Each passing day brought only a fresh bout of sadness—another memory she would have been better without.

Soon enough, she began to lose track of everything. She was, simply put, numb. Oblivious to the world that continued to exist around her. The hours stitched themselves into what people called days. However, for Ha Jin, no matter how many days had passed, time seemed to heal nothing.   

She thought she could live, as long as he had been remembered as a good king.

She thought she could live, as long as she could believe that somewhere far away, he missed her as much as she missed him. That he longed for her as much as she longed for him.

But she could not live.

For she had never been a part of his life.

It was a twisted kind of one-sided love.

Today Ha Jin had made a decision.

A decision to forget. To forget Wang So. To forget the man who had taught her how to love. Not only him, but herself as well.

She opened the book for what would be the last time. And then she turned to the page where his portrait lay. She fought to hold back her tears but they fell without hesitation, staining the yellowed page with large, round droplets.    

“Thank you for loving me. But… I must let you go now.”

She waited for him to stop her. To tell her that he would never let her go. He didn’t.

She placed the folded paper into the book and closed it. It was a goodbye letter.

Maybe it had not b