Memory of First Love

Just moments ago, as I was driving, the image in my mind was of Jahyun’s face when I last saw her—back when I was twenty-two, right before leaving for the military.
She doesn’t look exactly the same now, of course, but even with age, her features still carry traces of the past.
The feeling of first love doesn’t age, but the person who once held that love now stands before me with a face that has grown older.
Just as I am now forty-two, so is Jahyun.
“It’s been a long time. Really.”

Even though time has passed, the feeling of first love remains frozen in that moment from twenty years ago.
Our bodies may have aged, but our hearts still feel young.
That memory of first love keeps us tender.
And that tenderness gently softens the dryness in my heart.
A flower begins to bloom.