Chapter 1: Purpose

The sky clear as water, birds singing about and the sun giving its warm blessing. I walk around the vast field searching for food. I search for any wild berries I could gather or a small animal that I could hunt. I have been like this for the last couple of years. I don’t care where I am going. I just follow where my feet take me. I have wandered through towns, kingdoms and even countries. But yet do I have to find a purpose. What is it that I’m doing? What is the purpose of this immortality that I possess? I walk the earth without anything to look forward to. There are times that I just wanted to fade away. Die off. But I couldn’t put myself into suicide. It’s like some force is preventing me from doing so. I wonder.

I hear a laugh not far from me. I look on and found a sea of flowers. Ranging with colors that one could only imagine. At the middle of the beautiful sea, there sit a young girl. Her long, silk-like hair waves along the wind. She laughs as a gust of wind blow past by her, making petals shower through her. What a wonderful sight. I smile. Such beauty beholds before me by this young one. Then the little girl’s cat-like eyes found me. She looks scared by my presence. I bow at her from a distance. I sit and start to make a crown made of flowers. A kind of crown that is fit for a princess with such beauty like her. I finish making my craft and look in front of me. I find the little one a few feet away from me, curious maybe of what I am doing. I give her my warmest smile and stretch out my hand, giving her the flower crown I just made. She eyes me then to my hand. She gives me a shy smile as she slowly takes the crown that I made just for her. She puts it on and my eyes go wide. Beauty. A princess indeed. No flower in this field can compare to this child’s beauty. How more when she grows up?

“Soojung!” I hear a man call out.

The little girl perks up and stands as soon as she hears the man’s voice. It must be her father. She looks at me one last time and smiles. Then off she goes running towards her father’s voice.

She leaves me there, still dumfounded from the impression she just gave me. I wonder. Will our paths cross again? If so, I would gladly be her servant. Under the setting sun, I watch her retreating back as it disappears. Around blooming flowers, I found my purpose. A meeting I shall never forget.
 

Now I’m off to continue my pursuit for food. My stomach is killing me.

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I wander and find myself once again finding food. I look around me and the place seems familiar. I walk some more and I am greeted by a sight that I thought that I would never see again.  A field of flowers. The same field that I went through forty five years ago. Where I met a beautiful little princess. Where I made a flower crown just for her. Where I silently swore that I would be her servant if ever I meet her again. But something is different. Not far from the field, there stand a small hut. I walk towards the humble home and there emerge an old woman maybe in her fifties or so. She sees me and her eyes widen.

“Hello… May I help you?” She says, as she walks towards me.

“U-uh. I was just passing by, ma’am.” I bow.

“You look famished. Come. I have soup and some bread inside.” She says, gesturing me inside her hut.

She looks familiar…

I sit on one of the dining chairs as I wait for her to get the soup and bread. I look around. It’s a simple home adorned with flowers. The scent of fresh bloomed flowers lingers around the house. A certain object caught my eye. On top of one of the shelves, there placed a flower crown… The same flower crown I made many years ago. Could it be…?

“Here you go. Careful, it’s a bit hot.” The old woman says while smiling at me.

I look at her eyes. Those cat-like eyes… A wave of nostalgia washes through me.

“Princess…”

“Thank you…” I trail off as I start to eat.

“Say, you’re not from here aren’t you?” She asks.

With my mouth full with bread and soup, I shake my head in response.

“Do you have a home?” She asks once more.

“No, ma’am. I have been travelling around all my life.” I reply.

“Oh then… You wouldn’t mind if I ask you to stay here.” She says.

I look at her in disbelief. Is she really?

“If it’s okay with you.” She adds.

“If it isn’t a burden to you, ma’am. Then I would oblige.” I said, smiling.

She gives me a bright smile that makes me remember the day that I met her. The beautiful little princess that I met years ago has now grown into this elegant old woman in front of me, still retaining her beauty.

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Days, weeks, months and years pass. I spend my time with Soojung, serving her like I promised. I help her with chores around the house. I help her tend to the flowers outside and the vegetable garden she is growing beside her hut. Days with her are full of laughter and happiness. I never thought that I would find her again. But of course unlike me, she isn’t immortal. Her time would come. I wake up one morning to water the vegetables at the garden. But I have to wake Soojung up first. I go to her room and to my shock I find her coughing out blood. I run to her side.

“Are you okay?! What happened?!” I ask, frantic.

“Hush. This comes with old age.” She smiles.

No… No. I’m not yet ready to be left behind. I don’t want my princess to leave me yet. Please.

I spend the days tending to her, taking care of her. But time is too cruel. I know her time is coming to an end. And it’s just too soon.

“Amber…” She calls out to me one afternoon.

“Yes?” I come into her room.

“Can you take me outside? To the field of flowers?” She asks.

“Of course.” I reply and proceed to carry her frail old body.

I carry her outside to the middle of the flower field. Where I first saw her as a child, laughing her heart out amidst shower of petals around her. I set her down, she is too weak to even sit up. I rest her head against my arm as if I am carrying a baby. She looks up at me and smiles. The sun is beginning to set and the first stars are beginning to show up.

“Amber… Thank you.” She says.

“Thank you for what?” I ask. I know where this is going. I try my best not to tear up.

“For being with this old woman.” She chuckles.

“No. It is you that needs to be thanked by me. You gave me a home.” I said while reminiscing our times together.

“Even though you’re just a stranger that randomly passed by my house, when I saw you… You looked familiar. And then I remember from before.” She says as she looks up the sky which is now covered with stars.

“Before?” I ask.

“Don’t you remember? You were the one who gave me this.” She says as she pulls out the flower crown that I made for her years ago.

“You knew..?” I said, now starting to tear up.

“I have always known. I just didn’t tell you. I didn’t ask you why you didn’t age. It didn’t matter. As long as you came back.” She said.

“Soojung…” Tears are now falling from my eyes.

“I never forgot about you since the day we met. Even though you scared me when I saw you just looking at me from afar. But the fact that you gave me something beautiful made me remember you for my entire life.” She says as she wipes my tears away.

I keep silent as she keeps talking.

“I kept on painting and drawing pictures of you. My parents thought of you as my imaginary friend. My late husband kept saying that you weren’t real and you’re just a figment of my childhood imagination. But I knew better. You were real. The flower crown was proof. I waited even if I am uncertain that you would come.  And here you are now with me.” She gives me her warmest smile.

“Thank you for coming back, Amber. I love you.” She says. And those are her last words to me.

I let my tears out. This is the first time that I shed tears like this. I have never felt pain like what I am feeling right now. Years that I have spent with her, made me love her even more. Since she was a little child I knew that I was hers. But I chose to continue on, thinking that I would forget. But no… I have never forgotten about her. I decided to find my way back to this place after so many years. And to my luck I found her again. Only as an old lady. But still… I was happy. I got to see her again.  I got to be with her again. But only for a short while. Now…My princess is gone… Why? Why didn’t I come back for her sooner?!

I put the flower crown on her head and I bury her in the middle of the flower field. Her body lay now under the stars, surrounded by colorful flowers that signify her beauty. I look at her grave and weep because I lost her. I lost my princess. I look up the sky and wondering if she’s there right now. A cold gust of wind blows past by me, making the flower petals stir around. This is just like the time I met her. Only now… It’s goodbye.

 If reincarnation is really true, I am willing to wait even thousands of years just to meet her again. I would find her. Once more… Just once more… Please. Let me meet Soojung.

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And the first chapter's up! Yay! Thank you for reading. Please comment what you think. I don't even know where to go with this story or even if I should continue it. It just hit me. Hahahaha. Anyways. It's Christmas eve... So I would like to greet everyone a Merry Merry Christmas! :)