The Letters He Never Sent || Minsung

50

I exit the diner with an aching heart.

I start to walk down the streets, my head throbbing with each step I take. I catch a cab, directing the driver to go to my apartment. I stare out the window at all the streetlights, and tall buildings. I let out a long sigh.

"Rough day?" The driver asks.

I turn my head to him, and chuckle. "You wouldn't even believe me if i told you."

He chuckles. "I feel you. But nothings better than going home after a long upsetting day." He says. "I can't wait to see my wife." He smiles.

I turn my attention back to him, and open my mouth to speak. "You don't have to answer this—" I clarify, "—But did you and you wife every have any rough patches?"

He looks at me through his mirror, and takes a deep breath. "Oh yeah. We have had many. We have broken up about three times." He chuckles.

I raise my brows. "Jeez. And you guys are still together?"

He nods his head. "Yep." He says. "I can't seem to stop loving her." He smiles.

I smile too. "That's good."

He nods, and there is a few minutes of silence. "Hey kid.." He says, and I turn my head to him. "If you want to go, you should go. I'm sure they will still be there waiting."

I curl a brow. "How did you..?"

He smiles. "You have the look in your eyes."

I smile and look down at my lap, then back out the window. I look down the street, then decide to make a very debatable decision. "Hey, can you stop the car?" I ask unbuckling my seatbelt.

He stops the car and pulls over, unlocking the door. I get out, but he rolls his window down before I go. "Good luck kid, I'll be rooting for you!" He yells as I start to walk.

I turn and wave to him, with a huge smile. After he drives off, I start to run down the wet and rainy streets—running back to the diner. I cannot lose this man again. I refuse to lose him ever again. The fact that I even considered doing so is making my insides churn.

So I run down the streets with tears forming in my eyes, and an ache in my chest. I'm only running because there is a possibility he might not be there for me like the man said, and I might lose him for real this time.

I have this feeling growing in my chest as I run faster and faster. Except this feeling feels safe. This one feeling is welcoming. This feeling makes me have the thought in my mind that everything will eventually be okay.

When your born into a burning home, you think the whole word is on fire. But it isn't. And that's the realization you have as you mature, and begin to experience these things.

I start to see a silhouette in the distance, which seems to be getting closer to me. I run after it, and eventually I am met with a cold wet body against mine.

"I'm so sorry." I cry. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Minho." He says. "I'm seriously here now, and I'm not going anywhere."

"I don't want you to leave me again, I never want to be without you." I cry. "Please promise me, promise me we will be okay."

He reached up and holds my head with his hands, and smiles at me. His wet hair drips down onto his face, and the streetlight is lighting him up just enough to see the redness of his cheeks.

"I promise we will be okay. I will make sure we will never be apart again, even if it's the last thing I do." He says to me.

I don't say anything, instead— I crash my lips onto his. He flutters his eyes shut in a second, so I close mine too. I feel my whole body become warm again in the cold weather, and I feel the ache in my chest finally disappear.

This is the feeling I have been chasing for the last nine years. This is the feeling I have been longing for since I lost him, and this is the feeling I can experience now that I have him.

I spent years suffering without him. I spent years alone, I spent years waiting, I spent years drowning in the loneliness. I ripped up all the floorboards to find how he used to touch me, how he used to say my name, how his lips felt upon mine. And now, after almost a decade, I can finally feel him again.

I pull away from his lips, and stare into his eyes. "I love you. I always have." I say.

He smiles at me. "I love you, every new version of you."

I feel confident as we share the L word.

I believe there are people who love better than others, and people who know how to love better than others. There's also people who know how to accept love better than others. And with Jisung, I feel like all three of those people.

Because I know how to love this man more than people know how to love others. I've dedicated my whole like to this man and I've never regretted a fucking second of it.

And I am ready to spend the rest of my lifetime with him. I'm ready to live him through thick and thin, through dark and light. Not because I'm forced to do so, but because I want to do so.

I would give my all if that would bring me back to the time when I was his all, but that time is now.

Here, right now, as I hold him in my arms in the rain.

Here, right now, when we both know he have finally made it.

Here, right now, when we finally know everything's okay.

Here, right now, when he is mine, and I am his.

Because
we love with a love, that is more than love.
- Edgar Allan Poe.

———

Dear reader,

Thank you so much for reading this book! I spent so long on it, but I'm kinda disappointed with the outcome. It's a cute plot but I wish I didn't rush it so much.

My original plan was for them to not get back together, but after some deep thinking I decided to change it.

I think that with how strong I make their love for each other, it's only right for them to get back. Real love doesn't just go away for a reason like that. I thought that their love would be proven stronger if they actually got together in the end.

What was your final thought on the story? :)