Minjeong sighed deeply as she poured herself a drink. She was staring for quite some time towards her wine glass. She yawned a bit.

She felt very uneasy throughout the entire time she’s sitting down on her chair.

She had a smartphone with her, and she couldn’t even read the time. Aeri would always call her because they’re close friends, so definitely not Ning because she’s always at her hospital, working.

Minjeong had been dreaming a lot after events had unfolded. One thing she cannot do is read the time. For some reason, some other stuff she can’t do on a dream… suddenly works, so she got confused on reality checks.

She did the other reality check which she thinks will always succeed on telling what’s real or not: check if her finger would pass through her hand. It poked a few times, but on the last poke, it passed through.

So Minjeong was aware she is dreaming.

The reason why she dreaded the dreams are because…

“Hello… sorry I’m late…”

…of her.

Minjeong forced a smile, “Hello there. I don’t mind. I didn’t wait long anyway.”

The dream replayed the first meeting. It was a luxurious restaurant. Aeri thought it’d be a good idea to have them meet on a blind date, so she called up Ning to suggest a person. Minjeong chuckled when she heard the story from Yoo Jimin, the one she is facing right now.

Minjeong takes one look at her face and her expression became sorrowful, but she still forced a smile.

‘You’re so beautiful. You’re just as beautiful as the day I lost you.’

Jimin looked nervous. She kept looking around and kept thinking what she is going to say. Minjeong wanted to keep this dream to a standstill forever, but she needed to continue.

“I heard you’re my blind date.”

“A-ah, yes…” Jimin nervously chuckled as she scratched her neck, “It seemed like that way… u-um, you look so… beautiful…”

‘Funny. This is the complete opposite of what had actually happened. She appeared from the front door and had this very confident look… while I was the one getting nervous.’

“Thank you,” Minjeong smiled sincerely, “I think you’re more beautiful than me.”

“M-me?” Jimin blushed, “I-I don’t think so…”

Minjeong didn’t want to replay the blind date again. She took one look at her wine glass and said, “How about a sip of the wine? So that we can have a deep conversation.”

“U-um… sure thing.”

Minjeong poured the wine onto Jimin’s glass. As soon as she does, she clinks her glass with Jimin’s.

“Cheers.”

And once she drank the wine, her vision darkened.

 

< - >

 

Minjeong goes back to the present time. She figured that drinking the wine meant waking up immediately, although she felt that she drooled a bit in her dreaming.

She wipes away the tears starting to form around her eyes. She breathes a bit, then gets up from her bed.

The first thing she does after getting up is to go towards her office.

She opens the door to find the same thing every day: two cardboard boxes. One box marked as “Karina”, and the other box marked as “Winter.” It was their nicknames to each other, and thinking back, she really missed it.

She walked towards Jimin’s box and pulled out some of the things.

One thing was Jimin’s notebook from her college years. She opens it and the writing is intact, with Jimin’s beautiful handwriting. It also reminded her of her own college years, and how she got motivated to study because of Jimin.

 

// fb

 

“Can I see your notes, Jimin?”

Jimin scrunched her face a bit, “Are you going to copy my notes again? I told you to look at the whiteboard…” She sighs as she says the last part.

Minjeong awkwardly chuckled, “I’m sorry… I got really distracted.”

“Please tell me you aced your exams too. I get really worried when I see you at the living room every time you’re studying your notes over and over.”

“I… did!” Minjeong shows Jimin her grades, and the latter is in awe after looking through it, even going as far as taking a second look.

“Woah. Is this the real Minjeong? What happened to you!?” Jimin gasped.

“I told you, I’m a quick s—”

“I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!” Jimin lifted Minjeong off the ground and spun her around. Minjeong screamed, “H-hey! Put me down!”

 

//

 

Minjeong sighed as she reminiscences the old memory. She puts down Jimin’s old notebook and picks up another item: her phone.

The screen is broken. She looked at the back side and the picture they took together is still there: it was a picture of their trip together in Lotte World in school uniforms.

She smiled. It was the best date they ever had. Jimin suggested wearing school uniforms, so they did.

But Jimin being the scaredy-cat, all she could remember mostly is her screams during the rides.

 

// fb

 

“W-w-why is it going up…”

The coaster seemed to be going up infinitely and the safety bars weren’t even enough to feel her at ease, so she held on Minjeong’s hand.

“The fun part begins here, Jimin.”

Jimin hid her face in Minjeong’s shoulder, “I don’t wanna…”

Minjeong chuckled, “You’ll be fine. Just like you said earlier, we had safety bars here, so we won’t really fall off the coaster.

“I think I’m gonna faint…”

 

//

 

A call from her phone interrupted her reverie. She picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Minjeong-ah…”

“Oh, Aeri. What’s up?”

“You’re really going there? On her birthday? With all of her old things?”

Minjeong nodded, signifying that she’s affirming her choice and is not backing down out of it, “I told you… I have to do this, or I’ll regret it forever.”

“Okay… you know where she is, right?”

“Yeah…” Minjeong looked down at Jimin’s box again and found a dried flower. She picked up the flower and tried smelling it, but there was nothing. “Don’t worry, Aeri. She’s waiting for me, just like she promised she would.”

Aeri sighed but eventually softened at the face of Minjeong’s affirmation, “I get it. You’re the stubborn type ever since I met you anyway. I hope you finally face her without regrets and say that you loved her a lot.”

“I will.”

Once the call had ended, she took one last peek at the dried flower.

Winter’s expression became sorrowful, as she tearfully says, “I’ll be there… for you.”

 

< - >

 

With the cardboard boxes on her car’s trunk, she drove towards a certain place. A place that may seem too silent or unnerving, but also calming and peaceful in a sense.

Minjeong’s heart started to beat really fast. She is nervous as she thinks about meeting Jimin again, while on the other hand, she feels at peace.

She decided to go as to not regret it later. Not now, or ever.

She drove slowly. Just enough that she felt something was blinking at her car’s dashboard.

The brake system isn’t working correctly.

She must have forgotten to take the car in for repairs, but on the other hand…

Minjeong thought that it is time. She would drive away without regrets. She prepared herself for this, and while she herself is scared to move on, she has achieved everything she wanted to do. This is going to be the final achievement.

Shrugging the warning light aside, she drove towards one place, but as carefully as possible.

 

Once she had arrived, she gets out of her car and opens her car’s trunk.

She carried Jimin’s cardboard box that contained all her old stuff and walked towards one person. The one person she wished to see again.

As she walked with heavy steps, she finally arrived. Hit with a myriad of thoughts after seeing her again, she was initially overwhelmed but eventually managed to flash a smile as she says, “Hi. My Karina. Yoo Jimin. It’s… been a long time.”

 

REST IN PEACE

YOO JIMIN

“A GOOD PERSON AND A GOOD DAUGHTER”

 

Minjeong placed down Jimin’s cardboard box in front of the gravestone. She looked around for a fully-grown flower, and once she did, she placed one inside the box.

As Minjeong looks back at Jimin’s picture frame, which has been with the gravestone the entire time, she is hit with a myriad of thoughts once more, overwhelming her. She broke down as she kneeled, “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there in your last moments. I’m really… sorry.”

She wailed as her tears continued to fall, “I’m sorry… I should have been more caring. I should have… I should have been there with you! I should have been the one to have disappeared, not you!”

Her body started to shake as she started to recall the last thoughts she had before she realized she is fully gone. Her tears grew even more violent with every memory remembered.

 

“Minjeong.”

 

Minjeong looked up to the sky. Her eyes hurt but she still looked.

 

“I don’t know if you deserve to hear this while you were waiting for her at your house, but… it’s Jimin.”

 

With a pained expression…

 

“She died. Someone crashed onto her car and the injuries were enough to kill…”

 

…she screamed out a cry of pain and grief.

 

“I’m sorry. We tried reviving her… but she died. My best friend, gone…”

Ning cries as Minjeong tries to process the information she had just heard. She dropped the phone into the ground. Tears started to fall on Minjeong’s eyes.

“J-Jimin…”

Without thinking, she took her car keys and drove towards the hospital.

 

“JIMIN! YOO JIMIN! PLEASE! LISTEN TO ME!”

“Minjeong… stop…” Aeri restrained Minjeong as good as she can. She’s hurt about losing her friend, but at the same time, worried about Minjeong. Her worst fears have been realized, and Aeri attempts to calm down a broken-down Minjeong, “Minjeong… Kim Minjeong… w-we have to…”

“HAVE TO WHAT!? SHE NEEDS ME! JIMIN! I’M COMING! PLEASE… WAIT FOR ME A LITTLE LONGER NOW!”

“Minjeong… she’s gone…”

“N-no…”

Minjeong’s body visibly shook as she heard those dreaded words and she cracked at the face of reality, “N-no… that can’t be true… I-I need to…”

Minjeong wailed as her tears continued to fall. Aeri cried as well as she hugs Minjeong, “I-I’m… sorry…”

“Jimin…”

 

Minjeong stands up from the ground. She wipes the dirt off her body. She sighed sadly.

“I know. No matter how much I scream, it won’t bring you back.” She looks at Jimin’s picture once more. With tearful eyes, she started to say her last goodbyes, “Jimin. I’m going to… I think I’m…” she bit her lips before continuing, “I achieved what I wanted. You were my inspiration every day. I still text your old phone number, saying that I did this… and did that. I reached the top, and I don’t think I can go back down. I wished you were here with me on my journey… I wrote so many songs and met a lot of younger artists who have loved my music. They… they were saying that they cried whenever they listen to it.”

She chuckles a bit, “It’s because… the songs sounded happy, but the lyrics are actually sad. I… I was inspired to write those lyrics because of you, so thank you. Thank you for being a source of my inspiration and motivation. I love you so much…”

She picks up Jimin’s picture frame. She lets her tear fall freely as she kisses the picture. As she places down her picture, Minjeong walks away from the gravestone and back into her case.

She takes one last look at Jimin’s picture frame.

“Goodbye. Thank you so much… and I promise… we’ll meet again.”

She goes back inside her car. With her ‘Winter’ cardboard box still in her trunk, she drives to parts unknown.

 

<->

 

As Minjeong drives towards somewhere, she tried slowing down her car to take a turn, but the brakes suddenly stopped working.

She tried applying pressure to it, but it just wouldn’t work. That’s when Minjeong realized that it is her time as well.

As her entire vision goes into slow motion shortly before crashing onto a tree, she looks down her phone to see unread messages.

 

From: Aeri

Please don’t do anything stupid once you’re done. Good luck, and know that I’m always here for you. I love you so much, my best friend.

“I’m sorry Aeri, but I’m going to have to break that promise. I love you too.”

 

From: Ning

I heard what happened. Please stay safe. Know that I’m also here for you, just as I’ve been there for Jimin…

“Thank you, Ning…”

 

From: Jiminie’s umma

I heard from Aeri on what you are going to do later. I hope you don’t regret your decisions. Thank you so much for loving my daughter…

“…I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with her in her final moments…”

 

As she regretfully says goodbye (in her mind) to the important people she had ever met, she looks at front and closes her eyes. With a tearful smile, she mouths out…

“I’m… finally coming home, Jimin…”

 

<->

 

The end.