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It was 5 a.m. and the thought of him leaving made Chayoung teary-eyed. She felt like crying. Why wouldn’t she? She knew he was leaving. She knew that she would lose him one day or another. Unexpectedly.
She lost him. She lost the old him. The one who she’d spend half the time bickering with, the one who’d insult her, and she would snap right back. She lost a foe and gained a friend. Sooner or later, she lost that friend but gained a soulmate.
Chayoung felt deeply troubled and filled with regrets. Laying on that hospital bed the time with him lessened by the second. He was out there getting revenge while she could only worry about him. ‘God if only I could have a drink right now’ was what she thought.
Chayoung stared at her phone, his contact on the screen. She promised she wouldn’t call him nor would he but why was her finger nearing the call button, a second away from pressing it?
She was drowning in regrets.
“I should’ve confessed,”
“I shouldn't have let him go,”
“I shouldn’t have sent him there knowing we’d never be able to see each other again,”
Her thoughts got more complicated by the second and all she needed was his arms around her.
There was nothing in this world she wouldn’t do to say one more “I love you”.
Nothing in this world.
It was raining heavily outside, the thunder was louder than bombs, the lighting bright enough to blind someone, lit the dark, empty hospital room.
It was finally the night. The night she was going to lose him. The night she was going to lose a friend— a soulmate.
She wanted to see him. She needed to see him.
Chayoung told herself that if she let him go without seeing him one last time, she’d hate herself for the rest of her life.
And so she left the hospital, not giving a damn about her healing shoulder.
She saw him. One regret gone.
Even till his last second with her, he was worried about her.
“You shouldn’t be moving around,”
“There will be a lot of headaches for you after I leave,”
To think that she won’t be able to hear him say this from now on hurt her even more than it should.
She reassured him, saying she could handle that much.
And he pulled her in for a hug as if he read her mind.
They hugged. Another regret gone.
“You need to leave right now,” Mr. Ahn called out to him.
“Goodbye,” he bid his goodbye in that low, sweet voice of his and left.
He left but Chayoung still had one regret left.
Not being able to tell him that she loved him was her greatest and only regret left. It was only one more “I love you” wasn’t it?
One year later:
Chayoung was able to get justice for Vincenzo’s mom. Right before her death anniversary.
She won and the only thing she wished for was for Vincenzo to be here with her. To celebrate this moment with her.
She went back to the office and was greeted with a big hug from Mr.Nam. He congratulated her and was more than happy for her, for himself, and for Vincenzo.
He pulled away and pointed towards her desk, signaling that something had come in for her.
It was a postcard from Vincenzo. The postcard that would get sent every month. But there was something else with it this time. An invitation to the celebration of Korea and Italy’s diplomatic relations.
“Do you want to go with me tomorrow?” she asks Mr.Nam.
Mr.Nam rejects her offer, saying he had to attend the paper airplane competition with “Edward”.
She ended up going alone. She dressed up in a black dress and had her hair tied up.
She walked around the gallery holding a flier that contained information on each painting there. She stopped to admire the big painting in front of her.
“War and art are best observed from a distance,” the same low, sweet voice that she loved so much was heard from behind.
‘It can’t be,’ was what she thought at first only to see the face of the person that she had missed right there.
“Buona serata, mademoiselle," he said.
And she was taken back to a year ago. All the moments they had together came back to her after hearing his voice. God, how bad did she miss his voice?
They walked out of the gallery side by side, just like a year ago.
And they still talked to each other comfortably, just like a year ago.
He invited her to his island saying he saved a separate room for her. She expressed her excitement and told him that she wanted to go right now if that meant they could spend more time together.
“I’ve missed you a lot,” she told him.
“Me too. You’ve always been on my mind ever since I left,” he replied back.
She looked at him with her captivating eyes as she said “That’s hard to believe,”.
She started to walk away only to be stopped and pulled into a kiss. A kiss that should’ve happened long ago.
He pulled away and kept her close, his deep voice asking if she had believed him now.
“Villains never break up because they are tenacious even when they love,”
She was taken back to the time when he said that villains don’t deserve love. Now he became a villain who would never break up.
She smiled at him and pulled him into another kiss, making up for all the time lost.
His hands went down to her waist and hers came up to his face. They kissed and kissed, trying to show the feelings that have been kept away for so long.
They pulled away to catch their breaths and that's when Chayoung got rid of her greatest regret.
“I love you,” her attractive voice confessed and Vincenzo couldn’t have hoped for anything more.