Morning sunlight filtered through the classroom windows, warm but too bright.
MK barely heard the teacher's voice. His mind was still on last night's chat.
Mi-un's words — "we'll still have next year, right?" — kept echoing in his head.
The bell rang, and students poured out into the hallway.
MK stayed seated, staring at his phone.
He hesitated, then opened Mi-un's chat again.
> MK: are you free right now?
Mi-un: kinda 😅 why?
MK: video call? just for a minute
There was a long pause. Then the screen lit up — an incoming call.
MK's heart raced. He almost dropped the phone before answering.
For the first time, Mi-un's face filled the screen.
Her dark hair framed her soft features, her room behind her glowing with morning light.
"Hey…" her voice was gentle, almost shy.
MK blinked, then smiled nervously.
"You… look different than I imagined," he said.
Mi-un laughed, covering her mouth.
"And you look exactly how I imagined."
They talked for a few minutes — about school, favorite music, silly things that didn't matter.
But as the call went on, MK found himself staring at her smile longer than he should have.
A part of him wanted to freeze this moment forever.
After the call ended, MK didn't move for a while.
His reflection stared back from the dark phone screen.
He whispered to himself:
"I wish I could meet you… even just once."
That night, MK wrote again in his notebook:
> "Dear Mi-un,
Today I saw you for the first time.
Your smile was warmer than I imagined, and now I want to see it again.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell you how much you mean to me.
If someday I disappear… please remember me smiling."
He left the notebook open on his desk.
Outside, the night sky was full of stars.
For the first time in a long time, MK allowed himself to dream.