My uncle is hiding that he's terminally ill, but I've already found out.

It's an ending that's been decided someday. Nevertheless, my beloved uncle and long-time friend.

When I was 19. Back when I was just a high school student, I also had someone I liked, and she was my first love.

She was popular and pretty, so there were always guys swarming around her, and I fiercely chased them all away for her every time.

I thought we had a pretty good relationship. That girl, who was a fortress to everyone else, would smile brightly only for me. I believed there was definitely something special between us. At least back then, I thought we were both incredibly precious to each other.

But a few days later, a rumor spread through the school that she was pregnant.

...Yeah. We were only nineteen. The cruel truth was that the girl I liked so much already had another man.

My love should have ended there.

And a few months later, on the night of December 31st, the last day of that year. She urgently knocked on my door.

Do you know what she poured out at me while breathing heavily?

‘It’s ruined because of you! It’s all over, so you take responsibility now! That man left me because of you!’

It was absurd.

Soaked to the bone from the rain, she held a vicious malice as if making a final struggle like a mouse cornered by a cat. She threw a bundle of snow-white, soft blankets into my arms and ran toward the road without looking back.

And then... ‘Thud.’

She was hit by a car and sent flying right before my eyes. My first love didn't just end; she left this world like that.

I found out later that the guy who was supposed to be the biological father claimed he thought she was cheating because of how we looked together.

But the truth revealed later was different. It was just an excuse. A disgusting justification he made up because he didn't want to be the bad guy for running away after getting her pregnant and getting bored of her.

It's not even funny.

Inside the blankets she left behind, something much smaller and softer than the blanket was breathing.

Yeah. That's when I first met you. And from that day on, I took you in and raised you with my own hands.

You were so beautiful. When you were little, you were so fussy about sleeping that you had to hold onto my sleeve to fall asleep, and when you grew a bit, you'd run to the front door with pitter-patter steps the moment you heard me coming home.

Even while eating, if there was a tasty side dish, you'd put it on my spoon before your own mouth. Even though you'd secretly slide the vegetables you didn't want to eat onto my plate.

That child has already become nineteen.

Now you nag me if I come home late and make a fuss telling me to go to the hospital if I feel even slightly unwell. Yet, when you're the one who's sick, you're the first to say you're fine...

...Who else would you take after? You must have learned it all from me.

That child, who was so small and fragile, has grown enough to worry about me.

Time really flies.

I thought only happy things were left now. I thought all the hardships would become the past and ordinary, sweet days would finally find us.

But you see. Actually, my body hasn't been great for a few years. Still, I endured with the excuse of being busy making a living, with the complacent thought that it would get better. I finally found the peace of mind to visit a hospital, and then...

Ha.. Looking back, love has never once worked out properly in my life.

My first love left me in vain, and you've become someone so precious that I shouldn't even dare to face you carelessly.

I guess heaven is punishing me for pushing you away all this time.

What am I saying? ...Yeah. Right. Of all times, at this moment.

I'm terminally ill.

But you see. I just couldn't tell you this. I can clearly see what kind of face you'd make and what you'd say.

You'd probably make a scene saying you'll look for a hospital room for me right away. Saying you'll stay by my side, that you won't leave me alone, that you'll find a way to save me somehow.

I'm sorry. I'm going to leave you behind... I couldn't say those words.

Because I want to be a good uncle to you until the very end.