"Every day, I wonder how I ever got so lucky to have met Park Jin-Seong. And also to have non-dated him. Everything he's got: from his reserved quiet side to his obnoxiously loud side, and his foolish clumsiness and quick cleverness. And everything in between. His slightly lopsided smile and his bright eyes, and his clueless stare and reckless grin. He makes me feel undeserving of him, even though I know that there are few things in this world that I am undeserving of."
-초성민 (Cho Seong-Min)
"There's never a day when I don't ponder on how I ever became so fortunate as to meet Cho Seong-Min. And also to have non-dated her. Even in six years apart, every day I think of her. Her sharp tongue and witty humour, her sarcastic words and fluctuating personality. She takes me from her stone-faced serious side to her bright cheerful side. Her raven black hair and deep brown eyes, her determined look and zany smile. She's almost like a goddess, and yet she's perfectly human. There's only one person in this world that makes me feel undeserving of them, and that's Cho Seong-Min."
-박진성 (Park Jin-Seong)
"날 감싸 안아주는 wind. 새로 깨어나는 느낌. 나를 채워가는 눈빛. 어쩌면 꿈인 것 같아, 이 순간. Dreams, dreams may come true."
("It surrounds me, holding me, wind. Feels like I'm being born again. Gaze that fills me up. Might be a dream, this moment. Dreams, dreams, may come true.")
-LOONA, "Butterfly"
Monday, May 16th, 2022. Nari awoke to the sounds of birds chirping, or rather, screeching outside her window. She opened her eyes to the sight of a friendship bracelet on the edge of her bedside table. She still had it, after all these years. The one she stole off of Jin-Seong's arm in high school.
Nari picked it up. It still had a little paper note tied to it. "From your midlaner." Funny how that girl never had the guts to even put her name. Nari scoffed, even though, ironically, she never told him she liked him either.
Nari never bothered to figure out her name. She was just an unimportant character in her love story. The pitiful rival who disappeared after high school. Nari turned the note to the other side, when she noticed that the funny looking apple sticker had started peeling off. "This will make a great addition to my wall," she thought as she began to peel it off.
Underneath the sticker were words that Nari had never noticed. "Meet me in the courtyard at 7 tomorrow morning. -Seong-Min."
Nari dropped the bracelet in shock as she realized that Seong-Min was the high school midlaner. She was the one that Nari had always brushed off as insignificant. But she was Nari's biggest problem. Her worst enemy. All along, it was her.
Nari quickly crumpled the note and threw it in the trash. She reminded herself of why she stole the bracelet in the first place. To make herself think that he had given it to her. But things just got better. He had given her the bracelet that her very own love rival had given him. Perfection. "Areum, wake up," she called out, "we can't be late to work today."
Jin-Seong awoke to his furiously yelling alarm. His dream had been cut short, but he still clearly remembered it. It was a figment of the past. It was a recollection of that time when he watched from outside the doorway as 15 year-old Seong-Min dropped a bracelet on his desk and then quickly slinked out of the room, pretending to go the washroom. She almost crashed into him at the doorway. "Oh, hello Jin-Seong oppa." She scurried away in a hurry.
Jin-Seong knew something was up. He looked carefully at the note attached to the bracelet, and noticed a seemingly pointless apple sticker on it. Seong-Min doesn't do "pointless." He carefully peeled it off to reveal a message underneath. He read the hidden message, and then stuck the sticker back on just as Seong-Min walked back into the room. He nodded at her, and she nodded back. She knew that he'd gotten the message.
It was a Tuesday morning. 7:00 AM. Jin-Seong rushed into the courtyard, he stopped in front of Seong-Min, trying to catch his breath. "Seong-Min dongsaeng, did you need to tell me something?" Seong-Min pushed her hair behind her ear and looked up to meet his eyes. "Jin-Seong ah, I-"
And then he woke up. He remembered how he lost that bracelet a few days after. He was worried that Seong-Min would be upset, but she didn't seem to notice or care.
"Shut up!" Her alarm turned off. Seong-Min had some free time at work for the last few days, so she tinkered with the code of her alarm clock to make it shut up whenever she told it to.
She was a bit irritated today. She had a good dream last night. It was the same dream she'd had that Friday night when she fell asleep in the practice room. She dreamed that she'd left Jin-Seong a note telling him to meet her in the courtyard. They met in the courtyard on Tuesday morning, where she told him everything. "Jin-Seong ah, I wanted to say thanks for what happened on Friday." He had put his jacket on her when he thought she was asleep, to prevent her from getting cold. "Oh um, don't mention it, Seong-Min." Seong-Min was only half-asleep at the time, so she knew about it even before she woke up the next morning.
"And also..."
"Yeah?"
"I like you, Jin-Seong." Her cheeks went bright red.
"Oh I... I like you too Seong-Min."
She slowly inched closer and closer to him, until she stood up on her toes and kissed him on the forehead.
And then 15 year-old Seong-Min woke up. On her way back home on that Saturday morning, she made a stop at the local crafts shop, leaving her bike leaning against the wall outside. She bought some string to make a friendship bracelet.
And then 23 year-old Seong-Min woke up. Seong-Min's plans had never failed, and this one was no exception. Maybe dreams do come true.
YOU ARE READING
Ursa Major | Park Jin-Seong
Romance23-year old Cho Seong-Min is an artist working at Riot Games KR on art and animations for League of Legends. She herself is also a casual player of the game, until she meets an unlikely opponent in-game. Little does she know, that player would be th...
