1:43 | han jisung

AM - 7

10 years later

jisung shook the gentleman's hand, smiling broadly. he turned back to his artwork and sighed deeply. he traced his hands along the canvas, his fingers touching hers. if only it was real, jisung thought like he would every time he did the action.

trust jisung when he said, that 10 years later, there was never a day when he never thought of her. his dream girl. it was a void in his heart that he had always wanted to fill, but never could.

sure, he dated. he dated more than one. but they were never the same. he never loved them the same way he could love her. and they never could love him like she would. every new lips that his touched, just didn't feel right. when he held another girl's hand, it felt wrong.

everything felt like a jigsaw puzzle to jisung — there was one last piece to complete everything, but he just couldn't find that one piece anywhere. every time he found a potential piece, he would try to fit it in but to no avail. nothing could seem to complete the puzzle — his heart. it was truly a missing piece, and with every passing day, jisung slowly loses hope that the missing piece will never be found, no matter how hard he tried to find it.

he allowed a tear to fall from his eyes and he clenched his hands into a fist. he didn't even know if he loved what he was doing anymore. he was a renowned artist in korea — one of the most popular ones. his abstract art, every single canvas he laid his brush on, was inspired by her. inspired by them.

every interview jisung attended, he would struggle to tell the tale behind his art. every exhibition, he wouldn't be able to speak of his story without a lump forming in his throat. she may have been the reason for his success, but at the expense of him hurting with every ounce of his body.

"jisung, my man!" jisung quickly wiped the tears from his eyes as he turned around to face the voice. his mood immediately lifted when he was embraced by the arms of his best friend. "changbin, i haven't seen you in forever!" changbin hugged him tightly before letting go.

"look who came along as well!" he pointed to the group of people behind him, who else? jisung's eyes sparkled as he saw the somewhat familiar faces of his college mates, all grown up.

jisung was overwhelmed by the amount of warmth he had received. to see his class reunite through his art exhibition — a display of his achievements — was truly something he would hold dear to his heart for a long time.

but his mind could not help wander to his one missing classmate, her. her mysterious disappearance completely from everybody's life, but it only seemed to hurt jisung.

after a resounding amount of cheers, catch-ups, lots of hugs, and sharing of how times have changed, jisung bid a bittersweet farewell to his classmates, promising to meet them again soon.

he closed the door behind him and turned to face all his artworks on display for the exhibition. he chuckled sadly as he saw her familiar face in every single one of his paintings — not one did not have her in them. he missed her with all of his heart.

he heard the door knock, and he opened it to see the face of his manager. "hey, jisung! this exhibition was such a success, i'm really so proud of you, you know?" he exclaimed. "oh, and before i forget to let you know, you were invited to another artist's exhibition. she said she would absolutely love to have you."

jisung glanced at his watch. it was literally past midnight. who held art exhibitions till so late? his manager, plausibly hearing his thoughts through his facial expression, reassured him, "i know it's late and all, but she was so insistent in having you. i forgot her full name but she told me to address her as ms kang. i already booked the car for you to go from here, i'll help with the cleanup here. you get going now, okay?" he patted jisung's back one last time before making a move.