We decided not to cross the line (Season 2)

113. Disgustingly bad coffee

As I read her diary, laughing and crying,

before I knew it, a month had passed.




In the meantime, I watched movies all night, too,

and even went to an exhibition by a writer she would probably have liked.




'If Jeong-ah were here,

she would have told me, one by one,

the stories behind this writer's work, and

the meaning hidden in each painting...'




What kind of time is she spending now?




'Jeong-ah. Did you happen to meet Julian?

Don’t get too close to Julian

while I’m not around.

That’s really not fair.'





One day, while sitting on the sofa and reading

'Demian,' which she had given me as a gift,




I suddenly turned my gaze out the window.

The first snow was falling.




'First snow...'





"Right!! Camping!!"




I had been eagerly waiting for the snowy camping trip

she had wanted to go on so badly.





I hurriedly got on the site, made the reservation,

and roughly packed the things I needed and loaded them into the car.

And then

I headed to the campground we loved.






'Jeong-ah!!

It's snowing!! You can see it snowing there too, right?

I'll hurry over and light a campfire

and even make it so we can sing around it.'





As soon as I arrived at the campground,

I lit a fire.





Then I set out two camping chairs

and started preparing dinner.




Meanwhile, the snow was letting up.





'This isn't good...

It has to keep snowing.

That’s how the camping Jeong-ah wished for gets completed.'





I was about to grill meat, but then I stopped,

and decided to just boil ramen.





'If we had come together, we would've grilled meat

and boiled ramen too, right?

How annoying...

If it were Jeong-ah, she'd have brought fruit too

and packed a whole heap of stuff...'





I laughed, remembering the huge suitcase

she had brought for our second camping trip.




While the water was boiling,

the snowflakes began to grow heavier again.




As I looked up at the snowing sky,

I suddenly thought it was time to put in the ramen.





"Jeong-ah. Where did you put the ramen earlier?"




I froze for a moment at the words that slipped out without thinking.





Then, pretending nothing was wrong,

I took the ramen out of the bag, put it into the water, and sat down in the chair.





And...

I held back the tears that kept threatening to burst out.





'What is a silly camping trip like this...

when we've known each other for years,

and we never even got to come together once in a snowy winter...'





The guilt I felt toward her

burst out all at once.

So the sound of my crying wouldn't escape,

I covered my mouth with my arm.





After the crying finally subsided,

when I opened the pot lid,

the ramen had already gone completely soggy.




I ate the ramen that had already gone soggy,

while looking up at the snowing sky,

forcing it down bite by bite.





'Jeong-ah...

I look like an idiot, don't I?

Still, if you were here,

would you have said I was cute?'




 
Today there was no Jeong-ah to make coffee for me,

so I had to brew it myself.




I made two cups of coffee

and placed them on the small table.





'Look...

because you're not here, it's such a mess.

Even the coffee tastes like crap...

I did everything exactly the way Jeong-ah used to.'




As I drank the most awful coffee in the world,

I thought,





'Still... Jeong-ah!

We came camping on a snowy day.

Please remember this...'





A snowflake fell into my coffee cup

and melted away without a trace.




But then...

in the life where Jeong-ah had vanished,

the traces she had left behind

were scattered everywhere.





"Jeong-ah... is like a tattoo to me."