Prologue: Seulgi

A pair of high heeled shoes echoed between the crashing waves of the shore and the singing birds, clicking throughout the stone steps leading to the entrance of a small place. Her silhouette walked further on the solid ground, with her wide eyes scanning the run-down state of what used to be her childhood home. It was weird, because beside the dirty concrete and the strong odor of unused paint, it looked pretty much the same as when she left it; only messier.

She continued further into the house, stepping over the fallen ladder and the forgotten tools to finally hear the small creak of the wooden floors. It was, as she remembered, the same spot in the house that always let out that same noise; it was that spot she grew to hate certain nights of sneaking out or not wanting to awake attention. And the walls were still in a warm colored, wooden panel that was covered in various pictures, paintings and old diplomas that were now over a decade old. She sighed as her hand absentmindedly started tracing the cool surface as she went, the smell of the salty ocean awakening a string of memories she thought she had forgotten. Her chestnut hair flew slightly with the coming breeze that entered through an open window, as she gently stepped up to the wooden door which read the words Seulgi’s bedroom. Her lips curved a slight smile, but only barely before opening the door to see her old room.

The first sight was the bed situated on the corner by the window, yellow curtains covering up the bright sunlight that tried to drift through the equally colored sheets. They weren’t quite touching the frame, and the morning sun pierced through the gaps, making the dust even more apparent for her vision. By the bed was her white desk, situated on the other corner that still contained certain books and small boxes. The white surface of her worn-out and overused desk had been covered by a small cloth years ago, because her mother always complained that she was spilling her nail polish everywhere and the desk would eventually be soaked.

The dark haired girl then noticed that everything was just as she left it; the notebooks she used at school were still there, her green lamp on the edge of her night table along with an old CD-player and a shelf filled of many now split up or forgotten bands’ albums. Even the picture frames on the window frame and her old teddy bear hadn’t been touched ever since. With the sight of the tinted wallpaper, the wooden bookshelf and the trees swaying softly outside the window, she couldn’t help the sigh that emerged from her lips, along with the memories of what once used to be her life.

Then, as quickly as she came, she exited the memory of her bedroom and out the way she arrived. While placing the shades on her face, she sighed again before walking determined towards her car parked in the distance, behind the gates that separated the property towards the rest of the small town.

However, she couldn’t leave without a quick glance at the small, wooden house that used to be her one and only home. She was only a child back then, but she felt as if she was mature enough to believe that whatever she did was right. From looking at the house now, instant memories of running around barefoot on the green grass and making mud cakes out of sand and water ran through her mind. She was an innocent soul of a girl which held onto everything that made her feel rooted to the ground, but still had that playful nature despite her “serious” attitude.

Seulgi remembered then, another girl and herself, playing tag in the garden or taking short dips in the ocean. She recalled the fleeting memories of them dancing around, doing crazy antics that she thought too little of then.

Joohyun was her name.

Before they had met, and before things had spun out of proportion, everything to her was calm and stabile. Things were usually like every young child and teenager experienced; it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Although Joohyun was naturally more outgoing, more exciting and the reckless one of them both. They were a pair that shouldn’t have worked out in theory, but then again Joohyun seemed to hate everything that was ordinary and planned, so it didn’t surprise Seulgi one bit.

Seulgi thought that it was weird, however, going to meet someone she hadn’t seen in over sixteen years, but then again everything about the two was nothing short of strange.

The dark-haired woman found herself singing along to an old song running through the tiny space of her car. It was the song that they had sung together so many times, on and on to the point of knowing everything by heart, and to possibly describe everything they felt back then. Seulgi hadn’t seen Joohyun in over sixteen years, what was there to expect? She might not even be in the country for all she knew. She couldn’t help it though, she was really curious over how Joohyun was doing after all this time. Is it possible that in some twisted way, things hadn’t changed?

Seulgi was never dumb.

Naïve? Maybe, because after all back then she was just a kid who had so much left to experience, but she knew how things would end up in the long run. She knew things weren’t supposed to stay that way, and that they weren’t really meant to be. There was still, however, a lingering hope that she could be wrong, but as it turned out she wasn’t at all. That was probably one of the few times she hated herself for being correct. When she thought of the purity that was her youth, her mind mused over the fact that even if she were to go back to the time when she thought the world was such a happy place, to when she thought she was in love, she wouldn’t do much to change anything.

Seulgi then wondered for a split moment how things would change, and how different they would be now. Would their meeting be the start of something that was never continued, or will it mark the official end for them?