âšLettersâš | Choi Seung-Hyun
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âš Pairing: Choi Seung-Hyun x Reader
âš Warnings: themes of heartbreak, mental health struggles, emotional trauma, substance use, and a bittersweet, tear-jerking conclusion
âš Summary: emotional journey of reader and Seung-Hyun, whose once passionate relationship collapses under the weight of fame, a personal scandal, and Seung-Hyunâs mental health struggles
âš Author's note: that's one hell of a rollercoaster. buckle upđ¤
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You were just another face in the classroom. A girl with average lines and average features, wearing a uniform that smelled like starch and borrowed ambition. The kind of role people forget even existed. You werenât even credited.
It started smallâbarely a nod when you passed each other in the hallway between takes. Then, a full glance. Then, lunch.
The first time, his voice was a surpriseâsmooth and deeper than you remembered from interviews, disarming when paired with that lazy, crooked smile.
You blinked, almost said âWhy?â, but your nod came faster. The table was too narrow. His knee touched yours under it.
He asked your name. Then he used it every time he saw you, like it meant something.
âY/N, you ever get tired of sitting in that second row?â
âItâs where they put me.â
âYou donât look like you belong there.â
Your hands had tightened on your chopsticks.
The days blurred. His schedule was heavierâalways running to rehearse, to change wardrobe, to be seen. But he kept returning, sitting beside you, even when he barely had ten minutes to eat.
On wrap day, you waited. For a goodbye. A text. Anything.
But no one called you. No one thanked you.
You watched the trailer on your cracked iPhone in a sublet with mold in the corners. You werenât in a single frame.
They were right.
You were nothing.
But you knewâhe never thought that.
And you left, moved overseas. Booking small, later bigger roles in commercials or TV shows. Trying to leave everything behind, until you couldnât. You missed Korea too much and your manager brought to much shit over your head.Â
âY/N, thing about the opportunities. Think about the spot light. They mightnât have recognised you then, but now you are stronger.â He used to say.
The air is too cold in the studio. Typical. You hug your arms as the stylist pinches fabric at your waist, muttering something about natural curves and compression gear.
You spot him before he spots you.
Heâs leaning against the wall, arms folded, laughing with a PA who looks like sheâs about to melt. His hair is darker now. Sharper jawline. Broader shoulders. Same presence, like a thunderstorm caught in a designer hoodie.
You turn away before he catches your stare, but itâs too late.
âThis is Y/N,â the director says cheerily. âYou two will play the couple. I expect real chemistry, real heat.â
âWeâve met,â he answers without missing a beat.
Your pulse stutters. You donât look at him.
You just nod. âIâm not sure. Nice to meet you.â
His expression flickers. Just for a second. Then it smooths into something unreadable.
That day, you donât speak beyond whatâs written in the shot list. You smile when the cameraâs on, rest your hand on his chest like itâs scriptedâbecause it is.
But under your palm, his heart is beating fast.
Between takes, you're in the wardrobe, trying to fix a stubborn zipper, when you feel him behind you.
You freeze. The air changes. You see his reflection in the mirror, the way his jaw is clenched. The way his eyes are fixed on you like youâre an answer to a question he didnât know he still had.
âSo thatâs it?â he asks. âWeâre strangers now?â
You donât turn around. âWe were never anything else.â
The zipper jerks. You hiss. Heâs there in an instant, his hand catching yours.
âDonât,â you whisper.
âDonât do this. Not here.â
He leans in close, his breath warm on your neck. âYou really forgot everything?â
You lift your eyes to meet his in the mirror. âNo. I just buried it better than you did.â
He doesnât back away. Not even when the door creaks open and someone calls for him on set.
âYou owe me,â he says, voice low. âOne night. One real conversation. You disappeared.â
But even as he leaves, your skin remembers every inch of him.
You donât tell anyone where youâre going.
He sent the address in a text you didnât respond to. But you showed up. You always do when itâs him.
The restaurant is quiet, lit by soft lamps and filled with low jazz. Not his usual scene, you think. Maybe thatâs the point.
He stands when you walk in. His smile is cautious, but real.
âWasnât sure youâd come.â
âI wasnât sure either.â
You sit across from him. The space between you feels like an open wound.
Dinner is slow. You talk about the industry. About mutual directors. How much has changed. How much hasnât.
âI looked for you,â he says, cutting through grilled mackerel like itâs nothing. âAfter the film. No social media. No credits. You disappeared.â
You sip your wine. âPeople like me donât leave footprints.â
âPeople like you?â he leans forward. âYou mean the ones who steal every scene theyâre in without saying a word?â
âThey erased you from the movie. But I didnât forget. I still have a photo from set. The one where you're laughing at something I said. You looked soââ
âDonât.â Your voice cracks.
You donât finish your food.
But you stay until closing.
The night smells like rain and gasoline. You both linger on the sidewalk like teenagers with nothing left to say but everything left to feel.
Your rides havenât come yet.
âI asked everyone about you. The makeup team. Extras. Nobody knew where you went.â
âI didnât want to be found.â
You pause. Wind pushes your hair across your cheek, and you let it. Itâs easier than facing him.
âBecause I was tired of being treated like an accessory. A body. A set piece.â
âThatâs not what you were to me.â
His voice is thick now, rough around the edges.
âThen why didnât you say something?â
âI thought Iâd see you again. I didnât know itâd take five goddamn years.â
You turn. The streetlight pools behind him, casting his face in gold.
âYou were the only person on that set who made me feel seen,â you whisper. âAnd it terrified me.â
âDonât do that again,â he says, almost breathless. âDonât look at me like a stranger.â
You let him pull you inâjust a fraction. Just enough that the heat of him fills your lungs again.
âThen donât leave me like one.â
It started in halves. One dinner turned into two. A late night phone call that became a habit. Then a weekend where you never really left his place, your toothbrush leaning next to his, too domestic, too easy.
You both tried to be careful. Tried not to let it look like something realâbecause the spotlight hated real things.
But heâd kiss your forehead while you scrolled scripts in bed. Youâd run your fingers through his hair while he mumbled lyrics into his phoneâs recorder. You began building a language that didnât need words.
Not officially, not with boxes or contracts. Just little things. A coffee mug, your favorite lotion, a robe slung over his chair. Then more. Until home was wherever he was.
Sweet mornings became rituals. He made coffee exactly how you liked it, even when he had to leave before sunrise. Youâd find sticky notes on the fridge with hearts and scribbled lyrics. On days off, you curled into his chest on the couch, laughing at old variety shows and stealing kisses between yawns.
When he came home lateâsometimes at dawn, sometimes hours after youâd fallen asleepâheâd always stop in the doorway and just watch you. Youâd wake to his hand brushing your hair back, soft kisses to your temple, the press of his forehead to yours like a silent promise: still here.
The rumors always came fast.
A new actress seen with him at a showcase. A kiss on screen that lingered too long. And for youâit was worse. The way they talked about your "chemistry" with other co-stars. The way tabloids pitted you against idols with perfect skin and public smiles.
âYou looked good with him,â he said once, too quiet, one night after your drama premiere. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, half in shadow, the unopened soju bottle between you like a line neither of you wanted to cross.
You had laughed, short and brittle. "That's your takeaway from my first lead role?"
He pushed off the counter. âDonât,â he warned, his voice low.
âDonât what?â you asked, not quite ready for the answer.
âPretend like it doesnât affect us.â
You met his eyes, and they were sharper than you'd seen in weeks. Not stage-hardened or camera-smooth. Just real. Hurt.
âI hate it too,â you whispered. âBut itâs part of it.â
âThen letâs change it. Or fight for it. Or something. Because pretending it doesnât matterâitâs tearing pieces off of us.â
And that night, in the small silence after his words, you kissed him like he was oxygen and you had been drowning. Not to fix it. But to feel him. To remind him.
Still, the cracks appeared.
In silence at breakfast, when heâd read articles about your co-stars without looking up. In the way you smiled a little too wide at red carpets, because it was easier than explaining the ache in your ribs. In how sometimes, you both fell asleep with backs turned, not because you were angryâbut because saying the right thing was too hard, and saying the wrong thing might break the fragile quiet.
In forgiveness. In shared earbuds on long-haul flights when words failed you both. In comfort when the cameras turned off and your hands found each other like instinct. In how he waited three hours outside your shoot in the rain, hood up, shivering, just because your text said: "rough day." In how you showed up at his studio past midnight with kimchi stew and a sweatshirt that still smelled like him, because you knew he hadn't eaten, and he hated being alone when the lyrics wouldnât come.
It was messy. And beautiful. And real.
And one night, when you caught him watching you in the mirror as you took off your makeup, red carpet glitter still clinging to your collarbone, you finally broke the silence.
âYouâre it for me,â you said. Soft. Scared. Fierce. âEven when I hate everything elseâwhen I hate the fans, and the makeup, and the lies, and the constant pretendingâI never hate you. Not once.
I think about that night in the stairwell at the Commitment set, when we sat on the metal steps and you gave me half your sandwich because the staff forgot extras need to eat too. You asked me why I always wore those threadbare gloves with holes in the thumbs, and I told you they were my brotherâs. You didnât laugh. You just touched the frayed edge like it meant something. No one else ever noticed.
I think about the way youâd text me lyrics at 3 a.m., not asking for help, just⌠wanting to share them with me. You said I was your filter. That I made things sound like they were worth hearing.
I think about that morning after your showcase when you came home and collapsed on the floor instead of the bed, and I laid down next to you because neither of us had the energy to speak, but we needed the closeness like breath.
You know me. You know I hate peaches but I eat them when you cut them up. You know I pretend not to cry at dramas, but I do, and you always hand me tissues without saying a word. You know I lose sleep over every audition, and you never tell me Iâm overreacting. You just sit beside me until the storm quiets.
And I know you. I know that you bite your lips when youâre nervous but pretend you donât. That you hum to old Big Bang tracks when you think no oneâs listening. That you always sleep facing the door when Iâm not home, like youâre waiting for me.
I love how you love. Fierce. Whole. Scared but unwavering. You see the parts of me I try to bury and never look away. I love the way you say my name like itâs a vow. The way you kiss the spot behind my ear like itâs instinct. The way you never ask me to shrink myself to fit the shadows of your world.
I love you in every tense. Past, when I didnât believe I mattered. Present, now, when I see you and it feels like light. And futureâyes, futureâwhatever we become, however this ends or grows, you are in it.
Youâre it for me. Youâve always been.â
He crossed the room with purpose, slow but sure, as if each step burned through the layers of fear and silence you'd both worn like armor. The tension hung thick between you, electric, ready to break. When he reached you, he pausedânot for breath, but for clarityâas if seeing you under this soft light, bare-faced and brave, carved something deep inside him.
His hands lifted with reverence, not haste. They trembled as they cupped your jaw, thumbs brushing your cheekbones like he was afraid you'd disappear. Your breath caught. His eyes locked on yours, not demanding, just presentâheavy with everything he hadnât said.
When he kissed you, it wasnât hurried or wild. It was deliberate. A vow. A plea. A memory. A promise.
You felt it in every cellâthat this wasnât just lips on lips. It was his way of saying, I see you. I still choose you. Again and again.
And when you kissed him back, it wasnât surrender. It was recognition.
You didnât sleep that night. You just held each other in the dark, hearts speaking a language louder than fame.
Heâs sitting on the couch, guitar in his lap, no shirt, just sweatpants and bare skin. Light spills through the balcony like itâs been painted just for this momentâgold against the curve of his collarbone, the dip of his stomach, the familiar freckle near his left shoulder youâve kissed a hundred times.
Heâs humming softly, plucking at strings with no real melody. Just the sound of him, raw and unguarded. Youâre watching from the kitchen, wearing one of his oversized hoodies that smells like cedarwood and his shampoo. Your feet are bare. Cereal box in hand. The spoon forgotten somewhere nearby.
He looks up. Sees you. Really sees you.
âYouâre staring,â he says with that boyish smile, the one that made you fall in love.
âYouâre beautiful,â you reply, soft but certain. Itâs not a compliment. Itâs a truth.
He grins wider, strums a lazy chord, one that echoes through the sunlit apartment like a sigh. âMarry me.â
You laugh, not because itâs funny, but because itâs so him. âThatâs not how you ask.â
He sets the guitar down. Stands. Walks toward you with that slow, deliberate grace that still unravels you, all long limbs and quiet gravity.
âItâs how I feel,â he says again, voice lower now, fuller. He stops in front of you, brushing your hair back from your face with a reverence that almost hurts.
You blink. And for a second, the room tilts.
âYou donât believe in marriage,â you murmur. âYou said it was a cage. That it ruined love.â
He nods, then leans in, pressing his forehead to yours. âIt is. For most people. But with you... it feels like flying. Like maybe love could finally be something I build instead of something I run from.â
Your hands find his chest, warm and steady. âSay it again,â you whisper.
Not a command. Not even a question. A prayer.
Tears sting your eyes. You bury your face in his neck, inhale the comfort of skin and sweat and music and safety.
âI thought youâd never ask.â
And for the first timeânot in your career, or on red carpets, or under studio lightsâbut here, in the golden silence of a shared life, you donât feel like nothing.
You feel like his everything.
The apartment felt like a tomb. The silence that had settled over the space was suffocating, a cold, haunting presence that refused to be ignored. The smell of his cologne lingered faintly in the air, but it was no longer comforting. It was a reminder. A cruel one.
You had always thought that if you lost him, youâd somehow feel the break coming. Youâd know when it was happening, feel it in your bones. But you didnât. It just⌠happened. Gradually at first. He pulled away with the excuse of his military service, then with the scandal that broke everything he had worked for. And then came the cold silenceâdays without calls, without texts, without the sound of his voice.
The first night he left was the hardest. You couldnât bring yourself to say goodbye, so you didnât. You just held him that last time, memorizing the way his warmth felt against you, the rhythm of his breath, the way he pressed a kiss to your forehead like it was an unspoken promise.
But that promise slipped away with the first headline. The first accusation. You saw the words written in bold, his name smeared across gossip magazines like a stain, and your heart shattered a little with every passing minute. They painted him as a monster, a man who had everything and lost it all, and with him, they tried to take you too. They questioned your love, your loyalty, your very right to exist beside him. And as much as you tried to ignore it, tried to shut it out, the whispers and rumors were louder than your own heartbeat.
When his mom called, her voice tight with worry, you felt a flicker of hope. She said he wanted to see you, that he had asked for you specifically. And for a brief moment, you thought that maybe he was going to come back to you. That maybe this was all a mistake, and heâd still remember what you meant to him.
But when you arrived at the hospital, his cold silence crushed that hope like a house of cards. His mom escorted you in, but her eyes were already red from crying. She didnât say anything, didnât need to. You could feel itâthe weight of everything unspoken hanging between you, thick and unbearable.
The hospital room was a sterile, unforgiving space. The air smelled of antiseptic, and the pale white walls reflected nothing but the exhaustion on his face. Seung Hyun was sitting by the window, looking out, his back hunched as if the weight of the world had been placed on his shoulders.
For a moment, you stood frozen, trying to process the man before you. The man who had once been the light of your life, now a stranger in the room. His eyes were distant, as though he was trying to disappear into the cold glass. He didnât turn when you walked in. He didnât even acknowledge your presence.
But you werenât going to give up on him. Not this easily.
You took a tentative step forward, your heart racing in your chest as you approached him. âSeung HyunâŚâ Your voice broke in the middle of his name, your throat tight with the effort to hold back the flood of emotion that threatened to consume you.
He didnât move. Didnât even flinch. It was like he couldnât hear you. Or didnât want to.
You took another step. This time, you reached out, your hand brushing his shoulder. He flinched. The first real response youâd gotten from him since heâd left. And yet, it was as if it hurt him more to be touched than to be alone.
âWhy are you doing this?â You whispered, voice trembling. âWhy are you pushing me away?â
His jaw clenched, his eyes still fixed on the window. The silence stretched out, thick and suffocating. You could hear your heart pounding in your ears, feel the cold panic rising in your chest.
âIâm sorry,â he muttered, his voice so quiet you could barely hear it over the hum of the hospital machinery. âIâm sorry for everything.â
âYou donât have to apologize to me,â you said, desperation rising. âIâm not angry. Iâm just⌠scared. I donât understand. Why wonât you talk to me? Why wonât you let me in?â
His voice cracked. âYou donât get it. I donât deserve you. I donât deserve this⌠this love. Iâve ruined everything. And I donât want to drag you down with me.â
You felt the sting of those words like a physical blow. âDonât say that. Donât you dare say that.â Your voice was shaking now, your chest tight with the force of the emotions you could no longer keep inside. âYouâre everything to me. Youâve always been everything to me. How can you say you donât deserve me when youâve never once made me feel anything but loved?â
He turned his head, his eyes meeting yours for the first time in what felt like forever. His gaze was raw, filled with so much pain it made your heart ache.
âYou donât know what itâs like,â he whispered, his voice strained. âYou donât know what itâs like to lose everything. To feel like youâre nothing. And I donât want you to watch me destroy myself. I donât want to drag you into this mess.â
You took a shaky breath, trying to steady yourself. The tears were welling in your eyes now, blurring your vision. âBut Iâm already here. Iâve been here. I never left you.â
And that was when he finally broke.
Seung Hyun stood up so suddenly, you barely had time to react. He moved away from you, walking toward the far corner of the room, his fists clenched at his sides. âIâm not the man you fell in love with. Iâm not the man you think I am.â
âI donât care who you think you are,â you shouted, your voice thick with emotion. âI donât care about the mistakes or the scandals or the lies. I care about you. I care about us. And I still love you.â
The words hung in the air, heavy and aching, as if they had taken everything you had to say. He stood there, his back to you, shoulders shaking with the weight of his own grief.
You couldnât breathe. You couldnât bear to see him like this, so broken, so lost. And yet, he wasnât coming back to you. Not now. Not ever.
You stood there in the silence, your body shaking with sobs you couldnât contain anymore. âI canât do this,â you whispered to yourself. âI canât lose you.â
But you had already lost him.
And it was the hardest thing youâd ever had to face.
Later, when his mom took you home, she didnât say a word. She didnât need to. The two of you didnât speak, didnât share words. The only thing that passed between you was a shared understanding of the heartbreak that weighed you both down.
The apartment was empty. His presence still lingered in the corners of the room, in the smell of his cologne, in the warmth of his favorite sweater you had folded and left in the closet. But it was empty, like you were empty. The place where you had built your life, where you had imagined a future, was gone.
You didnât have the strength to stay in that place anymore. The thought of walking past the walls that had once held the laughter, the quiet moments, the love you had, made you sick. So you packed your bags, slowly, one item at a time, as if each piece you took was one more part of you that was being ripped away.
Your heart broke with every step. Every time your hands touched something that once belonged to him, you felt that fracture deepen.
When you walked out the door for the last time, it wasnât just the door to the apartment that closed. It was the door to your future, the one you had believed in. The one where you and Seung Hyun were together.
But it was over. He was gone.
You couldnât fix him. You couldnât save him.
And it hurt more than you could ever have imagined.
The pain didnât come in waves. It came in an endless, suffocating tide. And as you walked down the hallway, past the door that had once been home, you knew that you were leaving a piece of your soul behind.
But you had to. You had no choice.
And when you stepped out into the night, you didnât look back.
Because if you did, you knew you might never leave.
Itâs been weeks since you last saw him, since you visited him at the hospital, since he pushed you awayâlike he was doing what he thought was best for both of you. But you didnât understand it then, and you donât understand it now. All you know is that the silence between you feels like a never-ending void.
You tried calling, sending texts, leaving voicemails. But there was nothingâno response, not a single word. Nothing. Just silence. And you knew. You knew that silence was more than just the absence of sound. It was the space heâd created between you two, an invisible wall that seemed impossible to climb.
You found a new place. A small, quiet apartment, much smaller than what you shared with him, but itâs yours. And as much as it feels like a fresh start, it doesnât feel like home. Not yet.
You didnât know where he wasâwhat he was doingâbut you couldnât stay where he had once been. You couldnât pretend that the apartment was still the place where you were a part of his world. And even though you were miles away from that life, you couldnât stop thinking about him. About the promise heâd made, the love he said heâd never let go of.
And still, nothing. No sign of him. Not a message, not a call.
I donât know where to even begin. How do I write to you when it feels like youâre a ghost? How do I tell you everything thatâs happened when I donât even know where to start?
The truth is, I left. I left our apartment. It didnât feel like our home anymore, not after everything that happened. After the hospital, after you pushed me away. I couldnât stand being there. It hurt too much to see your thingsâthe things that reminded me of what we wereâand to know you werenât coming back.
I found a new place. Itâs small, quieter. I thought that maybe if I started over somewhere else, it would help. But it doesnât. It doesnât feel like a home without you. Itâs just a place. A lonely place.
You told me to leave, Seung-Hyun. You told me you couldnât do this anymore. And I wanted to understand, I really did. But I canât. I still donât get why you walked away like that. You were hurting, I get that now. I know you were going through something I couldnât fix. But you never let me in, not even when I begged you to.
And now, I donât know where you are, or if youâre even okay. I hear nothing. No word from you. I donât know if Iâll ever see you again. And it hurts, more than I could ever put into words.
I just want to know that youâre okay. That youâre still out there. I want to believe that youâll come back, that youâll remember what we had. But maybe Iâm just fooling myself. I donât know anymore.
Iâll always be here, Seung-Hyun. Even if you donât want me to be.
Itâs been a few years since I moved into this new apartment. The silence is deafening. I thought it would be easier, I thought maybe being away from the place we shared would give me some kind of peace. But it hasnât. Itâs just made everything worse.
I keep going over the last time I saw you. The look in your eyes when I walked into the hospital room, how distant you were. It felt like you were already gone, even before you said those wordsâ"I canât do this anymore." You wouldnât look at me. You wouldnât let me be there with you. And I think thatâs whatâs killing me the most. You shut me out when I needed to be there for you the most.
And now, Iâve shut myself out too. I canât stay in that apartment. I couldnât breathe there without you. It felt like the memories were choking me, pulling me back to a time when things were simple, when we were just happy.
I donât know where you are. I donât know what youâre doing. But I canât help but feel like youâve disappeared from my life for good. That what we had, what I believed in, doesnât matter to you anymore.
Iâm scared, Seung-Hyun. Iâm scared that Iâll never hear from you again, that Iâll never get the answers I need. That Iâll never understand why you left, why you pushed me away when I wanted nothing more than to help you.
Iâm trying. Iâm really trying to move on, to let go of the hope that weâll ever find our way back to each other. But I donât think I can. Not yet.
I just want you to be okay. Please, take care of yourself. Please donât shut the world out completely.
You wonât believe, but Iâm still waiting for you to call me, for you to send me a message, anything. But I know you wonât. You havenât. I know this silence is intentional. I know youâre trying to push me away, to push everything away.
But I canât do it. I canât let go of you, not yet. I still see you in everythingâwhen I walk into the coffee shop we used to visit, when I hear our song on the radio, when I think about the way youâd smile at me just before we kissed.
I donât want to believe that everything we shared was a lie. I donât want to believe that it was just a fleeting moment in time. But I canât keep pretending that I donât miss you. That I donât still love you. I do. I always will.
I donât know what happened. I donât know why you pushed me away. I donât know what I did wrong. But I canât keep pretending Iâm okay when Iâm not. Iâm broken, Seung-Hyun. Iâm empty without you.
I just want you to come back. I want to see your face again, to hear your voice. I want us to figure this out, even if it takes time.
I donât want to move on, Seung-Hyun. Not if it means giving up on us.
You donât know if heâll ever read these letters. You donât know if heâll even ever know that you still care. But as long as you keep writing, as long as you keep sending them to the old apartment, thereâs a tiny, fragile part of you that believes heâll come back.Â
Iâm writing this letter, and itâs different than the others. Iâm not writing this out of sadness, or desperation, or out of longing to hear from you. This is my last letter to you.
Iâve learned so much these past years, and I want you to know that, even though weâre no longer a part of each otherâs lives, Iâve healed. Or, at least, Iâm in the process of it. It hasnât been easyâhell, there were times I wasnât sure if Iâd ever get through the pain of losing you. But here I am, sitting with a sense of peace I never thought Iâd have. It feels surreal, but it feels real.
Iâve been seeing a therapist, and Iâve learned more about myself than I ever thought I would. I didnât know how much of me I was holding onto, waiting for you to come back, waiting for things to be the way they were. I didnât know that I had been keeping myself in a state of limbo, not truly moving on because I was so afraid of saying goodbye. But my therapist told me that Iâve finally reached a place where I can say goodbyeâand Iâm ready.
Iâve made peace with everything, Seung-Hyun. I understand now that sometimes people just need to walk different paths, no matter how much it hurts. I needed to walk mine. And you needed to walk yours. And while that truth doesnât erase the love I had for you, it does help me let go of the weight Iâve been carrying around.
You were my everything for so long, and for a while, I couldnât imagine my life without you. But now, I can. Iâm creating a new life, one thatâs all my own. Itâs not perfect, but itâs mine. Iâve started picking up pieces of myself that Iâd forgotten, pieces that got lost in the person I was with you. And Iâm discovering who I am again, outside of the love we shared.
Iâve started a new job too, one that challenges me in ways I never thought Iâd be capable of. And Iâm starting to find joy in the little things againâthe quiet mornings, the late-night walks, the sound of my own laughter.
But the truth is, thereâs still a small part of me that will always remember you. Always love you. You were a huge part of my life, and that wonât ever change. You taught me so much about love and about who I am, even if we didnât end the way we thought we would. And for that, Iâll always be grateful.
I guess this is my way of saying goodbyeânot just to you, but to everything we were. Iâm not angry anymore, Seung-Hyun. Iâm not sad. Iâm just⌠letting go. Iâm setting myself free, and I want you to do the same. I hope that, wherever you are, youâre finding peace, too. I hope youâre healing. I hope youâre becoming the person you were meant to be, just like Iâm learning to become the person Iâm meant to be.
Take care of yourself, Seung-Hyun. Iâll always wish you well, even if we never speak again. And though I will carry our memories with me, Iâll carry them in a way thatâs lighter nowâbecause I know that itâs okay to move on.
As you write the final words, a sense of quiet settles in your chest. You fold the letter carefully, slipping it into an envelope one last time, and as you seal it, you finally realizeâyouâre not looking for anything in return. Youâre no longer waiting for him to read it, no longer clinging to the hope that he might come back.
Youâve let go. Youâve said goodbye, not just in the words youâve written, but in your heart.
Seung-Hyun pushed open the door of the old apartment, the one he hadnât set foot in since everything came crashing down. The space was different from what he remembered âdusty, untouched, silent. The air felt thick with the weight of years, of memories that had settled into the corners like cobwebs. He hadnât wanted to come back. He had convinced himself that returning here, to this place, would be a kind of self-inflicted punishment. But now that he was standing in the doorway, he realized it wasnât the apartment that held him captive.
It was the memories of you.
He didnât know what he expected, walking into the apartment where so much had unfolded, where your love had bloomed and then withered. Maybe he had hoped for some kind of relief, some clarity to wash over him, like the turning of a page. But instead, he was met with the same heavy silence, the same haunting stillness that had followed him in every other room of his life. The space was too quiet, too empty, and yet it was filled with everything he had tried to forget.
The walls, once adorned with pictures of your time togetherâbirthday dinners, lazy Sundays, random selfies and pictures from film setsânow felt bare. The frames were gone, the once-colorful walls now washed with the dull gray of neglect. Everything you had left behind felt like a lifetime ago, a distant, unreachable place. His fingers brushed against the old coffee table, worn from use, but it felt like he was touching a ghost.
He moved slowly through the apartment, the echoes of his footsteps louder than they should have been. His gaze fell on the small kitchen, where youâd once spent hours cooking together, laughing over spilled ingredients and burned toast. The thought of how you had once danced around this kitchen, your laughter bright, your spirit so aliveâit hurt in a way he didnât know how to explain.
The apartment was no longer yours. You had moved on. He had pushed you away, and you had left. You had to. It wasnât just the scandal that broke them. It wasnât just the fame or the distance or the expectations. It was his inability to face the truth. His fear. His brokenness.
But something had shifted in him during the past months, something had changed. Maybe it was the therapy, maybe it was the time away from everything, or maybe it was the sheer weight of everything that had happened. But the man who had walked away from you was different now. Not fixed, not healedâbut better. He knew that now.
As he wandered through the apartment, he noticed a stack of mail that had been left unopened on the counter. He hadnât expected anything, but something caught his eye. Small, yellow envelopes with a familiar handwriting on them. Your handwriting.
There were several others. All addressed to him. Some had already yellowed with age, others still crisp and fresh. He hesitated, staring at them as if they were fragile, as if touching them would make them disappear. He had thought that if he kept avoiding you, if he kept pretending like he didnât care, it would all go away. But it hadnât gone away. It had only made the guilt worse.
He picked up the first letter and read the words that felt like a punch to the gut.
"I donât know where to even begin. How do I write to you when it feels like youâre a ghost? How do I tell you everything thatâs happened when I donât even know where to start?"
His chest tightened. He put the letter down, his eyes blurry. That one simple sentenceâ"I still think about you every day"âwas enough to crack him wide open.
The tears came quickly after that, and before he knew it, he was crying. Not for the man he used to be, but for the man he had become in your absence. He had shut you out, pushed you away, and in the process, had torn apart the only good thing he had ever had in his life.
He read every letter. All twenty-seven of them. Each one a painful reminder of what he had lost. Of what he had taken for granted. Of how much you had loved him, how much you had fought for him, even when he hadnât deserved it. You had poured your heart out, over and over, each letter a piece of yourself you had given to him.
And now, he was finally hearing you.
When he had finished reading the last letter, he was a mess. His emotions were all tangledâregret, guilt, sorrow, but also something else. Something he hadnât felt in years: peace.
You were moving on. You had healed. You had said goodbye, even if it had taken you time to get there.
He was still here, still holding onto the past, still holding onto the love he had never allowed himself to fully feel. He wasnât sure what to do with all of it, but one thing was certain: he had to tell you. He had to let you know how much he had changed, how much he had grown, how much he had learned.
He had to say goodbye, too.
Thatâs when he grabbed the pen and began to write.
I wasnât sure what to expect when I came back. Itâs been seven years since everything changed. Seven years of silence that felt like a lifetime, each day growing heavier than the last. But when I walked through the door of our old apartment today, I wasnât expecting this.
I wasnât expecting to find the mailbox full of your letters.
I sat down right there in the hallway, with the stack of envelopes in my hands. At first, I didnât know what to feel. I almost didnât want to open them. I thought, "What could they possibly say that could make me feel any less guilty?" But I couldnât leave them unread. Not when youâd written every word with such care. With such honesty. With your heart laid bare.
It took me hours. The wine bottle beside me slowly emptied, and with each letter, I found myself feeling a little more. Regret. Sadness. Angerâat myself. But most of all, a sense of loss. Not just for what we were, but for the person I used to be. The person who thought he had everything figured out.
I didnât have anything figured out.
I donât even know how to begin. How do you explain years of silence? How do you apologize for the hurt you caused without sounding like youâre trying to justify it? How do you say that you were broken, too, but never even tried to fix yourself until it was too late?
I didnât deserve your letters. I didnât deserve your patience. Your love. The fact that you spent all these years waiting for me to come back, while I was lost in a place where I couldnât even recognize myself anymore.
I know itâs not enough to say "I'm sorry," but I need you to hear it. Because for the first time in years, I can actually say it and mean it. Iâm sorry, Y/N. Iâm sorry for how I treated you. For pushing you away when all you ever wanted was to be there for me. Iâm sorry for not being the person you needed. Iâm sorry for taking you for granted when you deserved so much more.
I know itâs hard to believe, but I am a better person now. Iâve taken the time to work on myself, to heal in ways I never thought I could. And thatâs why Iâm able to write this to you nowânot out of guilt, but because I truly want you to know that Iâm in a better place. Mentally, emotionally⌠everything. Iâm not the man who left you behind. And I know that doesnât change what happened, but itâs the truth.
When I look back at everythingâthe good times, the bad times, the love we sharedâitâs clear to me now that I was never the person you needed me to be. You deserved someone who was whole. Someone who was ready. But instead, I was broken, and I broke us both in the process.
And now, as much as I wish I could ask for your forgiveness, I know I donât have the right. But I hope, one day, when you look back on our time together, youâll remember the good parts. The love. The laughter. The moments when we both felt like we were more than just two people in the same space. I hope you remember those times with warmth, and not just the hurt.
I donât expect anything from you. I donât expect a response. I donât even expect you to forgive me. All I want is for you to know that I have always, and will always, care about you. I wish you nothing but happiness. And peace. You deserve everything good in this world, Y/N.
Maybe one day, our paths will cross again. But if they donât, I want you to know that Iâll always carry the love we shared with me. Iâll never forget it. Youâll always have a place in my heart, even if we never speak again.
Goodbye. But this time, itâs different.
Take care of yourself. I hope youâre as happy as you deserve to be.
This was his goodbye. The letter he had never thought heâd write, but knew he needed to.
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