I made my way back to Minjae fairly quickly and found her to be weeding the gardens with Yoona. She looked up at the right moment and saw me. She abandoned the pulled up flowers and ran towards me at full force.

            I held out the panda and she took it and hugged me. “Oppa remembered! He came back!” I laughed and swung her around.

            “Of course! Did you expect me to forget such a cutie like you?” I nodded at Yoona who had come up behind her.

            I placed Minjae down and she went running inside. Yoona humphed and shook her head. “So you did come back. Did you get what you need?”

            I beamed. “Would I be back if I hadn’t?”

            She rolled her eyes. “What are you going to do next?”

            “I’m going to take Minjae home. Thank you for all of your effort. I promise she can visit anytime. I’ll intrude on your hospitality one more night if you’ll allow me to and I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

            The entire night, I couldn’t sleep. I was absorbed by the fact that I would finally be home. I would finally see her again. The travel back home was fast, quicker now that I wasn’t hindered by my need to complete missions and we quickly reached home in two days.

            “Mom, Dad. I’m back. I’ve brought back Minjae. She needs our help. Please take care of her. I’m going to see Coral now. How is she? Is she better?”

            I was in a great mood, excited to see Coral and I gathered all three items and arranged them in a bag. My parents welcomed Minjae with open arms and she was currently being pampered by my grandmother.

            My mom looked up. She had a stricken look on her face and she came towards me. Her hands cupped my face, much like when I was younger. “Donghae,” she breathed.

            I sensed that there was bad news and I pulled away. “No, tell me she’s okay. Please. Tell me that  she’s okay.”

            My father came to join her and together, they were somber stones. Rocks in the way of my happiness. “Donghae, how could you not remember?”

            “What? Remember what? What is there to remember? I left her when she was still in the hospital! She was still in the coma. I went on my trip so I can come back and remind her of me when she wakes up!”

            My mom carried me to couch and sat me down. “Donghae, darling. There must have been a mistake.” Her eyes searched my face and I looked blankly back at her. She broke down into sobbing tears. “He really doesn’t remember. He really doesn’t know.”

            My father stood next to me and his touch on my shoulder was heavy enough to be the weight of the world. “Donghae, she’s gone. You left right before the funeral. You broke down. You grabbed your bag and left. You told me you wanted to go look for her and I figured that this was the only way to help you get over it. She’s gone. Don’t you remember?”

            My eyes suddenly couldn’t see. All those visions, the voices in my head, it was all because she was gone. I wasn’t imagining her. She was actually there, with me on my journey. She was trying to tell me that she was gone. And I never knew. I always pictured her to be there, waiting for me.

            I dropped on my knees. There was a sudden wrenching in my chest as if a hole was being ripped in it. It wasn’t just a hole. It was a crater, a large abyss in my mind that suddenly formed as I pictured years of my life spent without her. Nobody had said that a broken heart was actually so physically painful.

            I pictured myself growing old, alone, without her there next to me and shuddered. The flowers in my hands seemed to wilt and falter as they too lost their will to live. My mouth went dry and I stared at the crushed heart. There was no point for that love anymore. I stared at the ruined side.

            Of course. All love was jagged. All love in the end had a monstrous side. The parchment containing the song was useless now. There was nobody to convince but myself. This world doesn’t exist without love. That four letter word can cause such havoc, wreak such destruction.

            There was a noise and I felt arms grab at me but all I heard was the ringing. It somehow registered in my mind that the noise was me. My screams were ringing through the house and I heard Minjae cry, “Oppa? Oppa!” and then all was dark.

            I woke up in a hospital and I nearly threw up. This could be her deathbed I was lying in. I looked around and saw nothing. Everything was still a blinding white and then I felt footsteps behind me. I turned.

            I must be dead because Coral was there. She smiled apologetically. “Hey, Donghae. I tried to tell ya man. You shouldn’t have spent all that time on me. You’re honestly the best friend any girl can ever ask for.”

            I didn’t speak. A thousand steps, a one month journey later, and I was still the best friend. She sensed my emotions and cradled my cheek. “You want my love, Donghae, and you have it. You’ve always been like a brother to me though. Trust me, you deserve someone else. You deserve someone who appreciated you from the beginning. I’ve seen her. You just don’t know who it is yet.”

            She smiled and punched my arm. “Silly Donghae. Cat got your tongue? Here,” she leaned down and hugged me and I melted in her embrace. I examined her arms and saw that the bruises were gone. She no longer had dark eye circles. She was happy. Truly happy and truly free.

            “Some people weren’t meant to find true love in their life time okay? You should be lucky you’ve already found yours. Think hard, and you’ll know. Thanks for helping Minjae. It was too late for me, but not for her. Donghae, I’ll race you back okay? She’s waiting!” Coral punched my arm again and this time, she was running.

            I chased after her, admiring her hair streaming from behind her. And just when we were about to hit the finish ground, wings sprouted from behind her back and she floated in the air. “Keep going, Donghae! I promise, someday we’ll meet again!”

I kept running, unable to stop and finally, truly opened my eyes. Minjae was propped next to me and next to her was Yoona? I stared at her and she smiled at me.

            “Hey, welcome back, silly. Minjae had to tell me you know.” The little girl snuggled in next to me and I patted her hair.

            “Thank you Yoona.”

            She shrugged. “You know, my grandmother had a feeling. She told me when you left that you were on this journey not for her, but for yourself. She said that you were the one who needed remembering.”

            I stared at her and nodded. Yes. I have remembered and I now know how to move ahead.

One more chapter, the epilogue. Thank you to everyone. This wasn't my original ending but I figured, why not?