try begging
During the day, the summer colors were deep, but in the evening breeze, a hint of fall began to befelt.
Grace, wandering alone on the sandy beach, brushed the cool sea breeze through her disheveledhair and repeated contradictory thoughts in her mind.She wished this summer would end.
No, she wished it wouldn't end.If summer ends and he still doesn't return, he becomes a dead liar.
He wanted to die by my hand.
If that was a lie, I can't forgive him.And Grace would once again become a coward. Unable to abandon her bad habits, she would fleefrom the truth of his death like the coward she was.
The sun was setting. Today, as well, the sun sinking behind the mansion began to paint the pale bluesky and white clouds over the sea with a delicate coral hue. It was the most beautiful and also thesaddest time of the day.
The train from the North had already left, and he hadn't returned today either.He might never come back.
He was dead.
The world had already accepted this truth, but Grace alone denied it. Soon she woulddeny the truth of summer's end, calling the falling rain on the sea a shower.
Every day she waited at a beach that resembled the place where they first met. She denied thepresent and future without him, living only in the past with him.
And one day, she might wake up from that painfully cowardly dream, pouring out her regrets andcurses all at once.
At least be honest with your feelings and send me off.
You damn bastard, you made me love you and then left alone.
How can you so easily and emptilyleave after making me believe you would never let go, even in death?
After she stopped hating him, the spot where her hatred had been removed felt like it was itchingwith new growth. It turned out that deep-seated, long-sleeping emotions had begun to grow out likenails, poking their heads out into the world.
While waiting for him, those nails had fully grown. Love had grown alone as well.The worst thing isn't hatred with no place to go but love with nowhere to go.
Forgiveness is said tobe the way to stop hatred, but she didn't know how to stop love.
Thus, Grace would ultimately crumble, overwhelmed by the weight of tears accumulated over thelong years, wandering late.
"Damn..."
As she looked back at the mansion, which seemed to be burning in the coral sunset, Grace burst intotears.
Goodbye, Leon Winston.
Leon Winston was truly dead.
The man walking along the path bathed in the setting sun was nothim.Hello, Leon.Leon is coming. He's coming to me.Emerging from the red sunset like a fire, just like in her dreams.
Though the light obscured his features, his silhouette was clear enough for Grace to recognize him.
The moment Leon stepped from the cobblestone path onto the sand, his appearance became vividly clear.
His white polo shirt, with a couple of buttons undone, looked unusually free and unrestrained.
He began to feel like a dream.
Just three steps away.
It felt like if she ran and touched him, she would wake up from the dream.As Grace remained rooted in place, Leon walked straight towards her, brushing his blonde hair fromhis forehead with one hand due to the wind.
When their eyes met, he smiled.It was a refreshing smile she had never seen before.
Is this really a dream?
As the cold waves wrapped around her ankles, Grace suddenly felt a sense ofdéjà vu.I was where the cold waves hit, and you were where the hot sunset burned.
That's how we first met.
Maybe I'm dreaming the dream of that day.Leon, who had approached so close that she could already smell his familiar cologne, extendedsomething to her.
"Here, chocolate."
It was the cheap chocolate Grace had given him at Abington Beach.
"The price for having stolen a glance."
Leon seemed to echo Grace's old words about the chocolate, but then added something she hadnever heard before.
"It's better not to ask how long I've been stealing glances."
At that moment, Grace shivered as if waking from a dream.But you're not a dream.The face she had longed to see so much became blurry.
"...Why are you crying? You didn't really think I was dead, did you?"
Yes, you're right. I wasn't a coward for denying your death that everyone in the world believed. Iwas the only one who knew you in this world.
"You lunatic!"
The slap struck Leon's cheek, and the chocolate he was holding fell onto the sand. The incomingwave soaked the precious, cheap chocolate.
She'd expected to punch him, but—As soon as she realized her mistake, her soft lips touched his stinging cheek.
Leon sighed withrelief, holding the woman who had slapped him close.Grace wiped away her tears and gripped his cheeks with her wet hands.
Looking straight into theazure eyes she thought she'd never see again, she spat out words she thought she'd never say, hervoice rough as if she were slapping his cheek.
"I love you, you lunatic."
At that moment, Leon's smiling lips faltered.
"It sounds better than I expected..."
His eyes were red, but it wasn't the sunset's fault.
"Could you not say that last part?"
"You lunatic. Isn't that your new title? Saying 'I love you'—is it really worth all this?"
"It's not just worth it. It's a phrase I could only hear after toppling a country and giving upeverything I had."
Though he sounded a bit hurt, his smile was still broad.
"Of course, it was worth it."
"...You lunatic."
"Not that."
"I love you."
"Yes, that."
"Even if you're a damned lunatic, I love you."
Grace poured out the words she had been hiding like a last resort, waving her white flag.There was no reason to hide anymore.
After all, all of this man's crazy schemes were meant to win her love from the start. The small,fragile love she had managed to revive under the threat of being destroyed by her own hands—hewould never crush it.
Having heard countless words that healed the scars, Leon reveled in the joy of a soldier returninghome after the war.
So, who is the final victor in this long war?
They would point to each other.
*****
The boy loved the girl.
The girl loved the boy as well.
But it was merely a fleeting spark, destined to fizzle out on its own.The world set fire to it, and what was once a trivial flame grew into a blaze too immense for the boyand girl to handle.
They mistook the agony of burning alive as each other's fault. Pushing each other deeper into theflames, they ultimately became the fire themselves, burning their world down with their own hands.
In the ashes left behind, only the boy and the girl remained.It was a relentless, reckless game of fire.