Time is racing. I am hugging Auntie Ji An and Gong Yoo. There is a knock at the door. Hae-in and Neighbor Song enter. I hug Neighbor Song. I am going out the door with Hae-in. He has my duffle bag. My backpack is heavy on my shoulders. I get in the VW. I put on my seat belt. Hae-in backs out of the drive. Auntie Ji An, Gong Yoo and Neighbor Song are on the porch. I wave at them. My heart is sinking. We are on the road. Hae-in places his hand over mine and gently squeezes. I can’t feel his hand. I can’t feel anything. The water zooms passed as we drive down the ocean road. I do my best to keep my breathing even and natural. It is a struggle. Everything is a struggle. Too soon we are at the airport. A light rain has begun to fall. I came here in bad weather and I am leaving here is not good weather. Hae-in parks the car and pulls me into his arms. I feel desperate and weepy. I don’t want to leave him. I don’t want to go, but I have too. We hold onto each other for dear life. Time runs swifter than we can keep up.

I have to go, I have to leave. The pain in my gut is as sharp as the pain I felt when Jason broke up with me. There is one major difference. I have not been dumped or abandoned and I am grateful.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Hae-in lets go of me. He takes my face in both his hands and kisses me. It is deep and long and it is going to have to last me an unspecified amount of time. A part of me wonders if we will ever kiss again…ever meet again. He lets go of me. I turn away from him and get my purse. He gets duffle bag out of the trunk.

We go inside the terminal. I have to leave him now. Now. Now. We hug again, but he doesn’t kiss me. I want to bawl and pitch a tantrum. If there was anything I could do to freeze this moment I would. He walks me to the passenger area. This time he kisses me. Tears spill down my cheeks. He whispers, “I will miss you.”

My throat is so tight I find speaking hard and painful. “I will miss you too.” I pass into the area where only passengers are allowed. I can see him still, but I can’t touch him. He watches me go through security and then I move beyond his field of vision.