"How do you know? How do you know when is the last time you see someone? How do you know when the person you love will disappear from you forever?"
"You don't."
"Oh…"
"You don't have to. The ones whom you love and the ones who are most important to you are the ones that have never left you. They're still with you."
Hands – When Winter Turns to Spring
"Hello?" Tomiko's frail voice spoke over the phone.
The constant purring of the phone continued, taunting Tomiko as she held the receiver to her ears. Then, a voice came over the phone. Tomiko smiled just to hear Seung's voice, although she couldn't understand the language.
Tomiko had frozen, unsure of what to say. Several times, she had opened her mouth, but she quickly closed it right after. "Hey…" She finally said timidly.
Then, he spoke once more in Korean in a more confused manner.
"Is that you Seung?" She asked rhetorically, simply wanted to hear his voice once more.
"Yes."
"Don't you remember me?"
There was a long pause between them. They could hear each other breathing heavily into the telephone, yet neither of them spoke.
"Am I interrupting? I could call at another time-"
"No! Now is fine." Seung interrupted.
Her eyes squinted as a grin grew across her face.
"I'm sorry… I just wanted to tell you that." Seung was at a loss of words. He didn't know what to say to her, "Er… how'd you know where to find me?"
"Mint gave your phone number to me. She and Cho had just left for the airport."
Seung sighed, silently thanking Mihye. "So, she told you to call me?"
"No, I called by myself."
"Oh…"
"You know Seung," Tomiko began, spilling out everything she wanted to tell him, "I really missed you. You have no idea how much I missed you. I missed you so much. Mint told me everything."
It figures she would have said something…
"I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. I never intended you to think that way."
"No, it's not your fault."
"Seung, I love you for you, not for anyone else. Not as Kai, or a substitute for him. I love you for Seung. You're the person who can make me feel like I can do anything, but without you by my side, I can't do anything but think about you. I couldn't concentrate on anything. You even made me get a D on my math test. If I screwed up my GPA for someone, then I would never let go of that person."
Seung smiled awkwardly although Tomiko couldn't see his expression.
"I don't want to let you go Seung. We can start over, right? You promised me that although your hands are small, you'd try everything to make me happy. You still remember, don't you? If you remember, repeat it to me one more time."
"I… With these small hands that I have, I promise I'll do everything I can to make you happy."
A/N: Well, that was… a simple, bittersweet, and not to mention, anticlimactical ending. I was thinking about putting a twist towards the end, but I figured… nah, the fic was dramatic enough. It needed a simple ending.
Idesel – Hahah, u gotta love Mihye. Yeah, she was definitely my favorite character throughout the whole thing. Cho was funny too, it was so much fun writing about her. Aww, I'm gonna miss writing this fic. Now that it's over, I'm sad, but I have to start planning for my next fic. Yes… there is no ending to this lol. I hope you stick around till then.
Cindy Moon – YES! Someone noticed my efforts in trying not to put the "Flashback" and "End Flashback" thingy. It disturbs the flow, but it's a lot easier lol. WELL, it's finally, the ending you've been waiting for. No more torturing yourself over boring chapters with endless sap (there was sap all the way to the end, u couldn't escape it). My next fic will hopefully capture your interest a bit more, and if it doesn't, then well… you're stuck, cuz I'm gonna be writing that one for the rest of the year lol. Well, thanks for the support, it really keeps me going (and that's an understatement).
Green Yoshi – Lage was NOT caught on the spellcheck… but oh well Hahah. Well, the fic is finally over… sad? Yeah I am too, more or less. It was really fun writing and I'm gonna miss it… lol, I might write a sequel later on or a prequel or something since the fanbase for this fic was so ridiculously large _ . And not to mention, the ghost readers… Well, I hope you stick around to read my next fic, it's got more action, but it still has a significant romance plot to it. Well, I really appreciate the constant support throughout the fic, and all the plot suggestions that worked out so beautifully. Thanks a bunch.
KuroKaze DiaBLo - Wow, a NEW READER! Aww, I can't say "I hope you like the rest of the fic" but it's over, so all I can say is "I hope you liked the fic." Thanks for dropping by a review, it was really nice of you lol. Well, I hope you'll stay for future projects. And by the way, I checked out your favorites list (and I read one of your stories, and it were pretty darn good) and I see you've read Miasma, Fallen Angels, Fox Trail, and The Blue Moon. The authors of those amazing fics, and me, are in a yahoo group, and it'd be REALLY cool if you joined, and you'd get a chance to talk to all of us, and us to you (omg, this sounds like…. What is this). We post like… 50 messages a day, so you won't have to worry about it being dead. Well okay, ignore my annoying advertisements.
Mint – Heey, you didn't review the last chapter, but I'll reply to you anyway because I know you wanted to (Right? YOU WANTED TO RIGHT?). Well, I hope you liked the ending. Mihye's final scene was priceless… ^^ I hope you liked her. She was definitely my favorite character, and I'm sad *wipes away tear* that I won't be able to write about her again. Thanks for all the support (this seems cliché, but REALLY, thanks for the amazing support) and for suggesting Mihye's character… oh man, the fic owuldn't have been the same without her. Well, I hope you stick around to read my other fics. Talk to ya later on the boards.
And to other reviewers – Thanks everyone. It's all of you guys who made this fic the way it is. Thanks for reading and I hoped you all enjoyed it.
Random Editorial Section (You can skip over this, it's not important)
Well, this is the part where I rant about the fic. Anything that goes over six chapters will be something that drives me crazy, and therefore, this fic will get a rant section just like I did Fallen Angels. Well, I doubt any of you are actually reading this, but I'll just say it to get it out there. Well, below are a few random things about my story.
Favorite Character – Mihye, by far, and then Hitoshi.
Worst Character – I have to say… Tomiko when depressed =X. She was a really lovable character in the beginning, but when she got depressed, she was just annoying, don't you guys agree?
Favorite Scene – HEAVY METAL CLUB! And then, the bathroom scene.
Worst Scene – Aw man, when Seung misused the Korean language… aw man that was embarrassing. Well, I'm not Korean, so I wouldn't know, but I'm Chinese, and if it was Chinese, I wouldn't know either Hahah. *sigh* disgrace. But oh well, IT'S FIXED NOW, so yeah.
Stuff you probably didn't know
Ahh, whenever I think back on how the story was ORIGINALLY planned, I laugh. Due to reviews, peer pressure (lol, I'm just kidding) and Green Yoshi, the plot changed dramatically to what it is now. I have to tell you, the original story was NOTHING like it actually turned out to be.
Well, first of all, this fic was supposed to be 6 measly chapters long. It was supposed to be short and choppy, but… something happened and it turned out to be really long. If you look at my repertoire, most of my fics are just 6 chapters, but… oh well.
Another thing was that. Heheh, believe it or not, but Cho was supposed to be the one to get with Cho. If you go to the first chapter, Cho is actually NORMAL! At first, she was gonna be the sweet girl who gets with Seung, and Tomiko was the jealous bitch, but then a twist of fate caused me to change it. Originally planning though, Cho was gonna get with Cho, since they were both Korean (you see, I planned it out) and the story would revolve around Hitoshi trying to confess is love to Tomiko. *sigh* what a plot change, geez.
Another thing is that although slightly altered towards the end, this fic is based on my relationship with a special someone ^^; No, I did not hide in the girls' bathroom, no I did not move to Korea without saying bye, and no I did not accidentally take her to a Heavy Metal Club, but the basic, underlying storyline revolved around actual occurrences. Each of the characters were based off of actual people, and I won't name them because some people who read this know who they are (Hahah, horrible I know). The most obvious is, Mint – let's give her a round of applause for being the fan favorite character. However, towards the end, there were certain scenes that would NEVER have happened in real life, but were put in to dramatize and romanticize the plot.
Sadly, one more thing you might not have known, this fic was actually a sequel to my second fic, Forever Blue (It says it's my first, but it was my second. Actually no, third, my first one is no longer existent heh). I don't think I really have any readers here who have remembered or read Forever Blue, but yeah, it takes place I think… two years after Forever Blue. For those Saki fans, you can read about her in Forever Blue and her best friend Yuko. Instead of the Korean transfer student, it's a Chinese guy named Lan.
And, if anyone is curious, the song that inspired the concept of this fic is Ayumi Hamasaki – Forgiveness. AWESOME song, you should all get it and come up with your own romantic comedies Hahah.
Likes and dislikes
Okay, well I'll start with the "likes". I love this story, I really do, and I hate it at the same time. The first half was awesome, and was really fun to write. The reason I could update so quickly was because I was constantly inspired to write, however the inspiration started dying somewhere towards the end, and I think all of you could figure out where that was lol.
Well, I loved the characters too. Each of the characters had their flaws, but they each had lovable personalities. I have to say that the cast for Hands was one of the best that I've ever written, and I hope you'd agree too lol.
Dislike… AHHH *tears hair out* this fic really drove me crazy. There were times where I loved it, and times where I wanted to gouge my eyes out. Particularly the part after Tomiko left Seung at the winter festival. And also, specific charcters were just… horribly planned out and developed. Seung and Tomiko, my MAIN characters, I think their characters were really… fickle, but I won't further delve into that or you guys will hate them too. Same with Asako… her character was really fickle, but she was a subcharacter, so you know. Akane and Hana, lol, one of them was supposed to be the blunt one, and the other one was supposed to be just stupid, but I forgot which one was who halfway . I think Hana was the stupid one… not sure. (by the way, they are in NO way related to Jenny or Kelly)
And also, my lack of imagery and character descriptions. Quick, raise your hand if you know how Asako looks like! I should put this in the "stuff you don't know" but yeah, Cho has long hair with highlights, and short hair frayed out in the end, Mihye has sunned, blonde hair though she has black roots, Seung has bleached hair that's spiked up although I NEVER mentioned that, Tomiko (You guys knew how she looked like) has huge glasses and an ugly ponytail, Hitoshi has black hair that's just long enough to cover his eyes, and Asako… not even I knew how she looked like lol (poor Asako).
A/N: Well, my biggest dislike was the ending… it was anticlimactical, but oh well. If anyone can suggest a better ending, feel free lol. HOWEVER, just like I did Forever Blue, there's an epilogue at the end. For those of you who actually read all the editorials, yay, you get to read the real ending, for those of you who scrolled to the bottom, or just pressed X, well you missed out. And for those of you who scrolled down, but caught the epilogue, well… okay.
Hands – Epilogue
Tomiko stretched her arms out into the cool, summer air. It was about a year and a half since she first met Seung, but she still had every memory of him vividly kept inside her.
Jogging back from her morning run, she stopped by her mailbox to take in that day's mail. She glanced towards her doorway and saw a figure at the porch.
She pressed the pause button on her walkman, "Mama! I got the mail already!" She hollered, holding the mail in her right hand.
As she neared towards her doorway, she gulped down the rest of her water bottle, exhausted from the run. Once she had entered through the doorway, she took off her shoes as she excitedly browsed through the mail.
The first few were random letters, bills, junk mail, the usual, but towards the bottom was a letter from Seoul. Dropping the rest of the mail in a messy pile on the counter, she quickly ran up to her room to read the letter.
Tomiko opened the window, letting in the cool, morning breeze run through her hair. She threw herself on her bed, bringing the letter to her face. Quickly, she ripped open the white envelope and two pieces of paper slipped out.
"Hmm, what's this?" She mused, picking up a photo. It was a picture of Mint, Cho, and Seung in front of the school they attended. She smiled, seeing how much the three of them had changed since the last time she saw them. Cho had grown taller, and her hair was now down to her shoulders. Mint's hair was darker, yet it was still as beautiful as she remembered. Seung, however, had his hair down, more like Hitoshi's, but Tomiko still liked it nonetheless. During the summer, he never had the energy to do his hair, and once he got back to school, he couldn't go back to it.
Then, she sat up against her pillow as she read the letter to herself.
Dear Tomiko,
Well, I hope you're enjoying your summer. We're frying over here, but it's not as bad as it is in Hong Kong, which is where my father's next business trip is. I wanted to spend the summer with you guys over there, but I don't think I'll be able to make it. Well, my thoughts and prayers are still there with you.
Tomiko frowned; she was looking forward to seeing Seung again, but she figured she'd have to wait a little longer. The more time they spent apart, the more special their reunion would be.
So how is everyone doing over there? In case you were worried, we're all doing fine here. Mihye and I still go to the same high school, but Cho is working her butt off in college as usual. Mihye wanted to tell you that she misses you, and Cho wanted to know if you're still gonna be the president of the student council next year. They both wish you good luck.
Okay, enough about them, now it's my turn. I just wanna say that I miss you a lot, and I think about you everyday. Each day before I go to sleep, I think about you and everyday when I wake up, you're still in my mind. Even when I'm slacking off on my homework, I hear your voice chastising me to keep working. The fact that I haven't seen you in so long drives me crazy, but until then, I'll be working hard so the next time I see you, I'll be able to have something to say.
Well, whatever you're doing over there, don't forget that I still love you, and I'll always be thinking about you.
-Seung Yoon
P.S – Oh yeah, by the way, I left a surprise for you at the front of the door.
As she finished the last sentence, Tomiko quickly sprang out of her bed and jumped down the stairs. As fast as her feet could take her, she sprinted to unlock the door. Then, as she yanked the door open, she jumped towards Seung, throwing her arms around him.
"Ahh!" She squealed, "I missed you so much!"
Seung smiled, putting his arms around her waist, "I missed you too."
"I thought you said you were going to Hong Kong!" Tomiko pouted.
"My father is, but I'll be staying here until he comes back."
Tomiko embraced him more tightly than before, "I'm so glad you're here again. It was so long since I last saw you."
Then, Seung loosened his grip so he could look at Tomiko's two, beautiful eyes. "I'm glad to be back."
Tomiko nearly felt her eyes water, but her tears didn't come out.
As he looked into her dark, amber-colored eyes, he whispered, "Will you let me this time?"
Tomiko nodded.
Slowly, Seung leaned towards her and gently closed his eyes…