ALWAYS

XXXII

“Young love really makes me envy…”

The older man dreamingly said… Jungkook could only watch him in wonder until he shifted his gaze across the beach… his eyes wandered around as if looking for the figure of his wife… he then suddenly heard a light chuckle coming from the older man beside him, which made him turn his gaze back to him…

“Don’t worry son… no one will take her away from you in here… she’ll be back to you later…”

Jungkook was taken aback… eyes immediately left the beach as he face the old man again… couldn’t able to react with what the other told him… he then opened his mouth… about to deny the old man’s assumptions… but only to be cut by him.

“Looking at you two earlier… made me miss my wife more…”

The old man’s lips curved into a genuine smile… had his gaze still set across the sea… leaving Jungkook putting away his thoughts for a while and be curious about the old man’s wife…

“Why Mr. Jang…? Where’s your wife…?”

Just then, the old man turned to him… with still that warm smile on his wrinkled yet gentle face…

“She already passed away three years ago…”

Jungkook gulped down and immediately apologized as he bowed to the old man… earning a light tap on his shoulder…

“It’s fine son… those last few years with her were nothing but pure bliss for both of us… she too liked beaches… here in this beach I could still remember that fine afternoon… after a long day of my work… where we first had our real date… I really wanted to bring her in at least a fine restaurant downtown… or at least accompany her in strolling down the park or probably buy her a beautiful dress… but I was just a mere errand boy back then… only able to bring her here… to the cheapest place I could think of… luckily she likes the sea and so… with only a piece of baguette my boss gave me that day which was also my first time to taste it… we had our first

date…”

The old man momentarily stopped as he bowed down and chuckled… Jungkook could see the happiness in him… despite the forming tears in the old man’s eyes…

“But we were happy… rather, she’s the happiest that day while I, on the other side felt so insecure of the things I could only give her… but then she told me that she doesn’t need anything… and she doesn’t want to be anywhere else other than being by my side… that being with me was enough to make her the happiest person… I didn’t know she had that side of her… that day… I promised myself to do my hardest just to make her always happy… and I’m grateful that even on the last day we   shared together I was still able to give her that happiness…and that was probably  one of the greatest achievements in my life…”

The old man heaved out a deep sigh after blinking his eyes a couple of times… Jungkook could only bow down for he couldn’t even decipher the forming pain inside him… even though all he was hearing right now was nothing but a story of happiness… he couldn’t feel a tinge of bliss rather, all he could feel was sadness…

Imagining his wife’s face… the pain in it… the suffering she went through with him… could he ever give her that same happiness that the old man told him just now…? His thoughts were suddenly got interrupted when the old man continued speaking…

“That’s why I decided to build this place in here… I want to share to everyone the same happiness that me and my wife shared that day…and I want people to feel the same contentment we felt that day that is, sharing this place with someone special to them…”