A glistening drop of water splattered onto the shattered picture frame, joining the many others which had formed into a shimmering puddle. The sun’s rays shone down, reflecting off the water droplets, as if imitating the diamond ring which had been banished to a life beside the picture, never to be worn again. Though the ring no longer served a purpose, its owner still couldn’t bring herself to dispose of it. Though she couldn’t realize it herself, the ring was a sense of hope for her; false hope, but hope nonetheless.

The young, dark haired girl stepped cautiously around the rumble that she once called home. She moved in frantic elegance. Tears built up behind her eyes, threatening to break free unless she succeeded in her search.

The sun, evidently feeling sorry for the girl, directed its rays to hit the picture frame at just the right angle, reflecting off the glass and catching her attention. She hurried over to the mess that was once her bedroom and knelt down beside the picture. With shaking hands she pushed the broken glass aside, removing the waterlogged picture from its golden frame which had previously stood proud on her nightstand, but now lay helpless and defeated in the wreckage of the storm.

“Oppa,” the girl whispered, acknowledging her ex-fiancé in her native language. “Why did you leave me here? Why didn’t you take me with you? If I could only turn back time, I would keep you from going. You never would’ve met that wretched girl and I wouldn’t be alone like this.”

The handsome Korean man stared back at his heartbroken ex-fiancé with a permanent smile, unable to comprehend what she was saying. He just stood there, frozen in that moment, with his arms wrapped around the girl’s waist. It brought her back to how things were before he left.

“If only time could’ve slowed down in that moment. I could’ve thought it through more clearly. I never would’ve let you go back to Seoul; at least not alone,” she whispered as her mind drifted into a world where time moved at a pace much slower than in reality. It was a pace in which she could keep up with her thoughts, and possibly even keep her fiancé from deserting her.

In her mind, she saw herself sitting across from him at the coffee shop. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry, or maybe it was just the illusion of the reduced speed of time. Either way, it was peaceful.

“This is nice,” she smiled at her fiancé before taking a sip of the hot coffee that sat before her.

“I agree,” he nodded with a chuckle, “Your smile stays on your face longer.”

“That’s only because your laugh is prolonged too,” she replied, “And that makes me smile.”

“I guess we both win then.”

“I guess so,” she agreed, glancing out the window.

Cars moved slower on the roads and birds took a longer time to soar on the wind, allowing their viewers, if close enough, to pick out even the details of their wings before gliding to the safety of their nests. There were fewer car accidents and plane crashes. There always seemed to be enough time to get everything done, leaving more time for leisurely activities. Music seemed to dance through the air like a cloud, enveloping the listener in a blanket of emotions.

The girl enjoyed this moment and how long it was lasting. The slower passage of time allowed her to absorb the hour in its full worth. The half conscious part of her which she had left in the real world reminded her fantasy body what would be coming when the clock struck nine o’clock. 

“Three minutes,” she whispered, glancing at the time display on her phone.

“Three minutes? Until what?” her fiancé asked curiously.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she replied, coming fully back into her fantasy world.

“Oh,” the man started to reply when he was interrupted by his phone vibrating on the table. “I have to take this. I’ll be right back, okay?”

“All right,” she answered as he slipped away from the table.

Though he was only gone for a short time according to the clock, it seemed like an eternity. The minutes dragged by as the big hand gradually made its way to the 12 at the top of the time piece.

“Who was that?” she asked when her fiancé finally returned, relieved that she didn’t have to spend any longer without him.

“Someone from work,” he answered nonchalantly, “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Why do I feel like you’re lying?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

He gave her a sympathetic look before sighing, “I have to go to Seoul to meet with a representative from the Korean branch of the company.”

Her body froze as the words slowly slipped from his mouth, like a dagger moving gradually closer to her heart, threatening to pierce on command, “How long will you be gone?”

“Well, depending on how the meeting goes, it could be anywhere from one week to three months,” he answered.

“Three months?” she repeated in hardly more than a whisper.

“That’s the worst case scenario though,” he comforted her, though he didn’t seem very convinced himself.

Pain crept up the edges of her heart, seeping over the edges until it finally spilled over in a rush, similar to the way oxygen floods into a swimmer’s lungs after they break the surface of a lake and escape from the underwater world below them.

As the day turned into night and the night back into day, the pain remained in her heart. It had a stronger sting and seemed to linger longer than she had remembered. Her real form tried to beckon her out of her daydream, almost warning her of what was to come. But she refused to remove her eyes from the scene which played out on the movie screen of her mind.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” she whispered, attempting to hide her tears as she held onto her fiancé, wrapped in his warm embrace. She looked over his shoulder to the transit lounge into which he would soon disappear.

“Can’t I go with you?” she questioned, racking her mind for a reason to go back to Seoul with him. There was more time for possibilities to filter through her brain this time than the last, but she still could not come up with a justifiable solution.

“You and I both know that can’t happen,” he replied, pulling back to look her in the eyes.

“But why-,” she was cut off by the sound of the cell phone that had slipped from her fiancé’s pocket hitting the floor.

“I’ve got it,” she bent down to pick up the phone. Nothing seemed to be different. What had happened in her real life seemed to be happening exactly the same in her slow paced fantasy. The only difference was the intensity of the pain in her heart. The slower passing of time gave the affliction a better chance to sink in and fully envelope her in sorrow.

But finally, something changed. As she picked up the cell phone, she took note of the recent call list that had popped up on its screen. With time on her side, she was able to read the five most recent names which all happened to be the same. 

“Whose number is this?” she asked her fiancé, pointing to the number on the screen.

“Oh, that’s just someone from work,” he answered as quickly as time would permit, snatching the phone away from her hands.

“Oppa,” she stared deep into his dark brown eyes which were normally filled with such love and passion, but now revealed the hint of guilt peaking out from behind his irises. “Oppa, are you cheating on me?”

“Of course not!” he remarked, but to no avail.

She detected the slight hesitation in his voice which was lengthened by the extended duration of time. Her true mind, which was stuck back in reality, suddenly awaked. The pieces began to fall into place as her fantasy and real life merged together into one grand realization.

“He didn’t meet her in Seoul,” she whispered, rising to her feet. “He knew her before he even left America.” Her eyes drifted down to the picture which was still clutched in her hand. She stared at her ex-fiancé’s smiling face in resentment, “You never loved me. Every time you said “I love you” it was for her. You stood there and lied to my face.”

The sun reflected off the diamond ring which lay off to the grief-stricken girl’s left, as if it was on her cheating fiancé’s side, trying to remind her of the good memories they had shared. Thoughtfully, she bent down and took up the ring in her fingers. It rolled around in the palm of her hand, begging for forgiveness, but with no success. Balling her hand into a fist, she began to make her way across the street, toward the sandy beach which once glimmered like snow, but was now littered with debris from the devastating hurricane, now hardly comparable to the storm raging in her heart.

She stopped upon reaching the water and stared out across the wide expanse of ocean before her. Somewhere beyond the rolling waves, beyond what she could see, was her birth city, Seoul, and in that city, hidden somewhere in the masses of people, was the man who had been breaking her heart before she even knew it.

Drawing back her arm, she threw the diamond ring into the crashing waves, letting out a scream of pain as she did so. The salty water gobbled up the ring, but left the painful sting in her heart for her to dispose of on her own.

“In time you’ll see,” she murmured, holding up, by the edge, the picture that was once filled with happy memories. “And I hope time does to you what it did to me.”

Taking a deep, renewing breath, she turned and headed away from the ocean to her new, unknown future, leaving behind her past, her footprints, and a picture torn down the middle lying in the sand.