Taesan has become quiet these days.
If I talk to you first, you smile,
That smile was hanging somewhere.
“Do you still dream these days?”
I asked cautiously.
He nodded slowly.
“The same person keeps coming up.
But, I can't see the face.
But strangely enough… the emotions are clear.”
I held my breath.
I can't tell you that's me,
I couldn't pretend not to know.
“Are you sad?”
He asked quietly.
Taesan didn't answer for a long time.
and,
He said it without looking at me.
“…I feel abandoned.”
I could hear my heart slowly shrinking.
No, it was probably just my imagination.
Still, that was accurate.
I am,
Because I am the one who erased him.
A few days later,
I got a call from Taesan.
It was a text.
It was short and meaningful.
“Ha-yoon, have you ever written a letter or something before?”
I almost dropped my phone from my hand.
Not "maybe"
I knew exactly what "that letter" was.
That night.
We sat across from each other.
A corner seat in a cafe.
The lights were dim and the music was quiet.
It was an atmosphere where the eyes looked clearer.
Taesan took out a piece of paper.
It was folded and crumpled.
"This came out of my practice bag.
It's old paper... and it's handwritten."
I found out.
My handwriting.
A long time ago,
It was the last letter I wrote before my memories were erased.
“You will probably never see this again,
If by any chance my memory returns—
That might be a punishment.
Still, I loved you.”
Taesan looked at me for a long time.
“…Is that what Hayoon wrote?”
I couldn't answer.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
There was emotion in his voice.
Neither surprise nor anger
The voice of a wounded person.
“It could just be a similar font…”
“No. I don’t want to hear that.”
He cut me off.
“I kept feeling familiar.
That you know me well,
You already know the answer to something I don't.
But… what is this?
Why is this in my bag?
Why me…
Why in my memory,
“Do you think you’re missing something?”
I swallowed my breath.
This is,
A line that must not be spoken.
But already, the line was being erased.
"Mr. Taesan."
He raised his head.
His eyes wavered.
“That letter…
"What I wrote is correct."
At that moment,
Even the air seemed to have stopped.