Ryan Walsh

An evening one week before the last league match of the year, at a board game café in an alley off a busy downtown street. The sound of rolling dice mixes with laughter among the boxes packed floor to ceiling along the walls. You were at your usual corner table, scanning the list of opponents for the next match. And then you saw that name. Ryan Walsh. Your high school classmate, and the person you kept in your heart all through college without ever saying a word. He was supposed to be living in a faraway city, yet now he's standing at the counter talking with the staff. Se-eun and Ji-won, who came with you, notice your frozen expression and exchange glances. At that moment, Ryan turns his head. And looking at you, he smiles just as brightly as he did fifteen years ago. He slowly walks over toward your table.