First meeting

Due to the amount of alcohol she had taken, Yura could feel herself becoming slightly drowsy. Nonetheless, she did not lose her senses completely yet.

Her hand held on to a wine glass as she was seated beside Ryu Yejoon on the couch. Throughout the entire time, he stared at her in desperation.

She knew how he wanted her to change her mind, and a part of her was really tempted. As he had suggested earlier, things would be simpler and happier if both of them got married.

She wouldn’t need to worry about getting hurt, and both of them were enough for each other. There was no need for some other people beside themselves.

But the bubble that they had built around them— Yura believed that both of them needed to escape that. If it wasn’t for her, she was worried about Yejoon.

If things went wrong and something happened to her, she wanted him to live on happily and not lose himself completely. The thought of that broke her heart.

She knew that she had made a lot of enemies from the next actions, and although she was the winner now, one day the game would be over for her.

Death wasn’t something she was scared of. That’s why, she did not care much about it. But it was Yejoon for whom she was concerned.

His personality was crystal clear to her. Although he was cold and detached for the most part, once he gets attached to someone, it is a different story.

It causes him to develop a state where he is not able to live without that person and would do anything to have that person. It was fair to say that he becomes obsessed.

It is easy for him to get anxious in that state, and having seen him suffer due to that once, she would do anything but having him face that again.

She just hoped that he could be at least as much as carefree as her.

The emotions he felt right then was clear to her while he tightly gripped on to her hand. He was afraid of letting go of her hand, and her chest clenched painfully at that.

It crushed her heart every time she saw him like that and made her question why did he have to go through something like that? If she could, she would give him all the happiness out there.

“Yejoon,” she said, “You know, you don’t need to be nervous. You are the person I love the most. Even if I fall in love with someone and get married to him, you will be the most precious person to me.

That’s why, I don’t want to see you torturing yourself like this. Please be happy. That’s all I want from you.”

“That’s why, be by my side. I will always be happy then,” he expressed.

She laughed and questioned, “Do you still remember the day both of us first met?”

°°°

Five year old Min Yura cheerfully ran through the garden in front of the mansion when she noticed a figure. When she spotted Jisoo, she immediately made her way over to her.

“Jisoo!” She squealed while running over to the girl.

Min Jisoo, who was of similar age to Yura, had her hair tied into pigtails. A bright smile formed on her face as she noticed Yura.

When Jisoo stopped in front of Yura, she noticed a small figure hiding behind the girl, and this made her tilt her head.

Curiosity was present in her eyes while she did so.

Pointing towards Min Jisoo, she asked, “Is there someone behind you?”

At that, Jisoo turned back and softly said, “Yejoon, come out now. You don’t have to be shy. Come on; you are a good boy!”

Slowly, the four year old Yejoon peeked his out his head from her behind her while his hand gripped on to the material of Jisoo’s clothing tightly.

He showed no signs of wanting to let go of it.

The boy looked at her with hostility in his eyes. But Yura didn’t notice that and flashed him a wide grin.

“What is you name? I am Min Yura! Do you want to be friends?”

Her words caused the boy’s eyes to widen, and this caused him to immediately hide himself behind Min Jisoo.

Jisoo then said, “Yejoon is shy. It takes him time to become friends.”

°°°

Spotting the familiar seven year old boy, Yura wanted to wave her hand at him. But remembering how Yejoon would only ignore her, she merely pulled her hand back.

Both of them were at a party today, and she had few eyes watching her. She didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of everyone

The entire time he stood at one corner of the room, and she noticed how his eyes brightened up when he spotted Jisoo. Immediately, he made his way over to her.

The scene was akin to a dog and his adored master.

Min Yura observed the scene silently, finding him to be adorable. It was sad that she couldn’t get close to him.

She noticed the wide smile that formed on his face, and her eyes widened at how beautiful he appeared over all. It was such a difference to how he always scowled at her.

“What are you staring and smiling at?”

Feeling a palm on her shoulder, she turned back, and her eyes met with those of eight year old Youngjae.

She then pointed at Yejoon and said, “Him. Don’t you think that he is really cute? Too bad, that he won’t get close to me.”

°°°

The memories caused her to start laughing loudly as she commented, “You were such a brat back then!”

Reminiscing about that managed to bring a wide smile on her face, and her eyes had a glint in them.

Who knew that this kind of relationship could form between them?

“Why does it feel as if you are leaving me behind and moving forward on your own? This is as if I am still drowning while you climbed up to the surface and are enjoying the warmth of the sun,” he expressed, “I am sorry. This came out harsher than I meant. You—”

Extending her hand towards him, she pulled him into a tight hug and patted his back. She could see how vulnerable he was right at that instant, and due to that, her heart ached a lot.

“Yejoon, I wouldn’t go anywhere. I will pull you up from that deep sea,” she stated, “No, you will have to dive up from it on your own. I will wait on the shore for you.”

“I want to stay like this forever, holding on to you like this, Yura. There is nothing that is better than this,” he voiced out.

“I want to do the same as well,” she stated, “but not every time can we indulge ourselves with the things we want, right? Life’s quite unfortunate.”