After a few minutes, she stopped pumping her legs and let herself slowly come to a stop. Her feet slid back and forth along the dirt under the swing. Finally, she came to a complete rest. She turned to smile at him.
“What’s next, Joonie? Do you want to swing?”
He shook his head even as a memory surfaced. He was a small boy again, running full out towards this swing. His appa was chasing him, several feet behind him. Tiny Namjoon crawled up onto the wooden seat and plopped his bottom down onto it while his stubby, little fingers grappled for the ropes before closing tightly over them.
“Push me, Appa!” His eager little voice rang out in the cool, autumn air. The late afternoon sun was gracing his face with a gentle warmth.
Namjoon smiled at the memory. It was of a time before responsibility had come to land so heavily upon his shoulders. He’d been young enough to not yet know the loss of freedom or the exit of joy. He’d simply taken pleasure in the smallest of moments back then.
He could still feel the wind in his hair as his father pushed him back and forth on that swing. He’d pulled him up so high before he released the swing to crash forward, that Namjoon had almost been scared for a moment. His little legs dangling over the edge of the swing, the ground looking like it was a mile away, but he’d had faith in his father’s strong arms. They wouldn’t let him fall. So he’d just closed his eyes and relished the feeling of cutting through the air as the swing flew forward.
Where was Namjoon?
Breeze stood up and turned towards him before walking around the swing to meet him again. He had a faraway look in his eyes. What was he thinking about? Why was the look crowning his features both bitter and sweet? As though he was remembering something both melancholy and comforting at the same time.
“Joonie?”
Her sweet voice broke through his reverie. As his eyes came to rest on her beautiful face, he wondered why life couldn’t be as simple today as it had been when he was tiny. Why couldn’t he just enjoy today with this lovely woman without considering all the tomorrows he couldn’t spend with her?
Was it even fair to consider kissing her when she’d be leaving him in less than two days? He was open to a long-distance relationship, but would she be? He’d be so busy with work that he wouldn’t have time to miss her, but she would be the one sitting at home, staring at his picture or watching a video of him, while she ached to see him. He already felt sorry for her.
But then he remembered that she had spent four years writing him letters. With no response. Forty-four months sharing her hopes and fears with him. Without one single answer. Thirteen hundred forty hours longing to know him. Yet never meeting him until today. Now was her chance. And she appeared to be grabbing it.
“What do you think, Breeze? How do you feel about long-distance relationships?”
“Are we talking miles or months?” She was very perceptive.
His eyes met her own. “Both.”
“I think that with the right person, it would work just fine.”
Am I the right person, Breeze?
His eyes were asking the question his lips didn’t utter.
She gazed into Joonie’s eyes as her heart began to rise. Did he love her? Was it even possible? He’d just met her today. She’d shared a few snippets of her heart with him. But he didn’t really know her. She couldn’t expect too much today. So she smiled and made him an offer.
“Would you like me to read to you now? I noticed a bench along the river over there. We could go sit a while.”
“Yes!” He was very eager to see more of her heart.