Soojung couldn’t believe her eyes. She keeps replaying the scene where their eyes met for the first time again after 6 years, and she remembers nothing that happened after that—what she remembers the most is his voice. She looks up to the ceiling that’s full with glow in the dark stars, and even there she could see his face. She sighs as she puts her hand on her chest, feeling how fast her heart beats even it has been almost up to three hours.

The moment when he said her name, it felt like they’re back to the old times. She feels sad to hear that again, and somehow there’s a part of her that’s glad because she’s given a second chance. And when she looks at how much he’s grown, she feels so relieved. He grows well, he’s taller now but none of that changes his eyes and his smiles. They’re the same like before and she never knows she misses seeing them that much.

Nothing really happened. She went inside after saying hi, and headed straight into her room. It’s a miracle that she made it to her room despite the fact that her knees were weak and she swears she’s almost falling down, but she gathered herself from making another fuss. She doesn’t want to at least look like she’s still affected by him. She doesn’t want him to see that even after many years, he’s still got those effects on her. She should’ve moved on already. She was the one who left, so all the old feelings should’ve been forgotten long time ago. She’s sure she has, somehow, forgotten about their things, but when he was there hours ago, standing and smiling to her like the old times, she doesn’t know anymore.

She keeps thinking how he ended up there, how they ended up together at the same place at the same time again, and somehow she wishes they don’t instead. Even though he never demands for an explanation, she feels that somehow, if she let herself falls like the first time, she’ll tell him all they whys.

She counts the sheep as she tries to sleep, and she hopes when she wakes up, the incident that happened hours ago is only just a dream.

+

Myungsoo’s lying alone on the grass at the backyard when his mom comes out to water the plants she grows. He smiles to her before he blocks the ray of sunshine from reaching his eyes with his hand. He smiles faintly when he remembers the face he misses the most, but then the smile later dies when he realises that they’re just so close and yet so far. He, then, also realises that he should’ve not having the feelings he had when he was 16 anymore.

“It is okay, you know?” his mom says with her back faces him.

He raises his eyebrows. “What is okay?”

“That if you still love her.”

His eyes are now wide open, and he remains silent for a while as he wonders what he actually really feels. Moms know best, hands down. He doesn’t need to ask who she meant just now because he knows exactly who she is. The real question now is his feeling. She left him so he should hate her. And she left him for no reason at all! Another reason why he should hate her, right?

“Mom, I’m pretty sure I don’t have that kind of feelings at her anymore.” He says rather confidently, but deep inside, he doesn’t mean it completely. He’s not sure of himself too. Seeing her for the second time again really changes everything, and it’s complicated because he can’t just approach her like the first time. That time was different—they had nothing to begin with. This time is different because they actually had something before, and she didn’t ‘officially’ call it off, and he has no clue on what to do now.

He wants to ask her why she left, but not at the meantime. He’ll ask later, when they’re not that awkward, when things are smooth, and when he asks her, he’ll demand for the answer. He needs to know why, and what happens after that, happens. They’re not kids anymore. They’ll surely find someone—that one person we call as best friend for life, a lifetime partner—but until they get there, he wants to clear everything. He doesn’t want to remember her when he finds someone new.

“Yeah, right.” Her mom gives him a playful look. “It is okay. Time heals everything, so it’s okay.” She then smiles softly to her son, knowing exactly what’s playing in his mind. He’s confused, she knows, but there’s no reason to rush things. He’ll decide when the time comes. As for now, she’ll just help him if he needs her to. “Can you help me with something?”

Myungsoo nods to her with a smile. “Of course I can, mom.”

“I’ve made kimchi stew, so can you please send some to the Jung?”

He nods again. “Surrreeeee... wait, what?”

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