loved me faithfully

 The wind rushes through my hair from my position on the bench, carrying with it the distinct scent of the Han River that really lets me know I'm here. I can almost see the bright lights twinkling across the surface, ripples where the ducks are splashing and quacking, and hear the laughter from one of the party yachts pulled to the bank. This is my favourite spot to think. I've been coming here ever since I moved, about... four years or so now? I don't know. I easily lose track of the days.

 As the icy breeze trails across my skin, I shiver and pull my knees up to my chest, fitting the heels of my feet into a gap in the wooden slats. Shorts were a bad idea, but it had been warm earlier in the day. My boat shoes were discarded on the floor, and I wriggled my toes freely, reaching down to grab them in my hands. I always had hot hands. It was just something people pointed out.

 Taking a deep breath, I let out a content hum as I lay my head back, closing my eyes and smiling to myself.

 "Comfy?"

 The familiar voice comes from above me. It's rich and deep, and I instantly open my eyes with a beaming smile. But as always, I see nothing.

 "I thought you weren't coming tonight. I was late myself."

 "I wouldn't miss this for the world." I hear his low chuckle and feel the presense above me move to the side, bench depressing where he sits beside me. I sit up myself, turning my head to look at him. He once told me it was kind of creepy how I always knew where he was.

 "So, what did you do today? Anything exciting?"

 "Just the usual."

 The same answer as last time. And the time before that. Though he has been coming here for the past half a year or so, I know little about him past his name. He is secretive, but I know better than to pry where I'm not welcome.

 "What about you?"

 Again, the usual return. I would reply the same. But today, for me, is different. Today I look away from him and stare at where I remember my favourite ice-cream shop used to be on the opposite bank, feeling the tears I thought were gone begin to rebuild behind my eyes. "I... was at the hospital again today."

 He knows more about me then a lot of my family. He didn't mean to. The first time we met was a few weeks after my accident, in the worst state I could possibly be, sobbing with empty eyes that seemed to stare right through everything in front of me, bandages wrapped around half of my head. He still jokes it was the scariest thing he had ever seen, though he still bought me ice-cream and sat with me until the sun rose. And thanks to his joking I was able to come to terms with it pretty quickly.

 I'm thankful. I don't know anyone else who would have bought an ice-cream for a creepy crying girl in the middle of the night.

 "... What happened?"

 I replay the news from earlier in my head, the doctor's ecstatic tone, my mother gr