I
Our Denouement
chapterone
It's been exactly five years. Five years since she's seen the bustling streets of Seoul, five years since she's savored the taste of her mother's homecooked meals, five years since they happened. Bomi felt guilty for leaving everything behind, but she simply was unable to cope with the fact that the two people she loved most ... loved each other.
As her heeled oxfords clicked down the streets of Cambridgeshire, her eyes glistened as she observed the serene city before her. Even at the heart of the city, she was still able to relish the essence of nature within the numerous lakes and open fields scattered about. Although the afternoon sun shined radiantly without a single cloud in sight, the unbearably cold weather caused her teeth to chatter, even with her face sheathed behind a warmly knit scarf.
Hastily scattering up the stone steps that led to her cluttered apartment, she clumsily draped her scarf on a tattered coat hanger nearby, her eyes shifting over to the flashing "01" on the phone receiver across the room.
She was slowly making her way over to the phone when her body flinched as a sudden downpour of rain showered down onto the roof above her. Scrambling over to her open window and tripping over a tower of books in the process, she managed to secure the window right before small pellets of hail began to themselves against the glass.
That was how capricious the weather was where she lived — one minute, the sun would be shining brightly outside, and next thing you know, a chunk of ice might come flying at your head. After her first encounter with an unexpected rain storm on her first few days of university, she quickly learned that investing in good insurance and a durable umbrella was a must around here. Her love for Cambridgeshire's unpredictable weather amplified once she realized its direct correlation with life itself. A rainbow will eventually emerge after an agonizing storm, and she longed for that rainbow to come into her life soon.
She stared at the flashing red number, her finger resting on the delete button. It was so frequently used that the markings on it had actually rubbed off, leaving behind a shiny, black surface. Instead of opting for it like usual, her finger hesitantly lingered over to the play button, dusty from its long years of neglect. She gulped as the speakers crackled, a choppy robotic voice emitting from it soon after.
"You have one new message. Sunday, 9:32 A.M."
"Um, hey? It's me -- Chorong. I know that you probably don't check your messages, and I know that you're still upset, but I really miss you, Bomi. I just wanted to let you know that my wedding is coming up in a couple of months, and I really want you to come help me prepare for it and stuff."
At the mention of a wedding, Bomi felt like her heart had collasped into itself. She grasped the edge of the wooden bookshelf as her legs began to give way, her breathing rapidly intensifying. For five years, she has been emotionally preparing herself for this very moment, but who was she kidding? No one, not even her, could ever prepare for a such a thing. She should've figured that all that effort would ultimately diminish into thin air, but being Yoon Bomi, she simply disregarded reality and continued to live in a state of denial and derangement, thinking that she could somehow overcome her own feelings by isolating herself from everyone.
Her sister's soft, soothing voice continued to emit from the speakers.
"I've sent you tickets, just in case you wanted to come back home. I'll be waiting for you then. Um, just give me a call if you can't make it, okay? Love you."
Beep.
"End of all new messages."
She collapsed as an unexplainable pain surged through her body, not a single tear managing to fall from her clouded eyes. On that typical stormy night, she lied there motionless. The Earth continued to turn, the rain continued to fall, and the world continued to thrive, yet the battered apartment in which a heartbroken girl sulked stayed completely still. That night, within that very apartment, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
▲▼▲
Her eyelids fluttered open to the obnoxious sound of her alarm clock blaring from inside her room. Struggling to get up from the cramped position she slept in, she hit her head on the bookshelf and an array of books tumbled down, enveloping her frail body. Blindly, she crawled around on the floor until she met the source of the aggravating sound. Unable to shut it off, she frustratingly picked it up and heaved it out the window.
A shrill wail that most likely belonged to an unknowing cyclist was heard from below. Once again, another person has fallen victim to one of Yoon Bomi's violent tactics. Aware that she's liable for yet another innocent passerby's injury, she made a mental note to later put up a few "Watch out for falling objects!" signs around the walls of her apartment.
She allowed her body to fall onto the bed, letting the plush pillows and feathered comforter engulf her fully. Rolling around a couple of times, she finally settled herself within the oh-so-familar nook in her worn mattress.
As her eyelids fell, the memories she had surpressed for so long began to flash before her very eyes. A nearly inaudible whimper slipped from her quivering lips, and her feeble hands reached up to grasp her chest. How could something that cause her so much pain make her whole body go completely numb?
It wasn't until dusk when she finally jolted awake, and by then, she was starving. Instead of reaching for some oatmeal and yogurt like usual, she flung open the freezer door and grabbed a tub of her favorite maple nut ice cream. Shuffling back towards her bed, she plopped open the lid and dug in. As she shoveled spoonfuls after spoonfuls of ice cream into her small mouth, the tears that were entrapped in her body the night before began to flow, giving the sweet dessert an unpleasant, salty taste.
"Isn't this suppose to make me feel better?" she croaked.
She did the only thing she knew how to do when she was dissatisfied with something and chucked it out the window. Luckily, there weren't any pedestrians around at the time to suffer from flying objects that frequently resulted from her petulant mood.
Wiping her face with the edge of her ruffled sleeve, she slowly walked over to the pile of letters that had accumulated itself over time on her bedside table. All of them were unopened and engraved with her sister's perfect cursive writing. She shuffled through the smooth, flimsy envelopes until she found the one dated most recently and ripped it open. The faint smell of her sister's perfume filled her nose, and a sudden recollection of the past once again overtook her. With her eyes clasped shut, she pulled out the one-way flight ticket to Seoul and held it out the window with shaky hands, gripping onto it firmly as it fluttered in the wind.
"You can't run away from this forever. You can yield to reality and be happy that they both found good people to grow old with, or you can send them a polaroid of your middle finger and entrap yourself in this room for the remainder of your life. Actually, living by yourself in this room doesn't sound too shabby after all. You can adopt a few destitute kittens and devote yourself to solving those daily crossword puzzles..."
She slapped herself with her free hand and immediately pulled the ticket to her chest.
"No, what the hell are you doing right now? You cannot throw away your precious life to become a creepy, crossword-solving cat lady. Absolutely not. Even if you are, you should at least get a TV show out of it and earn a steady income, which isn't very plausible at this point in time. You can't be like this forever, and this is finally your chance to escape—to go back to Seoul and find that darn rainbow that you've been sitting on your mopey behind waiting for. Yes, that is exactly what you need to do."
She nodded to herself and pulled out a suitcase from beneath her bed; the same suitcase in which she had so promptly lugged here five years ago. Five long, exhausting years that she has had more than enough of.
It's time to go back home, Yoon Bomi.
It is time.
Comments