Everyone knows what spring symbolizes. What it stands for. Birth. Growth.

But what happens if spring doesn't bring forth new life? What happens if the growth stops?

That's what happened to me.

        Each spring, I would stop and marvel at the delicate pink flowers that bloomed in the thousands at the tops of the cherry trees in my neighborhood. It was the kind of beauty that would draw in tourists from all around the world and I considered myself lucky to be able to see it right from home.

But one year, that all changed.

I had just celebrated my two year anniversary with my girlfriend. We'd met online and had only met in person about nine months prior.

I thought it would be a good idea to go and see the cherry blossoms together. She agreed.

While we sat on a park bench together, holding hands under a cluster of particularly vibrant trees, she broke the news to me.

"Byul," she said quietly while the back of my hand with her thumb, her voice so low that I almost missed it.

"Hmm?" I hummed, turning slowly away from the petals I liked so much.

Wheein was so beautiful that I'd always wondered exactly why she was interested in someone like me. I remember thinking that while I admired her pretty features under the morning sunlight. 

I was too stupid to notice that when she looked at me, there was sadness in her eyes.

She chewed the inside of her cheek as she tried to