Our Summer

Chapter 1

"Continue living, and continue loving. You know how to love, Park Seori. You love so kindly yet so fiercely.

Thank you for loving me too"

Seori traces the handwritten words at the back of the photo she has been looking at for the past ten minutes, smiling to herself as she slips the photo back into her planner on her bedside table. Seated on her fluffy white carpet in the middle of her room, the slow jazz song humming in the background and the fairy lights on her walls illuminating the space, she feels at ease.

Two opened luggages lay in front of her, the initial plan to pack for her eight-weeks programme has long been forgotten the second she stumbled upon the precious photo. That one photo that can make her feel so much joy yet so much pain. A combination of feelings she has a love-hate relationship with.

A feeling she yearns to feel again and again even when she makes herself believe she hates it.

"Eight weeks. I should have planned this earlier. I do know how much to bring", she pouts to herself, tapping her fingers on her thighs. "I need ideas. I need a list"

Three hours later, she pushes her packed luggages to the wall, nodding proudly to herself for completing the only task she had left for the night. She jumps into her bed immediately, pulling the blanket up to her face as she cuddles up nicely on the soft bed.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. One hour later. She has yet to sleep.

Even when she forced herself to clear her mind and think of nothing but happy moments. Things that make her grateful to live or anything that makes her heart calm. Her mind goes straight to that one night when everything inside of her died. The night that turned her life upside down. The night she lost every will to live.

The night she believed she had died inside.

She tosses herself on the bed a couple of times, the sleeping playlist still playing on her phone and yet it fails to help her sleep. She is used to this. The thoughts seem to always be in her head and rob herself of the time she could have gotten proper rest and sleep. It has been going on for nearly two years now.

Two years since she lost everything.

"This is so shitty", she whispers to herself before grabbing a book from her nightstand, walks out to her small living room and flicks the lamp on. "Let me read instead"

-

Taehyung watches as the supposed students from the city of Seoul walk out of the school building after their short briefing session with the Principal. The students arrived three hours earlier, and the second he laid eyes on them, his mood shifted abruptly. He was informed the school will be welcoming a few undergraduate students from one of the prestigious universities in Seoul - Seoul National University.

He prepared himself to accept the visitors from the big city but he did not prepare himself to like having outsiders into the small village he has called home for the past twenty nine years. Geochang is relatively a small village located further from the main city. Near to the mountains, surrounded by greenery and blessed with the beautiful sight of the sea. There is nothing but solace and serenity living in the suburb where everyone moves in slow motion, embracing the beauty of time and living as they go on with their life.

He has lived in the small village his entire life. He will never leave this place. He had sworn to ensure this small secluded part of the big land will always be properly taken care of.