“Chunnie..~sob~sob~ since when?” He asked.

“Ever since I was little, I was so attracted to you. So please, come and see me every day, yes?”

He nodded before he disappeared. I smiled; satisfy that I finally brave enough to confess to him. Yes, I was definitely felt in love with him, there’s no way to doubt that.

I stayed out from the woods as far as possible ever since he warned me about it, but it was still alright because I still got to see him. Instead of spending our time exploring the woods, we explored the house, my grandpa was definitely one of the rich men in the village, there were many rooms in that house, rooms that I never knew about before. Thanks to Su, I got to know the place better, he really is a curious guy, I guess which is why he knew the woods too well, he must had been exploring the woods with all the times he had. I introduced him some of the technology present in that household like the television which he called the magic box because it was able to display moving pictures in it, also the radio, the washing machine –by the time I live here, I couldn’t bared to live without any of those, so I had to bring them along-  which he was greatly impressed by them.

One evening when he was visiting the house…

“Su, can I try something new? Promise me you won’t get angry at me.” I made my famous puppy eyes, just so he agreed. Staring into my eyes, he gave out a chuckle before finally nodded. I take that as a yes.

I held out my hand to reach his chin, he looked a little startled sensing my touch. Only then I bend down a little, he was a little shorter than me, before finally gave a kiss on his forehead. As I pulled away, I saw he was blushing. His pale white cheeks turned into slightly pink color, how cute.

“There, you promise me that you won’t be mad at me, right?”

He didn’t say anything, then he got up and was ready to leave.

“I see you tomorrow then.” He said that and just in the blink of eyes, he vanished.

Yes, he definitely the cute type, how a very small gesture from me was enough to get him blushing like that.

Things were great around here for the next day, that was until a remainder from my phone brought me back into reality.

2008, March 16. Three days left before returning to Seoul and getting married. Goodbye my bachelor’s life. (TT^TT)/~ᵓ

, I forgot about my wedding. I was getting too comfortable around here that I totally forgot about it. We had already settled everything like the wedding dress, invitations, cakes, the church that was supposed to wed us, and even to our honeymoon’s destination, way before I went to this vacation. Of course back then I never plan to meet back with Junsu and fall in love all over again. , what should I do?

That day Junsu didn’t come to see me, only when it was already late in the evening, then he came.

“Chunnie guess what? We guardians had been talking about this moon festival that the village had been celebrating every year. It was supposed to happen tonight, so can we go there together? Oh Chunnie, I really want to see what it looks like. Please, Chunnie, please?”

I was planning all day on how to tell him about the wedding but seeing his sweet innocent face, I completely forget about it, or rather refuse to think about it. I was wearing my casual clothes to go to the festival when he started to whine again, now what?

“Chunnie, this is a traditional festival, celebrated by the local people, don’t you have any hanbok? You should wear it, instead of those clothes, see?”

He showed me his white hanbok that he was wearing and it was completely breathtaking, he was absolutely without any doubt, looked like an angel.

“But Su, I don’t think I have one, can’t I just wear these?”

His face looked like he was thinking of something, then his face light up, and he swiftly moved around my house, going up to the attic, where harabeoji used to keep all his stuff away. Not long after that he came down with a box in his hand.

“Tada! I thought I saw a hanbok somewhere around this house. Here, I think it’s your grandpa’s. You should wear these.” He said while handing me the box. I opened the box and he was right, it was a dark blue hanbok, neatly folded in the box. I took it out and wore it to the festival.

At the festival, the place was crowded, no kidding. There were a lot of people going around, along the road, the stalls were mostly covered the sideway, making the place packed. Junsu was squealing, along with the little jumping up and down, while observing his surroundings. He must have missed the feeling of being surrounded by human. The rest of our sightseeing, I was holding onto his hand, afraid that I might lose him in the crowd, while he willingly allowed himself to be lead by me. We bought some food and tried some of the games before finally sat at the bench, enjoying the food. His eyes were still spacing out in the crowd, observing their behavior.

“It must have been nice to live, right Chuunie?” I was taken by surprise; I didn’t expect that coming from him. The food that I was swallowing earlier got stuck in my throat, causing me to cough a little.

“Omo, Chunnie, you’re alright? Here drink this.” Offering me some drinks.

“Where did all this come from Su?” I asked him.

“Nowhere, I just thought, if I have been alive, I could grow up, work, or maybe having a family of my own. Seeing those small children, running around the place in their colorful hanbok made me feel a little jealous. I kind of wish to have a kid of my own. Its’ must have been nice to be alive, right Chunnie?”

I couldn’t respond to these, somehow I could feel that he had already seen through me, along with the fact that I was about to get marry.   

“Chuunie, remember when you made a promise when you were little, saying that you would always be by my side? Do me a favor Chunnie, don’t fulfill that promise. I don’t want you too.” He took his time as he was telling me that.     

“I’m grateful to have you as my friend, Chunnie but that’s all that I can offer to you, a friendship.  When you confess to me saying that you love me, I was happy. In all my life, I had never found any love, when I first saw you at the pond, I thought if I ever going to fall in love, then you would definitely be that person. For 13 years, I really did wait for you. Seeing you again was like a dream come true for me. How I wish I could stay by your side Chunnie, I really do but I can’t, and I don’t want to be selfish, so I’m letting you go. Thanks for accepting me all this time and for having those feeling for me, although I don’t really deserve those.”

His eyes, his beautiful light brown eyes had become teary, as my eyes. I can’t believe he was the one who was going to say goodbye. All day long I had tried to come up with a plan on how to tell him about the wedding but looks to me like he had things figure out. I wanted to say no, I didn’t want to say goodbye, not to him, but somehow the words got stuck at my throat.

“I want to give you a goodbye gift, before I go. I wish you all happiness Chunnie. Go get marry, have kids and grow old. I want you to live the life I never had.”

He leaned in and I realized how close our faces were before his lips touched mine. He gave me a soft, gentle kiss.

“Goodbye Chunnie. Be happy.”

Then he disappeared, and I never saw him again. The next day I left that place, carrying a heavy burden as I felt he already own my heart and there’s no way I’m going to ask it back from him, all I could ever wish was that time would have its way to mend my stolen heart.

-60 years later-

“Harabeoji! Harabeoji! Where are you?”

“In here dear.”

“Harabeoji! What are you doing?! You shouldn’t be working so hard, you’re old and need to rest, come, let me help you inside.”

This is one annoying granddaughter I have. Her name is Park Yoobin, my son’s daughter. He and his wife currently are living in US, so they decided to leave her to me. She was just a little baby the last time I saw her and now she had fully grown up into a beautiful 17 years old lady. I’m lucky to be blessed with my family. My wife had already left me 3 years ago, she was a strong woman but she got defeated against cancer. During our marriage, I guess we had live a pretty normal live for a married couple. I acted my part of the share as a husband while she did her part as a wife. I guess we did love each other because our marriage last for 57 years. Three years after our wedding, she was confirmed pregnant, the news pleased both of our parents. They were overjoyed to have their first grandson. Only then abeoji decided to step down and let me in charge of the company. Sure enough, our company had become one of the greatest in Korean when the Choi’s and the Park’s group united. I was busy managing the company for the rest of my life until it was time for my son to take over. He was brilliant; I guess the geniuses run through the genes. Thanks to him, we even have another branch in US. When I had finally stepped down from the company, my wife and I were still living in the mansion, of course that was before she had left me. Now that I’m all alone, I wanted to come back to the place I grew up in. The house was still there, the ahjumma’s grandson had been taken good care of it. When I told my son all about me living back there, he insisted of having his daughter staying with me, not that I mind or anything. She was really nice, she took care most of the house chores, not like any other rich es. She is really independent and reliable, turned out having her around was very useful after all, apart from all of her nagging and blabbering.

After a long day of mending the vegetable farm (yup, the farm was still there), I sat on the lazy chair while enjoying the night. It was quiet, everything looked dark but the light from the moon and the stars helped me to see. It was full moon, just like the night when I lost in the woods back then. This sure did takes me back. The dinner was great; of course our Yoobim is a great cook. I was feeling unusually tired today, must be because I was really getting old. As I was just about to close my eyes shut, I saw him, the one that I had been missing so much. Kim Junsu. He still looked the same, the same beautiful face, innocent cute smile; his face doesn’t even aged; not even a year. Seeing him again takes me back, back to the memory where we first met. He didn’t speak a word, but instead he inched closer to me. I wanted to speak to him but I felt really tired, I could only looked at him gently while he gave me his smile, of course the smile seemed didn’t change at all. He placed his hand on my forehead and I’m simply let him be. I was too tired to do anything.

Thank you for fulfilling your promise, you have gotten marry, have children and even a granddaughter and you have grown old. You've done everything I never did. I’m glad you’re happy.

It was like his voice spoken to me although his lips didn’t let out a single word. I saw him kneeling next to me.

Now would you like to be with me,Chunnie? I’ve been waiting all along for this, please, stay with me; I’ll take good care of you, we can have fun, just like we used to, I’m not being selfish right now, am I Chunnie?        

O, so is it time for it already? That would explain why I am feeling extremely tired. I shook my head.

‘No, you’re not being selfish, Su baby. Yes, let’s be together, I can finally fulfill my promise to you,Su. Sorry if it took me long enough to fulfill it. You must have been tired of waiting.’

Now it was his turned to shake his head, then he gently came closer to me, kissing my forehead.

For you, it was worth the waiting. I love you, Chunnie.

And with that I gave one last smile to him before inhaling my last breath. Yes, I was finally going to leave this world and be with him. Forever and ever.

~THE END~

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That's it, so how is it? Like it? Hate it? Do comment, I love to read all about it. Sorry if the ending didn't suit your taste, well it's just how I plan it to be. A thousand apology.-bow-