Hyera didn’t want to wake up from her little surrealistic dream. It was alive in her eyes – it was what she called her reality. But all good dreams eventually come to an end.

The moment her eyelids opened, she was met with sunlight. Hyera reached out to feel the spot next to her.

It was empty.

He probably went to the other side, she thought.

For the past few days she’s been waking up to a lonely bed. Every time she longed for his touch, he would be missing. She knew, at that moment, that he won’t be back for her.

Every time she picked up the phone in her small, frail hand, wanting so badly to call him, she would end up putting the phone back down. She was afraid – afraid he would not answer her calls.

So she waited.

She waited, and waited, and waited; waited until he would return the calls; waited until he would give her a signal to indicate he didn’t forget about her.

She waited for him to come back to her side.

Hyera felt like every day was the same; that nothing in particular has changed ever since he went to the other side. She woke up to an empty bed. It was grand, by the looks of it only being her sleeping on it. She made breakfast for two, a habit since long ago, only to throw out his portion when she finished hers. She went to work at the small flower shop several blocks down their place. She took afternoon and evening walks all by herself, across Han River of Seoul, South Korea.

Hyera was living the same day every day.

She would come back to an empty home. It frightened her.

She would wait on the couch until he came home. When he doesn’t show up, she would cry herself to sleep. All by herself, in their bed.

He must be at the other side, she reasoned.

Hyera didn’t feel like she was living for herself anymore, or anyone for that matter. She lost to the other side, and it was clear to her that even if she reversed time, she will never win.

She knew, at that moment, that she lost.

He must be happy at the other side. She hugged herself tightly against their sofa. Hyera stared blankly at the television monitor in front of her. Like the object, she lacked the glow and energy to go on.

Hyera picked up the photo frame sitting beside her on their mahogany night table. Her thumb hovered over the smile etched on both their faces.

You’re gone.

A lonely tear fell onto the glass frame.

I miss you. She cried.

I wish you were here with me, not with them. She hoped.

But do dreams really come true?

Her tears continued to flow down her cheeks as she clutched the picture frame closer to her chest.

It hurts. Her body fell to her side. Come back.

If she could continue living in her dream, she would have been more than delighted. But time will always find its way to intervene her blissful stage in life.

That night, Kim Hyera silently cried herself to sleep.

She dreamt of them – when he didn’t leave to the other side.

“I promise I will always be by your side, Kim Hyera.
I will always protect you.
I will forever love you and only you.
I will love no one else but you.”

“Me too. I love you, Kim Jongin, my one and only husband.”