[ C H A P T E R   E L E V E N ]

Yongsun smiled to herself as she pressed the like button to a video of Eric eating literally everything in his recent tour vlog video that he uploaded on Youtube. No one would know that she pressed the like button to it, and no one would know that those videos of him eating when it was supposed to be a tour vlog were actually meant for her to see that he was really eating, but she likes it that it was a little secret between the two of them. 

She learnt somehow that these past few years, he has been working so hard that he practically forgot to eat his meals and it was ridiculous to her because no matter how busy he was, he shouldn’t have forgot to eat.  So when they called that day before he started his very first set for his tour, she made him promise that he’d eat all three meals no matter how hectic and exhausted he would be. The next few days, he sent her a link to his video with a little text along with it.

Just so you know, I kept my promise. 

But that wasn’t the biggest surprise he gave her though. 

Her doorbell rang and a familiar voice identified himself from outside her door. Yongsun grinned and skipped to her door almost a tad bits too happily. She’s been doing this almost every few weeks that it almost became a habit for her to watch out for the doorbell, because every time it rings, her heart skips an unfamiliar beat and it made her happier for the rest of her day. Yongsun didn’t even have to look at the address to know who it was from, but she looked anyway to see this time where it was from. 

It was from Eric. 

He has been buying her gifts from each country he’s been to on his tour, and had it shipped all the way to her house. Along with it always came a special card with an abstract drawing of a rose illustrated in different colors each time and a little message from him. It wasn’t the gift she was always looking forward to, it was the card that kept her on her toes every time. Maybe she was excited to find out what color would the rose be drawn in this time, or maybe she was excited to know what he wrote to her this time, but she was just excited more than she expected herself to be.

The drawing of the rose was never the same, she didn’t know how he managed to find a place who would personally drew this in every country he’s been to, but it was clear to her that he’s making an effort and she appreciates that a lot. 

The message he wrote in each card was never the kind of Shakespeare’s romantic poetry nor those of a cheesy confession, it was almost like a little update of what he’s been up to that he wanted only her to know about. Byul found it weird because she was expecting a love poem, but Yongsun prefers these messages to those of the romantic one — it felt a lot more real and genuine, like he cares enough to make an effort to write her about what he was doing just because he wanted to share those moment with her even though they were miles apart.

    “Receiving love poems once in a while doesn’t sound too bad though, we all need a little bit of cheese in our lives.” Byul shrugged nonchalantly. “But, you guys do you.” 

Byul’s right, once in a while doesn’t sound too bad. In fact, Yongsun guessed she’d love everything he sent her just because it was from him. It’s the efforts he put in that stole her heart, he could literally just write about he was stuck in a toilet for three hours and she’d still love him. 

The very first card she received was a drawing of a rose beautifully crafted in red lines. 

I wanted to send an actual rose, but the post office won’t let me and I was told that their quickest method of shipping still isn’t fast enough to reach before it wilts. 

P.S — Found a really good dumplings restaurant in Taipei you might like, we should go there together sometimes in the future.

This time, the rose was drawn in yellow almost kind of metallic lines. 

Had too much mango sticky rices today, I wish I could send some over to you as well but they told me it can’t last for more than 24 hours so I ate just a few more for you instead. 

P.S — I miss you loads, Yong (my team told me I’m crazy, but I actually bought the ingredients for mango sticky rice just in case you might still want them by the time I’m back in Korea).

She laughs, and safely stores the card in the hatbox in her drawer. Grabbing her phone, she sends him a simple text that only said you’re crazy and giggles as she imagines how confused he would actually be when he reads it. 

She misses him just as much, and Yongsun wishes she could send him a card back but it was pointless because right now he’s constantly moving from one country to another. So, the best way they were communicating was either through texts or phone calls, but somehow they unintentionally made their personal Youtube platforms another way of communicating with each other — it’s not that efficient or immediate like phone calls, but it leaves a lasting memory that they could always go back and watch. 

Every once in a while, she would be wearing his hoodie in her own channel, and once in a while, the gifts he gave her would make an appearance in it as well but no one really notices, and even if they do, no one really gave much thought about it. People regarded it as either she bought it herself or her sister bought it, and Yongsun didn’t feel like explaining to anyone who and where it was actually from. They both knew, and that was enough for her because that was all that she intended, just a subtle reminder to each other that they still meant just as much to each other. 

Her phone alerts a new incoming message. 

??

Yongsun laughs at his response, but she doesn’t reply back just so he could be a little bit more confused. Her phone rings a little while later, and she picks up almost right away, a smile plastered on her face and she’s sure if Byul is sitting across from her right now, she would tell her that she’s gross. 

    “Uh.. do you mind clarify what that earlier message is about please?” 

    She giggles at how confused he sounds, but instead of giving him an answer, she pops a casual question instead as if he hadn’t ask her anything at all. “Shouldn’t you be preparing to go on stage right now?” 

Byul said their relationship was a lot more closer now than they’ve been when they were dating in the past, and Yongsun told her she’s speaking nonsense, but now it hits her that perhaps Byul was right. They talked so much, shared so much that she couldn’t even think of what he might not know about her if anyone asked her, but does she regret it? 

Yongsun would say no, because she wouldn’t prefer it any other way. She likes that it was him who knows a little bit too much about her. 

The packages take a little more longer to arrive when he starts touring in America, and sometimes he’d call her while being half asleep because of the time differences, and some other times he’d be complaining on the other line of the phone when he knew she was having kimchi stew because ugh, I miss Korean foods so bad. She’d joked that she’ll learn to make it for him when he comes back, and neither of them, especially not even Yongsun herself, would actually expected that she really learned how to make it just for him. Byul always had to taste it though, and Yongsun felt really bad for her but she was the only one who was always home with her besides her sister. 

The card she probably likes the most would be the one that arrived right on her birthday which came with an extra flower — two extra flowers to be exact. She had no idea how did he do it, but she got both the gift and the card he’d always sent her, a whole different gift for her birthday, a cake and a bouquet of flower which he somehow managed to contact the shops in Korea to sent it to her, and another extra flower. It still wasn’t an actual rose, but rather the one that was safely stored in her phone’s gallery.

A picture of him with his hands under his chin, doing the flower pose that made her giggled for a whole day straight. 

Since it’s your birthday, I thought you might want a different kind of flower than the hand-drawn one on the card. 

Two minutes later, he sent another text. 

Sorry, that was gross.

She hates anything cheesy, but strangely enough with Eric, it comes easier than she thought and quite unexpectedly without her even realizing it. She typed back a reply with Byul sneaking over from her side to see what she was typing, and when she pressed the send button, the younger woman pushed her so hard she almost fell off her chair. 

I think I like this flower the best.

    “They’re gross.” Byul grimaces at Yonghee, her spoon hanging midair and she shakes her head. 

    Yonghee returns her back a nonchalant shrug like this was already normal. “At least this is much better than her locking herself in her room and cry for almost a whole week straight. That was traumatizing.”

When she found out that he was staying in Los Angeles for a little while more after he wrapped up his tours, Yongsun decided that perhaps it was time for her to send him a card back now so instead of lots of card with roses drawn in different colors like he did, she had it drawn using all the colors in the cards he gave her and sent it all the way to Los Angeles. 

She could have just sent a text, and it was a crazy idea to send just one card all the way from Korea to Los Angeles, but she didn’t really care.

Call me as soon as you’re in Korea — there’s this hoodie that kinda misses its owner a little bit too much. 

They’ve both waited for almost half a year, and Yongsun decided that they’ve done enough waiting now.