Page 112 of The Secret Of Us

“A little,” I respond in his language. I know my pronunciation needs some work, but Jinhee tells me it’s clear enough during our lessons. I switch back to English. “If Luke could manage it, I figured I could too.”

“You’re amazing,” he tells me, unable to hold back his joy. “Can you read it too?”

His question throws me off. I didn’t realise I would be getting tested on my skills once I told him.

“Yeah, I can.”

“Do you have the star I left for you?” he asks.

I try to hide my confusion, but it must show clear on my face. Noah lets out a soft chuckle before shaking his head.

“I wrote something inside it,” Noah confesses. “That’s why I’m asking.”

I let go of him, moving quickly to my desk to grab it from next to my lamp before I return to him.

“Unfold it,” he tells me.

I slowly take apart the small faded blue star. I’ve held it so much since he left that the corners have turned white from where the colour has rubbed off. Each fold feels delicate, and I don’t want to ruin something precious to me for so long.

When I finally unfurl the strip of paper, I turn it over to see a scrawl in Hangul. It barely takes me a second to recognise the word written on it.

“I told you it was never fake for me,” he says, his hand resting on my thigh as he gives it a gentle squeeze. “We might not have been written in the stars above, but I made sure we were in these.”

It takes all my effort not to kiss him again. Instead, I place the piece of paper right next to the postcards and take his hands in mine again.

“Can you teach me how to say something else?”

“Whatever you want. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

EPILOGUE

IZZY - TWO YEARS LATER

“Woah, was that a shooting star?”

“That’s a plane, my love.”

“Ah.”

I gently squeeze Noah’s bicep, my arm hooked through his, as we cling together for warmth. We knew Norway would be cold when we planned this trip, but we forgot to consider that we’d be spending most of our time sitting around waiting. The padded coats we’re wearing are thick, but there’s still a bite to the air that has us both shivering.

“Do you think we’ll be able to see them tonight?” Noah asks as he pulls me closer, his gloved hand running up and down my arm.

“The forecast said it was likely,” I tell him.

I can only hope it was right.

It took us a while to figure this trip out. We researched the best time of year and location to see them, but we also had to balance that with my work and Noah’s studies.

A year after Noah came back to me, Avery decided she wanted to open a new cafe. To my complete shock, she asked if I wanted to manage it. I jumped at the chance before I realised how much extra work would be at the start. Getting everything set up and hiring staff was hard, but now that it’s been open for nearly a year, I’m getting used to it.

Meanwhile, Noah has been busy at university. He ended up deferring his entry, which means he’s only just started his second year, but his workload is still heavy. I never knew how much went into becoming a doctor, and his dedication has made me fall even more in love with him.

We sat down a couple months ago to figure out our schedules, and it just so happened that December worked best for both of us. I didn’t have the chance to say anything before Noah was looking at flights around Christmas and New Year.

When I pictured my life a few years ago, I could never have imagined it would include me sitting under the stars with the love of my life, waiting to see a sight I’ve dreamed of for so long. If I wasn’t wearing mittens, I’d pinch myself.

Since Noah came back, every day has felt like a dream. It didn’t take us long to finally label our relationship, and we’ve laughed so many times about how foolish we were when we were younger. We both were dealing with a lot of big feelings back then, but now we’re in a much better place to handle them.

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