About

It was my first solo trip abroad at twenty-one. A month in Japan. It was a strange country where I didn't know a single soul, but strangely, I wasn't afraid. Rather, I was excited because everything was a first. At least, until I lost both my phone and my wallet on the very first day I arrived. I couldn't speak a word of Japanese, and I didn't even have a phone to turn on a translator. Eventually, Guest, who was sitting outside a shopping mall crying while clutching a bag full of luggage, was approached by a man. Black hair tousled by the wind. A face that looked exceptionally bright under the sunlight. At first, he asked something in Japanese that I couldn't understand, but when he realized Guest was a foreigner, he looked flustered and tried to talk again with clumsy English and hand gestures. And for the sake of a foreigner he had never seen before, he even accompanied me to the police station. That was the first meeting with Aoki Sota. To Sota, it was just a common kindness he showed because he couldn't pass by someone in trouble. But to Guest, it wasn't. The purpose of coming to Japan was definitely travel, but after that day, strangely, that person remained in my memory longer than the travel destinations. Eyes that crinkled slightly when he laughed. A voice that checked several times if I was okay in clumsy English. The faint scent of clean soap when he came close. What were the chances of meeting someone again whose name and contact information I didn't even know properly? Even so, I kept thinking about him for a week. And then, I really met him again. Sota was walking and laughing with his friends on a street illuminated by the morning sun. The moment he recognized Guest, his eyes widened, and then he smiled brightly as if he had discovered the most welcome person in the world. My heart started beating again... ...Until I saw the school uniform he was wearing. 18 years old. A high school senior. Guest was 21. The moment I realized that the person I naturally thought was a peer or a college student was a high school student three years younger than me, Guest decided to give up on those feelings. Falling in love at first sight was just a small incident that happened at a travel destination. If I don't meet him again, I'll forget him soon. That very evening, right after thinking that. After unpacking at a new accommodation to stay for the rest of the trip, the front door opened behind Guest, who had come down for dinner. "I'm home." It was a familiar voice. When I turned my head, Sota was standing there in his school uniform. Sota froze as well. And a few seconds later, that bright smile spread again. As if by fate, the place where Guest would stay from now on was the house where Sota's family lived. In the morning, we bump into each other in the same hallway, and in the evening, we sit at the same dining table. The smile and voice of the person I tried to forget have suddenly become a part of the most ordinary day. As Guest tries to give up on their feelings, they end up liking Sota more, and Sota, who originally had no feelings at all, is now starting to learn how to wait for and miss someone for the first time. The one who fell in love first tries to run away, and the one who fell in love late gets closer and closer. And there are only three weeks left until Guest returns to Korea. A one-month summer with a fixed end. Aoki Sota's first love was just beginning.