In the distance, Kitty finds Min Ho sitting alone in the sculpture garden, his red jacket a stark contrast against the pale stone underneath him. Kitty’s breath catches in the light breeze.
Okay, there he is.
Kitty moves closer, her footsteps measured. Each step feels like an eternity. An eternity that somehow feels like it’s also moving too fast.
You’re here to tell him you’re staying. That you… that you love him. Just say it.
Min Ho stares mindlessly off into the distance, hands clasped on his lap, as if existing in a world of his own. Alone.
He rises, needing the movement to outpace the thoughts that are running amok in his head. The two dice hanging from his necklace glimmer just slightly as he walks.
“So, it’s true.”
Min Ho recognizes that voice and turns immediately.
There’s Kitty. Min Ho can’t help but notice that she’s donning that little smirk of hers, and as much as he wills against it, his heart does that stupid thing it always does.
“Covey, what are you doing here?” Min Ho manages a small chuckle. It’s his first one all day.
“Q told me you’ve been walking out here.”
Q and his big mouth. Min Ho nods, accepting this truth. There really is no hiding from Kitty Song Covey.
“Just trying to clear my head before I go.” Clear my head of you, actually.
“Go? Go where?”
The genuine curiosity in her voice catches him. No, don’t read into that.
“I’m leaving tonight. With Joon Ho and my dad, on their big summer tour.”
Wait, you’re leaving?
“Oh, wow. Q did not tell me that.”
“Well, it was really a last-minute decision. I figure it will give me a chance to bleach Stella from my brain.”
She gives him that look, the one that says she understands his tone just as well as he does.
“I’m swearing off all relationships.”
You are?
“I think I was better off as a playboy.”
You’re not being serious right now, are you? Did Stella really break you?
“Wait.” He musters a chuckle as he stops in place. “Why were you looking for me?”
Oh, you’re actually asking me that.
“Oh. Right. Um…”
Just say it. Say what you came here to say.
“I just wanted to tell you…”
But as Kitty studies Min Ho’s eyes, she pauses. The cherry blossoms behind him look so perfect, it’s almost mocking. Oh, God. What if I’m wrong? What if you’ve moved on, and I waited too long? What if I tell you I love you and you don’t feel the same way anymore?
Kitty looks directly at Min Ho, and his pulse quickens. The pause stretches like a held breath, and for a moment, he feels something that makes his chest tight with hope. Don’t. Don’t hope. You’ve been here before.
“I’m coming back next year.” Coward. You absolute coward. Ten points from Gryffindor.
The words hit Min Ho like a splash of cold water. I’ll get to see you again.
“That’s great, Covey.”
But that means… I’ll have to see you again.
Disappointment settles in Kitty’s chest. That’s it? That’s your response? I mean, what were you expecting, Kitty? Maybe he’s just processing. God, I should have just told him.
Min Ho looks off into the distance. Just leave. Run away.
“Um.” Look at your watch. Pretend like you have to go. Now.
“The car should be here any minute now. I should probably get going.”
Oh… you’re… leaving.
“Um…”
Her voice is so small that it’s barely above a whisper. Kitty looks… sad? No, stop.
“Have a great trip.”
“Thanks.” See? You’re reading it wrong. “See you next year?”
“Yeah.”
Min Ho opens his arms because hugging her goodbye feels safer than trying to interpret the look in her eyes. She steps into his embrace, and immediately he knows he’s made a mistake. Her head fits perfectly against him like it belongs there.
This is torture.
Kitty closes her eyes against him. This feels like that time in the rain. Like when you saved me from the fire. Like when you got in the hot tub. It feels so safe here. I can practically hear his heartbeat… or is it mine?
Let go, Min Ho. It’s time to let go.
He lets go. But when Kitty opens her eyes and looks at him, really looks at him with that expression he’s been dreaming of, his carefully constructed walls start to crumble. You’re looking at me like that. Again. Like that time at the basketball court.
He studies her face, looking for certainty, for a sign, for anything, really. Anything that might tell him he’s not projecting his own desperate feelings onto her expression.
You’re looking at me like that again. The same way you looked at me when I told you I missed you. There’s something there, right?
Their hands hover in the space between them, almost touching, as if almost holding on. Her fingers reach toward his jacket like she’s afraid to let go, and his hands hover with the urge to hold hers. For a moment, it really does feel like his hands are about to hold hers.
But they… don’t.
The moment stretches until he can’t bear the weight of his own hope anymore. He shrugs, gives her what he hopes is a casual smile, and forces himself to walk away. If she wanted to say something, she would have. Stop torturing yourself.
Kitty looks down and gulps, feeling the wind blow the loose strands of hair around her face as she tries to catch her breath.
No. No, he’s leaving. He’s actually walking away and I’m just standing here like an idiot. Panic rises in Kitty’s chest as she watches him go. Time slows as Kitty’s eyes stay entrained to his back. With each step he takes, her chest gets tighter.
Maybe it’s not our time. Not yet. Or maybe… And that’s when something fierce and determined rises up in her chest. It’s the same instinct that made her mail Lara Jean’s letters, that made her come to Korea in the first place. Peter’s voice sounds in her head: “You are Kitty Song Fricking Covey. Don’t you forget it”.
And Kitty realizes he’s right. And Kitty Song Covey is the girl who goes after what she wants with everything she’s got.
Behind him, Min Ho hears the wind blow the through the trees. He’s almost at the street when-
“Wait!”
Min Ho’s heart stops. Did she just…?
He turns around, his expression carefully neutral except for the slight lift of his eyebrows.
Well, this is it, Kitty.
Kitty’s face breaks into a hopeful grin.
“Can I join you?” Please?
What? The question hits Min Ho like lightning and a smile threatens to break free. Surprise floods through him first. You want to come with me? For the summer? Hesitation immediately follows. Could it be…?
Kitty raises an eyebrow in anticipation. Am I insane? I’m asking to spend the summer with him when I can barely work up the courage to tell him how I feel. You know what? I… don’t care. Because I don’t want to miss him again.
The wind. The students chatting on campus. The birds. Everything around Min Ho fades as the hope creeps in. Look at her. She looks like she wants me to say yes.
Screw it. I was never going to say no.
Min Ho pulls his lips together in that measured smile and nods toward the street. Yes. Whatever this means, yes.
He said yes. He actually said yes! Joy explodes through her chest as she breaks into the brightest grin. Maybe I can’t tell him I love him yet, but I can show him.
Her face breaks into the most beautiful grin he’s ever seen, and as she starts moving toward him, he glances up at the cherry blossom she’d just left. It’s in full bloom, it’s delicate pink petals catching the golden light.
Maybe that’s what the universe was trying to tell me. Maybe that was the sign all along.
Maybe this is our time after all.