Chapter 3: Remember the Forgotten

Somehow, the little sounds in life intrigued me. Birds chirping in the morning, those heavy metal trucks driving across the road, the sound of air blowing onto my face, the constant typing of the computer by my roommate. But the sound that i adore the most is the sound of rain.

The deadly silence I would never forget. Silence scared me. It frightened me.

The typing stopped, then I heard footsteps. My room door opened,"Myungsoo, I won't be making dinner tonight, I have deadlines to meet. Could you go out for dinner yourself? So sorry dear." Eunhye, my 30 year old roommate said with a tired expression. Her wrinkles almost seemed more obvious.

"Sure." I replied.

"Thanks. Oh and could you take Summer out for a walk? Thanks again." Eunhye forced a smile and exit my room.

I'm not living with my family, although I could, because I got tired of their everyday arguments that never got solved. So one day, I stepped out of the house and searched for a cheap place to stay. Then I found Eunhye's advertisement placed on a board outside the train station and decided to give the number a call. Since then, i've been living here for about a year since I was 17, which was my last year in high school, when she left me. I'm now 19 years old, in my second year of college. 

Summer was Eunhye's dog. She barely has time for her with her busy business work, so most of the time I would look after her. It wasn't a chore though, I enjoyed spending time with Summer, there was something about her that made me smile. She's better than most people, listens to me and knows how to make me smile.

And there's only been two people who have been able to pull that off. One of them is Summer and the other-

I was out on a walk with Summer, she was a beautiful golden retriever who was 4 years old. Her steps were still light even with her old age.

"Summer, today I met a really strange girl. She reminded me of Jessica." I told her, who was looking at me intently with her two pairs of brown eyes.

Summer barked back. I imagined her saying,"What was her name?"

"I think her name was Krystal. She called me L." I chuckled remorsefully.

"You're still dwelling on the past. It's been 2 years Myungsoo." I heard Summer's voice reply as she barked once again.

"I know but- it's still fresh in my mind." I said, crumpling the sides of my shirt.

"You need to forget." 

"I can't forget! She's coming back, I know it."

"She can't come back, Myungsoo. You know that." 

Summer was right, she won't come back.

Not from somewhere so far away.

I guess I didn't really care about what i ate. As long as my stomach is full, I'll be fine. So I went to provision shop and bought some instant noodles back for home.

The walk home was lonely. I kept telling myself that I should have brought Summer along with me, then at least I would have someone to talk to.

Maybe I should go to Sungyeol's house, it was just down the road from my house. But then again, he said he was rushing an essay (the one I completed on the day the teacher gave it to us), and i wouldn't want to disturb him.

Somehow, my feet brought me to a playground, our playground.

"Myungsoo! I bet you 8 won that you can't jump down from there!" She pointed to the highest place in the playground.

"Easy!" As a child of 6 years old, I was daring and sporty. Running as fast as my stubby legs could take me, I reached the bottom of the highest point.

Panting, I gave myself the encouragement and started to climb with my upper body strength. As a child, everything was a competition that I had to win. So, as Jessica watched, I gave my best to use every ounce of my adolescent muscles to pull me up. And as soon as I reached the very top, I turned to her for approval. Not knowing that 9 years later, when I met her again in high school I would have looked at her exactly the same way. With love.