Ninth Month

“So, you want to do the volunteer job on Captain Yoo’s anniversary?” Dr. Pyo asked Mo Yeon in her office.

The latter nodded. Her friends already knew about her plan.

“Do you want to set a table for him?”

Mo Yeon went still.

If she did, that meant she accepted the fact Si Jin would never come back forever, but another part of her wanted to believe he was still alive somewhere. For a doctor, no bodies found meant more than 80% chances that the victims were alive.

“Do you think he’s still alive?”

Mo Yeon blinked in surprise.

Si Jin often said she was the one who could read his mind, but to her, it was Dr. Pyo who could understand what was going on in her mind.

“Is it wrong if I think he’s alive?” Mo Yeon asked in return.

Dr. Pyo smiled knowingly. “No, it’s not. As a doctor, I understand. But, it has been nine months and there are no signs of him that said otherwise.”

Mo Yeon smiled bitterly. “It has been nine months and if he’s alive, why doesn’t he come to see me?”

“You have to let him go, Mo Yeon.”

“I already did,” Mo Yeon said defensively.

“Did you?”

Mo Yeon stared at her friend. “What do you mean by that?”

Dr. Pyo sighed and held Mo Yeon’s hand. “Yes, you are grieving and mourning. For the past nine months, I can see you’re trying to be strong, but I know you never really let him go.”

Mo Yeon looked at Dr. Pyo with sad eyes. “What is it means by letting him go? Forget him?”

“I didn’t say you have to forget him,” Dr. Pyo stated. “The fact that you still keep him in your memories is a good one. Keeping the bad memories about him only makes you suffer more. All I want to say is you have to accept you’re not going to see him forever and wish him to rest in peace.”

The latter caused Mo Yeon to take a deep breath. “I don’t even know how.” They couldn’t find Si Jin’s body and according to Myeong Ju, the army did a symbolic funeral, but Mo Yeon never went to the ce