13
Give Me 120 More Years
. . . . .
Nana tossed the gauze onto the table beside the couch and dropped onto it. It was all so annoying. She didn’t want to see him anymore. She wanted to get all her flashes out of her life and stop seeing into the past. She had no more desire to see the man she supposedly loved a hundred million years ago die over and over again. A few things she knew about Onew was that he was arrogant and stuck up. It’d be horrible if she did ever have feelings for him.
In the morning Nana reported to the police station instead of heading to Raina’s café. She me with Chief Jung in the west wing where he’d set out the two weapons they’d gathered so far. The bladed weapon engraved with vines and leaves had been retrieved from the forensics lab she noticed. Staring down at them Nana felt a longing to touch them.
“No handprints belonging to the suspect had been left behind. It seems we’re dealing with a very smart murder here.” Chief Jung explained. “Can you get anything from them?”
“Can I touch them?” Nana questioned.
“Please,” Chief Jung gestured a hand out toward the knives.
Nana felt nervous. Her blood tingled before she reached her hand out and placed a hand on the knife that once belonged to the mountain guardian. Her eyes clamped shut and images zoned in on her of a man in a black outfit running through the museum with the knife. Unclear vibes of good and bad came from him tingling her blood. The sight faded when she saw him get attacked by a man in the station.
“He’s 38, about 6 feet tall with a beard on his face, but I’m not sure if he committed murder.” Nana said.
“Excuse me?” Chief Jung questioned.
“It looked like someone tried mugging him in the station,” Nana explained. “Maybe he killed on self defense…”
“How can it be on self defense when he clearly stole this knife.”
“That and this are two different matters,” Nana clarified, “maybe he meant to take the knife but he hadn’t meant to kill.”
“What about our second murder?” Chief Jung asked. “Would that be self defense? In a home?”
Nana felt her bottom lips go dry.
“Try the second one.” he urged.
Nana pressed her lips together feeling a sense of sorrow for how her knives were being used in present time to hurt others. Her vision was no different from the first one. It had been a bloody struggle in the apartment but it had only happened on accident when the thief found out he’d been backstabbed by his friend.
“Killing a friend is no different from being a murderer, Miss Im Jin Ah.” Chief Jung explained. “If you can’t differentiate your feelings I suggest you quit here and now.”
But the thief had been plagued with sadness. By what means had he been driven to steal these artifacts? Nana didn’t know. She couldn’t see the answer by just seeing visions of it all.
“That knife, all those weapons you’ve seen have been all yours, but his blood has been on all of them.”
Really? Nana stared at the two knives in front of her. How much blood had been spilt over her treasures?
. . . . .
“Onew! Have you been able to get a hold of the psychic?” Min Ah questioned from afar with a stack of papers in her hand.
No matter when or where Onew saw her she was always carrying papers.
“No.”
“Why!” she demanded. “Go find her! I need to know what she can talk about for tomorrow’s broadcast.”
“You’ve already given me the topic, we’ll just go from there.” Onew replied with his chin in the palm of his hand.
“Are you sure that’d work?”
“It’ll be fine. I already got her word on it.” Onew half lied.
Turning back to his screen he typed in: What time shall I pick you up, bunny?
After two dates that night Onew made it back to his home in the dead of the night. His dreams came and went like it always did.
. . . . .
Nana awoke early and lay in bed staring at the ceiling. It was impossible to blink an eye of sleep because she’d been so afraid of seeing those flashes, those images of Onew. Nana didn’t want to feel hurt nor pain over him, someone she barely knew. It didn’t make sense, it wouldn’t make sense to just cry over someone she just met. But it felt like her flash backs were so real, so intriguing that she couldn’t help but wonder…if her love had been so strong a hundred million years ago that her soul had carried it all her lives. Had he meant so much that it was impossible to forget?
Sitting up Nana started at the clock. She really didn’t feel like going to the radio show at all. There was completely no desire to see Onew, that jerk head.
. . . . .
“Wow, you’re early today.” Min Ah commented as Onew walked through the office door. “Did you tidy yourself up?”
“No. I’m always tidy.” he shrugged her comment off.
“Really?” she teased with a smile. “Something seems different about you.”
“I’m different day in and day out.” Onew said walking toward his desk.
“Give her a call. We’ll be going on air in an hour.” Min Ah reminded.
Onew took off his jacket and grabbed his phone. Nana didn’t answer on the first ring nor the second one. He tried another time just to reach her voice mail again. Setting his phone down on his desk he went to get himself a cup of coffee before the day would officially begin.
. . . . .
“Sorry Raina. I’ll try to come in tomorrow, ok? I’ll make it up to you.” Nana regretfully apologized before hanging up.
With a long sigh she parked her car in the visitor’s lot and walked out. As she walked toward the large building Nana paused amazed with how the building looked up close. It had been completely rebuilt 7 years ago yet it still looked just as new as it had then. The tall building rose into the air like a neat skyscraper full of windows that were very clean. The sun shone on it so heavily that Nana wondered if the people inside ever felt blinded by it.
She walked through the doors to be welcomed by a grand white hall and saw large posters of advertisements and radio announcers on the walls. The walls were of a grey marble material and a plaque hung on the walls before her with arrows pointing to the left or right with the names of different sectors.
Heading toward the elevator Nana pressed the button to the 11th floor. When the doors opened Nana found herself faced with two hallways extending to the right and the left. Unsure of which hallway to take Nana turned down the left and poked her head from around a corner to find an empty looming hallway with rows of windows to the side. A few closed golden doors lined her right with gold frames. Walking further down the hall Nana paused when she saw the highest skyscraper extending into the sky like a pencil being held up. She became lost in thought for a moment as she imagined the view down on the rest of the world from the mountaintop she once stood on. It took a moment until she realized she was being watched. Turning her to the right she saw the face she hadn’t wanted to see. He stared back at her baffled by her presence. A series of emotions overcame his face before he managed a smile.
“Nana?” he asked.
Nana’s mouth opened with no sound then she pressed her lips together and watched as he took a small step forward toward her. Her heart raced constantly and her feet inched backward. She hadn’t wanted to see it. She wasn’t ready…
“Nana,” he called with another step forward.
He was still as handsome as ever. The brown hair falling off his head half blocking his tortured eyes were still the same as they had been years ago. She hadn’t wanted to remember that about him.
Nana took another step backward but bumped into something which turned out to be someone. Wheeling around she saw Onew standing behind her.
“You were here?” he asked. “It’s almost time, lets go. I’ll see you later Joon!”
As Onew turned around Nana quickly followed him without hesitation nor time to focus on her desire to go back home. She really didn’t want to be there.
. . . . .
Joon watched as the two of them disappeared from sight before he slowly followed them down to the studio. From the door he observed Nana as Min Ah handed her the script and in less than a minute she’d gone into the recording room with Onew. Leaning against the frame of the door he watched as Onew greeted the listeners before jumping into the theme for that day’s broadcast.
As Onew dwelled into the introduction Nana slowly turned from the window to glance at Joon then turned away as Onew began to introduce her. Joon saw a smile come onto Nana’s face as she reached a hand to pull a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He recalled that she always had loose strands of hair hanging from her curly pony tail.
She was beautiful. Her small face was always full of a laugh or a bright smile that never ceased to fade. He noticed that she’d cut her bangs so that they ran straight down her face instead of leaving them to the side where they always fell out. It had been 3 long years and he realized that he’d missed her.
When the recording ended he was unsure about whether he should walk up to her or not so he ended up waiting by the door.
“Ah…that’s so interesting. Makes me want to be a psychic too,” Min Ah complimented. “You must be very busy nowadays, huh? I guess we shouldn’t hold up your time. I would have liked to invite you out for lunch.”
“Thanks,” Nana smiled and shook a few hands before she turned toward the doorway and paused.
Joon stopped leaning against the door frame and stood up to face her unsure of what to say.
“Hi,” he greeted with a hand in his pocket. “I didn’t know you were the psychic Min Ah brought.”
Nana pulled on a smile to hide her uncomfortable feelings, “Yes.”
“Are you busy? I was thinking about lunch…”
Nana pursed her lips together, gazed at the ground then back to his face, “Ok.”
. . . . .
“Y…yah!!” Onew finally looked away from the conversation he’d been having with Min Ah to see Nana walk away from sight. “Aish…”
“Heading out to lunch?” Min Ah asked. “Care to join us?”
Onew glanced at her and found himself walking inside a small shopping mall minutes later. The radio crew had dispersed to run their own quick errands at the mall before meeting downstairs for lunch. Onew stopped and gazed at a traditional set of clothes for a bride and a groom on display. A sense of longing sprang up from somewhere within.
In all his dreams he only met the beautiful mountain guardian in various forms but he wasn’t sure if they ever got married. How nice it would have been if he had been married to her. He recalled how he’d saw himself die just a few days ago. Gazing at the ground he wondered if he’d never been able to be with her at all. How lonely the two of them must have felt…
“But it’s just a dream,” Onew told himself walking away from the display and toward the balcony.
Leaning against the silver railing Onew gazed with a peaceful smile on his lips. The lounge was barely full. His eyes traced over the empty tan tables of twos, fours, and sixes before he thought he recognized Nana sitting alone.
Raising an eyebrow he said, “I thought she went back to the police station and here she is eating lunch alone.”
He got ready to scream out her name but stopped when he saw Joon walk over with a tray of food. Just what were they doing there together? Joon pushed half the food toward Nana who refused at first but after a few minutes of fighting she finally accepted the food and slowly began eating. A small frown overcame his face wondering what kind of relationship the two had. The ringing of his phone dragged his attention away.
“We’ve decided to eat elsewhere. Where are you?” Min Ah asked.
“Aish…what to do?” Onew said then lied, “I’m already at the cash register paying for my food. You guys go ahead and I’ll see you back at the office.”
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