Snow

 

  When Jieun awoke after the second surgery, she found herself to be immobile. Her two wrists were handcuffed to the bed’s railings. Though her legs were free, there was no way that she could attempt anything without the use of her hands. After a couple of unsuccessful, futile attempts, Jieun had given up and blankly stared at the white, stainless, and possibly dusty ceiling above her. The pure white color suddenly poked at her desires – it reminded her of something that she had so craved to see for a very long time. “I want to see snow,” she murmured to herself.   “Let’s go, then,” a male voice said.   Jieun jerked her head towards the doorway to find a quite surprising sight. Myungsoo was leaning on the door, dressed casually in jeans – something other than his black suits that he always wore. By the looks of it, he had been in that position for quite a long time.   Myungsoo looked out the window. Without looking back at Jieun, he repeated, “Let’s go. I want to see the snow, too.”   After a moment of hesitation, she answered, “I… I don’t think I can go anywhere with you. Not when—”   He interrupted her. “I promise that we’ll just look around and come straight back.” Then, in a matter-of-fact tone, he continued, “Besides, if it isn’t with me, you won’t be allowed to go out of the hospital grounds for a while.”   Quietly, Jieun began to weigh the consequences of the two options she had: to stay inside the safe premises of the hospital or to trust and go to see the snow with Kim Myungsoo.   In a short while, she had decided on the latter. Anything is better than being handcuffed to a bed, she thought. She gave the man standing by the doors a swift glance. He doesn’t look like he means any harm, too…   “I’ll go, then.”   Maybe he was surprised at her answer, for a mix of confusing expressions appeared on his face. “Where should we go? I think Mt. Seorak would be the best at this time of the year… Mt. Seorak is near the beach, too.”   Jieun nodded, but she couldn’t help but be left dumbfounded at Myungsoo’s sudden change in attitude. What’s wrong with him? He’s…he’s not like himself…   Now in a very excited tone, Myungsoo said, “It’s going to take about four hours to get there, so we’ll have to make this an overnight trip. Get ready, Jieun. I’ll go tell the doctor – I’m sure he’ll approve of the trip.” He stepped outside the door, but in a second, stepped back inside. “There’s one condition though.”   “What?”   Traces of worry were evident in his voice as he managed to say, “Please… You’re not going to do anything stupid, right? I…I just want this trip to be a good memory for us, since it looks like we don’t have a single one. Can you promise me that you won’t do anything out of the ordinary?” Then, he turned his back towards her and hid his face. “Just this one thing, and then, we can go.”   Were the clear things that flashed across his cheek a quick, short hallucination of hers? It probably was, she decided. “I promise, Myungsoo. It’ll just be a simple trip…and nothing more.” She had emphasized the later part of her answer on purpose; as she had stated, it was just a simple trip, and it would be for the better of both her and Myungsoo that it doesn’t turn into anything else.   She didn’t know if he had understood the real meaning behind her words – if he had, he did a good job in not showing it.   “Good. That’s great,” he said. “I’ll go tell the doctor now. Get ready and stuff, okay?”   Upon seeing her nod, Myungsoo went out the door.     The two had been in a car for a bit over two hours. For a while, Jieun had been inclined to ask Myungsoo about the bandages that he had wrapped around his right hand, but was unable to overcome her fear. She couldn’t help but glance at it every other minute – it bothered her.   Myungsoo, having noticed her actions earlier, broke the silence around them and said, “I got hurt yesterday. I, uh, cut my hand while I was cooking.”   It took no longer than half of a second for Jieun to sense that he wasn’t telling the truth – he never cooked anything for himself. During the past several years that she’d known him, he had either eaten what she had made or dined in a restaurant. Resisting the urge to ask any further questions, she looked outside of the clean window of Myungsoo’s car. Their speed made the surroundings disappear as quickly as they had appeared, and as each second went by, Jieun could sense that they were getting closer and closer to their destination.     “Jieun, wake up. We’re here.”   When Myungsoo had shaken her awake, it was already dark; she wasn’t really sure if it was because the sun had set or because the tremendously tall pine trees around them were blocking the light. Still half-asleep, Jieun questioned, “Wouldn’t it have been better to find a place to sleep for tonight then come back when we can actually see the snow?”   He unbuckled his seatbelt before answering, “I… I wanted to see the snow first, even if it’s a bit late. But, if you really want to, we can come back in the morning.”   She blinked a couple of times, trying to get a clearer vision of the outside view. “No, it’s okay. We’re already here, anyway. I guess we can sleep in the car if we need to.”   The two both stepped outside the car and was embraced by the cold winter air of the mountains. Snow covered the ground; as Myungsoo and Jieun each took a step, then another, then another forward, their footprints were engraved onto the pure-white substance, as if to leave their marks on the world.   Jieun crouched on the ground, bent down, and scooped up a handful of snow onto her two palms. She then looked at it for a while, letting it sit and begin to melt on her warm hands. “It’s cold,” she whispered, her warm bre