Seunghyun’s POV   

“Dad? Are you busy?” My 16-year-old son, Minjoon, knocked on my door and opened it since he did not get any answer. He slowly approached me who was sitting in my bed, laptop on my lap. He carefully peeked in my laptop screen before asking, “Can you help me with my math homework, please?”

Well, I actually had to finish my work by midnight since I hadn’t really gotten enough sleep due to pile of tasks that I needed to finish. “Of course. Tell me which part you don’t understand,” I said as I shut down the laptop. My children have always been my top priorities, I put them first before anything else in the world. “Algebra?”

He shook his head and took a seat right next to me. “Function, dad. I don’t know why, but it’s kinda difficult to find the right answer to solve each question,” he sighed and added, “Even I still can’t remember the formula because there are too many formulas.” I clearly saw the devastation in his face.

“Let me see your book and textbook,” I said as I grabbed a pencil from my desk. I opened page after page, studying the problem of each question, nodding my head and explained it to him. He muttered, ‘ooh’ every time he understood and tried to answer those questions right away. I checked his work when he’s done and there was no mistake. “Good,” a smile crept on my lips while I was patting his head. “Don’t forget to always memorize the formulas, it’s the major key.”

Nothing escaped his mouth besides ‘Alright’. I my laptop again, soon drowned into my work, not knowing he was not taking his leave yet. “Dad.. How did you meet mom?”

I stopped typing as I slowly turned my head to meet with his serious face. “It’s quite rare for you to ask about this matter, son. Did something happen?” He used to be so close with me and our relatives, yet since he entered junior high, he has always been so busy hanging out with his friends until he never cared to ask anything that related to our family so I was pretty surprised. “I thought you never cared-“

“I like a girl,” his face immediately turned into a red tomato. Looking down, he confessed in a very low voice. “I met her at the bus stop after school two weeks ago. I told Seungho about it and he thought I’ve gone crazy. He said there’s no such thing as love at first sight and I know that too, but-“ he swallowed down his saliva and continued, “There’s something about this girl that attracts me, that’s why I’ve been riding a bus home every single day..”

A small laugh escaped my lips. Well, he’s sixteen so I wasn’t that ‘shocked’ to finally hear about him liking a girl. I first fell in love when I was a freshman in senior high, fifteen years old. I was part of the student council and at that time she was my senior aka the president. I fell in love just by the way she talked, the way she walked, even the way she ordered us around. She was indeed an independent woman and I have to admit that I admired her a lot. “Have you talked to her?” I gained nothing but a headshake. “Son, you need to talk to her.” I still gained no answer besides him looking at me with pleading eyes. I heaved a sigh and tilted my head, staring at the ceiling. “Many guys fall in love at first sight with a girl because of her smile. There’s something about a girl’s smile that attracts guys, you know? A girl’s smile can light up a whole wide world. But that didn’t happen to me” Minjoon listened to every word I uttered intently, until I patted a spot next to mine and continued right after he was seated. “I fell in love with your mother when I first saw a tear dropped from one of her beautiful eyes. To be more precise, I met her at the library. I didn’t know what had gotten into me, or from where I got the courage to make my way to where she sat and greeted her.”

By the time I was your age, I’d give anything

To fall in love truly was all I could think

That’s when I met your mother, the girl of my dreams

The most beautiful woman that I’d ever seen

XX Library

Seoul, South Korea

04.26 pm

It was a very tiring day. Not to mention that sometimes being a student of the Business and Economy major is not always that easy and simple. Plenty of tasks to be done in less than two weeks or even worse, often just a week. I lazily drove my car to one of the biggest libraries in Seoul to find a reference book since the final exam was coming up. Soon as I arrived, I showed my member card to the librarian and searched through some bookshelves. Instead of looking for one particular book to read and study, I looked for a History book that would give me some information about the history of Pompeii, Italy. It didn’t take much time until I found one with the exact same title. Grabbing it, I made my way to one of the available seats. Then, I saw her.

A girl, sitting on the chair, looking straight yet her eyes were dead. At first, I didn’t care much until I saw a tear dropped from her eye and was slightly opened. Soon, one tear followed by another, then another, and another.. Something happened inside me, as if a lightning just struck me right in the heart. My brain was not that functional no more since it took me quite sometime to finally realize that my legs were moving by their own, right to her seat. My hands pulled a chair in front of her and I decided to let every part of my body do as it please as I took a seat. Pretending to not see that lovely lady, I opened the book even though my eyes could not stop stealing glances at her whenever I got the chance to do so. Feeling uncomfortable, I handed her my handkerchief. “Use this, Miss.” At that time, I knew she would be bothered or annoyed by my sudden act. I had never been that nice to any stranger before, even if the stranger was a pretty or a y lady. It’s just that... this time was different. I did not understand why, yet her crying face was indubitably beautiful and attractive to me. Perhaps there was something wrong with my eyes because usually the crying face of a girl looks horrifying as hell. Again, this time was different...

“Thank you,” Due to my surprise, she slowly took the handkerchief from my hand. Nothing I did besides staring at the pretty woman who was busy wiping her tears away. She looked beyond devastated and I knew it must have been because of a man. She was heartbroken, I understand women extremely well so I knew what was going on and how the situation basically was. “I apologize, I’ll return this to you as soon as I finish washing it,” she said in embarrassment.

It took me seconds to realizing that she was talking to me just now. I blinked a couple of times just to make sure that I didn’t mishear anything. As soon as I came back to reality, a forced laugh flew from my mouth. “Haha, don’t think about it too much. In fact, you could keep it if you want.” Mentally, I slapped myself. Idiot! What did I say? I shouldn’t have said that! It’s a freaking handkerchief! She DID NOT need a ing handkerchief!

Her face was perplexed. Well, of course it was. I was just a stranger who out of nowhere offered her my handkerchief. “No, thanks. Not that I don’t want to, but even though this is just a handkerchief.. it probably holds some precious memories that you don’t want to forget, right?” It’s true. I used that handkerchief when I cried because of a fight with dad, I used it when I sneezed in the middle of a serious topic in class, I used it to wipe my mom’s tears when my grandma passed away. She gave me a smile and I could feel my heart beat abnormally. Never thought I would be able to meet a girl and then think ‘She is the love of my life’ right away after the first glance, but at that moment I thought.. ‘I’ve found her. She’s the one, love of my life.’ Silly, wasn’t it? But that’s love, silly in a very unexplainable way.

By that, I rose up from my seat, grabbed her wrist and uttered, “I’m Choi Seunghyun, 22 years old. Currently taking Business and Economy Major at Korea University. I would love to know you better-“ I stopped as I felt my cheeks getting warmer. “If you let me.”

“My name’s Tiffany, but my Korean name is Miyoung. Hwang Miyoung, 20 years old. I’ve been taking Humanity Major at Hanyang University. Nice to meet you, Seunghyun-ssi,” she flashed a very captivating eye-smile. “And I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but I guess I can see your intention clearly from my point of view.” A soft chuckle left her lips as she took her cell phone from her handbag and showed me series of numbers. “This is my phone number. I think it’s alright to give it to you since I also need to return your handkerchief.”

Taking no time, I typed her number on my cell phone and saved it to contacts. As she prepared to take her leave, I asked, “Mind telling me when I’ll be able to see you again?” She tilted her head and gave me nothing but a slight smile.

She said “Boy can I tell you a wonderful thing?

I can’t help but notice you’re staring at me

I know I shouldn’t say this but I really believe

I can tell by your eyes that you’re in love with me”

Now son, I’m only telling you this

Because life can do terrible things...

OO Park

Somewhere in Gangnam-gu, Seoul

12.40 am

It was like a dream come true for me when I realized the prettiest figure I had ever seen laying right beside me, looking at the shining stars. I admitted that my idea of taking her out on midnight seemed reckless and beyond belief, especially when we knew we still had to go to campus on the next day. But I couldn’t help myself, I wanted to see her so badly. Ever since our meeting at the library, I had been going on dates with her a couple of times. In fact, every once in a week. On our third date, I brought her to a fancy restaurant for dinner and she told me the reason of her tears back then. She said her grandmother passed away and she believed that she could not live her life no more without her grandma. Miyoung’s grandmother had always taken a very good care of her since her parents got a divorce and she did not want to live with either one of them, so she decided to live with her grandparents when she was ten. Her grandfather died due to leukimia when she was seventeen, two months after her birthday. Then, a few years later it was her grandmother’s turn. She could not take the real-life’s dramas anymore until I greeted her, she said. She swore that she had always seen my sincerity towards her ever since our first conversation and that explanation made my cheeks flush.

“It’s been a very long time since I last visited a park at this hour,” she stated while opening a can of beer. “Doesn’t mean I often come to a park, though,” I just nodded at her statement. Gosh, even the way she drank looked so stunning in my eyes. This woman had stolen my heart without her even knowing and I guess I would not get it back. Could I hope that I’d be able to steal hers too? Finger-crossed. “I don’t know if you knew, but I’m a fan of beers and all kind of alcohols. Even so, I won’t consider myself as an alcoholic because I never drink until I lose my consciousness, I am not a drunkard yet I’m still a strong drinker.”

I knew. She did not have to tell me that since I had known all along how much she loved to drink. Besides beers,  she also liked vodka and gin and tonic, she preferred white wine rather than red wine,