Sunday afternoon.

For once, there was nothing on the schedule.

Seongho lay on the sofa looking at his phone while Jiyeon folded laundry beside him.

It looked exactly like their old life.

But something was different.

Seongho's feet rested across Jiyeon's legs. She pushed them away once, but when he put them back, she let them stay.

Then a notification appeared on Seongho's phone.

Fifteen years ago today.

The photo app had pulled up an old memory.

Seongho tapped it.

(Seongho) : “Hey, look at this.”

Jiyeon moved closer.

The two of them were in their twenties.

Sinchon streets.

A cheap beer bar.

A park full of cherry blossoms.

The beach.

They both looked much more unfashionable than they remembered.

Seongho's hair was terrible.

Jiyeon's eyebrows were far too thin.

(Jiyeon) : “What happened to my eyebrows?”

(Seongho) : “What happened to my hair?”

(Jiyeon) : “That was fashionable back then.”

(Seongho) : “I actually went outside like that?”

They laughed for a long time.

The more photos they swiped through, the more pictures there were of them pressed close together.

Leaning on each other's shoulders.

Holding hands.

Cheeks touching.

Seongho stopped at one photo.

Jiyeon was hugging him from behind, laughing.

(Seongho) : “We were really happy then.”

Jiyeon looked at the picture too.

(Jiyeon) : “We were.”

The next photos were from their wedding.

Jiyeon in a wedding dress.

Seongho in a tuxedo.

Both of them smiling so much.

Their swiping slowed.

During the first few years of marriage, they talked about children all the time.

Who a son should look like.

What they would name a daughter.

What began as playful conversation eventually became a plan.

Then the plan became an assignment.

Hospital visits.

Timing dates.

Medicine.

Tests.

Every month they hoped.

Maybe this time.

Then they were disappointed again.

Jiyeon said quietly,

(Jiyeon) : “I cried so much back then.”

Without looking away from the phone, Seongho said,

(Seongho) : “I know.”

(Jiyeon) : “I didn't cry much in front of you.”

(Seongho) : “You cried in the bathroom.”

Jiyeon looked at him.

(Jiyeon) : “You knew?”

Seongho nodded.

(Seongho) : “I pretended I didn't.”

Jiyeon was quiet for a while.

So was Seongho.

Neither of them wanted to make things harder for the other.

So they said it was okay.

They said they could try again.

They said the two of them could still live happily.

Then, at some point, they stopped talking about children.

After that, they fought less.

But they also expected less.

Felt less disappointed.

Felt less excited.

Seongho spoke.

(Seongho) : “I think we were just exhausted.”

Jiyeon nodded.

(Jiyeon) : “Yeah.”

(Seongho) : “I didn't even want to tell you I was sorry.”

(Jiyeon) : “Why?”

(Seongho) : “Because if I did, you'd say you were fine again.”

Jiyeon gave a small laugh.

(Jiyeon) : “You always said you were fine too.”

(Seongho) : “That's true.”

For a while, they kept looking through wedding photos.

Then Seongho looked at Jiyeon.

(Seongho) : “You know, lately you seem more like you used to.”

(Jiyeon) : “How?”

(Seongho) : “Your expression.”

Jiyeon narrowed her eyes.

(Jiyeon) : “What expression?”

(Seongho) : “When you look at me.”

Jiyeon immediately looked back at the phone.

Seongho laughed.

(Seongho) : “See? That.”

(Jiyeon) : “What are you talking about?”

Seongho smiled teasingly, then went a little quieter.

And said,

(Seongho) : “You're cute.”

Jiyeon looked at him.

(Jiyeon) : “Is that something a forty-year-old man should say?”

Seongho pointed at his own face.

(Seongho) : “I'm twenty right now.”

Jiyeon laughed.

(Jiyeon) : “I thought your mind was forty.”

(Seongho) : “Only when I need it to be.”

Jiyeon lightly smacked his arm.

Seongho caught her hand.

This time, he wasn't joking.

Their fingers slowly intertwined.

Jiyeon didn't pull away.

On the phone between them, the two of them in their twenties were still smiling.

Jiyeon looked at the photo, then at the Seongho beside her now.

A twenty-year-old face.

Forty years of memories.

And the husband she'd spent eleven years with.

Seongho squeezed her hand.

Jiyeon squeezed back.

Those days had been good.

But maybe,

they were starting to be good again now.