I started my journey four  months ago. It was one of the hardest things I had to do. I had to leave my family behind. Most importantly, I had to leave Coral behind to the care of doctors. Nobody I left her with will be willing to fight for her as hard as I will. And that hurts. If anything happened to her, I only had myself to blame. But I needed to go on this journey. I needed to help her remember.

            The first item on my list was the rock. I traveled to the beach and spent hours in the sun, shifting through the sand, any size will do. When the sun set, I came back out to search in the moonlight. I rented a cottage on the side of the beach and became well known by regular beach goers.

            Every night I would scour the sand, looking and searching. I found many oddities but never the one I wanted. It seems as if this was a mission impossible. It was when I fainted from heat one day that I was transported back to when my entire life was consumed by her presence.

            Our favorite place to be was the beach. She was a swimmer, and I was, well I was the fish. The water was our element. Every day of the summer I would take her to the beach. She didn’t know this, but I would secretly pray she didn’t wear a bikini. Her long legs were always showcased and that drives me insane. But she showed up in a different one every day. Until, she met him.

            After she met him, she wouldn’t go anywhere with me. He was the jealous type, I could tell. He took up a lot of her time and demanded her devoted attention, which I don’t think he deserves one bit. He demanded that she give me up. Even though she insisted we were only friends, he could never disregard his jealousy. That tore me to pieces. It tore me the way she listened to him and just obeyed, without once thinking of my feelings.

            I couldn’t tell you what made me do what I did. But one night, after a particularly frustrating day, I went home and found her crying on her porch. I threw away all my anger, all my hatred and asked her what happened. I just couldn’t stay away. Her pain was like a magnet, drawing me in. I went up to her, asking her to tell me what caused her tears.

            “Donghae, I miss you. I’m so sorry I’ve been a bad friend. I just threw you away,” she sobbed into my shoulder.

            I placed an arm around her and she winced. This tiny involuntary action stopped my heart cold. I peeled away her shirt to reveal a set of bruises running along her back. “Did he do this to you?” all the venom and hatred was back. How could he do this to her? How could she just take it? I saw a cluster of bruises that was yellowing, meaning that it was just recently healing.

            She nodded. “He saw me talk to Leeteuk-oppa and he got so mad. He just raged and called me a cheater. But I love him, Donghae.”

            Her words only fueled the anger in me. “Love him? How can you love a jerk who hits you? No, you can’t do that. It’s insanity!”

            She sobbed into my shoulder. “He’s the only one who said I was beautiful.”

            I laughed at the irony of it. I’ve been telling her, showing her that she was beautiful ever since I met her. Was she so blind that she couldn’t tell? I bit my lips then and mumbled, “I think you’re beautiful.” She looked over at me, and I realized she didn’t hear me.

            I made a split decision right there. I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She was still so light, lighter now due to the stress he puts on her. She followed me dutifully to my car. I drove towards the beach. The smell of the salty air hit us and she moaned.

            I saw her profile turned towards the window, breathing in the scent that was ours, our life. For the first time in weeks, I saw her smile. It was slow to spread but when it did, it dazzled. It grew and widened into a happy sigh of content. Her eyes closed as she took in the soothing calmness of the waves. I parked and we got out.

            All pretense forgotten, I grabbed her hands and we ran into the waves. The water lapped up against us and sprayed across our faces. I yelled out into the night. The moon was shining above us and she laughed at me.

            “I love you Coral!” I screamed.

            She punched me on the arm. “I love you Donghae!” she screamed back. The air currents took our words with them, and in my head, combined them and intertwined them together. Although her confession wasn’t what I wanted it to mean, it was some sort of a confession, and for me that was enough. I just had to know that she was there for me. That she loved me, even in a platonic type of way.

            We sat on the beach and searched for shells, as well as any trinkets that people may have left behind. I was wild with exhilaration. She held up a pearl, perfectly sculpted by its oyster home. “Chase me for this.” I grinned, remembering our childhood game. Whoever found anything valuable had to run before the other person can catch them. If they successfully go from one end of the beach to the other, then they’re the owner of the thing they found.

            She started running and I followed. This time, I didn’t put in too much effort. I stayed behind, watching her beautiful body run. Her slim figure whipped in the wind and her hair flowed behind her. I heard her laugh, and for me that was enough. When she almost reached the end, I put on an extra burst of speed and tackled her on the ground.

            By this time the sky opened up, and the sun was about to rise. Its pale yellow rays started to peek through the clouds, casting soft warm glows across the entire area. We rolled around a while, due to the impact. I held her head, to keep her from getting hurt. At last we came to a stop, and we laid there, staring into each other’s eyes.

            I stole a look at her lips, where the breath was still harshly coming from. Her beautiful eyes looked up at me. I bent my head, wanting to touch her lips, but she sat up abruptly. “Okay, you won this time.” She handed the pearl over.

            I folded her fingers over the precious bauble and shook my head. “I don’t want it. You keep it.” I pushed her back gently against the sun and rolled over next to her. We stayed motionless for a while and stared up at the sun that was starting to show itself to the world. It was the start of another day, a better day perhaps.

            “Coral, I meant it when I said I loved you. Always remember me okay?”

            She snuggled closer to me. “I love you too Lee Donghae. I’ll never forget you. I just love HyunSoo more.” She sat up and kissed my cheek before walking away.

            I touched my skin where her lips had touched it. Nobody ever said heartbreak was this painful.

Kim Heechul, you're going to leave us soon. Please don't go. 

To silent readers, please comment! I'm trying to make this story better. ^-^