2 years later

*SHK’s POV*

I’m strolling around the streets of South Korea, enjoying my free day, which is very rare nowadays. My jewelry business has been doing really well, even rising as one of the top jewelry brands in the country nowadays. We are even planning on expanding our jewelry business to designing fancy chandeliers and the like, thus my jam-packed schedule and almost non-existent day off. I’m not complaining, though. It really is nice when your profession is your passion. It doesn’t feel like work at all and I’m very much enjoying the way things flow.

 Work in SGC’s good, too. Though I’m no longer CEO-in-training, I’m still active in the company as part of the board, having kept my promise to my father. Appa has finally retired and is now enjoying his free time travelling to places, this time for pleasure and not for work, sometimes complaining that he misses work and that he’s not used of having all this time to spare.

Onew, on the other hand, has taken over the company and is doing quite well. Turns out being the head of the company suits him well, the employees love him and he works really hard. Though he still needs guidance from my father from time to time, it’s evident that he’s going to be one great CEO. He’s still not used to people calling him Chairman, though and insists that they still call him Onew. Aigoo, my cousin. He has always been humble.

The weather’s nice today so I went out for a walk to savor it. Humming a happy tune, I spot a familiar café from afar, the one Joong Ki and I went to on our ‘first date.’ Looking back, I remember how I chided him for taking me to a plain looking coffee shop when he said he’d take me to a ‘nice place.’ I thought he had no taste until he opened the door and I was welcomed by a beautiful interior. When I think about it, the café is just like him, always being judged as stereotypical, yet when you look closer, you will be surprised.

On the outside, one could think that he’s just an arrogant, proud and obnoxious son of the president of a big company, always relying on his father’s wealth and influence for everything but when you get to know him better, you’ll see that he’s actually a good person and dedicated worker. I guess that’s one of the things I learned from meeting him. That is to never judge someone based on your standards.

Joong Ki. I wonder where he is now or how he’s been. It’s been two years since I last saw him and from what I’ve heard, their company expansion has been doing very well, too, thanks to his guidance and creative ideas. I’m happy that, finally, he’s reaching his dreams, yet the selfish part of me also wants him to stop going for his goals and come back to me.

I remember the conversation I had with Lee Jin a few months ago. We were having coffee after a night out with friends. We sat cross-legged on the floor of her condo, talking about nothing and everything. About how we all suddenly turned into adults and how we rarely get to hang out anymore now that we’re all busy with work and upgrading our careers. About how we wished we were a bunch of high school friends once again, just hanging from one place to another without a single care in the world aside from passing school requirements on time and worrying whether or not our teacher would give us a pop quiz. Oh, those days, we sighed as we both take a sip from each of our cups.

“You still wear that?” she asked, eyeing the engagement ring still resting on the ring finger of my left hand and I placed my cup down before answering.

“Yes,” I said, giving her a sad smile while remembering what Joong Ki said in the letter.

There’s no other person I’d rather give this ring to other than you. My heart and this ring only belong to you.

“You still think about him?” she asked again and I looked down on the ring, adjusting it.

“Yes. All the time,” I said then look up to see her staring back at me, understanding lighting her eyes. That’s one of the things I like most about my best friend. She’s never one to judge and she’s always there to listen. I could go talking over and over about one thing and she’ll still lend me a listening ear. Yes, she’ll sometimes scold me if she thinks I’m wrong, but she never takes for granted my feelings.

“Any news about when he’s coming back?” she asked and I shook my head. She already knew about the letter as well as the fact that Joong Ki’s the boy I’ve been telling her about. Like me, she, too, was shocked when I first broke the news to her, wondering how on earth that happened and how I wasn’t able to find out earlier. But eventually, she came around and thought that maybe that’s just how complicated and surprising fate works.

“None,” I said, honestly not having any idea when he’ll come home, or if he at least visited Seoul in the past few months. After realizing that he was the boy at the hospital, I instantly wanted to run after him. To book the next flight to the US and follow him there, but then he told me not to. He specifically mentioned in his letter not to chase after him. To just let things be for the moment and let fate decide when or whether or not we should meet again.

I wanted to disregard his request and just follow what my heart wanted, but then he honored my wish for him to stay away when he begged me to let him stay. I guess it was now my turn to respect his wish, no matter how much I didn’t want to. No matter how much my heart protested.

And besides, I didn’t want to ask him to come back when a big opportunity was waiting for him on the other side of the world. That would be too selfish of me.

So, there. I decided to just do what he wanted me to do and that’s to work on myself. To be happy and to live a full life even without him by my side. And I thought I was doing a good, if not perfect, job. But still, there were times that I wished things were different. There were times that I still wished that he was here by my side and not oceans away.

“You know, sometimes I wish that things turned out differently, you know?” I said and she leaned her back on the couch, her hands holding her cup while listening to me.

“If we had met in a different time, if things weren’t that complicated, if I weren’t that guarded. Would we have happened? Would things have worked out for us?” I said while fidgeting with the ring.

“I don’t think thinking about the what if’s would help now. I mean, that’s just how they are –what if’s. Things already happened and they couldn’t be undone,” she said and I stared at her, waiting for her to continue. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, maybe this is how things should be. That you should spend time from one another for the mean time and pursue your wishes. Maybe all these are happening for a reason….”

“…Stop thinking about the what ifs and what could’ve beens, dear. They’ll just torture you and keep you awake,” she added and I sighed.

“I know, I just couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help but wonder if things worked out the way we wanted them to, then maybe we would’ve been happy. Maybe I wouldn’t be sitting here, consuming your time being sad and saying over and over about how much I miss him. How much I miss his voice, his smile, his laugh and how much everything reminds me of him,” I