tickets and puts them into her wallet. 

"Also," Director Lee instructs, "for the next few rehearsals, you will be vocal coaching with Soyeon versus doing a total runthrough. And make sure you're taking your throat coat every night." 

"I know, I know," Eunji laughs, escaping out into the fresh Autumn air before Director Lee can get another word in. 

She walks toward the bus stop and sits down on the empty bench. She knows the next bus isn't due for the next 30 minutes, but she's looking forward to the time to contemplate. 

For the duration of the rehearsal, she had managed to push any nagging thoughts of Kibum, the letters and Naeun's words from her brain. But now, all she wanted to do was dwell on them. 

Before going into rehearsal, she had paced her bedroom, looking at the pile of letters strewn across her bed, and for a second she thought she could hear them taunting her: read me, read me. 

Like clockwork, Naeun called and chided Eunji on the deadline to read them. "Key's back in a couple of days. Taemin's gotta return them." 

Eunji had been trying so hard to avoid reading the contents. One day she would shove the letters far back into the corner of her closet, the next she'd take them out, place them on the dining room table and focus her eyes on them as if she expected for them to gain legs and walk out. 

All of that stalling to groan, grow frustrated and be overcome with the emotions of missing him. 

Today, as she was getting ready to leave the house, she grabbed the first letter, "Sometime in Summer" and tossed it into her bag. 

Now at the bus stop she felt the letter was burning a hole through it. 

With a final sigh of surrender, Eunji decides to take the letter out and read as much as she can bear. 

It's beautiful, intimate; an inside look into the brain of the man she couldn't understand, but was fascinated by what she could discover. 

She starts to vaguely recall a time in a seafood market where a man was throwing a tantrum behind her. "That was you," she whispers out loud, quickly glancing to both sides to make sure no one has joined her at the bus stop. 

She's alone still and continues to read. 

I didn't know he felt so strongly about me, even then. 

The worst part is over. Eunji sighs in relief as she concludes her first letter. And though physically she still appears in tact, Eunji can feel all of her insides unraveling. 

As if the time hadn't passed, the scars hadn't hardened.

Her flesh feels as tender and torn as it had the day she said goodbye. 

And even so, Eunji knows there's no turning back. 

She nods her head, sticks the envelope back into her purse and stands as the bus approaches.

When she settles into a seat next to a window, she retrieves her cellphone to give Naeun a ring.

"I'm finishing up the letters tonight. Why don't you come by tomorrow and pick them up?"

She can practically hear Naeun's smile through the phone. "I'm happy you came around, what changed your mind?"

"Kibum did, as if he had mailed these to me himself."

"I'm sure it was only a matter of time until he did. They were written so recently, like a month or so ago. Clearly he intended on getting these to you but didn't know how." 

Eunji smiles at the thought. One day, in the right way, these letters were to end up in her mailbox, with Kibum professing his mistakes and undying love for her. 

"I suppose the universe figured out 'the how' part for him," Eunji jokes, leaning her head against the window. 

"What are you going to do after you read the letters?"

Eunji screws her lips to the side of her face as she draws a blank. Admittedly she hasn't thought that far ahead. 

"I don't know yet. I don't even know if I should do anything. Maybe I should let him come to me since he doesn't know I would have read them."

"Eunji, if there's anything I've learned after snooping through that man's personal thoughts, he is literally incapabale of making the first move when he doesn't know if you'd appreciate it or not. He doesn't want to make a single mistake, especially if there's a second chance hanging in the balance. I think you've got to be the one to make it known that you're open to it."

Naeun makes sense to Eunji. She's quiet for a moment, trying to figure out if she wants to do anything at all. "I'm still not sure yet. It might not even be a good idea to get myself involved in all of this again. I'm not very levelheaded right now. Give me some time to think about it."

Naeun doesn't press any further. She responds supportively to her friend and confirms that she'll be over tomorrow afternoon to pick up Kibum's letters.

"By the way, I've got your's and Taemin's comp tickets to the show. I'll give those to you tomorrow, too."

"Sounds good! See you then."

Naeun clicks off first. Eunji keeps her head leaning against the cool window of the bus until she reaches her destination.