I sat in front of Miss Dee’s Café, waiting for someone in particular to arrive. He was late and it was pissing me off. Why would he even call me while I was working and ask me to come out even if he himself would be late?

So, yeah, half an hour had passed since he called me and the wind just blew through me. It was cold that day even though spring had come. It was just that winter had just left and there was still coldness that was left.

I rubbed my arm up and down in attempts of warming myself. I cupped my hands in front of my mouth and blow through them. I rubbed them together and in the process, there was something shining on my finger.

I smiled looking at it. I brought it to my lips and kissed it. It had been a while. This ring had been on my finger for four years now and I’m really happy.

Jiyong and I got married after Taeyeon gave up. It was really fateful that day. After Taeyeon had her speech, Jiyong spoke and shocked everyone in the audience. I remembered how cool he looked in front of me. Even though he was really far, it felt like we were close to each other. I remembered how I cried a liter of tears after I heard him asking my hand in marriage.

I didn’t refuse, of course. I remembered how hurt I was before that that refusing his proposal would be really impossible. I remembered how I ran along the aisle and threw myself in his arms. I remembered how he hugged me tight to himself and how he buried his face in my hair. I remembered how he softly whispered on my ears, his voice was trembling and I knew he had been crying, ‘I’m really sorry for being a coward.’

I remembered how I hated how he apologized. Because, they were meant to be forgotten and not to be talked about ever again, what I did instead was that I crushed my lips against his.

I remembered how shocked I was because the crowd clapped. And while I leaned away, I caught sight of them giving us a standing ovation and applauses. I caught sight of Teddy, Jiyong’s dad, Grandpa, and most importantly, Donghae. The people who were behind us. The people who supported us.

After that, I remembered how I ran into Taeyeon’s arms and I hugged her tightly and how I thanked her several times. She was crying of course but she assured me that she wasn’t crying out of loneliness but out of happiness and pride. Although I wasn’t sure if she said was true, I still thanked her. And until now, I had been thanking her every time we see each other. And oh! Let me tell you about Taeyeon. She and Donghae were acting weird lately. They were always together, even when we meet them coincidentally. They would blush when we meet them and that was when I realized, they were going out.

Who would have ever thought that the pairs got switched up four years ago?

I was staring at the ring like a fool, as if all those stories were embedded on it. It was just that, every time I see it, it reminds me of how much I had gone through, of how much we all had gone through. I was still staring at it when music started playing.

I lifted my head and saw two bears in front of me—a big one and a small one. They looked identical to each other, wore the same bear clothes, and might be showing the same moves. I just sat there, getting ready for however these bears would make fools of themselves in the middle of such crowded park.

The music started. And they started dancing, shaking their big, brown, and furry butts, swaying their arms and legs. They looked stupid but it made me laugh. I laughed so much that I nearly choke out of laughter, especially when that little bear commit mistakes on the steps of their dance or sometimes, he would be late and his dance would not match the music. They were so hilarious.

After the song stopped, I noticed that there were a lot of people surrounding them. They started taking videos and pictures as they were also amused by the bears.

The bears picked some boards from the ground and they showed it to me.

“Happy anniversary,” said the first board that was held by that big cuddly bear.

The second and much smaller bear was holding a board too. It said: My Baby Girl. But it was upside down.

I laughed so hard, clutching my stomach, while the people laughed along with me too.

The big bear wondered and he looked down to the small bear. When he noticed it, he covered his face in shame with the board he was holding. The small bear looked down to his board and threw it away like he never cared at all. He then ran away as the big bear chased after him.

They chased around the park, leaving me and the spectators amused and entertained. They looked like two kids. Well, the small bear was one, but the big bear was… well… he thinks like a kid anyway. I think it’s considered a kid.

Because the big bear was much older than the small bear, he got tired first and bent his knees and panted. The small bear ran towards me. After a while, he took off the mask of his head, which looked like really heavy. When he took it off, a sweaty and flushed-face adorable kid looked up to me. His eyes were tear-filled too.

“Omma, it’s so hot in there!” he said, pointing at the head of the bear which he threw on the ground. “My body is sweating too. Appa told me to wear this because he said you’ll be happy. He said I won’t be able to take it off until we see a smile in your face. You’re happy now right?”

I smiled and wiped his sweat off his face with my handkerchief. “Yes, Ji Hun-ah, you and Appa made me really happy today. You can take it off now,” I told my three-year old talkative son. I helped him took it off and as soon as we finished, I lifted my head and threw a glare and evil smirk towards the big bear.

The big bear straightened up and ran away. But since he was wearing a mascot costume and it might be heavy, he had difficulty running. I caught him by his big and he fell forward. I rolled him so that he would be lying on his back. I let myself fall on top of him and with an evil smile, I said, “You dare make our son wear something like this so he can look like a fool like you?”

The bear didn’t respond. He didn’t even move under me. After a while, I took off his head mask and it showed a very sweaty but still handsome Jiyong. He gulped as he stared at me, probably fearing that he would be embarrassed in the middle of this crowd.

“Well, I love this fool so much all the same,” I said and kissed his lips passionately. We ignored the cheers of the people around us as we were drowned in our own world. I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, totally forgetting that we were in the middle of the crowd. In fact, it seemed like the cheers drowned out and I can only hear Jiyong’s “I love you’s” in between kisses.

Before the kiss would become deeper, I felt something soft but quite heavy thrown towards us. Jiyong and I lifted our heads and saw Ji Hun standing just in front of us, pouting, and he looked like he was almost going to cry. We saw the head of the bear mascot he used a while ago lay on the ground and I assumed it was what he threw.

I smiled and I looked down at Jiyong who was smiling towards our son too. I pushed myself up and I stared at Ji Hun, “Here comes the bear hug!” I squealed before I chased the jealous kid around the park. We were laughing so hard that anyone would think that we were both kids.

After a while, I saw Jiyong chasing after us too although he was having difficulty due to the weight of the bear costume.

When I caught Ji Hun, I tickled him on his tummy as he laughed so hard. Jiyong caught the both of us too as he screamed, “This is what you call the bear tickle!” He tickled us until we practically laughed while we were rolling on the dirty ground. But we didn’t mind.

Back then, I would have thought this might just be a dream, or an imagination. But no, this was real. This time, this was real. and I’m glad that after all those challenges that came my and Jiyong’s way, causing us to drift apart, and eventually be apart for a very long time, the path of fate eventually let us meet and here we were now. Whatever that had happened, I would like to thank fate. Why?

Because…

Fate brought us together.

Fate tore us apart.

Eventually, it was also fate that brought us back together.

No matter how many heartbreaking events happened in between, fate brought us back together. No matter how at first we thought that the tests of fate were difficult to overcome, guess what… We did. 

-------------------THE END----------------------