LOVER | YANG JUNGWON

How glad

4 months later

"I got in!" Jungwon shouted over the phone.

My phone was propped up against a half empty cup of water on my desk. I sat with my legs crossed, biting the inside of my cheek in anticipation just seconds before he said that.

"Are you serious?!" I shouted back, my smile wide. I obviously knew he was being serious, this wasn't something to really joke about. I mean, unless you have that type of humor. This week was college admissions week.

Two days ago I got all my letters back from the schools I applied to, my first choice I got denied. After much comfort from Jungwon, I checked the others and got accepted to them all. So now I was going to my second choice.

"Seulie!" he continued looking over the letter from the university he just got accepted. The computer screen illuminating his excited and relieved expression. "We're only going to be two hours away. Thats okay though, we can just meet on the weekends."

This definitely beats being in a different country from him. Two hours I can handle.

"Yeah, we'll be fine." I said. "Look at us, in a couple months we'll be off at uni."

"I know right, time went by so fast." He responded, now looking at me through the video call this time.

_______________

5 months later

"Is it on right?" I asked adjusting the cap on my head.

"Yup! You look so good" Hana gave me a thumbs up, "What about mine? It's not lopsided right?"

"No, yeah you're good" I assured her, "Let's find our seats before it starts."

We made our way over to our assigned seating area waiting for the ceremony to start. The music began to play from the speakers and familiar names were being called out. The cheers from their family members in the crowd, distantly being heard over the loud microphone my principal spoke from.

Times like these I hated that my last name was towards the end of the alphabet. Here I was waiting for what felt like hours before it would be my turn to cross the stage. The sun going down slowly as the minutes pass. I was glad that we had a night graduation instead of a morning one. I don't think I could handle the evening summer heat for this long.

The air felt fresh, the sky was the prettiest shade of blue, the grass underneath our chairs was a vivid green.

After waiting for what seemed like forever it was now my sections turn to go up. My palms felt sweaty and I was nervous to be in front of such a large crowd. That wasn't my main concern though. I think I was just nervous because the second that I walk up there it basically marks the end of me being a high school student. The end of what i've finally grown to love.

This would be the last time that I would see all my classmates. As much as I hate to admit, I might even miss the people who used to annoy me in class. I was going to miss looking forward to lunch, sitting next Hana in our usual spot. Taking walks with Jungwon around the school when we were bored. Hearing Sunoo always complaining about the teacher, making his sassy faces.

I definitely wasn't going to miss all the nights I stayed up finishing projects or work. I wasn't going to miss the insane amount of stress my teachers piled on me. As if I'm not going to be going through the same thing in just a couple months when my first semester of college starts.

I'm just going to miss the experience and memories from this place.

"Sim Iseul" My name echoed from the speakers and I walked across the stage that was set up. I grabbed the singular piece of paper that counted for the last four years of my life. I bowed in respect to my principal.