Like with everything in life, time kept going. With or without me, the minutes passed. Which then turned into hours, days, weeks, and even months before finally hitting a year. And in a mix of emotions, three years passed before my eyes. While I was no longer the same person that I was, I didn’t actually feel that much different and my life had relatively stayed the same.

          I was still going to school, but rather I was going to medical school instead. I wanted to be someone that people could lean on, someone people could trust, and most importantly, someone who could perhaps save another person. I guess spending time with Jinyoung made me think about that career path more seriously. I was also still working with Jun. He had turned into more than a close acquaintance and we had even hung out a couple of times in a public setting with his friends. That was also another thing, I started having a couple of friends here or there.

          He did try to set me up on dates a couple of times, blind dates, but I would always reject. I just wasn’t ready for a relationship. I didn’t think I was mentally prepared to go through that again. Actually, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be ready to, but I figured I’d pass that hurdle if it ever came to me. Relationships were the farthest thing from my mind actually.

          The one thing that I wished hadn’t changed, though, was that I lost contact with Jinyoung’s friends. I lost contact with Shinwoo, Baro, Sandeul, and Gongchan. Okay, so I’ll admit that I didn’t really talk with them that much in the first place, but that didn’t mean that I never wanted to see them ever again. We just kind of naturally fell out of contact. Shinwoo and I still sometimes conversed up until around two years ago, when I left to study abroad.

          I had gotten the opportunity to go to America for some conference by the medical department and then the conference trip was expanded upon by me applying for study abroad. I ended up staying there for around a year and it was a great experience. By the time I had come back, it seemed like too much time had passed for me to randomly text him to ask him how he was doing. I was so busy during my time away that I hadn’t texted him all that time, although I did tell him that I was going, that I had gotten accepted by the program.

          But that all changed one day when I was back to working with Jun, in a café rather than our usual convenience store. Actually, his friend opened the café and needed some volunteers to work. Jun got me on board and after a short while, his friend just hired us outright.

          “I’ll be with you right in a moment!” I yelled from the back when I heard the bell on the door ring. I was doing some inventory of the dry ingredients and Jun was in the back storage room fridge doing the cold when the front door opened. “Hi, how are you?” I asked as I emerged from the back.

          “Hi,” the familiar voice said. I immediately looked up and was face to face with Shin Dongwoo. “So this is where you ran away to?” he asked with a chuckle.

          I politely smiled back, no longer afraid of interacting with new people, not that Shinwoo was necessarily a new person. “Yeah, Jun and I both came over here. He’s in the back.”

          “That’s good,” Shinwoo said nodding his head. “You know, you could’ve told me when you were back from America.”

          “I’m so sorry,” I quickly apologized. “Time just got away from me and I also kind of thought that it’d be awkward since I hadn’t contacted you while I was there. Which I’m also sorry about, my days were packed.”

          “Well you are a pre-med student now, so of course your days are busy. But it’s really nice to see that you’re doing well, Minyoung.”

          “It’s nice to see that you are, too. How is everyone else?”

          “They’re getting by. Things aren’t really the same now, you know?” I nodded my head. We didn’t need words to explain, we both knew what we were talking about. “But you’re holding up well, aren’t you?”

          “Some days are hard, but for the most part, things are pretty good.”

          “Good. Well, I don’t want to be a nuisance,” he began, “also there’s somewhere I have to be in a half an hour, but here, I’ll write down my phone number. We should get together some time, I could invite the others too.” Shinwoo took a napkin from the dispenser and a pen from his pocket and began jotting down the numbers. “Here,” he said handing it to me. “Just call or text any time. I’m sure the others would be glad to hear how you’re doing too.”

          “Okay,” I said taking it from him. “I’ll be sure to.”

          After I had made his order I promised that I would get in contact with him. It felt kind of weird to see him again yet I also felt kind of relieved. He was someone that knew everything that happened before, someone that I didn’t really need to explain my story to over and over again. Plus, maybe I finally understood the joys of getting together with an old friend.

          I returned home that night to the same rooftop apartment and sat outside on the wooden platform. The weather was starting to get warmer, a sign that summer was coming. I had brought out my notebook and a pen as I sat there to watch the sunset and to wait for the first couple of stars to appear above my head before I started to write the first couple of words on the page.

Oppa…

I began before thinking about how I should continue.

Oppa…how are you? I bet you’re doing well, just fine actually. I think you’ll be happy to know that today was actually a very good day.