A Second Chance at April Fourth
In the past, before they were married, Dojin had once gotten into a small argument with Dohee.
Dojin was an orphan.
Perhaps because of that, he had always dreamed of a warm, harmonious family. He once mentioned that when he got married, he wanted to get along well with his in-laws.
But Dohee's response was completely unexpected.
“Oppa, do you not want to marry me?”
“Huh? No, of course I do.”
“Right? I want to marry you too. So... if you're going to marry me, don't worry about my family.”
“What?”
Dojin could swear he had never seen Dohee make such an expression before.
During the six months before they started dating and the year they spent as a couple, she had always been a bright, cheerful girl with a healthy smile.
She's... cold.
She wasn't frowning or glaring. Her expression had simply vanished, yet it transformed her face into someone entirely different from her usual self.
“Dohee, what's wrong?”
“Never, ever get involved with my family. Don't even show any interest. Just pretend I'm all alone in the world. Okay?”
“Y-yeah. Okay.”
Sensing a faint trace of desperation in her voice, Dojin nodded.
It was only much later that Dojin learned why his wife had tried so hard to draw a line between herself and her family.
Returning from the funeral home, Dojin walked listlessly toward his house. Not a single ounce of strength remained in his body.
Five years had passed since his wife left this world.
He thought he had grown numb over the years, but the moment he saw Dohee's funeral portrait, the memories of the past came rushing back.
The moment they first met on a cherry blossom-lined street in the spring of 2020.
The six months of flirting, experiencing that heart-fluttering stage for the first time in his life.
His wife's shy face when she accepted his trembling confession.
The incredibly happy two and a half years of dating.
And finally, the married life he had so desperately wished for.
Yet, the marriage he believed would last forever ended after barely two years.
“I miss you, Dohee...”
Stepping inside, Dojin looked around.
Memories of her lingered in every corner of this house, their newlyweds' home. Yet, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find a single physical trace of her.
Even though he had taken countless photos since meeting his wife, not even a common four-cut photo strip remained.
As he searched every nook and cranny of the house, Dojin's gaze landed on a doll sitting on the living room shelf.
“...So this is mine? She should have just taken this too.”
The doll was a Matryoshka, a gift brought back from Russia by his wife's best friend. It was a doll painted with a girl, containing smaller dolls nested inside.
"This isn't for you. I'm giving it to Dojin."
"Huh? Why? Isn't that usually given to the bride?"
"Well, it symbolizes fertility, so that's true, but it's not just for women."
"Then what does it mean when you give it to a man?"
"Nothing specific. It just represents good fortune, luck, and prosperity."
"So take this, become the luckiest man alive, and make sure you make Dohee happy!"
"Ah, yes."
At the time, he had thought it was just a way of asking him to take good care of her married friend.
“...In the end, I couldn't keep that promise. I'm sorry, Seungwan.”
Dojin apologized to his wife's best friend, who had repeatedly implored him back then, as he gently caressed the Matryoshka.
“Come to think of it, Dohee was so sad when she lost the smallest doll.”
Originally, Dohee had displayed all the dolls lined up. But ever since a stray cat slipped through an open living room window and ran off with the smallest doll, she had kept them nested together like this.
Instead, she had placed an amulet in the empty space left by the missing doll. An amulet she held truly dear.
"This is really magical. A monk I met at Bulguksa Temple during a high school field trip gave it to me. He said it grants three wishes in a lifetime."
"Come on, there's no such thing. So, Dohee, did any of your wishes come true?"
"Yes! They did!"
"Huh? Really? What was the wish?"
Surprised by her unexpected answer, Dojin had asked, and his wife had pointed a finger right at him.
"He's right here in front of me. Baek Dojin."
"Huh? Me?"
"Yes. You were my wish, Oppa."
With those words, Dohee had happily nuzzled her head against Dojin's chest. Dojin had loved it when she did that. But thinking it would be too boring to leave it at that, he had deliberately played dumb and continued the conversation.
"What kind of wish is that? Then what were the other two wishes?"
"Hmm? You count as two wishes, Oppa."
"What?"
At Dojin's dumbfounded response, Dohee had held up two fingers.
"My first wish was to meet someone who could love me completely, and I met you that day."
One of her two outstretched fingers folded down.
"My second wish was that I wanted to marry you, and look, we got married! So up until now, this amulet has a one hundred percent success rate!"
"Hahaha."
Watching Dohee smile brightly as she folded her remaining finger, Dojin couldn't bring himself to tease her any further.
“Silly girl. You should have wished for a lifetime of happy marriage back then. Then we wouldn't have ended up separated like this.”
Recalling the memory, Dojin naturally began to pull the nested dolls apart.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
“...”
The fifth, fourth, and third layers of the doll were separated one by one. But holding the second layer in his hands, Dojin hesitated. He could see a familiar piece of paper wedged in the gap of the doll. It was the amulet, its color and texture instantly recognizable.
After hesitating several times, Dojin finally applied pressure to the last remaining doll.
Pop.
Inside the doll, which split apart with a crisp sound, lay the amulet his wife had kept so preciously. He had assumed she would have taken it with her when she packed up all her belongings...
“You dummy... If it was that precious, you should have taken it... You should have used the last wish to wish for your own happiness!”
Dohee, who had meticulously packed every single one of her things, could not have left this precious amulet behind by mistake. This was a gift she had left for him in her stead. Realizing this, Dojin tore the amulet to shreds.
“What use is this! What use is any of this! What wish could I possibly have in a world without you?! Take all of this and bring Dohee back! Turn back time to how things were!”
Throwing the shredded pieces of the amulet, Dojin collapsed onto the floor and wept. His tear ducts, which had been frozen shut from the sheer shock, finally began to do their job.
After crying continuously for several hours, Dojin suddenly collapsed backward. Pushed to their absolute limits, his body and mind had shut down, and he fainted.
When Dojin opened his eyes again, he froze.
“...Outdoors?”
Bright sunlight, a cool breeze, and above all, the voices of people nearby proved that he was outside, not inside his house. He couldn't help but be bewildered.
Why am I here?
He couldn't remember the exact moment he lost consciousness, but he remembered the events leading up to it. Writhing in agony as he remembered his late wife, then fainting. That was the last memory Dojin had of himself. So why was he outside when he woke up? What was more, he was standing.
Do I have sleepwalking?
The thought naturally crossed his mind. Otherwise, there was no way he could have collapsed at home and ended up standing on the street. But in the next moment, Dojin couldn't think of anything else.
“Excuse me... why did you call for me?”
“...Huh?”
A dumbfounded sound escaped Dojin's mouth. The onlookers watching him burst into giggles. But he was in no state of mind to care about that. Because standing right in front of him was the wife he had missed so desperately.
“What... what is this...”
As Dojin's mind ground to a halt in the face of this impossible situation, a single petal drifted down onto his eyelid. Brushing the petal away absentmindedly, Dojin realized it was a cherry blossom and looked around.
Beautiful cherry blossoms blooming under a clear sky. And a crowd of people. Dojin knew this scene all too well. It was the most unforgettable moment of his life.
Dojin hurriedly fumbled through his pockets and checked his phone.
2020. 04. 04
Why is the date... Did I really travel back to the past?
No matter how many times he checked, the date on the screen didn't change. It really was that day ten years ago, the day he and Dohee first met.
Dojin's gaze naturally drifted to the woman standing before him—the woman who had been his wife.
“Do...hee? Is it really you, Dohee?”
“? Yes, that's right.”
Those words were the final straw. The moment Dohee finished speaking, Dojin already had his arms wrapped tightly around her.
“Kyaah?!”
A small shriek escaped Dohee's lips, startled by Dojin's sudden, aggressive embrace.
Yet, despite hearing her cry out, Dojin did not let go. He looked ready to stay like this for the rest of his life if he could. And if it weren't for the cheers erupting around them, he might have actually done so.
“Oh my gosh! Look at that!”
“Wow, he's so bold!”
“Bold? More like she's an angel. If I were her, I would've slapped him and called the cops instantly.”
“Yeah, says the one who's a virgin who's never even been confessed to.”
“Shut up, you got dumped after confessing on April Fools' Day!”
As the surrounding chatter grew louder, Dojin reluctantly released his embrace. He realized they needed to get out of there. At this rate, let alone having a quiet reunion, they wouldn't even be able to hear each other speak.
“This way!”
“Huh? Yes?”
“Hey, Na Dohee!”
Dojin grabbed Dohee's hand and pulled her toward a less crowded area. He thought he heard someone calling Dohee's name along the way, but he was too focused on pushing through the crowd and quickly forgot about it.
“I'm sorry.”
Once they reached a quieter spot, Dojin apologized to Dohee first. He still couldn't believe any of this, but if he had truly regressed to the past, she was just an innocent bystander swept up in his sudden actions. The only problem was that he still hadn't let go of her hand. Terrified that she might vanish if he let go, he held on even tighter, his eyes locked onto her.
Perhaps sensing his desperation, Dohee surprisingly nodded calmly.
“...It's okay.”
Huh?
Studying Dohee, Dojin tilted his head, sensing something strange. This should have been an uncomfortable situation for her, yet she was remarkably calm—no, she almost seemed to welcome it.
Suddenly, the words Dohee had said in the past flashed through Dojin's mind.
"My first wish was to meet someone who could love me completely, and I met you that day, Oppa."
She had definitely said she met him when she made her first wish on the amulet. Didn't that mean he was close to her ideal type? As that thought crossed his mind, his tension eased slightly.
Right. Things got a bit tangled at the start, but I can build it up again from here. It's fine. I can make her even happier than before!
Even in the past, they hadn't started dating right away. On this day, they had merely exchanged phone numbers. They had slowly closed the distance between them, only starting to date officially after six months had passed.
Gaining courage from his memories, Dojin spoke with a bit more confidence.
“Um, I know this is incredibly sudden, but you're exactly my style. Could I get your number...”
“Hey! Na Dohee!”
His newfound courage was instantly crushed before he could even finish asking for her number. An interloper was running toward them from a distance.
The intruder, whom Dojin knew all too well, immediately wedged herself between the two of them the moment she arrived.
“Oh... Seungwan.”
“What do you think you're doing here? Do you have any idea how worried I was when you suddenly disappeared?”
Under the fierce glare of the woman who kept shooting daggers at him even as she spoke, Dojin had no choice but to let go of Dohee's hand and take a step back. He couldn't help it. She was his wife's best friend, and at this point in time, her only protector.