Seven years from the yesterday I wanted to forget, I found myself staring at her portrait as I reminisced the time we had together. She was my first love, my first girlfriend, my soulmate for all eternity. Jung Haein. 

"Three buttered popcorns and three sodas." I said in a wide smile as I handed out the last batch of orders to my customers. It's almost midnight and all movies are on their last full show for the day.    I work part-time in this moviehouse just a few blocks away from my school. It pays me $9 per day, enough to offer me roughly $270 in a month, not bad for a part-timer. All I had to do is pop some buttered popcorns, fill in some sodas on a plastic cup, punch in customer's orders and that's it, not worthy of a single drop of sweat, but of course we're talking about how the manager favors me too much for entrusting me such large amount of salary every month. Yup, sales talk, I probably can talk my way out of anything. Give him a few good ol' compliments and of course some bribes too and you're good to go.    "Hey, Kim Jongdae, it's almost time for closing, why are you still slacking off?"    Jinki has been a friend of mine for so long. He's always the one bringing me into these part-time jobs. He's crazy about money, probably the same amount of his addiction with chicken. I crash in his place when we go out for a drink when we receive our paychecks every month. He lives nearby and he's alone. His family's leaving overseas and he'd soon be as well right after he finishes high school.    "I'm almost done, you could leave me for all I care."   I stuffed in a few leftover popcorns in a brown paper bag. It would be best to eat it myself than throw it away. I must've went overboard with putting popcorns in the popper. The leftovers were no joke.    I grabbed a cup of soda before leaving. The CCTV cameras are dead anyway and they're probably not much of a use because the guards are sailing away in dreamland like every night. You can even sneak in and watch a free movie for yourself without getting caught and if you, perhaps were, they would probably just let you off because they wouldn't want to involve themselves in a matter where they can be sued by the management too for their carelessness. It's a pity, they're all so stupid.   The only thing great about this neighborhood is the calmness of the night. Because there's a great count of old people in this town, kids these days are disciplined and very filial. I guess you can say the grandmas and the grandpas do a lot of help in serving goodness to the town.   "So, how was it last time? With Krystal?" Jinki asked.    Krystal was the girl I've met in one of the blind dates set up by Kibum. I don't know what he's up to, he just likes making matches for all of us. Because he has a numerous amount of connections on females and males, he then had the idea of making a living through seting blind dates. Believe me or not, he could be a millionaire by the end of the year because of this. People pay him as gratitude for introducing them to their I quote, soulmates, and of course they pay him big, well, they had to, Kibum has a great set of eyes for people who'd give a huge amount of appreciation money. He usually goes after people who have extremely rich parents or people who have stable jobs that are single and open to a relationship. Now that I think about it, he does have a great degree in tactics.   "She's pretty, alright, but, uh, I don't know." I sighed.   "Not exactly your style?"   "I guess you can say that."   "Understandable. Kibum, that rascal, I told him to give me a girl shorter than me, but he gave me a damn basketball player." Jinki shook his head in dismay.   "But anyway, I would really appreciate it if he just stop sending me to those blind dates, he knows I have a girlfriend."   "But not for long..." He sighed.   Whenever someone jokes about her, or even mentions her name in a way I don't like, friends with you or not, I'd seriously throw a fit over it.    "What did you say?" I grabbed Jinki by his collar, making him wince in surprise.    "N-nothing." He mumbled.   "Say that again or else-"   "Or else what? We both know she wouldn't last for long. Stop fooling yourself, man." He then pushed my hands away from him as he soothes down his shirt. "Ah, I hate it when you do that."   "Then stop bringing her into our conversations!"   "I'm facing the truth, Jongdae. Do you think it's only been hard for you? She's my friend too and I probably knew her much longer than you do. Seeing her like that, do you think you're the only one pained by it?"   "Stop it, hyung. Stop it."   "Accept it Jongdae! Haein is not going to survive! We both know that!" He shouted as he shook me agressively.    I felt my fist fall heavily on Jinki's face, making him fall down in pain.   "You're a coward." I said under my breath.   "What?"   "You're a coward hyung! You're a coward! You- You're giving up when the fight's still isn't done!"   Jinki just let out a soft chuckle, it was as if I just said something hilarious to him as he stood up groggily. "I'm a coward? I gave up? That's right, I gave up because there's nothing more to fight for! I've accepted the truth even though it hurt me, I've let go and I've prepared myself to move on, have you? No? Who's the coward now? Who's still afraid and unsure of how he'd live when she's gone?"   I was all out of words. Who really is the coward right now? Ah, yes, it was me. Who am I fooling besides myself? I'm still trapping myself into believing she'd survive, that she'd make it through and live a happy life with me. Haein, two years ago, was diagnosed with cancer. She already had it even before we had met. She said it was hereditary but the disease appeared in her generation. Haein didn't want herself to be involved in relationsh