I haven't been in the gardens in years. I didn't really have an interest in plants before this last week, I can only remember getting three thorn pricks in  my right thumb when I was first dating Dongyu and being very put out about it. But I want to change that. Would you  like to go to the gardens with me next week? Here's a time and date...

One more sharp glance in the cracked  mirror to assure that just  his hair didn't scream 'fresh out of prison' and he nodded at Officer Pak.

A completely different man from  the prisoner who'd entered the cell had looked back at him. He seemed shorter and weaker, less threatening. This wasn't a man who fit the double entendre of a  lady killer. He was just another mid-twenties kid.

"Will you be taking the paper and boxes from your cell?"

He glanced at his debris. "No, I think not. Do you want it?"

Officer Pak laughed.  He obviously didn't want the things after he offered. "Thank you, but  no." He grumbled. "But you'll be taking your personal things?"

"I'll want my letters," he said quickly. "Nothing else."

"Of course."

He squinted at Sangwoo and for a heart-stopping moment, Sangwoo  thought he was going to say 'SIKE' and send him right back to jail.

"Well, best be going. The people at the halfway house are waiting."  Officer Pak's smile was from another place. Not this dim warren of cells. It seemed almost real.

"Yeah, alright."

His shoes squeaked on the concrete floors and returned to his office. The paperwork for release was quickly signed and filed away. Sangwoo had a view of the outer square by the front gate and it was  making him itchy to get to the outside world. The weather wasn't even that good, but it certainly wasn't bad. The dawn was overcast, but it looked to be breaking soon.

Sangwoo tucked away your letter in his pocket, so as not to forget about it. He would have plenty of time to read it on the ride to the halfway house and after signing in. And the entire time, his heart would be pounding. You had actually asked to see him outside of prison. Perhaps you still retained the restraining order, but if you were the one allowing him to violate it, it had to be okay... right?

Eventually, everything was in place and Oh Sangwoo was walking out of the doors of the prison; a semi-free man. That was, if one didn't think about the twice daily check-ins, random bed checks, weekly parole meetings, mandatory therapy sessions (group and individual) and other things that were mandated upon release.

None of that crossed his mind, however. All he could think about was what he was going to do when he saw you again; this time with no glass in between.