We Were Together (A Hannah & Jake Story)

Together We Became

The days when I was dating Jakob Joo Hwan Shin were the happiest days of my life. Finally for once in my life, I had a place of refuge, I had someway to relieve my stress, I had a happiness which I chose for myself. Before we started dating, it was no different. Whenever I was with Jakob I knew I could be myself, I knew he would still love me for who I was. He made me happy and I hope I made him happy.

When we weren't officially dating yet, people were often confused on why we waited to make it official. The reason we decided to have a "thing" was because we weren't sure if we wanted to date, or just remain friends. After a few weeks tho, we realized that even if we started dating, nothing would change because I would love him and he would love me back.

Every Friday at church everyone would always talk about us and ask us about our relationship. Some of the younger kids even made a fan page for us on Instagram. It was kind of creepy at first, but than it became really cute.

Later when we started dating, my sister was always asking about Jakob, she was obsessed with him. Jakob would always come over and whenever he did, he let her rant to him about everything. He would let her paint his nails and braid his hair, he would even do fashion shows with her. Myung Suk loved Jakob too. They would play basketball and video games together all the time. Even when I was busy, Joo Hwan made sure that if Myung Suk was bored he had someone to play with. My whole family adored Jakob, including my parents. My mom loved him because he did chores, cooked, and ran errands for her. My dad loved him because they shared a passion for cars and grilling steak. Jakob would often come over for family dinners, he became part of the family. Sometimes my own mother would even call me Hannah Shin.

The day he asked me to be his girlfriend was like the best day of my life. It was the last day of freshman year and we had decided to go to a theme park to celebrate with some friends. We went on a small kids rollercoaster because I was scared of the big ones. Before we went on the carousel, my shoes became untied. Jakob insisted on tying my shoelaces, and as he got up, he asked me to be his girlfriend, in front of all our friends. Everyone hollered and wooed and all I could think about was how happy I was in that moment. I forgot to say yes and just hugged him for out of pure joy. That day I felt no stress and no anxiety whatsoever. That day was a day I could never forget. The beginning of our journey.