The next morning,
when I woke up and checked my phone,
there was a message from Jeong-a’s older sister.
[Hunji.
Before Jeong-a was hospitalized,
it seems she整理ed the house.
There was a box with your name on it.
It looks like she separately gathered
the things that held memories with you...
I’m keeping it for now,
so if you want to come get it, let me know.]
As soon as I checked the message,
I sent a reply right away.
[Yes. I want to have it.
Can you give it to me? Would it be okay if I went to your place?]
[Yes. Then come over to the house.]
I went straight to Jeong-a’s older sister’s place
and took the box home.
The moment I took the box in my hands,
my heart collapsed once again.
She had set apart the things filled with memories of me
from everything else.
The fact that she had thought of me as special
came home to me with heartbreaking clarity.
When I got home and tried to open the box,
my fingertips trembled and my heart tightened.
I could guess what kinds of things would be inside,
but I was also afraid of the emotions that would rush in once I actually faced them.
“These are the cohabitation rules we wrote in Spain,
the necklace I gave her as a present,
what’s this envelope?”
“Ah... it’s the cash and card I gave her for living expenses.
She never spent any of the cash...”
On that cash envelope, this was written.
[I should save this precious living allowance Hunji gave me!!❤️
But it’s too precious to spend😭]
Like rummaging through a treasure box,
I took the items out one by one.
“The drive-in movie tickets we looked at together,
these are Polaroid photos.
No way, she even kept the restaurant receipts
from everywhere we went together...”
She hadn’t thrown away even the smallest thing,
and had kept it all.
As I looked at the things taken out of the box,
the fact that she was no longer by my side
hit me all over again, painfully and deeply.
It hurt and felt cold, like my heart had been blown open.
And then there was her diary, standing beside the box.
It recorded, one by one, what had happened on the days we met,
and what emotions she had felt.
The first page began with our first lesson.
[I almost ended up late for the interview, and even got caught in the choking scene
so I left home in plenty of time today.
When I arrived at the lesson place, Hunji was already there.
What, what! Why is he so handsome!!
He looks even better up close...ㅠ
Too bad..
If I had been born just a little later
I would’ve tried to make a move for real...
Today we worked hard on the lesson only!!
Theory....ㅠㅠ
What am I even thinking lol]
As I was reading the first page,
I found myself smiling.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I had smiled.
I turned to the next page.
[Today was the second lesson day with Hunji.
But he bought me the café latte I like.
Squee!!! How did he know I like latte?
This is so touching.ㅠ
Does he maybe like me?
No... Jeong-a.
You’re the teacher, and Hunji is the student.
Don’t get carried away...
But when I said the boss had sent a coffee gifticon,
his expression changed.
No way... is that jealousy?]
'Right...
I had bought an iced Americano and
two iced lattes on the day of the second lesson.
Actually... I remembered that she liked latte,
but I said I wasn’t sure what she’d like, so I bought both... '
Thinking of that day, I smiled.
[Last night, I went to Hangang Park with Hunji
and had fried chicken delivered.
While talking about my bucket list,
which was that I wanted to go live in another country,
we suddenly ended up eating chicken at Hangang Park.
What is this flow?
But it felt thrilling, like having a secret rendezvous in a car.
No... Jeong-a...
If you like Hunji, you’ll only get hurt.
Still, I think I’m starting to like him...
I guess I should try doing a face pack every night.
That way I’ll look a little younger.
Hng... what kind of trick of fate is this.
Why did I have to be born this early ㅠㅠ]
'She was worrying about all this... by herself... '
As I kept reading the diary,
something was tucked into the very last page.
When I unfolded the paper folded in half,
there was a list of the things she wanted to do
together with me.
‘When did she write something like this?’
There was an x next to the things she had already done.
1. Go to the drive-in movie together x
2. Go camping in winter and watch the snow together
3. Cook for me x
4. Travel around the world
5. Take a walk together and listen to the music I like x
6. Write a letter every birthday x
7. Watch movies together all night
8. Read books together at a café x
9. Go to an exhibition together
10. Go to an amusement park x
.
.
.
Her bucket list
had quite a few things she wanted to do with me written on it.
There were still several things we hadn’t done together yet.
‘Jeong-a.
I’ll finish the things we never got to do together…’
I decided to fill in her bucket list
one by one.
Just then, the phone rang.
It was Jeong-a’s older sister.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Hunji! Is Jeong-a’s diary in that box by any chance?"
"Yes, it is."
"Oh my...
I had put that in there while I was reading it,
but I guess I forgot and just gave it to you."
"Ah... I was reading it just now."
"Really? If Jeong-a finds out you read that,
she’ll go wild!!"
The two of us were flustered for a moment,
and could only hold our phones without saying a word.
"... I’ll get to see her go wild later anyway...
Just keep it, Hunji."
"Yes. I want to keep it.
Reading it, it’s really cute and funny.
I... while reading Jeong-a’s diary,
I really... laughed for the first time in a long while."
"I did too while looking through that diary—I laughed and cried
like that many times.
It was like Jeong-a was reading it next to me..."
I hesitated several times over whether to say this,
and after a long struggle, I finally managed to speak.
"Um... if there are days when you really miss Jeong-a,
please contact me.
Of course I can’t replace Jeong-a,
but I can be your younger sibling instead."
"Can you do that?
Then on the days you really miss Jeong-a too,
contact me..."
"Yes... noona."
"Thank you..."
After ending the call,
I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t eaten anything today.
Then I remembered what Jeong-a had said when she came to visit me in the ICU.
She had said she wanted to eat the toast I make.
I had the ingredients delivered,
and made toast as soon as they arrived.
'Jeong-a...
you said you wanted to eat toast.'
I slowly enjoyed the toast I made.
It felt as if she were praising me
and stroking my stomach.
"It’s snowing for the first time..."
translations_strictly_follow_schema_must_match_input_length_not_output_compression_ignored_if_any_extra_or_corrupted_items_present_should_be_corrected_by_output_only? no
