The crashing waves blurred her senses and momentarily made her stop thinking of the future laid ahead of her. The rays of the sun lingered on her chocolate brown eyes for some soothing seconds and reflected fierce determination and unyielding anxiety on it. The mild temperature of the humid air wrapped her in loose veil of tranquility as she slowly closed her eyes, letting herself be trapped inside. Her surreal reverie was immediately shifted back to reality when someone called her name with a deep voice that spoke of urgency.

“Jaehee,” the voice said, sending specks of shock and excitement to her spine. “Have you been here all along? We’ve been looking for you. The opera is about to start in a moment.”

She gasped and turned to her intruder, blinking dumbly. She moved forward, her foot slipping onto the edge. Jinki grasped her hand firmly as he pulled her to his body so close that she could hear his heart beating fast. He was gazing at her steadily while his arms were mechanically wrapping itself on her waist. She looked at him and flashed a bright sincere smile. For once, he had put his guard down.

“Are you alright? You need to be careful.” He told her with a worried voice, cupping her face lightly.

“I am fine, Jinki. No need to worry.”

Walking slowly through the jagged red rocks of the island of Jeju, she hastily fixed her frayed jaundice sun-hat. Her companion returned again to his old self. The isolated Jinki just regarded her with weary russet eyes and curly locks of hair with the same hue. She was used to this kind of cold shoulder. Ever since she took her first step on the ashen floors of the old orphanage, she was always greeted with hearty smiles and kind acts except for him. He had this odd dead coldness that protrudes her from his brown orbs. Though sometimes, his eyes were speaking another emotion rather than hatred. It was sometimes sparkling with mischievous joy or even love.

“Watch where you’re going. We’re supposed to go to the opposite way.”

“I- I’m sorry, Jinki.” She flushed and chuckled awkwardly, turning to Jinki’s direction.

“We need to hurry. Yifan is waiting for us at the doors of the theatre.”

The three of them were orphans. Before Jaehee went into the same foster care, Jinki and Yifan were inseparable – best friends. Closer than brothers, they acted as one. Albeit Yifan had always been good to her, Jinki kept on putting much effort in pushing her away, creating more distance among themselves. Since the former proposed to her, the latter made the thick wall between them more solid. Unknown to the couple, Jinki was disintegrating into bleak pieces. They didn’t come to see sad gleam in his eyes whenever they would go out by themselves.

~

“Jaehee, Jinki, what took you so long? The show has started.” Yifan beamed as he saw them, waving a hand excitedly.

“I looked for her everywhere. I forgot that she always kill time at the shore.” Jinki replied, nodding to her way. They walked inside the opera house hurriedly with Jaehee at Yifan’s right side and Jinki on the other. He held her hand so tightly, making Jaehee write a mental note on how Yifan could hold her hand so tight as if she might break. His hands were cold and papery white. The paleness of his skin made him almost translucent to the lightings of the theatre house. It was not long before he threw into fits of cough and his body shook in dreadful agony. Jinki pat his friend’s back, giving him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and offering his white handkerchief.

“I’m alright, Jin. I just forgot to take my medicine.” He coughed again and the white cloth was now smeared with blotches of red. Jaehee gave out a worried gasp and she tightened her hold of Yifan’s hand.

“Yifan, we should get home. There’d be another showing for this next week. You need rest.”

“Jaehee, my love, I planned this for the three of us. I want to, at least, make the two important persons in my life happy before I-”

“Don’t even bother saying it, Wu Yifan. You are so not saying that.”

“Jin, I’m just saying the inevitable. We all know we don’t have a cure for this disease.”

“I don’t care. We’re fighting. I am looking for a cure. We all are. We need your cooperation, too. At least have a motivation, Yifan. Don’t hurt the people around you more.” Jinki said with a hushed angry voice, his eyes piercing Yifan’s with a raging glow.

And with that, he stalked out of the cinema and Jaehee looked at Yifan who bit his lips. He was getting even paler and frailer than he ever was. His arms draped languidly around Jaehee’s petite waist, heaving out a weak sigh.

“Yifan, we should go home.”

“No, we won’t. We’ll finish the show. Let Jinki cool off. He needs that.”

~

Jinki wasn’t there when Yifan died. Jaehee stayed by his fragile body, holding his both hands as if her life depended on it. She was crying miserably as she tried to balance herself on the edge of an excruciating cliff of emotions. Her tears were trickling nonstop on her flushed cheeks as she sat helplessly beside Yifan’s bed.

“Please fight, Wu Yifan. We need you. I need you.” She choked back all the tears and the fear to be able to speak. Yifan reached out to her face, calming her down. She knew. He knew it would not be long.

“Han Jaehee, when you first walked in the foster home, I never thought that you’d be this important in my life. You befriended me although I am so sickly that I might collapse in front of you. At first, I believed it was pity. Most of the people around me pity me. But you… I never saw that in your eyes. All I see was love. And because of that, I fell in love with you. I know I am falling deeper each day. You have become my sun. You were burning bright and it soothed me. It calmed me. I never felt any better in years. I love you, Han Jaehee.”

“I know, Wu Yifan. Don’t waste your energy saying the things I already know.”

“I can’t hide the fact, however, that you have always looked at Jinki differently than all of us. When you looked at him, there’s a new spark in your eyes which made me feel terrible and happy at the same time.”

“Yifan…” Jaehee whispered at this plain observation as she looked at him with mixed expression of shock and incredulity. “What are you saying? That isn’t true!”

“I’m dying and you’re blushing. What a good way to die. I like seeing you like this. You are burning brightly again, glowing marvelously. I just wish I am the reason for that flush.”

“Yifan, don’t say that. You’re not going to die. You are not.”

“Can you kiss me, Jaehee, for the last time? I want to relive this moment when I am in the purgatory.”

“Stop that, Wu Yifan-”

Jaehee didn’t get to finish her sentence because his lips were already locked against hers, molding love and passion slowly. Then, gradually, she started to taste the bitterness in as the arms that held her became limp.

Once more, she wept and screamed for the pain to go away. But it didn’t.

~

The rough road was giving much of an impression of being a narrow camber and Jinki was having a hard time walking through the serrated hot cement. It had been a month of being lost in the woods of Jeju and he was being more exhausted by the minute. He grudgingly kicked on a pebble stone and tugged the ropes that are bound on his horse’s neck, Onkey. The strange pull in his heart was still there. He felt hollow inside. The unusual sadness started to pulsate into dismal shades of ashen yellow and dead red. He grasped his sea green coat closer, looking more afraid of being alone in an unknown place. He didn’t know where he was and the loneliness added to the quaint emotions of his infuriated heart.

“Onkey,” he spoke softly, hopping onto its back and kicked its side gently. “I wonder if you still remember our way back.”

As Onkey galloped swiftly across the spring fields, Jinki could clearly see that something was wrong – extremely wrong.

Upon arriving at their home after days of hurtling on his horse (The three of them decided to live together after they were kicked out of the orphanage.), he hurriedly went to Yifan’s room, not minding the dimmed lights throughout the house. He came across Jaehee who was wearing a black frock with lace gloves on her delicate fingers. Her eyes were rimmed with red and wet with tears.

“J-Jaehee, what happened?”

“Yifan… is dead. He died in my arms, Jinki. H-he died in my arms! I’ve been looking for you! You’re gone for almost a month and a half! I thought I wouldn’t survive it…”

She was in his strong embrace in a matter of seconds whilst she sobbed painfully. He her face sadly, biting his lips to stop himself from crying.

“I’m sorry, Jaehee. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have gone elsewhere. I am so sorry.” He murmured and hugged her tighter, burying his damp face on the crook of her neck. They stood still for a moment, savoring every second of finally being in each other’s safe haven.

“He wrote a letter before he died, Jin. He told me to read it when I am with you. Well, I want you to read it first.” She handed him the scarlet letter with shaking limbs and irresolute gaze. Jinki tore the envelope and quickly scanned the content of the letter. He looked again into her eyes and this time, something flickered in it that made her heart lurched forward. She’s not supposed to feel happy and in love at this times but the man before her was making it possible. She took a lungful of air and courage to gather herself.

“What does it say?”

“Read it, Jaehee. See for yourself.”

“No. Just tell me what it says.” She insisted, frowning at him. Few moments had passed before he gave out a defeated groan.

“Fine, then. He wants us to get married.”

“What!? But that’s ridiculous! Two people should marry each other out of love! Not out of a dying request, Jinki!”

“It’s not just a dying request, Han Jaehee,” he smiled at him with genuine love and heartfelt joy. “I know this seems inappropriate. But Yifan was the one who was urging us to do this anyway.”

“Jinki, no. Stop this. Don’t say things you wouldn’t mean. Think of the consequences.”

“Han Jaehee, I am in my sober mind right now. I am not drunk as you see. Let me finish, will you?”

“Ugh, fine. Do whatever you want, Lee Jinki.”

“Jaehee, from the moment I saw you, I knew it was love. I can’t help but adore you because you treat me like a dove. You’re so beautiful when we first met. And you still are. I will never stop looking at you with love and deep understanding-”

“You never looked at me like that-”

“I did. I always did. I guess, I was good in hiding my feelings.”

“Your feelings? You only loved Yifan.”

“Don’t say that as if we’re gay. I love him more than anything, like how I always love you. He love us both, too. We would always have our equal share in his heart. And that goes for me. I wouldn’t waste my life not spending my eternity with you. I’d like to die in your arms, too, just like Yifan.” He grinned down at her, brushing the curls of hair away from her forehead.

“You can’t mean all of this. I never thought that this would hap-”

“It’s all happening, Jaehee. We have Yifan’s blessing already. All I need is your answer.”

He slowly knelt in front of her as he kissed the back of her palm sweetly. He looked up at her with the most good-natured of smiles and most tender affection she had ever seen.

“I would like to make up for the three years that I was so distant to you. I want to craft love and paint pleasant memories in our hearts. I hope you feel the same. I love you, Han Jaehee. Will you marry me?”

“Oh, Lee Jinki, what do you do to me? Yes, of course, yes! I love you, too!”

She almost squealed and jumped out at him, enclosing him in her arms. She planted a small kiss on the latter’s lips as she whispered more words of endearment to the man she dearly loved.