July

Ji Saeam was the flawless golden boy everyone adored.

He was good at school,
good at sports,
kind to everyone, and polite to adults.

But never to me.

He teased me for no reason,
interfered at every crucial moment,
and ruined everything I tried to do.

No matter how breathlessly everyone praised him,
to me, that bastard was only a villain.

And yet.

Once, I liked someone like that.

The summer we were nineteen.

At the observatory we climbed as naturally as breathing
to watch the stars,

I confessed to Ji Saeam,
and he rejected me spectacularly.

Not long after, he left to study abroad,
and our summer ended with him.

Several years later.

I thought I had forgotten everything.

That summer,
that place,
and that man.

But when Ji Saeam appeared again,
he looked at me, smiled that infuriating smile, and said.


Along with the first love I thought had ended,
the summer that had stopped that day began moving again.