Your First Love.

two.

Soojin's POV

For the next five to ten minutes we dissolved into conversation, looking back over everything we'd done during our winter break and reminiscing; more so than in previous years, this year we'd spent almost every day together, and every one was filled with something new. Jaesung had said he wanted us to have a perfect final holiday, and so we'd kept a list of things we wanted to do before life got serious and we had to settle down and focus. First and foremost, we both wanted to go ice skating at Lotte World, which I was a little nervous about given it was my first time on the ice. Despite this, I ended up being surprisingly decent at skating, and even though I did fall over several times, I definitely spent less time on the ice than Jaesung did. We'd spent almost an entire day at Everland Theme Park, going on every ride from the Double Rock Spin to the Amazon Express, and finished off the evening watching the Moonlight Magic Parade; it was absolutely magical. As Christmas time approached, both of our families decided to go to the Busan Christmas Tree Festival together, and my camera roll became filled to the brim with photos and videos of everyone enjoying the beautiful lights and performances. We visited the Busan Sea Life Aquarium, the National Museum of Korea/Seoul Museum, and Jae even took me to a karaoke bar the evening after we'd wandered around the Seoul Christmas Market. I remember being terrified, but somehow he managed to persuade me to get up on stage and sing my heart out in front of everyone else... nobody else could've done such a thing.

I let out a sigh, a contented smile on my face. "I really can't choose a favourite... everything we did was so much fun." A sudden memory of Jae screaming like crazy on one of the theme park rollercoasters flashed into my mind, and I couldn't help giggling a little. "You really did make it a winter break to remember."

Jae didn't say anything in response; he only nodded, smiling weakly and blinking as though he was trying to fight back tears. Before I had a chance to ask what was wrong, Soo-Ah reappeared with our meals, which I thanked her for as she placed them on the table and handed us a set of chopsticks each.

"Enjoy."

My eyes followed her only for a moment as she turned to walk away, and then my attention shifted back to the boy opposite me. He continued to stay silent, taking his chopsticks and beginning to pick away at his food, avoiding even remotely looking anywhere near me. It was far from the reaction I'd have expected after remembering all the fun we'd had these past few weeks, and the worry I'd been feeling all morning suddenly returned tenfold.

To stop myself from biting my lip due to nerves, I picked up my own chopsticks and tried to eat something, despite my appetite diminishing by the second. "Jae...?"

He quickly shook his head and placed a hand on mine for a second as a sign to be quiet. His eyes were glued to his plate and I saw him swallow hard, which caused a sick feeling to begin rising from my stomach. The facade he'd been holding for the last week was finally crumbling to reveal a side to Jaesung I'd never seen before; he was on edge and jittery, and became defensive if I even so much as wondered if he was okay. I desperately wanted to ask again, but something was telling me to hold off and see what he would do next.

After another minute or so, Jae cleared his throat and quietly said, "Soojin, I need to talk to you about something..."

"I knew it," I blurted out.

"What?" The words had left my mouth without a second's thought and so I didn't blame Jae for being caught off guard, but I'd believed he'd been hiding something from me for weeks and hearing that confirmed out loud was such a relief.

"I knew you were acting weird for a reason. Come on, what is it?"

"Now comes the hard part..." He sighed and skimmed a hand through his hair. "I really don't know how to start..."

I frowned, becoming increasingly concerned by the apparent weight of the issue and how difficult it seemed for him to even bring it up. "Jae, come on. Please, just say it... you're starting to worry me."

"Okay," he mumbled, lips rolled tightly together. It clearly took some effort on his part, but he eventually managed to tear his gaze away from the table and look me in the eyes, which is when I noticed the tears beginning to well up inside his. "My family, we're... we're moving away."

I froze suddenly, hand loosening its grip on my chopsticks, causing them to fall and clatter against the plate. Several other people in the cafe turned to look in our direction and although I could feel their eyes boring into me, my focus never swayed from Jaesung. "Moving? Moving where? Just down the street or something, right?"

He slowly shook his head, brows furrowed. "To Tokyo."

"What?" My throat became bone dry within a matter of seconds, enough to make my voice crack. I hurriedly swallowed, trying to make sense of the bombshell that had just been dropped on me. "But that's... why?"

"My dad's company is relocating, so we have to move."

"What about school?"

He raised his shoulders in a gentle shrug. "I've already been enrolled in a school over there."

"Well, you don't have to go, right?" I could hear my voice begin to tremble, as if it was shaking in time with my heart beat. "You... you could stay with us!"

Jaesung scoffed and laughed at the idea. "Soojin, your mom is nice and all, but I don't think she'd like you hiding a boy in your bedroom."

"I wouldn't be hiding you — I'd get her permission first! And besides, you're practically family... she likes you."

"Maybe so, but I don't think she'd be happy with us sharing a room every day," he said, reaching across the table to take my hands in his. It was a loose grip, but he tightened it as he spoke his next words. "And it doesn't change the fact that I can't just leave my family."

"But, I..." I just about managed to seal my lips together in time to stifle a sob, a simple blink releasing the tears I had unknowingly been holding in. "I don't want to lose you."

Jaesung closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, clearly struggling to not let his emotions overwhelm him as I had. A minute passed, then he opened his eyes once again and pulled my hands closer to place a gentle kiss on my knuckles.

"You're not losing me, okay? It's not like we're never going to see each other again." His voice was soft and tender, and somehow the way he spoke calmed me; I couldn't forget the fact he was moving to a different country, but I believed this wasn't the end. "We can text every day, we can video call... we can even visit each other during the school holidays."

With a sniffle, I asked, "You promise?"

"I promise, Jinnie." His lips twitched up into a smile, one that warmed my heart. "I promise."