Fiction: Group 4
The woman poised her chin on the back of the palm, mimicking ‘The Thinker’s’ pose, when suddenly her
eyes flashed with a hint of nostalgia, as if she remembered something from the past…a story that her mother
might’ve told her.
“Come with me.” She said a minute later and takes us to a medium sized brick house, the traditional ones
that have a small courtyard in the front garden. I followed her to a series of corridors when we finally
reached a door that had simple white paper over the fragile and fancy carvings of the door. I felt like I was in
a movie set, everything seemed so surreal, I felt like I had travelled back to the past.
“Mother?” The lady rapped on the wooden parts of the door gently, as if she was afraid that if she knocked
any hard the door would have fallen due to old age.
Instead of replying, soft sighs of peaceful breathing could be heard from the paper thin door. So the lady
opened the door silently to let us in.
The view of an old woman sleeping on a wooden bed. Silver hair, that seemed almost white had scattered
all on her pillow around her head, like a halo hovering. She looked like an angel that had been sleeping for
ages. Her face smooth with hints of wrinkles, especially around her eyes, she must have smiled a lot. As I
paced towards her bed, and closer to her, her eyes opened slowly, just like sleeping beauty finally awake after
a hundred year sleep. Her eyes were misty and glazed, but when she turned her head towards me, her eyes
widened and clear colored tears rolled down her pale cheeks.
Just like the old woman, the moment she opened her eyes, tears started spilling from my eyes. Maybe it was
me crying, maybe it was Hak crying. I don’t know, but all I know is that I could feel the longing and the
pain that Hak had locked inside his heart, the feelings for her had leaked out from my eyes and when it
came in contact with the air, the emotion had liquefied into tears and conveyed the sensation of what Hak
had felt when he died, full of regrets.
The old woman, incredibly graceful for her age, had reached out from her bed with her soft yet wrinkled
hands and slowly wiped my tear stained cheeks. She smiled softly at us as she said “Welcome back, Hak. I
knew you’d be back, because…you promised you’d be back.” Her voice was hoarse, as if she hadn’t spoke
for days and it was her first time speaking in days, but within that hoarse voice, we could feel the warmth
and the love she had for Hak. With my voice, Hak said
“I’m back, Jun. Sorry I’m so late. I missed you so
much.”
Our voice husky from the tears and my sobbing.
Their touching reunion was filled with warmth that filled my heart to the brim with their love. Jun smiled
painfully as her eyes started to tear up as she said “I’m nearing my end, I…Let’s go to..together?” Her voice
was getting more and more breathless as her hand is starting to slip from my face, her warmth slowly leaving
her as she smiled one last time before saying “Thank…you, Sei. For…for bringing…H-Hak to me…”
With her last breath, she choked out her last words and her body started to grow colder.
I grabbed her hands immediately, in hope to call her back. I squeezed her chilly hand tightly, but it didn’t
grasp back. I cried in to her hands as I felt my body grow light and my vision dimming.
…
“Sei.” A familiar voice called out, “Sei.” “Wh-what…let me sleep.” I said groggily, but opened my eyes
unwillingly anyways.
A white room. Blank with just infinite whiteness. Standing in front of me was Hak.
“Hak? But you… aren’t you in my body?” I stuttered out in shock. Then I heard a giggle. Besides Hak was
a girl, around 22, who looked exactly like the girl in Hak’s memories. Their hands where locked into a tight
grasp.
