Dara’s ears rang with the words that Jiyong had just uttered. All these years of waiting, hoping against hope that Jiyong would return. And now he had, and he had said what Dara had never dared to hope he would say again.

 

“Why did you think that you leaving would be any easier for me to handle than your condition, Jiyong?” asked Dara.

 

Jiyong remained silent.

 

“Did you have so little faith in our relationship?” continued Dara.

 

Jiyong remained silent a while longer, before replying, “Anni~ It was precisely because I knew about the level of faith you had in our relationship that made me go ahead with my plan. I knew that if I had told you the truth right from the start, you would not have been able to let go of what we had together. I believed that if I could get you to hate me, you would let go more easily.”

 

This time, it was Dara’s turn to remain silent.

 

“I told Youngbae to tell me if you spoke to him regarding wanting to surprise me or meet me back in university. I also told him to pretend to be helpless if you went to him for help regarding my rejection,” continued Jiyong. “This way, I would then be able to make sure that you truly believed that I was getting back with Kiko.”

 

Dara continued to hold her silence.

 

“The thing I totally underestimated was your love, baby girl. I really wanted you to hate me. I truly believed that if you hated me enough, it would help you let go of me. I believed that I was going to die, baby girl. I didn’t want you to love and miss me and miss out on the best years in your life,” ranted Jiyong. “But from what Yejun shared with me, I seem to have done more damage than what I expected.”

 

Dara finally broke her silence when she said, “I’ve never blamed you, Jiyong. Yes, I’ve sometimes wished that I could get over you but when I realised I would never be able to let you go, I just learnt to live with it. I know eomma and Yejun can tell when I make excuses but I just could never bring myself to hate you or let you go, Jiyong.”

 

“I would feel better if you said you hated me, baby girl. I put you through all that, selfishly thinking that you would let go of me more easily. But instead, I put you through more pain than I ever intended,” said Jiyong.

 

“I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for you either, Jiyong. You lost your eyesight and part of your memory because you wanted to make sure that I believed what you wanted me to believe, when you could have gotten that operation to make sure the aneurysm wouldn’t rupture. I’m as much to blame, Ji,” said Dara, as she walked over to put her arm around Jiyong.

 

Jiyong leaned into her shoulder and hugged her. Dara hugged him back and together, the pair shared all the emotions they kept bottled up for each other in the past twelve years in that hug. They hugged for a full minute before pulling away.

 

“Do you intend to tell Yejun about my identity?” asked Jiyong.

 

“Do you want me to?” said Dara.

 

Jiyong pondered in silence for a while before replying, “It’s really selfish of me but yes, I want him to know.”

 

“Stop thinking that you’re selfish, Jiyong. You wanted me to let go and be happy and made yourself blind in the end. Be selfish for once, Ji,” chided Dara.

 

“If I can be selfish, then would it be too selfish for me to ask for your forgiveness, baby girl?” asked Jiyong tentatively. “And can we at least be friends again?”

 

“I never blamed you, Ji. I could never bring myself to blame you, try as I might. And yes, I would love to start over as friends again. Could you… could you give me your address? I’ll go over to your place tomorrow to tell you how it goes with Yejun,” said Dara.

 

“I’m staying at my old place before I left Korea. My parents never sold the place and just rented it out. The most recent tenants just moved out, so I have it to myself now,” said Jiyong.

 

“All right. I’ll come over tomorrow morning,” said Dara, as she led him out of her office and saw him to the gate. “Do you need me to accompany you home?”

 

“It’s fine, baby girl. I didn’t spend all those years in therapy for nothing,” said Jiyong with a smile.

 

Dara watched him walk down the street that they had walked down umpteen times all those years back, her eyes as dark as the clouds gathering in the sky.

 

Jiyong-ah.

 

…

 

That night, Dara laid in bed, while the thunderstorm outside raged, though it paled in comparison to the sea of thoughts raging in her mind and the conversation she had with Yejun after Jiyong left.

 

FLASHBACK

 

“Bwoh? Who did you say he was, eomma?” asked Yejun in disbelief.

 

“Yejun, please calm down. He’s… he’s the Kwon I named you after,” said Dara.

 

Dara spent the next 15 minutes explaining Jiyong’s return and what had happened in the 12 years that he had been away, as well as the real reason behind hurting Dara.

 

“That’s great, eomma!” shouted Yejun.

 

This time, it was Dara’s turn to look at her son in disbelief. “Moragu?”

 

“Your patience has finally paid off, eomma! Now you can finally be with him again!” cheered Yejun.

 

“Don't you hate him, Yejun?” asked Dara.

 

“Anni~ I’ve told you before, eomma. I’ve stopped hating him a long time ago. You’ve never hated him, so why should I? I’ve always only wanted you to be happy and now the only person who can do that is back!” said Yejun.

 

Dara looked at Yejun in silence, unsure of what to say.

 

“The issue now is not whether I can accept him. It’s whether you can accept him, eomma,” said Yejun. “You’ve waited for him for twelve long years. Now that he’s back, your mind must be in a flurry now. But whatever your decision is, I want you to be happy, eomma. Don’t worry about how I feel. What you feel has always been my number one priority.”

 

It seemed that time had only served to strengthen Yejun’s perceptive nature. Dara smiled and got up to go to bed, as she said, “Gomawo, Yejun-ah.”

 

END OF FLASHBACK

 

…

 

The following morning, Dara headed down the familiar street that led to Jiyong’s old house. A feeling of apprehension crept over her for some reason. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t walked past this house since Jiyong left. In fact, she walked past it often, sometimes on her way out on errands, at other times on purpose, hoping against hope that Jiyong would somehow return. But today, she knew Jiyong would be in that house.

 

Dara walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. The door opened after a while to reveal Jiyong with his walking stick.

 

“Hi Jiyong,” said Dara.

 

“Come in,” said Jiyong with a wane smile.

 

“Are you feeling all right, Jiyong?” asked Dara concernedly, as she stepped into his house.

 

“I’m fine,” replied Jiyong, as he brushed off Dara’s concern. “Sit. I’ll get you a drink.”

 

Jiyong shuffled off and came back with a glass of water.

 

“Here you go,” said Jiyong, as he approached Dara from the back with the water.

 

Dara turned and, in her hurry, knocked over the water all over Jiyong.

 

“I’m so sorry!” said Dara in a panic, as she jumped up to help Jiyong wipe up the water.

 

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” said Jiyong, as he reached for the tissue box he left on the counter and tried to feel for the water on the floor.

 

Dara took the tissue from him and said, “I’ll clear it up Jiyong. You go change out of your wet T-shirt. You’re looking terrible. Shall I come by another day after I clean u