Hello, thanks for reading this story! I forgot to mention to you guys that this is a oneshot. I didn't mark it as so cause I was planning on making this a oneshot collection. So, if you want more oneshots please leave a comment and subscribe. Also requests are always welcome. I do write R-rated stuff so go ahead and request. :)

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“Please, don’t go.” She said, so quietly that it sounded almost like a whisper. Her eyes, brown as the soil, quivered with every word. Tears were slowly building up in the corners of her eyes and she tried her best to contain them.

The woman’s appearance before Seunghyun was extremely contrasting to the scenery around them. The winter had passed and the green leaves appeared again to welcome the spring. The grass swayed with the wind, trickling their feet as they stood over them. The vast greenery before them was absent of people.

Bom, with her hair fluttering with the wind, was not the least ecstatic with the season despite it being her favourite. Normally, she would kill for spring but this year was different. This year, it seemed like spring was a chilly winter with nothing to keep you warm. The breeze that caressed her skin felt like it could freeze her if she continued to stand in the open fields and not even her coat could stop her from shaking.

“I’m sorry. I have to.” Seunghyun mustered, voice cracking with each syllable. As the words escape his lips, Bom’s cheeks were painted with salted tears. He didn’t know what to do and he couldn’t bear to see the woman he loved pained because of him. He was aching and more so was she. And for the life of him, he wished that the sorrow he inflicted would be gone if only he was in control of everything.

She trembled. Her shoulders moved in perfect rhythm to her whimpers. Her crying started as muffled and eventually, she broke down and lost all control and composure. Bom’s knees betrayed her and she felt like fainting. She squatted, afraid of losing balance while standing up. She placed a hand over her chest as if to calm her ramming heartbeat. Her other hand covered , stifling the sound emanated.

All she wanted was for him to stay. Leaving for work was normal but war was a different story. The inevitable could happen and only a small percentage comes out victorious. Bom didn’t care if it was for their country. She could live as an outlaw. She didn’t care if it meant he was safe with her. The thought of going to sleep at night and dreaming of Seunghyun’s death at the hands of someone who served a different statute was something that haunts her. She was selfish and she knew but it was completely natural for her to protect something she loved.

Seunghyun crouched over Bom. His hands enveloped her small shoulders. The sight of her weeping, crushed him. His chest tightened and his throat constricted. He wanted to kiss all her pain away but he knew he couldn’t. He felt as if his insides were bent and twisted and no torture was equivalent to what he was feeling. When he saw her hand moved from to the ground for support, Seunghyun felt tears trickling his face. It came slowly but gradually it poured uncontrollably. He couldn’t leave her alone but the country commanded all men to fight for their nation, to free themselves from despair.

“I’ll come back.” He said in between sobs but he knew there was no assurance in his words. A month from now, he had to go and what could happen was the unknown. He could only hope to pray and to come home with a smile on his face. “I’ll come back and we’ll start a family of our own.”

She didn’t say anything. She continued to cry, her hands clutching the grass below her. Bom wanted to believe that and she knew she had to because she had to be strong for the both of them. She had to make him come back and have a will to fight on as he goes along in a difficult place.
him.
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The day Seunghyun left, Bom didn’t cry. She waved goodbye with a smile. Although it was painful, she had to give him a positive gesture. He waved before marching along the grassland. She waited for his shadow to disappear before her emotions betrayed her. “Please look back.” She muttered to herself as if it was a good sign if he looks her way one last time before he goes.

The moment Seunghyun’s body twisted to catch one look at the woman standing in the middle of the field, Bom’s feet grew its own mind. She ran so fast that she was so surprised with herself. She saw his outstretched arms as she neared him and as if on instinct she leaped in to those welcoming embrace.

He hugged her like he was imparting a part of him with her. He smiled as they let go of each other. “They say that if you tie a yellow ribbon to a tree, a loved one far from home would come back safely.” Bom said, enunciating every word perfectly. “I’ll tie one and I’ll remove it once you come home. So, come back to me, okay?”

The wind gusted towards them and Seunghyun seized the hat he was wearing. “I will. I love you so much, Bom. Please, wait for me.” He said while tucking Bom’s hair behind her ears with his other hand.

Bom closed her eyes at his gesture but opened them again to answer him. “I love you so much, Seunghyun. I’ll wait for you here.”

Seunghyun’s lingering hand moved from Bom’s hair to the back of her head, pulling her towards him. He planted a kiss on her plump lips. Bom responded with equal ferocity and poured every emotion she had with passion and hope.

As she watched his retreating back moving farther and farther away from her, she breathed heavily and turned her gaze away from him. She let herself cry finally while walking towards the large oak tree situated at the far end of the field. Bom tied the yellow ribbon she had on her pockets at the highest branch she could reach, believing that if it’s situated higher then no one would dare to harm it. No one would dare harm him.
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The warm spring season had passed, so as the hot summer days and the cool autumn breeze was nearing to an end. The freezing winter was coming which means life with the brigade would become difficult. Food would be scarce and a demand for necessities would grow tenfold. Many of Seunghyun’s companions had died from the recent Malaria outbreak.

On that evening of autumn, Seunghyun wrote to Bom. Never has he failed to send her letters every time he moved to a different camp. That letter was different amongst others that were filled with love and assurances. This time, he told her of his worries and the pain from being afar from her. Of how we would die to be in her arms again. He told her of how he would find a way home as soon as he arrives at the next base.

And right before he fell asleep, he read all the letters he had received from her, memorizing each word and of her writing. Her letters were the only ones that can make him fall asleep and make him forget of the grief he felt for his dead companions.

The morning of the last day of autumn, Seunghyun’s brigade marched towards a different site. It was getting chilly but no one seemed to take notice of it for all of them were cautious. They were approaching a territory rumoured to be seized by the enemy.

Seunghyun gripped the firearm in his hands tighter, listening to the silent place around him. When his leader assured them of safety, he saw what seemed to be a field of dandelions. He strode to the area and plucked a single flower.

His vision blurred. The last time he happily plucked a dandelion was when he was back home in early spring of last year. He loved the spring season and so did she. They always bathed under the sun in spring. He remembered that Bom used to blew the petals from the dandelions and chase after them. She would laugh every time she would do that and encourage him to play along with her.

He remembered everything of that day. She wore white at that time. Her brown hair would fly in different places but she would still look beautiful nonetheless. And he would always remember how she would write in her brown book stories about her dreams and plays she would love to be published. And with that, he cried. Because it seemed like forever since the last time he saw her and how he dearly Seunghyun misses the love of his life.

He cried to himself, shielding his eyes with the hair that grew quite long after days of not cutting it. His moment was cut short when he heard a loud explosion and a cry from his comrades. He grasped his rifle and ran towards where the rest of the brigade was. Acting on adrenaline, he fired towards the possible direction where the canon came from.

When he heard another canon being shot, he ran for a different spot, grabbing his friend by the collar along the way. He panted, his heart raced and the firing of arms could be heard. Only a few of them were left and it appeared that most of them went in different ways. A loud bang from the canons was heard again and it seemed to come from somewhere closer.

Seunghyun and his companion began moving to a different position again. He didn’t want to become a hero; he wasn’t going to fight with something he wasn’t prepared for. And judging from the firing being heard, their brigade was outnumbered. He was acting like a coward but he wouldn’t risk his life for something uncertain.

They ran, so fast that he couldn’t feel his legs anymore. He found one of his mates, wounded and alone. Along with his fellow soldier, they aided the poor man. Their pacing slowed that they could almost feel that the enemies were drawing near. Seunghyun, with his rifle out, was calming himself down.

They found a large rock to temporarily hide in solitude but as they reached for the place, they found themselves stopped by soldiers in different coat. There were twenty of them, maybe even more if Seunghyun had the time to count all of them. All of them had their rifles pointed at them.

Seunghyun seemed to have lost all the oxygen inside of him. He let go of his grip on his rifle and raised his free arm. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. As he close his eyes, he thought of Bom’s smile as she ran for the petals fluttering in the air. He thought of Bom smiling with tears of happiness as she tells her “Welcome back, Seunghyun.”

He thought of how they would have a family of their own like he promised just before he felt the pain of his life ending and how he would never
see her again.
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Bom sat barefooted on the ground. She was finishing her story. Of how the love story of her main characters would end, of how her love story would end.

She closed her brown notebook when she was finally satisfied on the ending. She sighed as she stared at the heavens above her and smiled as she caught sight of the yellow ribbon hanging on its branch. Bom thought of Seunghyun and how he he would be. Not a day has passed when she would not take a glimpse of the bow. And not a day has her love for Seunghyun faltered. She will wait a few more months before he will come home to her. And on that day, she would be the happiest woman in the world.

As she stared at the bow, a gust of wind flew and she stood in panic. She saw the branch shake and as the wind grew stronger, a small portion of the branch cracked. Slowly, she reached out for it and before she could grasp it, the branch broke and the ribbon flew.

Bom stared at the material. It flew away from her. And for some unknown reason, she cried. Cried so hard that she was reminded of the day Seunghyun left or the day Seunghyun said he was joining the military. She felt as if Seunghyun’s life went with the ribbon. Seunghyun left and went far away from her. And she couldn’t hold on to him any longer.