1984 | choi chanhee ♫

EPILOGUE

♫ She is dancing away from you now.. She was just a wish ♫ - gypsy, fleetwood mac

Music flooded from my Mom's speakers downstairs,
"Friday night fiesta" still being a weekly occurrence, with her inviting a shit ton of people around to dance and drink to what i used to think was the most god awful music on earth - but since then I've of course had a change of heart.

"Y/N!!" The exhilarating shriek of my mother echoed from outside my bedroom like a broken record. Bursting in with her brought smile, painted with her fuchsia pink lipstick. "Are you coming down to dance?"

I huffed, saying I'd never join in on these nights hadn't lasted long after I got back from my trip to the past.
"Sure." I sat up from my bed, dropping my phone where my friends all sat on the groupchat complaining about their own parents.

She smiled, happy to have her daughter by her side after all the years of being shrugged off and ditched. The first time I'd said I'd join her party downstairs, it was as if a soul left her body, her little white ghost flying high above her. She ran with me downstairs, her neon pink leotard and matching leg warmers, looked as good as they did on her when she was younger.

"Have a drink lovely!" She passed me over a passion fruit martini she'd made for herself earlier.

In the cluster of her friends, she danced and bopped along to the beat of every song, age never fading her sparkle and spirit of life - long forgetting where I was.

The entire place was chaotic, filled with laughter, loud booms from the speaker and vocals that would kill off Simon Cowell if he ever heard them.

Wanting some fresh air, I pushed through the crowds of people dancing and flinging their arms around wildly in different directions. Watching my step carefully, I paced through the crowd until I bumped into someone in front of me, their drink spilling in front of them.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't see you-" I burst out into a chaotic episode of word vomit.
"It's okay, this suit is older than you thin-"
The man stopped in his tracks, me too scared to even look up at him. Hesitantly, I lifted my chin, my eyes widened at who I saw.

Choi... Chanhee?.. His faded pink hair, his sparkling brown eyes and soft peach skin seemed as if they hadn't aged a day. He looked mature, that was for sure, but just seeing his face made my heart melt in its cage. It felt as if my heart had started beating again, butterflies erupting from their cocoons in the pit of my stomach.

"It's you." He whispered to himself, "It's really you."
"It's you as well." I smiled up at him, tears welling at the bottom of my eyes.
There was a moment of silence as I watched his eyes scan my features, landing on my lips with hesitance.
I leaned in, hoping to feel his lips against mine for the first time in what feels like decades.
"I've waited 40 years for this." He spoke softly before, ready to seal his lips with mine. For only a second before he pulled away shaking his head. "But I can't."

"Why not?" I frowned, a sharp pain impaling through my chest at his words.
"I'm older than you now. So much older. This isn't right, you need to live your young life-"
"Chanhee, I'm an adult. I make my own decisions. You're all I want and you're all I ever will want. Every boy that has ever come near me since I left you, I've turned down. They're just not you. I don't like modern boys, I don't like anyone my age. They're all zombified by their phones and couldn't give a shit less how I feel. You're not that." I cried over the music, as it faded into the background from the living room.

"I love you, Y/N. All these years I've lived, the boys have thrown different women at me, but I could never marry, never be with anyone that wasn't you. I knew there was no chance we could ever be together. But now you're here, I can't take your life away from you. It's wrong, adult or not, we're 20 or 30 years apart." He sighed, brushing his hair back through his dainty fingers and stripping them down by his sides as he leaned against the wall.

"I don't care. I love you, and that's all I'm ever gonna feel only for you." I caught eye contact with the man, the man who hadn't changed. His eyes seemed as if a battle was commencing in his mind, his morality screwed by the cruelty of time.

"I love you too." He whispered with starry tears in his eyes, eyes of desperation that seemed as if they'd waited years for this moment.
He leaned back in, finally sealing his lips against mine, a nostalgic firework shot into the sky, every feeling of comfort returning in that moment.

"Ain't no way." A glass hits the floor beside us, a familiar voice interrupts the moment, causing us both to jolt back to acting normal.

Jet black hair sleeked back, cat eyes sharp enough to kill a man, that could only be indentified of a boy named Juyeon Lee.
"I'm so happy for you man!" His shock suddenly sparked into joy, as he jumped up and down hugging Chanhee like a teenager would when his friend strikes his first date.

"Okay I'm going to tell the others bye!" He zoomed off out the front door, where Hyunjae stood cigarette in mouth laughing to himself.
"Oh for christ sake. Has he been there that entire time?" Chanhee shook his head in embarrassment, his cheeks turning a rosy pink like they used to back then.

"Wanna head somewhere else lovely?" I asked with a bright grin, I'd catch up with those guys later.
"Please." He chuckled, his face lighting up jovially.
All though things may be different, some things are always meant to be.

——

Little Epilogue as a gift to those who have read this book. I love you all dearly and I hope this brightened the sad ending this book has.

I know some of you really wanted this, I hope it satisfies your expectations.

Sending my love always,

Clo <3