Chaeyoung sighed for the nth time. He was in a bus terminal waiting for Mina. She was running late. He saw Mina looking for him from where he sat. He waited for her to notice him with a stern expression. As soon as Mina saw him, she knew that he was ready to scold her.
'Let's go?' she said, carefully.
'What time is it?' he said in a dead tone.
She looked at her phone. '7:06 am.'
'The bus left 5 minutes ago.'
Mina regretfully sighed.
'What did I told you last night?' Chaeyoung started just as Mina feared. 'I told you that the bus would leave at 7. I told you to reach here before 7. I told you to keep the alarm on. But you didn't listen to me. You slept in and now we missed the bus!'
'Sorry oppa. I was really sleepy when you called last night. I set the reminder but forgot to turn on the alarm,' Mina said. Chaeyoung's anger immediately evaporated hearing her call him oppa. She usually called him honey. Calling him oppa was her remedy to cool his anger. No matter what the reason was, that made him rage, he would always melt down when Mina called him oppa. He loved it too much. His lips quivered as he tried to hide his smirk.
'Oh, were you really sleepy?' he said, pretending to be angry but understanding. She nodded with a subtle pout. How could he have stayed mad at that woman?
'I'll forgive you if you kiss me,' he said.
'Right now?' she looked around. From the corner they were in, they could see only few people loitering around.
'Right now,' he said firmly. Mina stepped closer and planted a wet kiss on his lips. He instantly smiled.
'We can catch the next bus at 8,' he said. 'Have you had breakfast?'
'No~~ I was sleeping when you called. I rushed here as fast as possible. I'm hungry,' she said.
'Let's go grab breakfast then,' he took Mina's bag from her, in which she had packed clothes for overnight.
'Are you still going to be so secretive about our trip? Why don't you just tell me where we are going?' she held his arm and followed him.
'You will see. Don't expect too much. We are just going to see someone.'
They went to eat breakfast in a nearby eatery. They visited a convenient store as well, to buy snacks to eat during their bus trip. They caught another bus at 8 and continued their trip. Chaeyoung was taking Mina to his hometown. He wanted to pay his mother's grave a visit before he left for Japan. He also hadn't told Mina about his plan to move to Japan. He wanted to surprise her.
'Are we here to see your mother?' Mina asked as a graveyard came into sight. Chaeyoung nodded. He held her hand walked to where his mother rested.
'Hi mom,' Chaeyoung bowed and Mina followed suit. 'I'm living a good life, mom. I've come to brag about what I have achieved in life,' he said.
'You came here to brag?' Mina chuckled.
'Yup. Say hi to mom first.'
'How should I address her? I want to brag about you too.'
'Really? Call her mom. Go ahead and brag.'
'Hello mom. I'm Myoui Mina, your son's girlfriend. Don't worry about your crazy son, mom. He's a great man now. He takes good care of me and I take care of him. He lives responsibly now. He doesn't drink like he used to or eye every girl he meets.' Chaeyoung laughed hearing that.
'He has earned a name for himself by working hard,' Mina continued. 'He has registered his own business with his friend. He has accomplished a lot in the past two years. You raised a good son, mom.'
When she was done and turned to Chaeyoung, he was staring so sweetly at her, with his head tilted, his eyes dripping honey and a proud smile on his face.
'What?' she smiled.
'I'm so happy right now,' he said.
'Is it because of me?'
'Yes~~ oh, you forgot to brag about my sexiness,' he said in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
'Why would I tell your mom about your sexiness?'
'You won't?'
'I won't.'
'Okay. Let me brag about myself then,' Chaeyoung took a step backward and held both his hands on Mina's shoulders as if he was presenting Mina to someone.
'Mom, this is Myoui Mina, the woman I love,' he said and Mina turned serious. 'She is the reason why I wanted to be a better man. She completes me, mom. She loves me, she cares for me and she makes me happy. I wouldn't have been the man I'm today without her. She is my world that I treasure. She is my greatest achievement, mom.'
Mina spun around and locked her eyes with Chaeyoung's. She now realised that when he said he came to brag about what he had achieved in life, it didn't mean career or wealth, he meant Mina. Without breaking the eye contact, Chaeyoung knelt down on a knee and brought out a ring he had been hiding in his pocket. Mina gasped in anticipation.
'Will you marry me?' he said. She covered her mouth in reflex, surprised. She hadn't expected their trip to turn out like this.
'Mina, say yes fast. I think I knelt on a piece of stone. My knee hurts,' he said.
'Yes, silly! Get up and put it on me,' she pulled him up.
'I'm moving to Japan,' he said, putting on the ring on her. Another surprise for her.
'Really?'
'Yup. You can quit your job and work permanently in our company. We will settle down in Japan.' Mina was happy with the news.
'Mom, when we come to see you next time we will bring your grandchild,' Mina said, exhilarated. Chaeyoung smiled shyly, happy for his future family. Mina noticed it.
'Shouldn't blushing be my part?' she said, laughing.
---------------------------
'Momo-chan, come out of your room. Your cousin Tadashi is here with his wife and daughter. Come and say hi,' Fumie, Momo's stepmother, informed her.
Momo reluctantly went to join her family having tea with Tadashi and his wife, Nayeon. The latter reminded her of Jeongyeon. It was because of her that she got to meet Jeongyeon.
'Momo-san, are you doing anything this evening?' Nayeon asked. Momo shook her head.
'Then let's go out and see the Tanabata parade,' Nayeon said, cheerfully. 'Honey, please watch Rini today,' she asked her husband and the latter agreed.
So, Nayeon and Momo went out to see the Tanabata festivities. Momo's mind was preoccupied by Jeongyeon. They met on a day like that. Nayeon talked about this and that but Momo wasn't listening. Even if Nayeon asked her something, her answers were limited to monosyllabic answers. She aimlessly followed Nayeon until it was dark.
Nayeon's phone beeped and she checked it. "It's almost the hour. Start mission," the text read.
'Momo-san, let's write our wishes,' Nayeon said, taking out colourful paper strips and markers. Momo took them and thought what to write.
"Let Godot arrive," she wrote.
'Just a minute, Momo-san. Please go ahead and put it up. I have to check on Rini,' Nayeon said and walked aside with her phone.
Momo walked up to row of bamboos to hang her wish. She sighed after hanging it. She read some of the wishes people left. Someone stepped in by her left and hung a strip of paper. She read the wish.
"I pray her heart still race when she see me."
There was something about that paper strip that kept her looking at it. She knew the handwriting. Her heart skipped a beat when she realised that it was Korean script. The next thing she noticed was, a tattoo on the man's left arm, "Momo's Jeongyeon."
'Jeongyeon-ah!' she looked up at him. He was smiling at her with his eyes glittering.
'I've come for you,' he said. She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. Her heart beat erratically.
'I have been waiting for you,' she said, her voice cracking.
'I missed you,' he said.
Momo pulled away from the hug and looked at Jeongyeon, cupping his face. She missed looking at that face so much. She couldn't believe he was here.
'Are you real?' she groped his body, to assure herself that he was really there.
'I'm real. You're not dreaming, Momo-ya.'
'You have lost weight,' she said, sniffing, noticing that Jeongyeon had become thinner. 'And you wear glasses now.... You look more like Sam.' Jeongyeon chuckled at her observation.
'I worked hard day and night to come here and stand before you, Momo-ya,' he said, 'I worked hard so that you can proudly call me yours.' He wiped his tears that fell from his right eye. Momo wiped his other cheek.
'Momo.'
'Hmm'
'Will you be Jeongyeon's Momo?' he knelt and presented her with the ring he held on for the last two years.
When they were together back in Daegu, whenever Jeongyeon called her "Jeongyeon's Momo," she would always playfully deflect it to tease him. But not today.
'I couldn't be happier to be Jeongyeon's Momo,' she said, and let him slip on the ring on her finger.
He wiped her tears and hugged her again. Behind her, Jeongyeon saw Nayeon at a distance, smiling at them from ear to ear. She showed both her thumbs up to Jeongyeon when their eyes met, and he smiled back at her.
'I love you,' Momo muffled, her face buried on his shoulder. He pulled back and looked at her in the eyes.
'I love you more,' he said. She grinned, reminiscing old times. They used to argue, "I love you more. I love you more," until one of them gave up in defeat. They had both missed those times. But Momo didn't get to argue this time because Jeongyeon's lips were already on hers.
They had been waiting for this day. It was a beautiful night. And they kissed under the starry night, not minding the people around them, united as one, like the star-crossed lovers who meet on Tanabata after crossing the vast galaxy.
The story continues...