Tears & Smiles
300 HOURSThe morning sun rises and my eyes feel tired, my heart is still heavy and I’m still sitting on the platform with my back against the wall. Police officers are probably on their way back here to come and pick us up and continue the search. The sky has not cleared at all. I rub my eyes to wake myself up as I stand. Mr. and Mrs. Kim are up as well as Jaejoong hyung prepares food for the search team on duty last night. I was handed a cup of coffee as Jaejoong hyung and I talks to Mr. & Mrs. Kim about the agenda today and where we’ll be looking. The couple is trying hard to be as hopeful as possible, but Mrs. Kim is still as desolated and dejected as she was last night.
We hear cars pullover in front of the house. It’s probably the police officers. Jaejoong hyung and I heads out while Mr. and Mrs. Kim escorts us out. When we open the door, we see a red pickup truck along with the police cars. Confused, we walk outside as the owner of the red pickup truck exits his car. A man, just a few inches shorter than me shows up wearing a cap and plaids in khaki shorts, too. He smiles at us as the police officers follow behind him. Another person steps out from the backseat of his car. My heart starts to thud inside my chest for an unknown reason. Soon, a figure appears as my mouth hangs open. Mr. and Mrs. Kim run past me and approach their pale looking daughter with a warm hug. She hugs them back as Jaejoong excuses himself behind me and throws himself into the hug as well.
“She was unconscious when my wife and I found her near the shore, she only woke up earlier and asked me to bring her back,” The man says to me, “I’m sorry if you’ve been worried. The moment I heard someone was looking for a girl I immediately called the town’s police,”
“Thank you for bringing her back,” I see her smile through the hug and my heart is released from the tightness it has been in for the last hours she was gone. She came back. The officers ask the man for a statement as I continue to look at her family release her from the hug. Jaejoong hyung steps aside, letting her see me without him in the way. I smile at her, feeling the corner of my eyes burn as tears begin to form. I missed that smile.
Her parents move aside as they give her way to walk to me. She makes her way towards me as I stand still on my place, planning to keep myself composed. But the moment she’s within reach, I immediately hug her. I wrap my arms around her figure and embrace her tight. I feel her arms snake around my waist as I kiss the side of her head. The tears continue to fall down as I am finally able to breathe. I thought I was never going to see her again. I thought she’d be gone for good.
“Belated happy birthday, Mr. Oh,” She says through the hug as I chuckle and keep my face nuzzled between her shoulder and neck.
“You’re late,” I tell her.
“And you’re crying,”
“I’ve got a reason—my girlfriend was missing,”
“So do I—I almost died,” She states as if it’s some kind of joke. I hug her tighter upon mentioning she almost died. Haerin starts to rub my back, “I’m here now,” She pulls away from the hug and looks at me. Her face is blurred because of the tears forming in my eyes. She chuckles at me and wipes my tears. When I can see her clearly, she smiles at me and searches into my eyes, “Thank you, Sehun,” I bring her into another hug and kiss her forehead.
We get inside the house as Jaejoong hyung and their parents prepare food for all of us—including the Park’s who found Haerin. Haerin and I sit by the dining table while the couple sits across us. She starts telling the story of how she went missing. It was all an accident; all she remembered was trying to paddle back to the dock until the boat tipped her off and from thereon all she remembered was struggling out of the water. The couple said she was unconscious until this morning. They kept her all night, warm and cozy and were kind enough to nurse her while she was unconscious. The wife said they wanted to take her to the hospital and report it to the police but the rain was too heavy they couldn’t risk driving out and their phone line got cut, too. When she woke up this morning, Haerin immediately asked them if they could take her home and got the news from the neighbor officers were going around yesterday asking about a girl that went missing in the lake.
“We must’ve missed your house when we were looking around,” Jaejoong hyung says.
“Yes. We’re after all a bit near the outskirts,” The husband replies.
“Thank you for taking care of her,” Mrs. Kim says with a wide smile, “We were so worried about her,”
“We actually feel bad we didn’t get to inform anyone sooner. You got so many people out there to look for her,” The wife says.
“Where’d you get all of them? I didn’t know there were that many people in the town’s search and rescue team,” Haerin mutters as Mr. and Mrs. Kim eyes at me. The couple follows suit and so does Haerin.
“It was all Sehun, sweetie,” Mrs. Kim says with a warm smile as Haerin looks at me, nonplussed, “He got another team to look for you because search and rescue here wanted to give up,”
I smile bac
Comments