“When you like
someone, you have eyes for her in the sides and the back of your head. And that
if you don’t knock, there will be no answer. Standing in place will not get you
what you want. There’s no such thing as fair play anymore.” – Yoon-jae
“The easiest
thing we can do for the person we love is to throw ourselves away. The strength
to do things that aren’t in our nature — that’s love.” — Yoon-jae
“Go Stop, a game
where you have to match the same shapes to get points. There was a time when we
struggled to be the same. But in one moment, we began to be different. That we
were becoming different types of people — why was that so hard to acknowledge
back then? People are all different; that’s the law of the universe, the law of
human growth. Eighteen. We were maturing into different people, and having to
accept those differences meant we were faced with yet another consequence of
growing up.” – Yoon Jae
“Anyone’s secret
tells a truth that I could not have known. And then when what I knew is no
longer real… secrets have more power. How much of what I know is actually
true?” – Shi Won
“A person’s heart
has countless levels. Its depth cannot be known. Its limit can’t be known. You
could fight to the death, and then exchange affection as if nothing ever happened.
A red-blooded male could turn into an imbecile in front of the opposite sex.
Yes, the truth is uncomfortable. But if we don’t embrace that discomfort, then
we must live the rest of our lives believing what’s fake to be real. Even
uncomfortable truths must be embraced. What you see is not everything.” – Shi Won
“Bumping into
someone on the street, reaching for the same book at the library, or running
under someone’s umbrella… I thought that falling in love would be special. I
couldn’t imagine… that I’d fall because of something like this. Spring of 1996.
My first love began that suddenly.” – Yoon Jae
“This life that
might leap anywhere — there’s no use avoiding or ignoring it. There’s just
facing it and getting beaten to a bloody pulp. But at times life can surprise
us with gifts that make our hearts flutter. And if we endure sadness, we are
rewarded with happiness.” – Yoon Jae
“You have to be
content with a dream that’s close. If you chase after one that’s far away, your
heart will hurt and your insides will burn. A futile passion only leaves
heartache. That’s why life’s stupidest thing is a one-sided love. But the
reason that stupid one-sided love is worth trying is… that passion can
sometimes make miracles happen… sometimes go the long way around to help you
fulfill a dream… and even if it doesn’t allow you to realize that dream, it
allows you to linger near it and find happiness.” – Tae Woong
“They say that
people are born with a red string that they can’t see, tied to their pinky
fingers, and the end is tied to the one you’re fated to be with. But the thread
is twisted this way and that, making it hard to find the other end.” – Yoon Jae
“People’s
countless threads, all tangled together. But when I start to unravel it, I end
up face to face with my fate, without even knowing it. If the red thread of
fate really exists, then who is the one tied to my red thread?” – Yoon Jae
“The reason I
like you? Because you’re that person. Because you’re you. Is there another
reason besides that one? I’d rather know the reason if there was one. Then I
could find a way to not like you. If I can’t avoid it, then there’s only one
thing I want: to remain by your side, unchanged, for long time. Here’s to our
love, that chills our hearts.” – Joon Hee
“Liking someone
isn’t a choice. It comes from your heart.” – Joon Hee
“Why are you
sorry? It’s not like you can choose who you like.” – Joon Hee
“Since the day of
that accident, I lived having completely forgotten the fact that I was
someone’s son. A relationship determined before I was born, a relationship that
ends against my will – that’s family. And now I only have one family
relationship left.” – Tae Woong
“There are
relationships of differing levels of difficulty. To me, Yoon-jae was the
easiest of them, to explain or to maintain: that of childhood playmates. But on
this day, contrary to everything I knew, I discovered… that there might be the
possibility that we’d be the most difficult kind of relationship in the world.
The relationship with the highest level of difficulty: that of a man and a
woman.” – Shi Won
“Each expecting
different things, each looking at different places, each dreaming different
dreams… everything that happens between one man and one woman, is just
continuous love and war. You sulk, you pacify, you fight, you make up, you
hurt, you embrace. A relationship like a manic-depressive patient who can’t
make up his mind. But the hardest thing about the relationship between a man
and a woman is the timing — if the love doesn’t begin at the same time, it’s
unlikely to ever begin at all.” – Yoon Jae
“The one benefit
to that top-degree-of-difficulty relationship between a man and a woman is… one
word can overturn its mood at any time.” – Hak Chan
“What should I
do? There are two people I love the most in the entire world. One is my hyung,
who gave up everything because of me. And the other is you. It’s you… and hyung
says he likes you. A lot. Like I do.” – Yoon Jae
“The reason my
teen years are like a rushing wind is because I don’t yet know the answers:
what it is I really want, who really loves me, who is it that I love. The time
of life when I tumble here and there, searching for the answers. And then in
the end, the moment when I figure out the answers to everything like a miracle…
we had already become adults, and been doing big and small things. And like
that, that winter was full of goodbyes.” – Shi Won
“My body
remembered my ’90s. The moment I saw the person I had once been crazy about, I
immediately returned to that ’90s fangirl, and my ’90s, which I thought were
over, began all over again…” – Shi Won
“Oppa, I like you
a lot… but my heart doesn’t race or flutter. I’m still young so I don’t know
exactly how it feels to like somebody, but my heart now… is beating in a
different direction. I’m sorry, oppa.” – Shi Won
“I’m not
expecting anything right now. I’ll wait. Until you like me a lot… I’ll be your
daddy long legs. Like now, always… next to you.” – Tae Woong
“I had forgotten.
That if she liked something right now, she expressed the fire of that moment
directly, and without hesitation. I could’ve just said: I like you. Be mine. I
could say it like that right now. Back then, and even in this moment… I was
just hesitating.” – Yoon Jae
“There is nothing
more urgent than now. Because later might never come. Life isn’t long enough to
speak of the next opportunity, rather than the now that’s before our eyes.” – Yoon Jae
“If you give up
on now because of laziness or a lack of courage, there is no hope of another
opportunity. If you love now, the best timing is now. You have to go before
it’s too late, and you have to confess now. Because you never know what’ll
happen later. The next opportunity might never come.” – Yoon Jae
“I’m sorry. You
must’ve had a hard time too. But I only thought of myself. And I’m the only one
you told everything to, because you thought of me as a friend. I don’t even
know what I’m doing to you right now. I’m sorry.” – Shi Won
“She could have
not known. There are times in life when you don’t know… that someone likes
you.” – Joon Hee
“Then the game’s
already over. No matter how much you think it over, there’s no answer. You
already like her. So what choice is there? What decision to make? Don’t regret
it later. Don’t use Hyung as an excuse. Do as your heart tells you.” – Joon Hee
“A person’s heart
can’t be turned on and off like a switch. Once it’s turned on… it won’t turn
off.” – Yoon Jae
“First love. The
reason everyone’s first love is beautiful is not only because the love was
pretty. At the time of first love, there was a youthfulness that didn’t know
how to be wise, a me who was pure to the point of cruelty, and a you whose fire
I couldn’t handle. It’s because I already know that I can never go back to that
youthful, innocent, passionate time.” – Yoon Jae
“First love is
reckless. Without calculating, it throws everything in with pure passion, and
inevitably fails. But that’s why it’s dramatic — the reckless tales wrapped up
in experiences or feelings that you can never have again.” – Yoon Jae
“First love is a
time. Once it passes, it’s gone. Now you have to give a new love and a new time
a chance. It might not be the experience or the purity of first love, but out
of that scar is a love that grows and becomes a little more mature — you have
to wait for an adult love. Only those who wait can dream of love.” – Yoon Jae
“When romance
passes, life comes. Purity gets dirtied, passion freezes over, and youth turns
to shrewdness as you age. That innocent era’s first love becomes fatigued and
exhausted daily routine… and is why first love appears to be something that
can’t be realized. Because those who succeed at realizing their first love…
don’t tell you.” – Yoon Jae
“Succeeding at
first love is nice too. There’s comfort that’s even better than your favorite
sweater, but also an excitement that you can find when you’re tired of that
comfort. As childhood playmates, as first loves, as lovers, and as husband and
wife, we live through the same times, share the same memories, and grow old
together. A familiar excitement. It’s nice.” – Yoon Jae
“If Tony and I
both fell into the water, who whould you save first?” – Yoon Jae
