| Alive Beside You |

Her drink was left untouched.

The lights were off.

The only sounds that could be heard were the noises from the television program .

He enjoyed the sereneness of the house with just him and her, but he still needed some life so he kept the television on with its images and sounds blazing. It was times like this where she would snuggle closely with him and they would simply stay in the same position for the night, enjoying the bodily warmth that radiated from each other.

As Jinki stared at the frequent rising and falling of her chest as well as listened to her steady breathing sound, he felt at ease with that. It was all he needed. His simple pleasures in life, is her. Park Sunyoung.

“Sunyoung-ah,” He called her name in endearment and easily with that, she gave her brightest smile to him. “Saranghae.” His declaration of love echoed and hung in the silence like as if time had come to a stand still for them.

He was labelled as the nice guy once again.

Why was it so hard for him to like someone without them thinking that his intention was of only a good friend?

“I’m sorry.” Jinki stared at the person in front of him, looking flustered and lost from his confession. Not forgetting her profuse apologies for not being able to return the same feelings while asking if they could still stay as friends.

‘What a joke.’ Jinki thought and wanted to guffaw at her comment. Why do people always think that they can be friends despite a rejection or even after a breakup? It made total no sense to him and he knew he didn’t believe in it. Blame it on the rejections he received, but he never kept in touch with any of those people. It wasn’t because he was too prideful or hurt with the turndowns, but it was because of them who started to avoid him like a plague.

He knew she would do the same.

Although he had such thoughts running through his mind, he still wanted to keep the nice guy façade since that seemed to be the only thing he possessed. “Hey… Don’t worry, I’m fine. Really.”

With one look from her eyes, he could tell that she was disappointed with his aloofness towards the matter. Girls… He could never understand them.

“I have to go, see you around then.” He repeated his words like a broken record and left.

He knew it.

Nice guys always finish last.

Walking out of the premises of the school , mist was trailing from his chapped lips. Winter season, perfect for a rejection.

As he stood by the roadside, he observed people walking to and forth. In this sea of existence, he wondered who the one for him was.

Jinki sighed before continuing his walk. As he approached the park, he saw a girl holding out a card with her eyes twinkled brightly and lips curving up with a breathtaking smile. It must be some lucky guy receiving a confession. Jinki could tell the genuineness from her eyes and he smiled a little at that sight. Not to mention, the confessing girl appeared to be someone he knew, Park Sun Young, a classmate of his when they were still in their first year of school.

He planned to walk away, not wanting to add more salt to his open wound, but as he gave a quick look, he realized that her expression was turning solemn and depressed. Her eyes lost the initial shine and her lips lost the cheeriness of her smile.

“I’m sorry.” Jinki heard. It was almost like déjà vu.

After that, he could only vaguely remember the faint silhouette of the guy leaving and few wet drops falling to the ground where she stood that he knew it did not belong to the wintry rain.

It seemed like nice girls always finish last too.

“Cappuccino, please.” Jinki ordered. It was a quiet morning at the café near his house since the morning rush at the café finally died down, it was relatively empty with only few people around.

He heard the bell on the door rang as it opened and a familiar voice spoke. “Hello, I would like a caramel macchiato.” Jinki turned and saw the same lively smile playing on her lips. He smiled. It was as if her cheeriness was contagious.

“Hi.” He said, still having the same smile on his face. He noticed her expression becoming a little surprised, but she quickly smiled back like how she usually is.

“Hi! Erm… Jinki right?” He was quite shocked that she knew his name since they did not interact much when they were in the same class back then.

Jinki nodded. “So what are you doing here, Sunyoung?”

“Planning to get some work done.” She said, pointing to her belongings on a table at the corner of the café. “You?”

“Morning coffee.” Collecting his coffee at the counter, he sipped his morning goodness. “By the way, do you mind if I sat with you at the table?” Jinki asked. “I don’t want to look like a loner…” He whispered, making her laugh at his comment.

“Sure, that makes two of us.” And laughter ensued.

“Hey, can I ask you something personal?”

“What is it?” Sunyoung asked while typing furiously on her keyboard. They were back to the café where they usually meet up to talk and to do work together. Ever since that meeting in this café a few months back, which they found out that they stayed pretty close to each other, they exchanged numbers and started to hang out more often.

“I was there that day, at the park when you confessed to a guy.” Jinki saw her face darkening. “Do you…” He hesitated, maybe it was a bad idea. “Do you still like him?” He was curious. It was just pure curiosity that he had to ask.

“I liked him… But he didn’t. So I had to move on.” She kept her eyes busy on her laptop’s screen and squirmed a little in her seat, her legs were facing towards the direction of the door. He could tell that she was uncomfortable with the question and the atmosphere between them rapidly turned awkward. But he was satisfied, at least he got the answer he needed. It was a good idea after all.

“I see… Alright, continue doing your work.” Her eyebrows raised, his behavior was so nonchalant that it was strange. But she was thankful for that.

After a few more months of spending time with each other and enjoying each other’s company, they naturally got together.

There were no breathtaking confession or dramatic events that made them realize that they liked each other. It just happened. No explanation given, no explanation needed. But that does not mean that their relationship was lacking in any way. Instead, their relationship was stronger than others because they understood each other and feelings came genuinely.

“Do you still remember how I proposed to you?” Jinki smiled at the memory. “You were so happy that you jumped onto me and we ended up hitting our heads together so hard.” He chortled and his body shivered. He could feel wetness trailing from his cheeks to his neck like how her lips would lead.

“How I wish I could turn back time…”

They were on Jeju Island for a short vacation after all the stress from work gave them.

“Isn’t the sea so beautiful, Sunyoung-ah? I always wanted to come here and eat their seafood.” Jinki exclaimed with glee. Sunyoung laughed and playfully hit him on the shoulder.

“I thought you were going to say that you always wanted to look at the sea. Not their seafood!”

“Let’s just say it’s both.” He gave a wink and ran into the sea.

“Are you catching the seafood for us now?” Sunyoung teased as she walked towards the sea, but kept her distance since she did not want to get wet.

“No… But I’m catching you!” Jinki grabbed her by the waist and carried her. She screamed as he threw her into the water and now she was drenched from head to toe.

“Game on, Jinki… Game on.” Sunyoung gave her competitive look and pushed him deeper into the water before cracking a victorious smile. It was after several rounds of tug-of-war in the water that they laid tiredly at the shoreline.

“Can’t we be on a vacation forever?” Jinki said as he pushed himself up, looking down at her radiant face. He swept her fringe to the side and grinned.

“I wish, but we can’t.” Sunyoung beamed back at him. As they stayed in that position, all they could hear were the sounds of the waves crashing onto the shore and seagulls soaring through the sky. Looking into her eyes, everything was perfect. He knew the time had come.

“God… Sunyoung… I know this may sound sudden but… Will you marry me?” Jinki could feel tears b in his eyes and he saw that those words have the same effect on her.

“Oh my god… YES, Jinki! YES!” Sunyoung jumped up, wanting to hug him in pure joy, but they ended up hitting their heads together, groaning in pain.

“Ah!” Both of them exclaimed before the hilarity of the situation dawned upon them as they cracked up. After some time when the laughter eased, Jinki smiled and their lips came close. “I love you.”

“But we can’t return to Jeju Island anymore… Everything has changed.”

“Hello, is this Park Sunyoung’s mother, I am speaking to?” A man spoke.

“Yes. Who are you?”

“I am officer Jaehyun, calling from the Jeju police station. I’m sorry to inform you that your daughter and her fiancé, Lee Jinki, were in a car accident on the way to the airport. While Lee Jinki-ssi is in coma right now, your daughter has unfortunately passed away.”

“Sunyoung-ah… I miss you.”

Lovenpeace: Thank you for taking time to read this! :)