In the end, Kim Tan and Cha Eun Sang celebrated their fifth anniversary without a ring.

She sat alone inside the restaurant Tan reserved a week before after their fight and he left.

“Young Do-ah,” she said to the other person on the line, “we just broke up,” she continued without her voice wavering from the tightness in her chest.

Choi Young Do sighed. “What do you want me to say?”

She shrugged, although he could never see her doing so. “You can say ‘I told you it would never work out’.”

He laughed softly. “What’s the point of saying that? Instead, I’ll say ‘good thing you didn’t take his offer to live in that apartment he rent for you and your mother five years ago’. How about that?”

She smiled brokenly. “I know, right.”

He didn’t say anything. “Does it hurt?”

At that, tears started pooling at the back of her eyelids. “Like hell.”

“Be strong.”

She wiped away a single drop of tear to have more of them on her cheeks. She hated being weak. “I need you right now. Is it too selfish?”

There was no response that she thought he probably fell asleep. Or he just hated her for hurting him and calling him whenever she had a fight with Tan. But, then, she heard a sigh. It was probably tough for him too. “I’m in Tokyo. I’m sorry.”

She tried a smile again, a sincere one. But it only came out pitiful she knew it. “It’s fine. Sorry to bother you.”

“Eun Sang,” he called and she froze. She didn’t want to think. She just wanted to hear the voice of a man who used to love her with all of his heart that he gave her up for her own happiness, her own lies. “You never meant that. You know why? Because you love him. You always do,” he said. And he hung up.

An hour after that, she still sat at the same place, he called her again.

“Young Do-ah.”

In the end, Kim Tan could not keep his promise to stay at her back all the time.

It crushed him as he sat inside his car alone. He looked to the passenger seat, where she used to sit and chatted non-stop, where everything was happy and normal.

His phone was ringing and he didn’t care. It wasn’t her, he knew. He hurt her badly and he left her. She would never call him back. And, everything was a mess for him to turn around to her. He never knew he could be this much of a coward. Lying to her, leaving her, not caring for her. They were struggling for the past one-year when everything was numb and boring and they just didn’t love each other anymore. It was that simple.

His phone didn’t stop ringing. He closed his eyes and laid back on the headrest. He took the phone on the drawer without looking at the ID.

“What,” he answered weakly.

“You crazy bastard.”

“I know.”

“Where are you?”

“What do you want, Choi?” He could even identify him from the usual calm rage in his voice. Kim Tan was so used to it.

“Where the hell are you, Kim?”

“Why?” He finally opened his eyes. “Why do you care? Do you love her?”

“Jerk. You are a mess.”

“I am! I hurt her, Choi Young Do!”

“Then, stop being a jerk and man up!”

He hit the steering wheel hard that it left a red mark on his palm. “You have no idea what we have been through this past year. We do-“

“You ing promised her that you’d be always chasing her fiercely like when you were 18, Kim Tan! When you could throw punches to me for tripping her, when you could kill me in my sleep for desiring her! ing fix your problems, man up, and start keeping your ing promises!” And he hung up.

Kim Tan threw his phone to the side. He started the engine of his car and drove away.

In the end, Choi Young Do lost his first love and closed his heart for her.

He was looking for the same kind girl who always had faith in him, who could never get tired to change him for good. Only, this girl would always choose him over anything and anyone.

“Young Do-ah.”

He blinked tiredly. “I didn’t mean it to be that rude. I just-“ he sighed and stood up. He walked to the window of his office and leaned over until his forehead met with the cold glass. The lights of Tokyo were twinkling from seventeenth floor lower than him. “It’s not fair, Cha Eun Sang. It never was, not in high school, not right now. You know I will always have a soft spot for you. You know you can always come to me for anything. You changed me. You saw the best of me and I’ll always thank you for that. But, I need to have a life on my own. I can’t.”

She chuckled darkly. “Only if I chose you the first place, huh?” she said and breathed on the phone, “I’m sorry for never choosing you over him.”

“You didn’t mean that. I would never be angry at that. You love him. I lost you since the first day you met him and fell in love with him.”

“Young Do-yah.”

He turned around. She wasn’t as tall as he was, but she was pretty tall for a girl. A woman, he wanted to call her. Her hair was black. Not black like Eun Sang’s, but black like the night sky. Her smile was soft. Not vulnerable and broken like Eun Sang’s for the past couple of months of her unhappiness with Tan, but kind, full of sincerity. Her eyes was dark, staring at him with hopes toward him and expectations of what they’d face in front of them together, hand in hand.

“I have to go, Cha Eun Sang. Good bye,” he said before hanging up.

“Who was that?” she asked as she tilted her head to the side cutely.

Choi Young Do smiled, like he smiled to his first love, like she was his first love. “Cha Eun Sang,” he answered truthfully, “why aren’t you coming in?” he asked and she stepped further inside the office as she let the door close by itself. He put the phone on his table and sat on it with his arms wide opened in front of him.

She came to him naturally. She hugged him back and rested her cheek on his chest. He wrapped her tightly in his arms. “I thought it was someone important,” she said.

He kissed her forehead. “You are important.” And, smiled as he heard her giggling softly. “What are you doing here?”

She pulled her head but never let go of the hug. She looked up at him. “It’s getting late. I want to make sure you have your rest.”

Young Do hummed. “I’m starving actually.”

She laughed. “Let’s go then,” she pulled him up.

He took his coat from the chair, only to cover her with it. She smiled happily as he spun her out of the office.

In the end, Kim Tan woke up with regrets and emptiness.

There used to be someone next to his side of bed with her tangled hair in the mornings, smiling at him. His last memory of her was more than a year ago, but he could remember it clearly like it was yesterday that he left at their anniversary dinner cowardly. So, he took off to buy lilies and a ring.

He could see her from across the street. She was just done with her work and waiting for a taxi. The sadness on her face, he was the reason of it. He thought they didn’t love each other anymore, when the truth was just they forgot how to be happy; they forgot how to love.

She looked up and stared at him right into the eyes. And, she knew love at the first sight; an innocent love, because she had it with him years ago. She smiled at him. He knew she forgave him for good and she knew he had found his way to her again.

They met at an intersection and he got on his knees. Six years, three months, seventeen days, and twenty-two hours, he finally got the perfect ring for her. He didn’t need to say anything and she didn’t need to answer to anything. They were perfect for each other.

“Young Do-ah, we got engaged. Thank you,” she said between her happy tears and giggles to the phone thirty minutes ago.

Kim Tan took her phone and laughed whole-heartedly. “Your first love is mine, Choi!”

In the end, Choi Young Do had finally found the happiest day of his life.

Kim Tan and Cha Eun Sang were so easy to love her since she was saying the truths and, basically, so easy to love. Lee Bo Na was full of threats the first time she met her because, finally, she found a match and was too afraid that Yoon Chan Young would fall for her too. But the truth was Bo Na took good care of Young Do and made sure he didn’t fall for the wrong one after his first love was married to his ex best friend before him. The past was in the past, Young Do wisely said. Cho Myung Soo was just full of jealousy that Young Do had no words anymore.

Myung Soo was half-drunk when he was giving a speech for Young Do’s wedding dinner. Young Do rolled his eyes and looked across the table as Tan and Eun Sang were laughing helplessly. He knew he should give Tan the honor to give a speech at his wedding, but he could already imagine Myung Soo sulking for not having the chance.

His father, Choi Dong Wook, was smiling proudly at him. That was the only thing he wanted from him for twenty-five years of his life. And, he got it on his wedding night. His mother was sitting on the different table from his father and him. She couldn’t stand being at the same roof with his father, but it was just for a night for him. Everyone had to take down their egos for just a night.

Finally. He looked at his left side. She was smiling and laughing at Myung Soo’s stupidity. When she looked at him back, he knew he was complete. She made him complete.

He looked around the room. He used to be so selfish and rude and horrible, even to himself. And, he had been through a lot. He thought he deserved this. He deserved being happy with the people he really loved and cared.

He leaned over to her ear as the others were still laughing. “Do you love me?” he whispered at her.

She turned her head and looked at him in the eyes. “Truly,” she answered and he knew it was enough.

“To the bride and the groom. May you be happy now and forever!” Myung Soo said to the microphone and everyone in the room raised their glasses to their direction. She giggled and he nodded his head to them.

Thank you.

In the end, Cha Eun Sang finally found the saddest moment in her life.

Young Do was pointing at his newborn baby girl and tapped his finger at the glass window that separated him with his daughter. His wife was fast asleep after three hours long of labor. And, here he was with Eun Sang, looking at his precious, most beautiful little girl in his life. He was so grateful.

“Her name is Sa Rang,” he said, still looking at his daughter with wonders, “my precious Sa Rang, your mother and I will always love you with all of our hearts.”

“Lucky Choi Sa Rang,” she said. There was sarcasm, sadness, and jealousy in her voice that made Young Do turned to her.

“Ya, Cha Eun Sang.”

Eun Sang turned around and walked away. But, Young Do was in front of her after several steps. He held her shoulders sternly but softly. He knew something was up. He tried to find her eyes as she looked everywhere but his.

“Ya, what’s going on?” he shook her a bit.

She finally dared herself to look at him. “I can’t have a baby, Young Do-ah.”

“What?!” he was stunned for a while, “No! No! It’s just not your time yet. Believe me, you’ll have it soon.”

“No!!” she practically screamed and everyone turned to her but they didn’t care. She fell to him and they slid down to the floor together. “They told me I couldn’t have a baby. I can’t give Tan a baby of his own. I’m so useless, Young Do-ah! What should I do?” She cried.

Young Do kissed the crown of her head. He didn’t know what to say, how to console her. He just hugged her there as people passed by.

In the end, life was playing with him and he wanted to hate it so much. He couldn’t.

Young Do could not feel his leg. When he opened his eyes, he was upside down. The seatbelt was the only thing that kept him on his seat. His neck was killing him but he had to look to his right, he had to make sure she was okay.

The door of her side was opened. He could see her body sprawled a meter or two away from the car. Her hair was covering her face and he wondered if she could breath with that.

“Seon,” he whispered.

His body felt so weak but he couldn’t stay still. As he regained the feeling of his leg, he unfastened the seatbelt and he fell with the loud thud. His chest hit the steering wheel and he couldn’t breath for a while.

“Seon,” he kept saying, each time louder and louder.

He crawled out of the car. He crawled to her side. She was cold and pale. Her head was bleeding. He gathered her in his arms and tried to hear her breathing. When there was none, he cried.

“Seon, wake up,” he said weakly, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, wake up. Sa Rang’s waiting for us at home. She wants her mother.”

He cried and cried. He kept saying things he knew was useless. He was tired. He felt sore. He was never this weak. He didn’t care. He wanted her back. He wanted the only woman that was right for her to be back.

Just wake up.

In the end, they found happiness in every form they touched, in every person they met, in every thing they loved.

Sa Rang was nine when he taught his father ballet. Sa Rang was nine when his father taught him waltz. She stood on his feet and they spun around Young Do’s study room. She giggled happily.

His assistant knocked the door when they finished one round of dancing together. He told them that the car was ready. He nodded. He put Sa Rang a coat, before putting his, and he held her hands as they walked together.

“Umma!” Sa Rang called and let go of Young Do’s hand. Young Do let her ran through the greenery. He smiled at her and watched her when she stopped in front of a stone with her mother’s face on it.

Young Do took her hand in his again when he stood next to her. “Do you remember her?” he asked.

She nodded excitedly. “She was always so pretty.”

Young Do chuckled softly, a sign of agreement.

“Appa,” she called, “do you think she’ll be watching my ballet performance this afternoon?”

He looked down at her and squatted down. “She will always be watching us. Even now. She’s smiling because we get along so happily. So, let’s make a promise to her that we’ll always be good to each other and love each other, okay?”

She nodded. “I promise.” She hugged him.

“Do you love her?” he asked.

“Truly love her, appa,” she said, “aren’t you going to put your letter?”

Young Do let go of her and tapped he nose teasingly before pulling out a small letter. He folded it carefully and took the jar next to the stone. He opened the jar and put the letter inside it, let it mix with the other letters he started wrote years ago. And, then, he stood up as he carried Sa Rang in his arms. They walked away with smiles.

Four years. You put me in charge for four years and still counting. I thought I couldn’t handle it. But, you make me strong, even when you’re not around. I’ll always love you. I’ll always love her. You know why? Because I can see you in her. And, I truly love her, my precious Sa Rang. Rest well, honey. Your love is save with me.

“Dad, do I have to watch this too?” a boy at the age of twelve complained to Kim Tan.

“Yes, can we skip this, please?” another boy who was four years younger, persuaded him too. The two boys knew they would never get what they wanted from their mother.

“No one is skipping this performance. It’s our Sa Rang’s showcase, understand?” Eun Sang said sternly. Tan only chuckled as he ruffled his youngest boy’s hair.

Young Do, who sat in front of them, turned around and looked pitifully to those boys. He knew exactly how it felt because if he were at the same age with them, he would get bored too. “I’ll treat you guys ice cream after this showcase, alright?”

“Young Do-ah!” Eun Sang warned him. She didn’t want her children to grow up being spoiled, like-

“Dad! You promised you’ll take me to LA this summer!” a little girl, older than Sa Rang, said to Yoon Chan Young as they walked inside the hall.

Chan Young took her hand and led her to the seat next to her Uncle Young Do. “Your mother has a very important fashion show this summer. Next summer, okay?” he said and sat next to her.

“Beside, we could always go anytime we want, sweetie, I promise,” Lee Bo Na joined them as she sat next to Chan Young.

Young Do gave the little girl a sympathetic smile and embraced her shoulders when she pouted.

The curtain was opened when another person walked through the hall and almost stomped on Kim Tan’s foot because of the darkness.

“Ya,” Young Do warned him.

“Sorry! My bad!” he whispered loudly as he sat next to Cha Eun Sang.

Bo Na turned around. “Where’s you fiancé?” she asked sarcastically.

“She wanted my father’s money. Can we watch the show, please? Don’t wanna talk about it,” Myung Soo said grudgingly. Bo Na smirked at him.

Although not everything turned out the way they imagined it to be when they were in high school, they truly had found happiness. Happiness was simple for them. It started with forgiveness, acceptance, and it turned out to be love, for friends and for themselves. They were grateful.