Seohyun woke up again in the boxed world that she was in. She fluttered her eyelids open and her eyes met again the unpleasant familiarity of her own room. Staring within the white-painted walls of the room, it reminded her of how her life resembled it. Empty and dull. She rolled over to one side of her bed and shut her eyes close, wishing that sleep would visit her again because that was her only escape to this painful reality. Her dreams felt far more real and full of life than the reality around her. Because in her dreams, she was free to be who she wanted to be, and free to choose who she wanted to be with. Because in her dreams, she can have him. Ironic, isn’t it? To be a real person in the world of dreams and be a puppet in the real world.

Everyone thought that she got everything a person could dream of. Riches, an influential family, and a mansion fit for an heiress. But they were all wrong. Why would she dream of an influential family when they always insist to be the masters of her own fate? Why would she need banks full of money when it cannot even buy her happiness? Why would she want a mansion when it is less than a prison cell to her? Her only dream was to be with her love. That was the only thing that she wanted but they took it away from her. The only fragments that she had of her dream were safely kept among the pages of her trusted diary.

She flipped through the pages and scanned their memories she had described in writing. She continued to turn the pages until she found her single memento of him, his photograph. She held it in her hands and once more her mind seemed to warp her off to the past as flashbacks started playing in her mind.

She could remember him throwing pebbles on her window to catch her attention so that they could talk with each other, whispering words and exchanging laughs through their phones as she looked at him standing at the garden from her bedroom window. She recalled the numerous times he climbed up to her balcony just to visit her because she was not allowed to go out. He was like the prince who came to visit a confined Rapunzel in her lonesome tower while the enchantress was away except that he did not ride on his white horse. He only had a mere motorcycle.

He was the person her parents warned her not to mingle with. He was a major rule-breaker. In the eyes of her parents, he was a bad influence to her. He would be the cause of her life’s destruction. But for her, he was not her destroyer, he was her savior. He was the one who could freed her from a caged life, the one who could make her heart jump with just a smile from him, the one who could tickle her bone with his witty and funny jokes, the one who could melt her like ice cream under his gaze. He was the one who captured her heart, the one who showed her what real love is.

“Take my hand and come with me,” That’s what he always said. She would gladly accept it and grab his hand and together they would escape like high-schoolers who skipped their classes. Then, they would embark on a journey no one knows where. The feeling of the gust of wind brushing against her face while she rode on his motorcycle and the warmth of his body as  she held on to him told her that she was in the right place.

He tried to prove himself to her parents but her parents did not give him a chance. He was the speck of imperfection that could tarnish the so-called perfect life that they had orchestrated for her.

“Go away! You do not deserve our daughter!”

“I will only leave if Seohyun will say so…”

“Seohyun, tell him you do not want to see him anymore.”

“But appa-“

“Just tell him!”

“I’m sorry, Kyuhyun. Please leave… and don’t come back.”

In his face, she could see his great disappointment. She lowered her head and avoided his gaze. His sad eyes shot painful arrows to her heart. She locked herself in her room after that. Why did she say that? Why did she not fight for him?  Now he’s gone and all that she had were regrets, pure regrets.

She caressed his picture as if she could touch his face. The ticking of the clock accompanied her silent cry. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall. If only she could turn back time, she would take back her words. She would be stronger. She would defy all adversaries and she would tell him:

“I love you, Kyuhyun. I want to be with you.”

How long will she have to suffer because of one mistake? How long will she let herself be a puppet manipulated by her parents? She had enough. She closed her eyes as she sighed. She put his picture near her lips for a butterfly kiss. If she can confess to him, that is the dream that she is living in right now.

She was tired of being chained in this place. She was tired of being a boxed-in daughter. She was now determined to sever the strings controlling her. It’s now time to heed her heart.

Is there still a chance for her to make it right? Is there still a chance she can turn it all around? Will it not be too late? She will never know the answer unless she stepped outside that door. She took a deep breath and gathered her courage. She ran away. To him.

-------------------

Kyuhyun paced across his room, reminiscing his past with her. He picked up a picture frame showing the two of them during their happy days.

“Seohyun-ah, where are you now? I hope you don’t have any regrets.”

Suddenly, there was a knock. He opened the door and he could not believe who he saw standing on his doorstep.

“Seohyun?” He was not dreaming, right? This is not an illusion played by his mind.

“Kyuhyun…” She smiled but the tears started rolling down her cheeks. “Take me away with you. I want to spend my lifetime with you. I love you. Am I not too late, am I?”

Kyuhyun did not reply. She suddenly became worried. “Is there already someone?”

He shook his head.

“Then what’s the prob-“

He took her in his arms and closed the gap between them with a kiss.

“I love you too.”