By the time the first kettle whistled, the villa had filled with morning light.
The ocean glittered like a sheet of glass below, and gulls circled lazily above the cliffs.
Yoon Ha-rin blinked against the brightness as she stepped into the kitchen, hair still a little mussed from the long sleepless night.
Her mother looked up from the stove with that knowing smile that could pierce any defense.
"Did you two ever sleep?"
Ha-rin poured water into a cup. "Define 'sleep.' "
From the doorway, Kang Jae-hyun entered, stretching. "If dreaming with eyes open counts, then yes."
The four parents exchanged a look that said everything and nothing at once.
Ha-rin groaned. "Please, not the looks again."
Mrs. Kang laughed. "We'll stop looking when you stop glowing."
---
Breakfast turned into one long trail of laughter and teasing.
Between bites of toast and stories of old village days, the house felt lighter than it had in years.
Then, sometime near noon, Chairman Kang folded the newspaper and cleared his throat.
"Well," he said, "your mother and I have a train to catch."
Mr. Yoon nodded. "And we're driving back to the refinery town tonight. Work waits for no one, not even parents of reunited lovers."
Ha-rin blinked. "You're all leaving today? So soon?"
Mrs. Yoon exchanged a glance with Mrs. Kang. "Actually… we're leaving. You're not."
---
"What?" Jae-hyun straightened. "Not?"
Mrs. Kang smiled, eyes twinkling. "This place gave you both back your memories. Stay another day or two and let it give you your future too."
Mr. Yoon pointed a teasing finger at his daughter. "And don't waste the time arguing. You've already proved you can talk all night. Now talk about tomorrow."
Ha-rin's mouth opened, closed, opened again. "You all planned this?"
"Of course," Mrs. Yoon said. "Parents aren't magicians, dear. We're just terrible match-makers who finally got it right."
Jae-hyun tried not to laugh. "You really want us to stay alone?"
Chairman Kang patted his shoulder. "Son, if we didn't trust you by now, we wouldn't have raised you."
The four of them picked up their bags amid a chorus of good-natured protests and laughter.
---
At the gate, goodbyes turned into hugs and long smiles.
Mrs. Yoon brushed a stray hair from her daughter's face. "We'll see you in the city tomorrow night. Take care of each other."
Ha-rin nodded, eyes glistening. "We will."
Mrs. Kang added warmly, "And if the stars come out early, tell them we said thank you."
With that, the cars rolled down the hill road, their laughter fading with the sound of engines.
---
When the dust settled, silence filled the villa again—soft, comfortable, expectant.
Ha-rin turned to Jae-hyun, half-amused, half-stunned. "They really did it. They left us."
He smiled. "They left us a gift."
She raised an eyebrow. "A gift?"
He stepped closer. "A whole day. No work, no noise, no pretending."
She smiled slowly. "Then let's not waste it."
The wind carried the scent of jasmine through the open doors, the same fragrance that had once tied two children by a river.
Now it wrapped around two adults standing in the same sunlight, beginning a day that wasn't planned but somehow already perfect.