THE PAST, THE PRESENT, & THE FUTURE, txt ✓

06. A Reunion, Pt. 1

A/N: listen, i have no idea how these things work, so i'm improvising. if it's vastly different, then oh well. LET'S DO THIS.

The day finally came, and Nari was a nervous mess.

Sure, she decided to send those letters by herself, but that didn't mean she was terrified. She had contemplated the meaning of her life in the staff room while her coworkers wondered if she was okay, screamed into the pillow at night, chewed off her fingernails out of anxiety, and tested how long she could hold her breath underwater to see if it hurt if she ever tried to drown herself (not that she wanted to drown).

When the 13th of February finally came, she got dressed with trepidation. Her anxiety only grew as she pried Taehyun's letter from between the books on her shelf and reread it, wanting to keep every word committed to memory.

The day before, she had gone to the library, wanting a bit of rest after a busy week filled with assignments, projects, and of course her teaching job. It was rapidly coming to a close and she was going to miss those crazy kids, but she knew where she was applying once she graduated. That very school, filled with memories of the kids she had come to adore, and of course, the feeling of wanting to be close to Taehyun.

When she had arrived at the library, eager to curl up in the same spot she always did, the corner armchair Taehyun often sat in, but the librarian called her over to the table. Confused, she did, and the middle-aged lady handed her a sealed envelope.

"What's this?" she asked, taking it. The librarian simply smiled, watching her examine the envelope and gasp, a wide smile spreading across her face, when she recognized the handwriting of the person who had written 'to Kim Nari' on the front.

She looked at the librarian. "He was here?" she exclaimed, eyes sparkling with delight and tears beginning to well up. "He wrote this?"

"He was always here, wasn't he?"

Nari was already sitting at the nearest couch, tearing the envelope open with haste, but removing the letter with infinite care. She unfolded the paper, reading it first with a smile, thinking, I missed him so much, but by the time she reached the end of the short letter, she was in tears.

That was why she found even more resolve to go. The fact that after so long spent wishing for even a glimpse of him, she would get to see him, talk to him.

The afternoon of the 15th of February, she drove to the high school she had spent three years of her life studying in, and couldn't deny the rush of elation and nostalgia she felt as she saw where a majority of the worst—and best—three years of her life had been spent.

It still stood tall with three buildings, and her eyes automatically landed on the third set of windows on the side of the building on the far left, the six floor, as it always had in her last year of school. Her third-year classroom, where she started her journey on getting better, and spent days in preparing for those horrible huge exams.

Then her eyes landed on the first floor, the last set of windows, where her second-year classroom was. She was tempted to go visit it first, but told herself she would stick to the plan she and Lee Nayoung had made. After they graduated, the two reconnected and remained good friends.

First, though, she and all the alumni had to go to the auditorium, for a little welcome ceremony, and then...the exploration would begin.

***

"So, where to first?" Nayoung asked, looping her arm through Nari's. "Should we stick to the plan we made?"

"Yep, to the first-year class it is!" Nari declared, hiding the anxiety coursing through her. She had seen a man with long, silver-streaked hair go up the stairs with another girl. Though it had been a while since she last saw him, she was sure she was watching Choi Beomgyu.