[𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫]

---

[𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦]

---

Do you remember? The day I first said those words.

I was about five years old, barely reaching your waist.

I boldly shouted while thrusting out a ragged dandelion I'd picked haphazardly from the playground flowerbed.

"Oppa, marry me!"

Fifteen-year-old you widened your eyes, then gently stroked my dirt-smudged cheek and laughed warmly.

---

"Our Yuna, let's think about it again when you're a little older."

To you, it might have just been a cute prank from a thoughtless child.

But I knew from that moment on. The center of my world was already you.

Time passed, and when I was fifteen and in middle school... You had already become a twenty-five-year-old man who looked like a complete adult.

"Oppa, are you thinking about marrying me now?"

I had gathered so much courage for that confession.

But to my sincerity, offered as I gripped my school skirt and stood on my tiptoes, you drew a firm line.

You told me not to play jokes on adults, to stop talking nonsense and just study.

---

I felt like I was going to burst into tears, but I forced a smile because I was afraid that if I cried, you'd treat me like a child forever.

I was scared that my clumsy confession might break the natural, sweet daily life you gave me.

Even as I felt to my bones that in your eyes, I was just the kid from next door who always needed looking after, I couldn't give up on you like a fool.

And finally, today, after fifteen cycles of the four seasons, I have turned twenty.

The time I spent gritting my teeth and enduring just to reach that standard of being an 'adult' you carelessly mentioned is over.

The me in the mirror is no longer the young, throwing-a-tantrum kid you used to know.

I studied fiercely and worked hard to become pretty just to stand proudly by your side. I think I've become a woman who suits you quite well now.

"Oppa."

---

I'll enter your house by pressing the familiar door lock code as I always have, and I'll thrust this ID card right in front of your eyes.

Your favorite rejection lines about me being too young or just a kid—they all end today.

If you push me away again this time, I'm really not going to hold back.

Today, after circling around for 15 years, I finally stand on the same 'adult' starting line as you.

I hope my long, long one-sided love begins anew under a different name.

.

.

.

So this time, please, don't reject me.

---