𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 5

There was an abandoned train station nearby, the kind that used to carry postcards and daydreams before the world turned digital.

The sky above us was grey. Soft, like smoke. Like memory.

He stepped out first. I followed.

I recognized it before he said a word.

This was the place.

The one he wrote on the back of the photo.

> "If we ever forget each other, meet me where the sky turns grey."

It had been a metaphor back then. One of his poetic, dramatic promises.

But standing here now? It wasn't metaphor anymore.

It was a memory, made real.

Hao walked ahead, stopping beneath a broken lamppost.

"This used to be my favorite spot," he said. "No signal. No noise. Just sky."

I said nothing. I was too afraid any words would ruin the fragile quiet between us.

"I came here the day after I left you," he added, softer. "With the photo."

I looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to say goodbye to the part of me that thought he deserved you."

The wind picked up, brushing my hair into my face. He reached out, instinctively tucking it behind my ear like he used to. Like no time had passed at all.

"But I never could," he said. "Let go of you."

Tears prickled in my eyes.

"Then why did you make me feel like I was forgettable?"

"I thought forgetting would protect us both."

"You were wrong."

"I know," he said, voice cracking. "I know that now."

He turned to me fully, and his hands trembled the way they did in Busan. Not from fear-but from hope.

"I didn't bring you here to explain," he said. "Or to ask you to forget. I brought you here because I remember. Because I still want the version of us we planned."

I looked up at the grey sky. Soft and unfinished. Just like us.

"I'm not the same girl anymore," I whispered.

"I don't want the same girl," he said. "I want you. Now. As you are."

And just like that, all the pieces I'd buried rose to the surface.Every what-if. Every almost. Every I miss you I had swallowed whole.

He held out his hand.

Not demanding.

Just offering.

I didn't take it right away. I looked at him. Really looked.

Then I stepped forward. Took his hand.

And I didn't let go.

The sky above stayed grey.

𝙳𝙾𝙽'𝚃 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙶𝙴𝚃 𝚃𝙾 𝚅𝙾𝚃𝙴 𝙽 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂 (⌒‐⌒)