My path had sunk into darkness, a cold road where even tears froze.
That was how it was until the day you appeared.
You showed me affection, but I was emotionally starved. Your affection weighed on me, yet I didn't dislike it either.
I asked her,
"Why are you so good to me? I'm different from everyone else..."
She smiled and said,
"I don't know what hurt you or where you were hurt, but I'll protect you."
Her confident voice brought a smile to my face.
After she left, I thought,
I like how confident she is... and I'm grateful.
I could feel myself slowly changing. I spent a lot of time with her so I could protect her. Because I wanted to learn about love solely from you, I even read lines from literary novels I wasn't particularly good at, lost myself in my own thoughts, and wrote a novel. I rose to become a bestselling author, and now, because I was busy working, I hadn't been able to see her.
That's right. I had work to do with a publishing house, so I was waiting at a café with a cup of coffee when I asked the familiar-looking person who had come instead of the editor,
"Excuse me, are you Kim Ji-hye?"
She looked surprised too and said,
"Are you Kim Ju-woon?"
The two of us recognized each other and happily sat down. After finishing our work talk, we shared stories about ourselves.
It was nice to look back on those memories and feel as though we'd returned to the past, but I couldn't understand why you wore such a sad expression. I simply took her hand and said,
"You haven't changed, but there's one thing that has, isn't there?"
She didn't understand what I meant, but I still remembered what you'd told me, so I said it again.
"Back then, you said you'd protect me, and you really did. Now I'll protect you, so come to me."
She fell into my arms, crying.
So I stroked her hair and said,
"I'm sorry I'm so late... From now on, I'll do everything I can for you. I promise."
She said,
"Thank you."
I said,
"Now that we're done with work, should we keep the promises I still haven't kept with you?"
I took her hand and led her out to the amusement park, saying,
"Remember? You said that when I had money, we should go on a date at the amusement park."
She smiled and nodded.
We bought all-access tickets and went inside, only to find the fireworks already underway.
She said she was glad her sad expression from earlier had melted away, then took my hand and suggested we go have some fun.
After we played around, I drove her home and wondered what she'd look like when she came tomorrow.
I fell asleep with a smile.