"Wounds can heal, but the scars will remain."

 

---

Onew

 

“Onew! Let’s go ride the Viking!” my girlfriend, Jessica, said.

I shot her a smile and said, “Sure, Sica!”

As we were walking toward the ride, I looked over at my girlfriend and smiled. Jessica Sooyeon Jung, was my school’s beauty queen. She has long, wavy brown hair that flows down her back, and is a little on the short side, but that’s what makes her cuter. She has a face that anyone would be jealous of. Her eyes as sparkly as the stars, her lips as pink as a rose, and her face-

“Onew? Are you there? Hello?” asked Jessica, waving a hand over my face.

I shook my head to shake myself out of my dream world.

“Sorry, Sica. I was thinking about something,” I told her.

Jessica’s brows scrunched together. “Is something wrong? Are you sick?”

My sweet, caring little girlfriend was about to put a hand on my forehead to check the temperature, when I took her hand and put it in mine.

I chuckled and said,” I was just thinking about you. I don’t think that’s a disease, Sica.”

Jessica’s cheeks turned rosy. “O-onew! Stop joking!”

I laughed and gave her a big smile. “I wasn’t joking, you know. I actually was thinking about you.”

This time, along with her blush came a smirk. “Oh, yeah? Well, Mr. Lee, it seems like you’ve become lovesick.”

I blushed, but didn’t say anything. It was true, I guess. I mean Jessica knows everything about me, except what that jerk did to me. Not that I intended on telling anyone about that. If I did, I knew that they would say things like: “The past is the past.” Or “I’m so sorry.”

I heard her laughing. I looked at her then pouted. “What now?”

“Nothing, Onew. You just look adorable when you blush.”

This time, I couldn’t help but blush. I bowed my head in embarrassment. No one’s ever been able to make me blush like this.

“Whatever, Onew. Let’s get on the ride,” said Jessica after she finished laughing at me,

I gratefully grabbed her hand and quickly got on the ride. I smiled to myself when I heard Jessica laughing of glee. This was her favorite ride here, and she loved to ride this. I thought roller coasters were better, but if my girlfriend likes it, then I was fine with it.

When we were about to go on the Viking for the tenth time, my eyes wandered to a figure just several feet away from us. For some reason, I felt like I knew him. The man looked up. I saw him clearly.

I felt my face pale. I saw him. I saw the man that ruined my life. He was just a couple of feet away form me. His eyes met mine. His eyes widened, and he started to walk toward me, but I quickly turned around and ran as fast as I can.

“Wait! Onew! Where are you going?” I heard Jessica yell.

Although I didn’t want to leave her hanging, I continued to run. I couldn’t face him again. I didn’t want to bring up the memory of what that horrible man did to me. Without another thought, I willed my legs to run faster. I heard Jessica’s voice getting softer and softer.

---

I felt someone sit down next to me. I didn’t even bother to look to see who it was. I knew it was Jessica, the only person that knew this place.

“Hey,” she said. “Are you okay?”

I nodded my head weakly. I plucked a few pieces of grass from the ground and threw it at the sky and watched as the wind carried the pieces of grass away.

How I wish I could fly away where no one could find me. I thought. I smiled bitterly at the thought of that.

“You know the man gave me his number. He told me to tell you he was sorry. He wanted you to call him so you guys can meet up,” Jessica said.

I shook my head angrily. “I don’t want to see that jerk again.”

“What’s going on, Onew? How do you two know each other?” she questioned.

I didn’t reply. I just grabbed a clump of grass and was about to pull it out, when I felt her hand on mine. She gently released my death grip on the grass and held my hand. For a while, we just admired the view.

We were sitting on a cliff, with the ocean in front of us, and a beautiful meadow full of flowers behind us. The smell of the flowers were sweet, and the waves crashing on the shore always calmed me down, so when I always came here when I needed to relax.

I didn’t want to talk about this subject, but I knew that if I couldn’t tell Jessica about him, I couldn’t tell anyone else. I trusted my life with her, and no one ever has that much amount of trust, not even my best friends, Minho and Yoona.

I took a deep breath and began my story. “When I was 10, my mom remarried a guy named Ok Taecyeon. He was really nice to me at first, but then as the days went on, he got meaner and meaner. My mom was usually never around because she had to work, so she didn’t know about what he was doing to me.”

“Go on,” my girlfriend told me gently.

“H-he used to beat me. Whether it was with a belt, a bat, or his hand, he always found something to beat me with. In the beginning, it was because I didn’t get him a cup of water, but then, as the days went on, he made everything I did something he hated. If I woke up a minute late, I was beaten. If I was late to come back home from school, I was beaten. If I even answered a question he asked me while he was threatening me, he beat me.

“I was going to tell my mom, but then he threatened to kill her if I told her. I knew that he had the strength to, so I didn’t tell her or anyone else. I just lived through it. I would always wear long jeans and long sleeves to cover up the marks of the beating. My life became a routine: wake up early and cook him breakfast, go to school, come back to school and cook him lunch, clean the house, cook him dinner, and so on. I never had any free time, but I knew better than to complain. I just simply did what I was expected to do.

“Whenever my mom was home, he would act like a dad to be and made me follow him on his act, so that my mom wouldn’t suspect anything like that. It was the worst years of my life. One day, I decided to run away. I knew that my mom would be worried, but I had to try anyways. I packed up all the necessities, and packed them inside my backpack. I waited until he fell asleep to leave. When he finally did, I was about to walk out of the door, when he grabbed my backpack and pulled me back.”

I tried to blink the tears out of my eyes. I felt like I would break down any second.

“Onew, if this is too hard, then you don’t have to tell me,” Jessica said softly.

I  shook my head. “It’s fine.”

She looked unconvinced, but she nodded and grabbed my hand and held it in hers.

“Okay, so he pulled me back and he tried to lock the door, but I got the nearest thing, which was a dictionary and threw it in his face. He-“

“You threw a dictionary in his face?” My girlfriend asked trying not to laugh.

I smiled weakly and nodded. “So anyways, I threw the dictionary and he fell to the ground I took this chance and grabbed my backpack and ran out. I stayed on the streets for a couple of days, until I found a job that allowed me to live there too.

“When I had enough money, I rented out an apartment and enrolled at Seoul University. That’s when I met you, Minho, and Yoona,” I finished.

Jessica, being the sweet girl she is, gave me a huge hug. We stayed in each other’s embrace for a long time until she said,” You have to call him, Onew.”

I stared at her, shocked. She wanted me to call the man who ruined my life? No way was I doing that.

“Jessica, I can’t,” I told her. “I’m not ready.”

She gave me a little smile and gave the hand she was holding a little squeeze. “ You’re ready, Onew. Trust me. Seeing that you can talk to me about this, I know that you’re ready.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I don’t want to see that man again, Sica. You don’t understand.”

“ You’re right. I don’t understand, Onew, but you know what? I know that you need to do this to have peace. You need to do this to erase the scars of the memories you shared with him,” Jessica tried to persuade me.

“I can’t forgive him. I just can’t. If I think about him, all I think about is all the horrible things he did to me.”

“All the more to call him and talk to him! Don’t you see? You need to forgive him so that he and you both can have peace. I’m sure he feels horrible about doing that to you, Onew.”

“He doesn’t,” I growled fiercely. “He didn’t care at all, and didn’t lose sleep over anything he did to me.”

Frustrated, Jessica grabbed my shoulders and made me face her. She looked straight into my eyes and said,” You don’t know that, Lee Onew. If you don’t want to do it for me, then do it for yourself. Holding grudges will never do anything to help you. It’ll just make you a bitter person. Please meet him. Not for me and not for him, but for you, Onew. Think about it this way: the wounds he gave you healed and disappeared, right?”

I nodded and shot back,” Wounds can heal, but the scars will remain.”

Jessica smiled victoriously, as if she won the argument. “ ‘The scars will remain’, right? Can’t you see? The scars of your horrible memories with him will always be there if you don’t erase them and make new, happy memories with him. “

I looked away from her. I knew she was right, but I didn’t like it.

“Please,” she pleaded softly. “Onew, this is the only way you can erase the ugly memories that you’ve had with your step-dad and build new, happier ones. Do it for yourself, Onew.”

That was the last straw. I took a deep, shaky breath and turned to face her.

“Okay. I’ll do it,” I told her.

Jessica gave me a huge smile and ran into my arms. “ I knew you would listen.”

I released her and rolled my eyes. “I have one condition, though.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Which is?”

“You have to be there with me when I talk to him,” I told her.

Jessica nodded and said,”Of course, Onew. Anything I can do, I’ll do.”

For the rest of that day, we spent talking and enjoying our time together.

---

“You may now kiss the bride,” said the priest.

I turned to smile at my beautiful bride and leaned in. When our lips touched, I couldn’t be happier. I’m now married to Jessica Jung. I thought. I smiled, then grabbed her hand and walked out of the chapel.

“Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Lee!” I heard a voice say.

We smiled and turned around to see our friends Minho and Yoona. The two were already married, and Yoona was pregnant with a baby boy. Although she was pregnant, her beauty still shone radiantly, although, not as bright as my beloved Sica.

“Hi, you two!” said Sica happily.

Yoona and Jessica hugged, while Minho and I fist-pumped.

“So, you two finally did it, huh?” Minho asked.

I grinned widely. “Yeah, man. How’s your little kid doing?”

“He’s doing great! The doctor said he should be out in about 2 months,” Minho replied.

“What about you guys?” Yoona asked, wiggling her eyebrows. “Any though on having a kid? Maybe a little girl to be our son’s girlfriend?”

Jessica and I blushed crimson red and bowed our heads, while Yoona and Minho laughed. I had to admit, though. I did want a little girl, but I never talked about it with Jessica.

“Okay, stop teasing them, Yoongie,” Minho told his wife. He then turned to me and said,”I saw your mom and step-dad over there. You should go greet them.”

I shot him a grateful look, then walked over to my parents with my lovely bride. Ever since Jessica and I met with my step-dad and talked to him again, he and I were on good terms. He and my mom were still together, but I was fine with that. Apparently, things were really hard for him those days, so he got drunk easily, and didn’t realize what he did because he was so drunk. He felt really bad, so he tried to look for me, but he couldn’t find him. I forgave him, of course.

“Hey, you two!” my mom greeted us happily.

Jessica gave my mom a hug and said,” Hi, Mother!”

Since my mom met Jessica, she decided that she liked her immediately and made Jessica call her Mother immediately. In the beginning, Jessica was a bit uncomfortable with calling her that, but soon grew to love it. My mom was almost as close to as Jessica as I was.

“Hi, Mom,” I told her, then kissed her cheek.

“Hey, Onew,” my step-dad, Ok Taecyeon greeted me.

I smiled, then gave him a hug. “What’s up, Taecyeon?”

He allowed me to call him Taecyeon instead of “dad” because he knew that he never acted as a father to me.

“Nothing much. You know, just you got married!” he said happily.

Jessica and I laughed and said goodbye to them, then went to greet some more guests.

When the wedding finally ended, and Jessica and I were at our new house next to the Han River, I carried her bridal style to our room. I set her down on our king-sized bed, and kissed her lips lightly.

“We’re married, Sica,” I told her.

She smiled widely and replied,” I know, Onew. Jessica Lee. Sounds perfect don’t you think?”

I kissed her again and replied,”I think it fits perfectly, Mrs. Jessica Lee.”

Jessica’s laugh rang through the house. “Well, Mr. Onew Lee, what do you say about that little girl?”

I smirked and said, “This.”

We both leaned in, then our lips met and I deepened the kiss. We both knew what was going to happen next, but were perfectly fine with it, because we’re perfect for each other. Because she was the one who erased my scars.

 

 

The End