love you later | yeonbin ✓

056

Somewhere hidden in the shadows, fate watches as they make their path through the woods.

She smiles, knowing that it was all worth it. Knowing that, even though it had taken longer, the string strained and slightly loosened, in the end, it had stitched itself back together. It's stronger than before, thicker where it had almost completely unraveled.

It wasn't her doing. She hadn't done anything but tie two loops of red string around two chubby baby fingers 26 years ago. The rest was all them. It was the secret smiles they shared, the lingering gazes when the other wasn't looking. The soft hands that touched even softer skin, the kisses, the passion. The knocking down of walls, brick by brick until they could fully see each other. It was the rejection they feared and the acceptance they found instead. It was the sound of laughter echoing through the house, rainy days spent chasing through the busy streets of Seoul. It was pictures in galleries, meeting each other's friends and family, the flowers left on a bedside table when one of them had to get up early.

It was love.

With a heavy sigh, she watches them as they get smaller in the distance. She knows what their future holds, even if they don't. It won't always be easy. Despite their love, living together is an adjustment. And despite how gentle they are with each other, sometimes patience runs low. There are bumps in the road ahead, that much she's sure of.

But she can also see the sage green paint on the living room wall of their first shared apartment, a few months ahead. Can hear the laughter echoing through the empty room as they kiss, faces scattered with paint. And if she looks even farther into the future, there's the glint of a ring, a promise of forever that will be a formality at that point. She sees baby shoes and sleepless nights. Graying hair that has nothing to do with magic.

And yet, she thinks as she watches them slip out of sight, maybe there is magic in it either way. What else would it be called if you still get butterflies looking into your favorite eyes, 60 years later? She's not worried, knows she doesn't have to be. She's no longer needed, not as long as they have each other.

Whether she's watching or not, tying their strings together or not, for the first time she's sure that some things were simply meant to be, even without her interfering. And as the sound of laughter fades into the distance, letting go suddenly seems like the easiest thing.

╰┈➤

it's a little bittersweet to wrap this up, but i loved writing the epilogue and i hope it brought a smile to your face!! in my head, they adopt little witch orphans some time down the line. giving a home to little kids so they don't have to grow up feeling alone like yeonjun used to.

thank you to everyone who has been patient with me as i worked my way through the story and all the lovely comments along the way. i appreciate you so much.

xx nini