A walk to remember || Tk

「 Chapter 20 」

—Chapter twenty—

When I was seventeen, my life changed forever.

As I walk the streets of Beaufort forty years later, thinking back on that year of my life, I remember everything as clearly as if it were all still unfolding before my very eyes.

I remember Jungkook saying 'yes' to my breathless question and how we both began to cry together. I remember talking to both Dohyun and my parents, explaining to them what I needed to do.

They thought I was doing it only for Jungkook, and all three of them tried to talk me out of it, especially when they realized that Jungkook had already said yes. What they didn't understand, and I had to make clear to them, was that I needed to do it for me.

I was in love with him, so deeply in love that I didn't care if he was sick. I didn't care that we wouldn't have long together. None of those things mattered to me.

All I cared about was doing something that my heart had told me was the right thing to do. In my mind it was the first time God had ever spoken directly to me, and I knew with certainty that I wasn't going to disobey.

I know that some of you may wonder if I was doing it out of pity. Some of the more cynical may even wonder if I did it because he'd be gone soon anyway and I wasn't committing much.

The answer to both questions is no.

I would have married Jeon Jungkook no matter what happened in the future. I would have married Jeon Jungkook if the miracle I was praying for had suddenly come true. I knew it at the moment I asked him, and I still know it today.

Jungkook was more than just the man I loved. In that year Jungkook helped me become the man I am today. With his steady hand he showed me how important it was to help others; with his patience and kindness he showed me what life is really all about. His cheerfulness and optimism, even in times of sickness, was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed.

We were married by Dohyun in the Baptist church, my father standing beside me as the best man. That was another thing he did. In the South it's a tradition to have your father beside you, but for me it's a tradition that wouldn't have had much meaning before Jungkook came into my life.

Jungkook had brought my father and me together again; somehow he'd also managed to heal some of the wounds between our two families.

After what he'd done for me and for Jungkook, I knew in the end that my father was someone I could always count on, and as the years passed our relationship grew steadily stronger until my father's death.

Jungkook also taught me the value of forgiveness and the transforming power that it offers. I realized that the day that Namjoon and Margaret had come to his house. Jungkook held no grudges. Jungkook led his life the way the Bible taught.

Jungkook was not only the angel who saved Tom Thornton, he was the angel who saved us all.

Just as he'd wanted, the church was bursting with people. Over two hundred guests were inside, and more than that waited outside the doors as we were married on March 12, 1959. Because we were married on such short notice, there wasn't time to make many arrangements, and people came out of the woodwork to make the day as special as they could, simply by showing up to support us.

I saw everyone I knew--Miss Garber, Namjoon, Margaret, Eddie, Sally, Carey, Angela, and even Lew and his grandmother--and there wasn't a dry eye in the house when the entrance music began.

It was the song: 'Unforgettable" by Frank Sinatra.

Although Jungkook was weak and hadn't moved from his bed in two weeks, he insisted on walking down the aisle so that his father could give him away.