Boo Seungkwan and Lee Heran were walking to school one spring day. Unlike other mornings, Heran was quiet. The boy could sense that something was wrong but how does he ask?
Heran must have also sensed that Seungkwan knew something was up when she spoke up.
"Look at the cherry blossoms. They're nice, right?"
"Yeah, but look at their petals, some of them are already falling."
"5 centimeters. Cherry blossom petals fall 5 centimeters per second to the earth."
"How'd you know that?"
"It was in one of the books at the library. One of the nature ones."
Seungkwan nodded as they walked slowly through the petals fading away. The two didn't have to worry about being late, they always left early enough to make sure they weren't rushing to school.
"Hey Seungkwan, you know as time goes by, a cherry petal grows distant from its tree. That's like people too. People also grow distant, but it doesn't happen in 5 seconds. For us, the time and distance varies."
The boy stopped in his tracks. He knew that something was wrong with Heran. Yesterday she was herself, talkative and crazy but now why is she going so deep?
"Heran, what's wrong? I mean, what's with that? You usually aren't into all that deep, sentimental things."
"I don't want you to be upset, please.
My family and I, we're moving back to Seoul. My dad had his job transferred back, we leave next weekend."
Seungkwan didn't know how to react. His best friend of how many years is leaving. He shouldn't have waited this long before telling her. She shouldn't have waited this long either.
