If he had stayed, this is what will happened.
In another life, he lived.
It is a quiet truth that aches.
A sentence that feels like a wound and a wish at the same time.
In that imagined life, cancer never touched him.
The rooftop where their love began never folded into the sterile white of a hospital room.
Their final goodbye never had to be whispered into fading breath.
In that life, the one the universe didn't give them but the heart insists on dreaming,
Joon-ha woke up beside Areum every morning.
Her hair tangled like seaweed, scattered across the pillow.
Her breath warm against his shoulder.
Her fingers curled loosely over the fabric of his shirt as if even in sleep she refused to let go.
He still sketched every day.
But not for galleries.
Not for critics, or art shows, or legacy.
He sketched for the small things.
The tender things.
For the doodles inside Ji-ha's lunchbox notes.
For birthday cards he insisted on drawing by hand because "handmade meant heart-made."
For Areum's desk drawer, which overflowed with sketches of her smiling when she didn't know he was looking.
In that life, they did not survive tragedy.
They simply lived.
They lived in a modest house near the sea.
Not a mansion shaped by wealth.
Not a penthouse that echoed with emptiness.
Not the cold, towering walls of Kang Industries.
Just a home.
Warm, sunlit, and alive.
The living room walls were covered in framed sketches, Ji-woo's rooftop, captured in graphite and memory… Soo-min's soft smile that Joon-ha refused to let the world forget… and countless sketches of Areum, each one capturing her in different seasons of her life.
Ji-ha ran through the hallways with a towel tied around his neck like a cape, shouting with breathless conviction:
"I'm Double J's CEO!"
His small feet thudded against the floor, each step bursting with future dreams.
Areum laughed from the kitchen, her voice carrying like sunlight.
Joon-ha chased Ji-ha down the hallway with exaggerated villainous strides.
"Not if I take your stock options first!"
Ji-ha squealed, darting between doors.
Areum leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching her two boys, one small, one grown, reenact a battle neither of them understood but both of them adored.
In that life, their home didn't echo with absence.
It echoed with footsteps
and laughter
and something too gentle to be called happiness, something closer to living poetry.
Double J Corporations still existed.
But in this version, it wasn't born from grief, sacrifice, or the need to honor the dead.
It was built on purpose.
Together, Joon-ha and Areum ran it, not as a dynasty forged by tragedy, but as a promise to build something better than what they inherited.
No empires made from ashes.
No thrones carved out of loss.
Just two people choosing service.
They funded mental health programs in Ji-woo's name.
They built shelters for abused youth.
They created scholarships for aspiring artists, because Joon-ha once needed someone to believe in him.
Every board meeting began with a moment of silence.
Not mourning.
Not grieving.
But remembering.
Remembering who they used to be.
Remembering the rooftop.
Remembering the boy who loved the sky.
Remembering the man who promised to choose love over legacy.
And kept that promise.
In this life the soft, imagined one, the boardroom smelled of coffee, not fear.
The walls hummed with possibility, not power.
And every time Joon-ha and Areum left the office hand in hand, someone whispered:
"Love built this company."
And they were right.
Weekends were sacred.
Saturdays belonged to sunlight, sandwiches, and the park.
Areum packed them with more care than she admitted, crusts trimmed for Ji-ha, extra strawberries for herself, and turkey slices arranged exactly how Joon-ha liked them.
Joon-ha brought his camera, claiming he was documenting "important family history," though most pictures were just of Areum laughing or Ji-ha mid-air on a swing.
Ji-ha collected rocks and named them after constellations.
"This one is Orion."
"This is Cassiopeia."
"This one's Daddy's star."
And each time, Joon-ha knelt beside him and whispered
"Then we must keep it safe."
At night, they built blanket forts, elaborate, sprawling structures that took over the living room.
Joon-ha always insisted on adding a "watchtower" made from pillows.
Ji-ha always claimed the highest spot.
Areum always pretended to be annoyed before giving in with a smile.
Inside the fort, soft reading lights glowed like tiny moons.
They read stories about worlds that never existed, but somehow still felt familiar.
Sometimes, out of nowhere, Ji-ha asked:
"Why do you always look at Mommy like that?"
Joon-ha brushed a strand of hair behind Areum's ear, his voice warm and unguarded.
"Because she's the reason I'm still here."
Areum always looked away then, heart full and aching, as if afraid the moment would break if she stared at it too directly.
And in that life, the gentler one, the unreal one, the dream-shaped one, there was no funeral.
No gallery of grief curated from loss.
No sealed envelope heavy with last words.
No day Areum had to learn how to breathe alone.
There were no goodbyes.
Just a family.
Living.
Loving.
Laughing.
Existing the way they were supposed to without tragedy sandwiched between their breaths.
In the quiet of their seaside home, when the waves whispered secrets outside the window and the stars blinked as if listening, Joon-ha cupped Areum's face gently.
He kissed her forehead, the softest place on her skin as though blessing her existence.
His voice lowered into a reverent whisper:
"Thank you for choosing me in this life, and every one after."
Her eyes shimmered not with grief, not with sorrow, but with the fullness of a soul that had been allowed to love and be loved without interruption.
She whispered back
"Always."
And in that imagined universe,
the one made from longing, memory, and impossible hope, he stayed.
He lived.
He loved.
And she got to watch him grow old beside her.
Note: My new novel "velvet devotion" is coming out on 17th November 2025
It's not the book 2 of this novel but it includes some characters from this novel which are, Kim Ara and Detective Choi.