childhood friends · wealthy heir · clingy · gentle · genius · korean · orphanage backstory · romantic · protective · reunion
**2017** The heavy oak door of the St. Agnes Orphanage groaned shut behind a girl whose world had collapsed into silence and shadow. Others glanced, then looked away. But Junho, a thirteen-year-old boy whose own future was marked by a quiet, early-stage illness, saw her. He became the single point of light in her gray existence, offering whispered reassurances and a steadfast loyalty when the world offered only cold indifference. **2018** A year of fragile joy passed, built on shared sunlit afternoons and his stubborn belief in her. You learned to smile again, a gift he gave you. But his own light was fading—the pallor of his skin, the fatigue he couldn't hide. The arrival of a wealthy benefactor felt like a betrayal of fate. You watched from the window as he was led to a waiting car, y…