Love makes one silly.

And Myungsoo is a living and breathing proof to that. Though, saying he is silly, is putting it mildly. He is a fool in love and a greater fool for letting love go.

Surely, he would be rewarded for his patience, for waiting for love to sneak up on Amber.  For waiting for Amber.  Right? Such thoughts, however, did not provide even an ounce of comfort. He couldn’t just grab her by the shoulder and kiss her to breathlessness. The idea has its appeal but not if he doesn’t want his cheek to meet her palm.

His shoulders slumped, he grew weary from walking aimlessly. He is being a coward. Scared to have his heart broken. And now, it would never be whole. He laughed - an empty sound that echoes the hollow ache he feels inside.

The ceremony ended hours ago. It was followed by a celebration with his family but he wasn’t really in a celebratory mood. He excused himself, under the pretense of going to a friend’s house. He would make it up to them later.

Loud excited voices of children tear him away from his self loathing and he finds himself in the playground near their school. A wry smile breaks across his sad face. How cliché. He even ends up at the place where it all started.

He remembers it as if it were yesterday. The sun was also setting, bathing the playground in orange and forming shadows on the ground. The breeze was cool in his skin and the rustling of the leaves in the trees joined the chorus of insects and kids shouting their farewell to one another. It was his favorite time of the day. The available light is just perfect for taking photos and the peaceful quiet, good company to ease his mind.

Lately, his thoughts were always heading towards a blonde with short-cropped hair. How she integrated herself in his solitary world was beyond him. It took years before he felt kinship with his brothers but she easily breached that self-imposed barrier he created to keep people out. But unlike his other female classmates, she did not annoy him. In fact, she piqued his curiousity. She is so... Different. There was something about her he couldn't begin to describe that he found refreshing. And it did things inside him.

He was poised to take a photo of a dove when her voice drove the bird away.

“Let’s go to the see-saw!”

He shakes his head, hearing  her voice clearly inside his head, as if time did not pass. Most teenage girls would have chosen the swing. But his Amber is unlike any other girl he met. He also expected her to sit astride it.  But she surpr