‘'I've tried to find the perfect harmony, I’ve picked my words carefully. The story of how we met is what comes to my mind first,’’ I spoke as I looked at all the people that had taken a seat in front of me, ‘’I will never forget. That first glance, my first experience of true love. It was spring, the holiday had just ended and it was my second week at university. I was just wandering around the building, doing some exploring during my free period because everything was so new, when I ran into him. His eyes were the sweetest I had ever seen and his smile – he was walking around with a smile for some reason, who smiles at university? – was so soft that I felt a strange sense of safety – something that I would be longing for so badly later in my life -, without even knowing this man. He had big circles underneath his eyes. I first thought it was because he had done an all-nighter the previous night, but I later found out that it was just him. And I thought it was most stunning. I fell for him right way, but at that time I didn’t realize it. I didn’t know the feeling that took over me as I watched him. He saw me too. He saw me right away when he turned that corner and got in my sight. He smiled at me and I felt this overwhelming urge to get to know him, to become his closest friend and know everything there was to know about him. All his little secrets, all his wishes and desires and all his goals.’’

**

[Fall of 1949] I took a seat at the dining table and the radio to get some distraction from the letter we had just received. Yonghwa was at the kitchen counter, preparing some pork soup for the two of us. While I listened to the radio I watched him as he was so focused on the soup. To my displeasure it was the same old news that I had been hearing for the past months. As usual the Soviet Union and the United Nations controlled the news, just like they had been controlling our divided peninsula for the past 4 years. I turned it off again, realizing there was nothing new, and got up from my chair. I walked towards Yonghwa who was so busy with his pork soup and pressed my body against his back, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his shoulder.

‘’It smells so good,’’ I smiled while he placed his hands on mine, my hands that were resting on his stomach. He tilted his head slightly, resting it against the side of my head. I could see him smile as he enjoyed my touch.

‘’The only thing I can make,’’ he grinned. Usually I was the one to prepare our meals, but since I had so much work to finish he had decided he would cook for me today. I pressed a kiss on his hair and released my arms so I could grab some bowls. I set the dining table with a different table cloth, two glasses, chopsticks and the bowls that I had just grabbed before Yonghwa placed the big bowl of soup in the center of the table. He took a seat in front of me and filled our bowls while I poured us both some water.

‘’What were you thinking about last night?’’ he suddenly asked when we had started eating, ‘’you kept tossing and turning.’’

I felt my cheeks get red as he caught me completely off guard. I had no clue that he had noticed, it happened in the middle of the night after all, but apparently my restless self had woken him up.

‘’Ah, it was nothing,’’ I replied, trying to sound as normal as I could while I forced an uncomfortable smile, ‘’just couldn’t fall asleep.’’

He gave me that penetrating gaze I hated so much. When he looked at me like that he knew I wasn’t telling the truth. He knew me too well, but this was something I wasn’t going to bother him with.

Yesterday at work we had another sudden intervention. When I heard someone knock on my door I already knew what was going to happen, for the third time this month. The boss was calling me and my two co-workers together in his office to discuss the developments.  The tension was building up in the country and since I worked at the government it affected me a lot at work. The North was becoming more and more communistic while we in the South became more and more democratic. The differences between the two got bigger every day, leading to an explosive situation. Once we had all arrived in the office we sat down immediately. Our boss didn’t have to tell us anymore, it was starting to become a routine. He told us about the latest findings, the latest developments, the latest meetings the leaders of the North and the South had had. This time he looked even more nervous than the other two times. The frown on his forehead had increased and you could just see the worries that surrounded him. I tried to fight it, but unwillingly his worries found their way to my head.

‘’Don’t look at me like that,’’ I sighed while I closed my eyes, rubbing my temples with my fingers.

‘’Feel free to tell me the truth anytime,’’ he mumbled as he started stuffing food into his mouth again, liberating me from his penetrating stare, ‘’and don’t wake me up next time,’’ he joked, lifting the mood again. He knew very well that I was keeping something from him but, thankfully, he didn’t try to pull it all out of me. Instead of that we discussed our day at work, our weird colleagues, strange things that had occurred and - of course - the baseball results.

‘’How much do you still have to do?’’ he asked as he saw me get up and move to my typewriter again once we had both finished our meal.

‘’Three more pages and then I’m done,’’ I replied as I suppressed a sigh. Because my boss had called me to his office, I hadn’t managed to finish my work. On top of that he had also given me way too much work, but once again I wasn’t going to bother Yonghwa with it. He had moved to the couch that was placed in front of my desk. He lay there with his acoustic guitar on top of him. The soothing sounds that he created filled my ears and made me feel at ease, pushing the worries that my boss had given me away. It won’t get that far, I thought to myself as I started typing, they will never let it get out of hand like that.