Nae Sarang, A Black Woman
Relief he feels and skin tan wilmington against firm pressed lips melanin
“Yes, I’ll be your girlfriend!”
I’ve never wanted to say in person
Pushing him away as I robbed him of my affection
Excitement drained of my eyes
And unwrapping my arms from around his neck.
Stepped 2 back take I
“Can you be my girlfriend?”
Minseok swallowed back in his throat
As anxiety ascends
He nervously grins and lets go of my hand
I divert my attention
Taking my last whiff of his comfortable cinnamon embrace
Because his hands never gave my shoulder friction
My eyes travel around in confliction
Because this is my chance, losing confidence
“Eotteokhae? Eotteokhae? Oh my gosh!! What do I do?”
You leave instead of greeting me with a grin
So, maybe I hugged you too tight
That my “annyeonghaseyo” was too tight lipped
So you slipped through the cracks of my life
“Oppa! Oppa!”
“Bogoshipda”
I miss you so much
That I forgot I only needed to make one lunch or that you are gone
On that 15 hour flight of butterflies
That has left my stomach
Because I’ve friend zone you
With you constant lessons of my “yeobo”
Or my “namja chingu”
Because you weren’t more than a friend.
You were that Korean guy that taught me korean
In exchange for English lessons
“No, you hang up first..”
“Call me when you get home”
“Saranghaeyo”
“How was school?”
“I’ll send you tteokbokki”
“Do you want some peach cobbler?”
“neo neomu gwiyeowo”
“I think I like you”
But it only took 12 seconds to erase our messages
Because we never happened