Written by Soomin Cho
Illustrated by Jiyoon Park
5
It was one of those days when the evening softly melts into the afternoon when the bumpiness
of love crashed into his mind for the first time. Everything was just as he had imagined: a cloudless sky,
a romantic sunset, a charming girl and pleasant awkwardness like ice cream with coke—his favorites,
but explosive when together. He did not know it then, but one thing would not go as he had imagined
since the ice-cream-with-coke-like awkwardness was going to force him to blurt out,
“Wow.”
And that single word that burst out of his mouth, he blushed like the sunset above him. He had
no memory of having said anything more stupid than that. Even his voice sounded stupid. What would
she think of him? The girl, who had just let down her silky hair and at the same time made a boy look
at love right in the face for the first time, gracefully turned towards him, swishing that silky hair of hers.
She did not say anything. She just stared at him, right in the face, just like his sudden love for
her. How could he have not known how her hazel eyes shine brightly yet ever so softly? How her hair
glimmers under the sun as the sea sparkles at sunrise? How everything about her makes her so…so…
His brain vainly searched for a word that would describe his love towards her.
She opened her mouth. He waited fearfully for the imminent words.
“Yeah, I know! Wow! So she and I…”
His brain stopped searching for the word and slapped itself. What was he thinking of? Loving
this girl could break their thirteen-year-old friendship. All he had to do was always stay by her side as
a friend who can hold any secret, just as he had promised while patting a crying five year old girl on
the back. ‘Loving this girl is dangerous,’ his reason said.
‘Return to reality, stay there, and keep listening to what she has to say about how much fun she had
with her new best friend.’
The awkwardness that his bumpy first love had i
magined disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
His ears opened again to her twinkling, no, normal
voice—a voice he had heard for thirteen years
and had no right to suddenly sound beautiful.
As his eyes reopened in his backyard he
had seen for his entire life and the sun
that had set the same way for possibly
millennia, he carelessly nodded his head,
reassuring the good friend next to him that
he was listening and he would keep this moment a secret.