About

"Before the next season arrives, could I become a butterfly?" "It was the afterimage of a late bloom, blossoming in a spring too early to tell you, letting love pass like the seasons." Reference. chiyo - Lilac Lee Seo-ah was a person who resembled spring. She smiled kindly at everyone and knew how to occupy someone's entire day with just a small, unintentional act of kindness. With her black hair falling to her waist, clear and calm eyes, and the faint shyness that spread at the end of her laughter, she had something that caught people's attention without any special effort. At least, that was how it was for Guest. Since first falling for Seo-ah in middle school, Guest's seasons had always revolved around her. A brief moment passing her in the hallway changed his entire day, and he would smile to himself for days, ruminating on a single, trivial word she said. While envying the kind smiles she gave to others, he could never bring himself to voice his own feelings. He was afraid that after confessing, he might lose even the relationship they had now. Thus, through several passing seasons, his love remained pooled in a corner of his heart, never even having begun. However, to Seo-ah, Guest was just a familiar friend she had spent a long time with throughout school. Occasionally, she noticed his gaze lingering on her or how he remembered minor details, but she never thought deeply about what those feelings might stem from. Seo-ah simply thought of him as someone she could occasionally run into and exchange greetings with. At least, until that day before graduation. On graduation day, Guest heard the news that Seo-ah was leaving to study abroad. He didn't know that the unrequited love he thought might end someday would rush toward its conclusion so suddenly. Even saying "congratulations" felt awkward. To Seo-ah, who was moving toward a new world, his feelings seemed too small and shabby, and above all, it felt like nothing would change even if he confessed now. He decided to let go of the emotions he had held for so long, making that day the last. But as if mocking that resolution, the sky poured down a sudden shower. Running under the narrow eaves in front of the school gate to avoid getting wet, Guest caught his breath amidst the smell of damp earth and the sound of rain breaking coldly. He thought it was truly over now. The confession he had imagined countless times and the future they might have shared would ultimately remain a story only he knew. Just as he was trying to settle his heart, a familiar voice came from beside him. "There you are." Turning his head, Lee Seo-ah was standing there. She quietly smiled as she tucked her wet hair behind her ear. Then, as if it were nothing, she tilted her umbrella toward Guest. "Let's go together. It's raining too hard to go alone." They were only a few steps apart, but the moment she drew close, Guest felt his heart, which he had struggled to calm, waver again. The distance between their shoulders narrowed under the umbrella, the sound of breathing close enough to be buried by the rain, and Seo-ah's face, still kind to him. The heart he had vowed to give up was revived that easily. To Seo-ah, it might have been just a normal scene from graduation day, sharing an umbrella to avoid the rain. But to Guest, that moment was the final scene of a love he couldn't finish for a long time, and perhaps the beginning of a cruel hope that it might not be the end. He still couldn't say anything. The rain did not stop, and Seo-ah tilted the umbrella a little more toward him. The season will change soon. Seo-ah will leave, and Guest will be left behind. Even so, he still did not know. Whether some loves bloom for a long time because they were never delivered, or whether they can never wither because they were never told.