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If you asked Woo Youngwoo what she loved, the list would be sparse.
There would be whales of course, at the very top of the list. There would be gimbap, the one made by her father and perhaps the one made by her best friend because although not her usual it wasn’t the worst thing she had eaten. There would be the evenings where she had dinner with Geurami at the pub where she worked while her best friend gave her all kinds of life advice. There would be the law, which she admired and loved so much that it led her to become Korea’s first autistic attorney with a summa cum laude from one of the top universities. There would be her father and Geurami, both of whom she did love despite of their overprotective nature.
All this was before she walked through the revolving doors of Hanbada Law Firm for the first time, where her eyes first fell upon the man with his soft dazzling smile, the sun shining behind him through the glass windows as he turned to ask her where she was headed.
Lee Junho.
Lee Junho who seemed to be fascinated with her from the very first day they met. His eyes widening with surprise but not judgment when he realized she had been an attorney. The one who was always up to accompany her wherever she went. His eyes followed her every step, the way he looked at her made her feel she had a whole garden of butterflies living within her. Lee Junho, handsome, popular, loving, kind, warm hearted. Lee Junho who was never going to fall for her because in her eyes he was the most perfect man to exist even though she had fallen hard for him.
Also Lee Junho, who had much later stood in front of her in a matching mint green sweater, sleeves rolled up his forearms while proceeding to tell her he liked her so much that he felt sick inside. She felt like her heart would jump out of her chest with how fast it was thudding as she stared at him in disbelief, wanting nothing more than to tell him to repeat it again and again until she believed him.
Her Junho who had taken more time than her to confess his feelings but once he had, it was like the floodgates had opened because he never missed an opportunity to tell her how much he loved her.
Loving Lee Junho was easier than anything in the world because he loved her back in all ways possible. If you asked her how, she would tell you without hesitation.
For Junho, love was adjustment , acceptance and adaptation.
Youngwoo was not an easy person to love. She had told him that when they stood in the dimly lit hallway of his building but he had answered with a simple ‘yes’ when she asked him if he was still going to love her. She wanted to tell him that it was not so easy but he had put all her doubts to rest the moment he guided her lips to his. Junho, who now unconsciously counted to three before entering a room with her, tried all possible gimbap places with her on dates, protested for dolphins outside the aquarium on his free day with her and went trash picking with her while jogging along the river when they first started dating. Who told her gently that even if he didn’t like these things, he did them because she loved them. Because loving the person was loving all their small habits and quirks according to him. Because when you loved a person, you adapted to them and accepted them as they were. Just as Lee Junho accepted Woo Youngwoo, whale talk and all.
For Junho, love was beautiful.
The first time Junho laid his eyes on Youngwoo in a white wedding dress, there was only one word that came to his mind. Beautiful. The way her eyes sparkled when she talked about her favourite things, the way she determinedly stood up for what she thought was right and the way she timidly held his hand even if it was just for less than 57 seconds, he knew one thing and that was that Woo Youngwoo, the love of his life was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
For Junho, love was care and contentment , something to cherish.
From a normal person’s point of view, Youngwoo would seem like an idiot, struggling to open a water bottle or for not being able to cross through revolving doors. Simple everyday tasks for everyone but her. Sometimes she felt embarrassed about it but Junho didn’t let the thoughts linger for too long. Her hands now always found uncapped bottles before she could even realise, her eyes finding Junho who seemed to just be there right when she needed. Her steps no longer faltered in front of the revolving doors, his presence always seeming to be around her in that tiny space which she needed to cross to get inside, the rhythm of koong jjak jjak that he had taught her one of her favourite melodies as he looked on at her progress in contentment. The little things made her sense that he cared and she cherished it all. Although she still made him walk on the inside of the road, because of course, she needed to show him sometimes that she too cared, in her own little ways.
For Junho, love was dedication with a pinch of ‘that's disappointing.’
Lee 'seop seop handeyo' Junho. The first time he had uttered those words to her in Attorney Jung’s darkened office, up so close that she could feel his warm breath fanning across her face, she had pushed him back and ran away, a faint flush rising across her cheeks. He had said it once more when she had told him she assumed they were not dating yet, albeit in a different tone, one that left her surprised. She could see he was dedicated, dedicated in letting her know at each and every step, leaving no stone unturned about how much he loved her. Youngwoo saw it in his eyes, saw it in his actions. Always by her side, not like whales and dolphins but like Lee Junho, someone who loved Woo Youngwoo.
For Junho, love was earnest and effortless.
Her appa always told her it was hard to love someone like Youngwoo. Someone who never met anyone's gaze, someone who didn't display emotions well, someone who was happy in her own small world. But Junho never told her that. For him, love was effortless. He didn't force himself to like her, something other people sometimes did. He told her that he loved her so much that it made him feel like he was sick inside. You couldn't love someone that hard even if you forced yourself right? But Junho did just as he promised, even if it was hard because you see, his love was earnest and effortless when it came to Youngwoo.
For Junho, love was free and fulfilling.
Junho was the most popular person in Hanbada. He would be, considering his ever charming nature. A lot of women always flocked him wherever he went, giving him presents and trying to woo him. But his heart never agreed until he met Youngwoo. Youngwoo with her whale talk and curt answers and unabashed nature. Now he was the one vying for her attention. His Woo Youngwoo byeonhosanim who sometimes didn't pay heed to him, oblivious to his actions but then asked with confidence if she could touch him to see whether she actually liked him. The one who told him she was nice to him because she liked him. He was drawn to her, like a moth to a flame and he finally realized the reason. Because she didn't count her love in presents or empty words. For her it was simple and freely offered to him, he just had to reach out and hold onto it. That he did.
For Junho, love was giving.
Youngwoo still remembered the time Junho had chased down a taxi in the middle of Seoul’s midday traffic just so she could see a sign on the taxi door. Youngwoo also still remembered the time when Junho’s arms hugged her tight when she had a sensory overload, grasp unrelenting while she cried in his arms. And how could she forget the moment when they had stood outside her house and he had offered to be her own personal hug chair. She had smiled at those words, her smile just as wide as his own before he had kissed her goodbye under the yellow lights, hands resting gently on her arms. Giving, Youngwoo had realised was something that came to him without hesitation and he gave her all that he could offer, his love, his attention and himself. Everything was Youngwoo’s.
For Junho, love was heartfelt.
Junho was someone who carried his heart on the palm of his hand. Until Youngwoo came along and he ended up giving it to her. “I want an Attorney like you always on my side,” his sentence still lingered at the back of her mind, thoughts still going back sometimes to the sunset that painted the skies and the man that stood beside her, the heartfelt words he spoke that day still an anchor for her to swim back to shore to.
For Junho, love was infinite and immeasurable.
Just like the vast ocean. Just like her whale talk. And of course, just like the happiness she got from seeing him walk through the revolving doors while she waited to catch a glimpse of him.
For Junho, love was full of joy.
“Lee Junho-ssi, do you still like me?” the smile that grew across his face while he looked at her from where they stood outside their office as she uttered those words made her stomach do those familiar flips. The time they flew to Jeju and she squealed in excitement when she sat on a plane for the first time made him give her that smile again. It came again when she had gotten ready to go dolphin watching with him. And again when she told him that cats love their owners too so they should not break up. And then when she got through the revolving doors on her own and announced to him that what she felt was a sense of fulfillment, he smiled again like he was the happiest person on the earth and she smiled right back, the joy in his eyes mirroring her own.
For Junho, love was the key to his Youngwoo's heart.
"Attorney Woo, I am happy just being with you. For me to be happy, I have to be with you!" his words sent across a clear message as he stood in front of her with a distressed expression on his face. A message that he needed her, just as she was because he loved her for her. "Loving you is like unrequited love towards a cat," he had said much later when they were seated side by side in the car, her wide eyes turning up to look at his own tear filled ones. He was reminding her, yet again that he loved her. Even if she made him lonely sometimes, it was okay because he loved her too much to let her go. He did succeed in opening up the way to her patched up heart, healing it and making it whole by finding out the key to her carefully locked away feelings. Love.
For Junho, love was liberating.
For Junho before he met Youngwoo, love seemed to have rules and confines. After he met Youngwoo, those confines grew. An autistic girlfriend? Minwoo scoffed at him, his friends called it pity not love. His sister found it embarrassing enough to refrain him from telling his parents about Youngwoo. But he didn't give in, even when Youngwoo herself told him that maybe she should stay away because she would end up making him lonely. He stayed by her side and when he finally got her back, the feeling was liberating. Love was liberating because when two persons loved each other, he knew it was enough.
For Junho, love was making memories.
The first time he brought her to the conference room, her eyes widening in complete exhilaration when she saw the enormous black and white portrait of the whale splashing through the water, he had turned to ask her something. But the question had died out on the tip of his tongue when he saw the look of pure joy in her eyes which were brimming with happy tears, her mouth open in amazement and he just chose to stay by her side while he took in the scene lovingly, the memory still clear in his mind to this day.
For Junho, love came naturally.
Loving Youngwoo was not something Junho needed to think twice about. He thought he fell more in love with her every passing moment he saw her, right from where she stood in front of him, her face half hidden by the bouquet of pink and peach flowers which constrasted the white wedding dress as she asked him with a bright smile whether he fell in love. He wanted to tell her that he really did because she had captivated his heart and the love came as naturally as breathing.
For Junho, love was being observant.
A careful step, taken back in the darkened hallways outside his apartment. He needed her to make the choice to come closer. She did in a beat, lips pressing against his clumsily but determinedly as he held her to himself. She knew he must have observed the slight hesitation that flashed across her face which led him to move back. Just like he observed everything when it came to her because as long as she was comfortable, he wanted nothing more.
For Junho, love was permanency.
His feelings were not temporary. He had said it twice to Suyeon and to Minwoo who had told him that if he was sure that his feelings were permanent he had no reason to hesitate taking the relationship forward.
And that was what he had done, elated when hand holding evolved to walking her home and her walking him back which led to their first kiss. They had their ups and downs but he had finally got her back and now he had no intention of letting go. Because Youngwoo was his permanent and he was here to stay.
For Junho, love was quotable.
"I like you so much that it feels like I am sick inside."
"If you say its love, its love."
"Thats disappointing."
"I'll be one for you, your personal hug chair."
"Loving you is like the unrequited love towards a cat."
Who needed Pinterest or the Internet? Junho was enough.
For Junho, love was respect.
"You are an attorney?" her eyes turned up to his, expecting to find disbelief but there was only surprise and something else she could place. She had later learnt it was admiration. Respect. It showed in the way he listened to her incessant chatter about whales, asking her gently if they could reserve a specific time for such talk without looking irritated or snapping at her. He seemed to want to know more about her instead. Junho's gaze was always direct, clear and trying to catch her eyes, it made her feel seen, it made her heard. The way he always referred to her as Attorney Woo even long after they had started dating. It was amusing but she didnt seem to mind.
For Junho, love was straightforward.
Junho wasnt someone to beat around the bush. He always told her clearly about how he felt. He did overthink sometimes. This seemed like a welcome relief to Youngwoo, with her straight talk and maybe that's why she had fallen in love with Lee Junho, who's love showed as clear as day in the way he looked at her, simple and straightforward just like the ocean waves coming to meet the shore.
For Junho, love was timeless.
He watched her walk away from him, her head turned down as the cool sea breeze blew across his face, making him acutely aware of the tear tracks across his cheeks. "I dont think we should date anymore," the words still rang around in his ears in a deafening way and he didnt know how much time had passed before he got it in himself to make a move and follow her.
"Lets not break up," she offered, blinking at him for a moment before her hand threw open the car door and she jumped out, his eyes following her as she skipped from in front of him across the street, smiling at him. He couldnt contain the happiness on his face, his cheeks hurting with how much he was smiling, his vision blurry with tears again as time seemed to stop for a moment yet again, but this time, this time he didnt mind it.
For Junho, love was unconditional.
He did everything possible for her. Accompanying her on cases to accompanying her to watch dolphins, going on dates that seemed to stump him and catch him offguard to going on a car chase down the city, from walking through revolving doors to walking down stone walkways and falling with her to falling for her. His love was unconditional, true and pure and for Youngwoo it was unparalleled.
For Junho, love was validation.
She knew it the moment he asked her if she would like to meet his sister and her husband when they went to Jeju. The way he was practically jittery with nerves as they made their way up the walkway to his sisters place. The indignation in his voice when his sister told him that Youngwoo was someone he had to take care of and not someone he could love. Junho was someone who needed validation. He thought a lot about what people close to him thought about his actions and he got disappointed when they were not what he expected. She knew it from the way she told him about her feelings twice before he could voice his own. But it was okay, she could repeat it for him as long as he wanted to hear.
For Junho, love was whale talk.
"What if the situation warrants for whale talk?"
A fond chuckle followed by the words, "then we talk about whales."
"Lee-Junho-ssi, you arent supposed to talk about whales at work!"
"But its okay if its just the two of us yes?"
He entertained it all. She didnt know if he actually found it interesting or amusing or he just listened out of politeness but he never seemed to mind.
"You keep popping up in my mind, like a whale, even though you arent one," the look in his eyes was hard to decipher but he was smiling and she smiled back, eyes flitting to the ocean lamp he got her that now sat on her desk, the blue light casting a comforting glow around her.
For Junho, love was xoxo.
Youngwoo later learnt the acronym stood for hugs and kisses. Hugging and kissing Woo Youngwoo was one of Lee Junho's most favorite things to do anyways and who was she to complain?
For Junho, love was Youngwoo.
Woo Young Woo. Whether read straight or flipped. Kayak, rotator, deed, noon, racecar, Woo Youngwoo. He loved her more than anything in the world, immeasurably, overwhelmingly and forever.
For Junho, love was zero tolerance about anything said against Youngwoo.
He didn't care who it was. Minwoo, his sister or his so called friends. Each time he made sure to let them know that he was serious about Youngwoo and they might as well accept the fact and respect their relationship because there was no other option.
Now if you asked Woo Youngwoo what she loved, she would have an addition to her list.
Lee Junho.
Lee Junho who had surpassed whales and gimbap, Lee Junho who she loved with all her heart and Lee Junho who was now hers forever.