~Myungsoo's POV~

               It had been much too long.  But it seemed like no time had passed at all.  She was the same smiling Dasom which my heart recognized the moment I saw her standing across from me.

               It didn’t matter how many times a woman had said to me and will say to me, “Oppa, you are really hansome.” All I knew was the sound of her voice calling me her pretty oppa again.  I wondered if her heart remembered how it used to beat with mine when we held hands that winter before I graduated, leaving her to finish up her final year of high school.  We had made no promises for the future, but my heart did not forget her.

               “Let’s climb up to watch the blossoms from above!”  She exclaims, hopping happily.  I smile at her, and lead the way up the cement staircase.  Some of my male colleagues like girls with aegyo, some of them prefer girls with a more y sort of style- though I hadn’t given it much thought before, I realized in that moment that my ideal type was Kim Dasom.

               As we neared the top she started lagging, and it felt so natural to reach out my hand and pull her up the last few steps.  She skips up to the railing and smiles out at the beautiful view.

               I’m looking at her, though, trying to figure out why fate had to bring us together now.  Once again, we were in different situations.  She was still in university and I was working full time.  As we had asked those awkward questions to catch up on each other’s’ lives, I found out that she was still intending to be a children’s teacher.  I believe she said to me, back when she was looking through university programs with me and I had asked her what she wanted to do with her life, she said, “I would like to work with children, because they are without the vices of grown-ups and can be raised to cherish this innocence in themselves and others.”  I don’t know why it stuck with me.  Perhaps because it was so well-put and nobly-intentioned.

               The wind blew strongly, knocking the more pedals off the trees below and causing them to swirl like snowflakes in a blizzard.  I put my arm around her shoulders.  “Pretty Oppa?” She asked.

               “Hmm?” I replied, looking down into her beautiful dark eyes.

               “Your suit suits you,” Dasom started, her eye smiling up at me and her hair being lifted at the ends by the breeze.  “But why are you wearing a suit to an amusement park?”

               I knew that we couldn’t live in this memory of the past forever.  “I came here on business with other people from the agency,” I explain.  I try to keep my face unreadable.  “We came to evaluate its current worth for one of our clients.”

               “Oh,” she nods, scrutinizing my face.  “Is something the matter?”

               I shake my head.  She always seemed to know when there was a problem, it seems like she hadn’t lost the knack just as I hadn’t lost my feelings for her.  “Let’s go,” I say, turning her around and marching her to the stairs.  Being with her even for just these few hours made me feel whole, though I had had no idea that I was missing something before. 

               I sighed and resolved to only smile at her from now until we said our goodbyes.  This would become another memory soon, so I might as well try to cherish the moment.

~ a few days later ~

               I had recieved grief for leaving the others as they negotiated the terms of the business deal.  By my understanding, I am now on some sort of probation for my unproffesional conduct.  I hadn't told them where I went off to, it didn't matter to them anyways.

               I could not stop thinking about her.  Her smile and the way she said my name.  "Kim Myungsoo~ah?  What are you doing here?"  She seemed pleased to see me, but she couldn't have felt the same way.

               I take another gulp, the harsh alcohol sliding down my throat, I grimace.  Things are different now.  I neglected to meet up with her all those years, she has moved on of course.  Before we had parted ways, she asked me if I still had the same phone number.  I didn't and niether did she.  I gaze at the shot glass in my hand, "We are different people now," I tell myself aloud.

               My heart felt like it had been ignited, revived when her pretty grin said "Oppa."  It was as if no time had pased at all.  As if we were still close friends who had moved passed being shy about the feelings we had for each other.  I remember the first time she said she really liked me.  I was hugging her close due to the frigid wind.

               She always had been better at expressing her feelings.  But whenever I looked at her, and even now, I feel this painfully wonderful feeling in my chest. I came to recognize it as love.  Love.  I love her.

               I curse under my breath and down more shots.  I love her, I love her, I love her.  The idea of her being in somebody else's arms and calling him hers makes me feel the urge to bash my head against the wall.  He probably cherishes her lips and calls her "honey," and is not foolish enough to let her go.

               A gulp, a grimace.  I'm not drunk enough to get her face out of my mind.  For years, I had been able to push her to the back of my mind.  If I focused on my studies, if I busied myself with work, then I did not notice the loneliness that no companion was able to affect.  But just a few hours with her made me painfully aware of how much I missed her.

               "Fool," I spit the word harshly, my voice barely above a whisper.  My hand is shaky as I pour myself another.  I better stop soon or I'll pass out before I get home.  I down it quickly and stand to go.  I wobble and grab the table for support.

               I can't make it home like this.  I pull out my phone, trying to contact my friends.  After I listen to each of their voice-recordings, I realize that they must all be out clubbing or on dates or just too busy this evening.  My finger hovers above her number.  I don't even care, she's probably busy too, and I won't bother to leave a message.

               "Oppa?" she asks, startling me.  "I wasn't expecting you to call."

               "Sorry, Dasom-ah," I say, trying not to slur my words.  Gosh I'm such a jerk.  "I'm not interrupting you or anything, am I?"

               "Oh, no!" She replies quickly, "I'm just at my apartment."

               She has her own apartment, I have my own apartment.  We're adults now.  "Hey, Kim Myungsoo!" She speaks up. "You sound drunk, have you been drinking?"

               Oops, "Not too much," I lie.  "But I can't reach my friends to ask them to give me a ride and I was wondering if you might have a car that you could pick me up and I'm sorry for asking you for a favor though we just saw each other for the first time in a couple years and I haven't even emailed you since my first year of university and you probably are busy and I don't even know if you have a car," I go on and on, vaguely aware that I sound like an idiot. "Sorry."

               "Hey," she says again, softer this time, "Kim Myungsoo.  Don't worry about it.  Where are you right now?"

               I tell her where I am, and she insists on continuing to talk to me as she drives.  She says it's so I don't fall asleep.  "Did your friends leave without you?"

               "No," I reply, "It's not that.  I came by myself."

               "Oh, oppa!" She exclaims, not with anger but with concern in her voice.  Dasom's voice is comforting.  Even though I'm older, she always seemed like she took care of me as much as I looked out for her.  "You must have had a hard time.  Do you have work in the morning?"

               I tell her that I do, and explain how I am on probation.  She wants to know why I left my job and spent time with her, but I see her driving by and we hang up before I am forced to answer her.

               She drives me home in near silence, and I feel horrible for making  her come.  "I'm sorry Kim Dasom, this was rude of me."

               "Oppa," She cuts me off before I can start droning on and on.  "Why did you call me?  Why did you skip work for me?"  She steals a glance at me, her eyes leaving the road long enough for me to see her desire to know the answer.

               "I don't know," I mutter.  I know she wants the truth.

               "Why did you get so drunk by yourself?"  She asks me tenderly. 'Why aren't you being honest with me?"

               I look at her, she seems tense, agitated by my reluctance to answer.  I remain silent.  Her fists tighten around the steering wheel.  "Why did you suddenly want to see me?  Why did you wait until you were too drunk to walk straight to call me?'  She asks me angrily.

               "Dasom-ah," I start.

               "Why?  Kim Myungsoo, why?"  Dasom demands.  "What makes you want to see me now?"

               "Dasom-ah," I reply, seeing the hurt in her face.  She seems to be holding back tears.  "I'm sorry.  I'm sorry I used this as an excuse to see you.  I'm sorry I never contacted you before.  I'm sorry I'm too drunk to be a good oppa to you.  I'm sorry for interrupting your evening."  I'm burdening her.

               "Idiot." She remarks to me, tears leaking from her eyes.  Since we are stopped at the traffic light, she turns to look at me.  "You think I'm upset because my pretty oppa called me?  I thought you would call sooner, I thought that you had forgotten about me agian."

               "Idiot," I reply, lazily tilting my head towards her.  Maybe it's the alcohol finally kicking in, but I feel happy knowing that she missed me too.  "How could your pretty oppa forget you?"

               She looks at me, not seeming to understand.  I sigh, closing my eyes for a few seconds.  "How could anyone ever forget Kim Dasom?"  I ask her.  "How could I forget the girl who stole my heart?"  She sniffs, eyes widening.

               "Oppa," She hesitates, "Do you, by any chance still like me?"

               I chuckle.  I'm drunk, already humiliated.  So I tell her the truth, "When I saw you under the cherry blossoms, I realised that I had never stopped."

~Dasom's POV~

               When he laughed at my question, I tried to prepare myself for the shattering of my heart.  His smile, the way his eyes crinkled whenever he grinned, his voice, the way he went on when he was tired, the way he tilted his head and smirked when he was thinking- I loved them all. I loved him.  I was tired of denying that I had never gotten over him.  It hurt too much to look at him, to think about him and not know if he felt the same.

               "When I saw you under the cherry blossoms," Myungsoo started.  "I realised that I had never stopped."

               I hugged him, forgetting myself.  "Oppa," I whispered as he wrapped his arms around me.  "I love you, too."  Myungsoo's arms felt like home and he squeezed me closer to him.

               "BEEP BEEP!"  Honked the car behind us, startling us apart.  We smiled at each other and I drove forward.