One of These Nights
Mystical Love
chapter ten
One of These Nights
"Let's meet again, one of these nights"
– One of These Nights, Red Velvet
*flashback in italic*
*thoughts in bold*
It was a bright Friday afternoon.
During this particular time when most people’s mind already wandered far away into the deepest thought, deepest desire of an awaited holiday, it was no exception at a certain high school, in a certain class.
Park Chorong’s mind drifted away from her long-forgotten notebook to the broad horizon seen from the wide, clear window of her dull class, watching with bored, disinterested look at how slow and uninteresting and nauseating the outside world was at the moment. No one was willing to focus on their assigned task during the final hours of workdays, so why bother?
It was a wonder to her how Ms. Kang managed to throw in strings of words read from that thick, worn-out, dull brown history book without so much of paying attention to her students, who were mostly either asleep or playing around on their seat. How unlucky for Chorong, too, that her final class just had to be history, of all lessons. She liked to study, yes, but not so much when concerning this particular subject.
She wasn’t one to doze off in the middle of the class, so instead of sleeping like most of her classmates did, she opted to stare far off into the horizon, per usual during this time of the day. But even that was becoming so uninteresting to her that she finally turned to her notebook.
She flipped through some of the pages. Blank, blank, blank. There was nothing in there, and Chorong cursed her inability to stay focused whenever she listened to Ms. Kang’s lecture, because honestly history could be so much more fun when handled by the right teacher. She remembered Mrs. Moon, her previous history teacher who always managed to grab the attention of the class during her lesson. Too bad she transferred away last semester or Chorong could have aced her entire year again this time.
She sighed and tapped her long, slender finger onto the wooden table. Soon the tapping picked up a pace and formed catchy, ear-worming beat.
This caught her friend, Joohyun’s attention as she lightly kicked Chorong’s chair from under her table with a hiss. The brunette, startled from the sudden movement of her seat, looked back at the girl who was giving her a strong, annoyed glare.
“Look… I know you’re bored, but don’t do that. You’re disrupting my concentration,” Joohyun whispered—hissed, actually—with a glare before looking at Ms. Kang’s direction. Chorong could do nothing but sighed. She knew Joohyun was never that interested in studying, but took a dramatic 180 degree turn whenever Ms. Kang taught the class. She’s probably the only one who liked this class, or it could be the teacher she had taken a liking to. Who knows? Bae Joohyun was a mystery to her, but not one she’s interested in solving.
Chorong solemnly sighed and looked away through the window. Life was so dull for her, she wished otherworldly stuffs could happen to her right this very time.
Chorong remembered packing her stuffs up in a record time as soon as the bell rang. She remembered Joohyun looking disappointed that school finally ended because then she wouldn’t be able to see Ms. Kang again until next Friday… maybe, the brunette could be mistaken. She also clearly remembered running past the hallways as fast as she could because had she been a tad bit too late, those hallways would be flooded with groaning, yawning, sweating dirty students who couldn’t wait to hit the sack.
But she didn’t remember meeting Ilhoon on her way, didn’t remember walking home with him, and certainly didn’t remember coming into a small, cozy café with a bay view and sitting at the table with the clearest scenery as she waited for Ilhoon to bring their orders down the table.
“Why did we come here?” Chorong muttered as she took the cappuccino cup from the boy’s hand.
Ilhoon supplied a laugh before sitting in front of Chorong. “I was thinking of winding up a bit after a hectic week, and who better to spend it with than you?” he asked casually, stirring his latte with a silver teaspoon.
“Is that all?” the brunette gave her friend a look, “no underlying motives there? Because I know you, Ilhoon, and you never treat me for a cup of coffee without asking for something else.”
The cheerful boy grinned widely before leaning back, resting his back on the comfortable chair, “Have you ever heard of the ‘forest elf’, Chorong?”
Chorong gave him the most judging stare she had ever gave someone. “The heck,” she deadpanned.
He laughed again, amused at his friend’s reply, “I forgot. You hate those kind of things.”
“Yes, and you just have to ask, hm?” she dryly said, sipping her drink for a bit before continuing, “Don’t you find those stupid as well? Why do you suddenly ask?”
“Because lately, there have been some… ‘sightings’,” Ilhoon whispered like it was the biggest, most scandalous secret ever told, and Chorong merely snorted at him. “I’m serious!” he rebutted, “I even saw her myself! And she was quite a beauty, I must say…”
“How do you even know if she’s a forest elf or any mythical being anyway?” the brunette asked him, “for all I know she might just be someone who likes to play around in the forest.”
Ilhoon scratched his nape as he looked down towards the floor, “what if she’s really a forest elf, though? What would you do?”
“I’ll just leave her alone, then,” Chorong answered as if it was the most obvious thing, “there’s nothing to gain in capturing her, if that’s what you’re intending to ask me to.”
“W-What? No, I—” Ilhoon gaped at his friend, eyes wide and jaws open, “I didn’t—I…”
Chorong sighed and stared at the beautiful ocean view, ignoring her friend who’s now busy explaining himself to her that the thought of it never crossed his mind, yada yada.
Even though she had to admit, it seemed like an interesting idea. Not to capture, though.
Maybe just to see if this ‘forest elf’ was as beautiful as Ilhoon made her seem to be.
Chorong hated myths.
Well, not really hate, but she really disliked it when someone talked about something that was unreal, impossible, or simply didn’t exist by logic. Something like werewolves, vampires, sirens, zombies (pfft, zombie apocalypse, my foot), or, as certain groups of people had been talking about, elves.
In particular, a ‘forest elf’, said to reside deep inside the thick, lush forest at the outskirt of her small, warm village. Apparently, said elf had resided there since God-knows-when, and many reported sightings have been made. Yet still it was rare to see it, or ‘her’, as they called its gender as. It was nonsensical in Chorong’s own opinion, because nothing mystical made sense to her anyway.
And somewhat the thought of seeing this ‘forest elf’ with her own two eyes intrigued her, fascinated her too much for her liking that she found herself unable to sleep that night.
“Unnie, you’re not sleeping yet?” her little sister, Park Sooyoung, asked in a tired tone under her. Chorong turned and peeked under her bed, towards her sister’s side of their bunk bed as she gave her sister an apologetic look.
“Sorry, Sooyoung-ah, unnie cannot sleep,” she said in a hushed manner, “unnie was just thinking about something.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” her younger sister offered, rubbing the sleepiness away from her eyes cutely, “I can listen to you if you want to.”
Chorong chuckled at her sister’s cute antics before shaking her head lightly, “I’ll be fine. Go sleep, kids shouldn’t stay up for too long.”
Sooyoung pouted, “if anything, unnie looks more like a kid than me,” she pulled her blankets so it covered most of her body except her head, “but whatever. Good night, unnie.”
“Yeah, good night, sweetie,” Chorong whispered lightly with a smile as she watched her sister doze off before drifting into oblivion.
After a while, she returned to staring at the ceiling, wondering if she should take a look for herself or simply dismissed it as stupid myth.
Soon, her eyes drooped as she let her fatigue overtook her.
The first thing Chorong saw was an empty grassland.
She looked towards her left and right, and all she saw was the same color of lush green. A place devoid of any other form of life, surely this place had seen better days, hadn’t it?
Chorong started walking around, wandering aimlessly as she took in her surroundings. There wasn’t much to begin with, but anything’s better than standing there like a statue.
Soon, her ears picked up on something.
It started as a hum, so low it was easily miss-able to the untrained ears. Soon the more Chorong tried to listen the better she could hear it. It then became a tune, a tune so hauntingly beautiful it felt both foreign and familiar to the brunette. Finally, she heard words sung.
I give thanks for the gift that is you
I will lay down everything in front of you
And I promise to love you forever
Because you are my life
I will lay down everything in front of you
And I promise to love you forever
Because you are my life
Until the day of my last breath
I will only love you and die
Please don’t let me be scared, I believe in you
I won’t let go of those hands
I will only love you and die
Please don’t let me be scared, I believe in you
I won’t let go of those hands
The brunette didn’t know why, but soon she began frantically searching for the source of the music. It was as if that was all that mattered to her very being, that the one who sang that song—whatever its name was—was a very important person to her, that nothing else could diverted her attention away.
As she ran back and forth around the empty grassland, her foot got tangled around the grasses as she fell, she fell—
Chorong woke up with drenched pajamas and fresh tears. She looked at the window, and found that lights had seeped through the pastel pink curtain, indicating that morning had come. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she found that her tears didn’t stop long after she had woken up.
However, she failed to remember the reason of her tears.
Nor did she remember the content of her dreams.
All that she knew was, the dream felt so real, so vivid, that it might as well be a portion of her memories.
“Unnie, what did you dream off last night?”
Chorong had just settled down on her designated seat in the Park’s residence’s dining room, a plate of french toast and darjeeling tea already in front of her, ready to be eaten.
“Hm… I don’t remember,” she supplied before sipping her warm tea, “why do you ask?”
Sooyoung searched for hints of lies in her sister’s dark orbs, but gave up after a while. “You were tossing and turning so much, I thought the bed would broke and fell on top of me!” she said, gesturing wildly to emphasize her words, “I was so afraid I decided to go and sleep at Mom and Dad’s room!”
“I did that?” Chorong asked, finding it strange that her dream seemed to be more than it looked like.
“Yeah,” Sooyoung munched on her toast before adding, “it was so crazy, and before I left the room I could hear you sobbing. Are you alright though, unnie?” she asked, concerned.
Chorong was quick to nod. “I’m fine,” she said, but it felt like she was trying to convince herself, “I’m fine.”
“So,” Ilhoon started with an amused grin, “you wanted to see if the forest elf is real.”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t know where to start so you come to my house.”
“Yes.”
“And you said myths are stupid!” he laughed this time, clutching onto his stomach as he rolled on his bed, “you even said everything with a straight face! Ah, Chorong-ah,” he held his laughter while speaking, “what should I do about you?”
Chorong snickered, “You should stop laughing and help me already.”
“I would, but this is just so amazing!” the boy laughed again, “what makes you have a change of heart so suddenly, Chorong?”
She merely shrugged noncommittally as her eyes wandered around her friend’s messy room. It was so stuffed and so messy she thought she was in a pig pen. But then again it was Ilhoon’s room, so it shouldn’t have surprised her.
“Well, to be honest…” Ilhoon smiled while scratching his nape, “I don’t know where to start either.”
That got Chorong’s attention and she frowned, “for real… you—”
“Buuut,” he cut her off before the brunette could curse at him, “I know someone who does. And luckily, she lives nearby.”
Chorong crossed her arms while glaring at him, but Ilhoon merely looked away. “I still have to do my homework for next Monday, so I can’t come with you. Here, I’ll just send her address to your phone…” he said, playing around with his phone, “… done. Hey, if you find the elf, tell me about it too, okay?”
The brunette’s phone pinged, signaling new message that must be from the boy. Nodding in acknowledgement, she glanced at him one last time before turning back and sighed, “Before that, clean your room first, idiot.”
She giggled as Ilhoon whined exasperatedly, “my room isn’t that dirty!”
“Whatever, at least you’re an idiot. Bye, idiot Ilhoon!” she said with a laugh as she escaped the Jung’s residence.
It was a bad, bad idea.
No, not the forest elf-thingy, no (although it’s more stupid than bad really). But the ‘I-know-someone-you-should-meet-so-here’s-her-adress’ thingy, because apparently Ilhoon forgot that Chorong had absolutely no sense of directions.
She could and definitely would get lost even when the place she’s looking for was right in front of her, even when people made the direction clear by shouting near her ears, and even when she was going to visit a friend, whose house was literally beside hers! It was so bad that she went to school with Sooyoung (who, as a total opposite of her, could remember a route just by going through it once) whose elementary school was about six-seven blocks away from her high school and had the younger girl risked being late everyday just because the younger Park couldn’t help but sympathize with her sister’s ‘direction-blindness’ condition. It was so bad Ilhoon had to her home during her first few months because she would always end up somewhere really, really far away from her supposed destination.
So Ilhoon must had been a complete idiot because Chorong was now so completely lost she had no idea where she was at.
“… okay,” the brunette murmured, “so… where the am I?”
She scanned her surroundings thoroughly before concluding that she was, again, lost. With a hopeless sigh, she dialed the boy’s number only to be given an operator message saying that she was out of reach.
“Damn…” she whined. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be just a simple thing to do. Go to the woman’s address, ask her about the forest elf’s whereabouts, and go search for its existence. As easy as that, and yet here she was, in the middle of nowhere without any means to contact her family and Ilhoon. Her day had officially turn from bad to worse.
Now she couldn’t even move from her spot, because the only thing she would gain from doing so was getting even more lost that she already was, so she stay rooted, unable and unwilling to move even an inch.
Even when there were suddenly sounds of rustling bushes, Chorong merely yelped a bit and still she wouldn’t budge. Even as the sky suddenly got darker and the wind blowing a bit harder, she merely closed her eyes and prayed that someone found her somewhat, because if there was one thing she feared a lot, it would be thunder.
And how unlucky of her, because as soon as she finished her prayer, the sky decided to send her just exactly that thing: thunder. A blast of light and cracking boom of sound filled her surroundings and the brunette could only cry at the misfortune that befall her.
She made a mental note to kill Ilhoon later if she somehow managed to survive this.
Soon, the first trickle of drizzle fell from the sky and towards her, followed by the rushing drizzles wetting the soil below her and the lush plantations around her. Chorong cursed at the fact that she didn’t bring her umbrella with her, and crouched towards the muddy ground, afraid of being struck by lightning.
She was so busy crying and praying for her dear life that she didn’t notice another figure approaching her until said person stood in front of her, blocking the falling rain with their own umbrella, effectively protecting the scared girl.
“Are you okay?!” the figure shouted against the blaring sound of water droplets hitting the ground and plants like a marching platoon of soldiers, and despite still sounding rather muffled, Chorong could make out a woman’s voice. Slowly, she looked up, her eyes locking with a pair of dark brown irises that gleamed with maturity.
“I-I-I…” the brunette tried to answer, but found it very difficult to do with her teeth clattering wildly from the coldness of the downpour. Giving up, she merely nodded at the stranger’s question. The woman then grabbed Chorong’s right arm with her own free one and pulled her into a side hug.
“Hang in there! My cottage’s not far from here! Let’s get you out of this forest!” the unknown woman said, helping Chorong walk along. Due to their closeness, Chorong could hear the stranger’s voice clearer now. It was a very nice, clear, and beautiful voice that sound so pleasing to her ears.
So pleasingly familiar it intoxicated her.
Soon, after a few minutes of hastily walking through the muddy forest, a beautiful cottage could be seen in front of the brunette’s vision. It was a pretty wooden cottage, located just near a cliff that was closed off with high fences. It seemed like a cozy, lovely place to live in and even though she was sure this was the first time she had ever been to such place, she could feel familiarity seeping through her.
She still felt rather dazed when the stranger opened the door with a thud, and felt her body grew very tired and cold as the woman placed her gently on the wooden floor, putting her wet raincoat, muddy boots, and seemingly broken umbrella away before attending to her once again. She carried her by putting her left arms around my shoulders and helped me walk absentmindedly towards the middle of the room, where a comfortable-looking, taupe sofa was waiting for them to sit atop of it. The stranger laid the drenched girl carefully before saying with concern, “I’ll make some tea and get some meds for you just in case.”
Chorong didn’t have any strength left to even respond so she simply lay there, wondering why now that she had entered the cottage did she felt a strong attachment towards it as if this was where she truly belonged, as if she used to live here with people dearest to her. But that was impossible, her parents and Sooyoung are her family and people dearest to her and obviously they had never been here for as long as she could remember.
Her train of thoughts halted when a cup of warm jasmine tea was placed on top of the glass table beside her carefully, along with a couple of pills. She glanced at the stranger and felt that she had seen this woman before, but she had absolutely no idea when.
“Feeling better now?” the woman asked, her beautiful, angelic voice echoed in Chorong’s eardrum and she could swear she had hear this before, but when though she had no clue. The older woman waited for an answer and the brunette felt stupid for spacing out before giving out an uncertain, stiff nod.
The unknown woman pushed the cup of tea lightly towards her, smiling bashfully at the tired girl before saying, “here, drink up.”
Chorong quietly obeyed and took the glass slowly, her hand slightly trembling due to coldness. The woman noticed this and helped steadying her grip. “Slow down there,” she said patiently, “no need to rush.”
The brunette brought the rim to her pale lips and took a careful sip before her face lightened up at the wonderful taste that eased her sore throat. The woman smiled before standing up, “I’ll see if I have spare clothes for you. I think my cousin’s old clothes are going to suit you just fine.”
Chorong nodded, taking another sip as she took in her surroundings. The warm, cozy cottage was so aesthetically pleasing she wouldn’t mind staying here forever if she could. Looking through the tall windows, she could see that it was still pouring outside and she wondered if she could even go home given the situation.
The woman returned soon after with a seemingly old, dull white t-shirt and matching skirt. “I’m sorry,” she smiled apologetically, “these clothes are at least twenty years old now. You wouldn’t mind wearing old-fashioned clothes, would you? Don’t worry, it’s not dusty.”
“Oh, it’s okay!” Chorong said politely, “you don’t even have to do all of this. I’m sorry for bothering you!”
“Nah, you’re not bothering me at all,” the woman smiled, and it was a stunningly beautiful eye smile that could captivate anyone, including Chorong, “in fact, I quite enjoy your presence here. It’s been a while since I had a guest, so it’s kind of lonely around these parts.”
“Is that so…?” Chorong asked unsurely. Well, since the woman said so maybe she should just go along with it, “by the way, I forgot to say this earlier, but thank you very much for saving me,” she bowed gratefully, flustering the woman.
“It’s really okay! I mean, I have no idea why you would get lost inside the forest but I could clearly see how afraid you are. I still have a heart, you know, so I went and help you,” the woman grinned pleasantly and Chorong instantly knew that this woman was very friendly and kind and simply wouldn’t hurt a fly… maybe.
“What’s your name, by the way?” the woman asked, offering her hand towards her guest, “I’m Eunji. Jung Eunji.”
Chorong stared at Eunji in confusion. That name sound very familiar to her, but this was the first time she had heard it so how was that even possible?
“I…” she stared at the anticipating woman dumbly, as if forgetting her own name that her parents had given her, “Park… Park Chorong.”
Before she could reach for Eunji’s hand, however, the Jung retracted her hand, her expression contorting into a look of surprise and disbelief.
“Park…” Eunji muttered, eyes widening and scanning Chorong thoroughly as if searching for something, “Park Chorong, you say?”
Surprised at the woman’s sudden shift in attitude, the brunette carefully nodded while discreetly distancing herself. Eunji, however, had this strange gleam in her eyes and took deep, sharp breath before slumping her back onto the sofa.
“Sorry,” she exhaled slowly, smiling her dazzling eye smile at the confused girl, “your name… reminds me of someone. Anyway, you seems to be quite young. If you don’t mind me ask, how old are you?”
Chorong shifted on her seat as she tried to adjust to her new position, courtesy of earlier movement. She cleared awkwardly before answering, “I’m at my second year in high school. It’s the one in Unhwa.”
“Oh, you’re from Unhwa?” the Jung asked in mild surprise, “Do you even realize how far it is from here? And you walk all the way here?”
“Is it really that far?” the younger girl asked, herself shocked at this revelation. The whole incident earlier made her forget just how lost she had truly been, “can I even return home today, considering the muddy road and the fact that it’s still raining hard outside?”
“Afraid not. Guess you’ll be staying the night here,” Eunji smiled warmly at the girl, “don’t worry, I’m not a bad person. Why don’t you call your parents first? I’ll get a room ready for you.”
“Ms. Jung, I was wondering—”
“Ms. Jung? Really?” Eunji laughed at the way Chorong called her before joining the girl at the living room, crashing her body onto the comfortable sofa, “just call me Eunji, seriously. Hearing you call me so formally gives goose bumps all over my skin,” she gagged while making a shuddering motion, causing Chorong to chuckle at her antics.
It didn’t take her long to realize that Eunji was very friendly and socially adept after a few hours of talking and gossiping about lots of things. For someone like Chorong, who’s not used to being around strangers for a long period of time, Eunji was an enigma that was more pleasant than disturbing. The woman clearly knew her way with words, how certain topics would get the brunette rolling over with laughter and how to steer a conversation to her desired direction without making it painstakingly obvious. Eunji was interesting and Chorong actually didn’t mind staying there a lot longer than she was supposed to be.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
The Park snapped out of her stupor upon hearing the sweet, mesmerizing voice that belonged to the cottage owner. Blushing lightly, she shook her head for a bit, “no, I was just spacing out, sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing? Daydreaming isn’t a crime,” the Jung giggled, “anyway, you were saying?”
“Oh, right! I almost forgot,” Chorong smacked her own forehead playfully before continuing, “You mentioned that my village is quite far from here. Where exactly am I, actually? Because to be honest, I was lost at the forest when you found me and had no idea of my own whereabouts.”
“Do you perhaps… have an inferior sense of direction?” Eunji asked, trying to phrase the brunette’s ‘direction-blindness’ politely but Chorong merely chuckled.
“I know I have no sense of direction, you don’t have to phrase it so nicely, Ms. Jung,” the younger girl said, still chuckling, “anyway, please answer my question.”
“Okay, I was about to, after all. You see, this cottage is located at the outskirt of a village called Tongyeong, which is not far from here, obviously. But it’s quite far from Unhwa, as far as I can remember. I haven't left this place for twenty years, to be honest.”
“Twenty years?!” Chorong exclaimed in surprise, jumping a bit at her seat, “Daebak! Don’t you even get bored?”
“Sometimes, yeah. But everyone here is so nice towards me and my cousin’s family, so I guess it’s worth it,” she smiled distantly, eyes staring at the attic but seemed to look at something beyond, “I even rejected the idea of moving back to the city due to my attachment here. Most people would say that my decision was stupid because there’s really next to nothing here, but I don’t even care about what they think. I’m happy here and that’s what matters.”
Chorong stared at the woman beside her and inwardly thought that despite her carefree-like attitude, Eunji was indeed a mature woman with her own independent, free opinion. Any men and even women would be charmed by the Jung had she moved to the city.
“You mentioned your cousin a lot,” the brunette blurted out, failing to notice the sudden yet brief crestfallen look Eunji had in her eyes, “you must have loved her a lot.”
“I have three cousins actually,” the older woman smiled nostalgically, “the oldest is Park Sandara, or Dara-unnie if you want to keep it short. She is a very nice woman, and she may be nosy at times but she knows when to watch from the sidelines. There’s also the youngest boy, Park Chanyeol. He is actually older than me but I don’t call him ‘oppa’, that was just too cringe-worthy,” Eunji giggled to herself before it was replaced with a wistful look, “and then there was my most favorite cousin in the whole world.”
Chorong noticed the sudden usage of past tense but decided that it wasn’t the right time to ask about it, instead silently letting Eunji continue with her reminiscence.
“She was older than me by two years,” Eunji began, her voice unconsciously cracking, “she was a very nice girl, always entertaining everyone’s problems first before hers, and even if you pushed her aside, she would worm her ways into your problem and settled it for you,” her eyes glistened as she continued, “but she was very lonely. She had little to no friends, not because no one wanted to but because she drove them away like a plague. It wasn’t that she was a jerk, rather she simply saw it as pointless due to her… I mean, our situation at that time.”
“… What situation?” Chorong asked softly after making sure that Eunji allowed her to interrupt.
“I mentioned something about moving back to the city earlier, right?” the eye smiling woman asked, and the brunette nodded as she jogged through her memories. “You see, I lost my parents when I was young and my uncle took care of me after that. He and his wife were very compatible with each other, and it shone the brightest when it concerned their family business. Uncle Park had always been good with managing his businesses, but it was Aunt Park that had the keen sense of business opportunities. When she passed away, five years after I moved into their family, Uncle Park’s business started to fall apart.
The stress of repetitively going bankrupt made Uncle Park weak, physically and emotionally speaking. He couldn’t bear to live in the same place for a long time, because he was mostly there to set up a new business that quickly failed without Aunt Park’s business sense. As a result, we were very prone to moving out from town to town and village to village.
While it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, moving out not long after settling in a place and doing it repeatedly wasn’t exactly a good thing to a child’s mentality. Even though Dara-unnie, Chanyeol, and I were okay with it and managed to still had a lot of friends, she—my dearest cousin—wasn’t doing as well as we did. She was struggling with the fact that she would eventually lost contact with her friends once we moved out, and it was taking a huge, serious toll on her.
Eventually it came to the point that she shut herself out from everyone who tried to be friends with her. She became so cold and distant, that even I was shocked to see her like that because when Aunt Park was still alive, she used to be very friendly, kind, and had a very warm smile. I even have to admit that back then, she was far friendlier than me. But well, she changed. You know what struck me so bad at that time? It was that one sentence that she said to me: Friendship is merely an idealism created by stupid, shallow-minded people.
And then, around twenty years ago, we moved from the city to here, Tongyeong,” Eunji smiled warmly, as if remembering something nice, pleasant, “I don’t think it’s necessary to fill you in with details of our days here, but long story short, she changed. For the better, of course. It was the first time in my life since Aunt Park’s passing that I saw her crawling out of her shell. She finally found her true place, the place where she could smile warmly and brightly, the place where she could feel herself attached to, and even better, the place where she found her true love.”
“… Wow,” was all that Chorong could say after a brief silence. It was a lot to take in and as smart as she was, the brunette needed time to process everything. “So… what happened after that? Don’t tell me…”
“We had to move out again,” Eunji confirmed with solemn smile, “It wasn’t about business this time, though. Apparently, Uncle Park hid the fact that he had been battling cancer for a while, and only when his condition worsened and his doctor demanded for him to be hospitalized or at least treated in the city as soon as possible did he decide that we had to move back to the city.”
“And that was when my cousin rejected the notion for the first time in her life. I was, frankly, really shocked at her sudden outbursts that day. She had been the most obedient girl in the family, and her standing up against her father wasn’t something I expect her to do. Even Dara-unnie and Chanyeol thought the same thing as I did.”
“And in the end, did you—”
“They did. I stayed behind, though,” Eunji answered before I even finished my question, “my cousin wasn’t the only one who found ‘someone’ here.”
Chorong stared at the woman beside her with wide eyes and slacked jaws, “you what?!”
Eunji’s laughter reverberated through the wooden walls, “Come on, is it really that unbelievable? I fell in love with someone from this village, and the idea of long distance relationship wasn’t something I’d like to entertain. Ever,” she smiled warmly after, “she felt the same thing too, so after pondering for some time and consulting her about it, I decided to stay.”
“Her who?” the brunette asked, confusion evident in her expression, “your cousin?”
“No,” Eunji chuckled again, amused, “my girlfriend.”
Chorong had to do a double take before falling off the sofa, onto the maroon fleece carpet. The sight made the older woman laughed so hard her tears fell.
“Chorong-ah, has someone told you you’re good with body gags? You should totally be a comedienne and have a collaboration of a lifetime with that woman who dated that idol!” Eunji said in between her laughter, wiping her tears while doing so.
“Very funny,” the girl rolled her eyes sarcastically (someone had, actually. Stupid Ilhoon) before nonchalantly diverting the topic back, “so, you stayed with your girlfriend here—”
“Hold it, Chorong-ah.”
Chorong stopped abruptly, staring at Eunji who had this puzzled yet serious expression on her face, “what is it?”
“Don’t you find me disgusting?” the eye smiling woman asked softly, carefully, “I had a girl as my lover. A girl. Doesn’t it bother you?”
“Does it bother you that you fell in love with a girl?” Chorong asked back. Eunji obviously didn’t expect that question as she, dumbfounded, slowly shook her head. “Then it doesn’t bother me too, and if it doesn’t bother me, I can’t find any reason to be disgusted. Who you are or what your uality is doesn’t matter to me as long as it doesn’t directly bother me,” she finished with a smile, and grinned wider when she saw the way Eunji looked at her, like she was some kind of a preacher.
The brunette laughed before saying, “You aren’t the only wise one here.”
“I can see that,” the Jung quipped back before laughing along. It was only after their heartfelt laugh did the two of them yawned tiredly, drained after the whole ordeal few hours before.
“It’s already late,” Eunji tiredly said, rubbing her teary eyes childishly, “you should go to sleep. I’ll wake you up early and maybe take you back to Unhwa.”
Chorong nodded slowly and trudged to the guest room lazily before stopping abruptly in front of the door, turning her head towards Eunji, “Eunji-unnie, I forgot to ask you.”
“What is it?” Eunji’s voice was slurred but still clear enough to be understood.
“You never told me the name of this precious cousin of yours.”
“Oh,” the Jung simply gasped before smiling, “I won’t tell you, sorry.”
“What…?” the Park was surprised to hear the nonchalant answer, “but why?”
Eunji smiled cryptically. “Because it’s better like this,” she said indifferently before entering her room, her head poking out of the doorframe for a while, “good night, Chorong-un—I mean, Chorong-ah.”
As Chorong saw the friendly woman disappeared into her room, she tilted her head in confusion. What was it that she almost said to me…?
It was morning already. Eunji and Chorong had woken up at around the same time and, without a word, head to the kitchen together. Eunji gestured for the Park to sit at the table while she prepared their breakfast and everything was done in complete silence.
No one dared to say anything until Chorong spoke, so softly it was nearly inaudible, “thank you.”
Eunji heard it and smiled subconsciously, “what for?”
“For letting me stay the night… and more importantly, for saving me yesterday. Had you not been there, I might have died outside, in the wilderness,” the brunette said more clearly now, smiling at Eunji even though the latter couldn’t see it with her back to the younger girl, “I’m sorry for burdening you with my stay, though.”
“What burden?” Eunji turned her head, “if anything, your presence here is very welcomed. I actually wouldn’t mind you coming over again someday.”
Chorong giggled softly, “Do you want me to get lost in the forest again, Eunji-unnie?”
“Just do it when it’s not raining because I don’t think I can afford to buy an umbrella every time you visit,” the Jung joked, earning louder chuckle from her guest, “that umbrella was my favorite, too.”
“Sorry, I’ll replace it the next time I—”
“No, no. You don’t have to do that. I can buy a replacement by myself. But the way you were about to offer me, you weren’t actually planning on coming here again so soon right?” Eunji asked, flipping the pancake expertly.
Chorong frowned at that, “don’t you want me around anymore?”
“Nah, I don’t mean it like that,” the older woman laughed, “I’m just confused because you seem to be so indifferent about everything you’ve learned so far about me. You are even okay with the fact that I’m into girls.”
“Like I said, as long as it doesn’t directly bother me it doesn’t matter,” the brunette smiled, “but you did bother me about something.”
“What, is it about my cousin’s name?” Eunji chuckled, though Chorong noticed a tint of sadness in it, “look, she’s my precious cousin, the girl who I loved most in this world—well, after my girlfriend that is—so talking about her, whatever it is, kind of saddens me, okay? Especially—”
“Especially because it’s me who’s talking about her?”
Eunji fell silent, most probably shocked by Chorong’s words. The younger girl continued, “I noticed something else, too. Last night, when you greeted me goodnight, you almost called me by something but changed in last seconds.”
“Chorong-ah—”
“Eunji-unnie, is it perhaps that your cousin and I seem to have something in common?” she presses on. She was dying to know more about this supposedly precious cousin of Eunji and it surprised her. Why did it bother her so much? It was just another person, someone who Chorong would never met in her entire life. Even if she knew everything, it shouldn’t even matter to her, right?
What Eunji said next broke her train of thought with a loud crash, though.
“Something? More like everything.”
The woman turned around and how Chorong couldn’t hide her shock at the sight in front of her.
Jung Eunji was crying, no, bawling painfully, and it broke the Park’s heart so much without knowing the exact reason why.
“Oh my God! Eunji-unnie, I’m so sorry! F-Forget anything I said just now please! I-It was just a spur of the moment! I-I-I d-didn’t even know why I said what I said! P-Please forgive me…!” Chorong apologized frantically, reaching out for the box of tissue on top of the dining table and rushed towards the older woman immediately, wiping the fallen tears off the Jung’s cheeks and corners of her eyes.
“I-I-It’s o-okay…” Eunji croaked, “s-sorry about t-this, too…”
Chorong awkwardly kneeled beside the sobbing Jung, occasionally dabbing dry tissues on the woman’s cheeks as said woman smiled, “thank you… Chorong-ah. Just like her, you too are very kind.”
The brunette stared at her, confused.
“You’re also observant, and gets really frantic when you think you make someone cry,” Eunji sighed in disbelief, “I can’t believe this, reincarnation does happen. Naeunnie wasn’t lying.”
“Come again—oomph!”
The older woman suddenly bear-hugged Chorong, and the latter could feel her shirt getting soaked with warm, tender tears, “I miss you so badly you have no idea,
“Chorong-unnie.”
The brunette’s thoughts were filled—crowded—with Eunji’s explanations of everything. It felt like nothing in this world was real when she finally understood just why she felt a tinge of familiarity with that small town of Tongyeong, that wooden cottage on top of the cliff, and the sole inhabitant of said cliff who had a dead cousin that was actually Chorong herself in the past life.
[FLASHBACK, SOME HOURS AGO]
“I miss you so badly you have no idea,
Chorong-unnie.”
Chorong’s eyes widen, unable to hide her surprise. She felt her arms moving on their own, circling around the older woman’s back before tightening, practically reciprocating the hug.
“Eunji-unnie, what-what do you mean…?”
“I mean exactly what I said.”
“What exactly did you say?”
“That reincarnation does exist and does happen,” the older woman’s voice was muffled against the fabric of Chorong’s shirt, the vibration sent shivers against the latter’s skin.
“I-I don’t follow…”
Eunji didn’t budge, didn’t even lift her head as she continued, “Twenty years ago, my cousin’s family left the village to return back to the city, leaving me behind in respect to my decision.
However, merely three hours after they left, Channie—I mean Chanyeol—returned back in utter panic, carrying a heavily-bleeding, severely-injured girl in his arms.
It was my favorite cousin, Chorong-unnie, and she was dying. Even now I could still remember the huge gash on her stomach, dyed in scarlet, and the last thing I could remember was screaming—screeching, even—and desperately shouting help for the villagers to hear, before everything went black.
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Dara-unnie, her cheeks still wet with streaming tears, who sobbed even more at my waking up before pouncing on me, hugging my body as tight as she could while whispering, with her broken voice—
‘Chorongie… Chorongie, she... s-she—UWAAAAAHHHHH!’”
The brunette didn’t so much as lift even her finger, her only movements were those of her steady breathings and occasional blinking. She kept mum as Eunji murmured audibly,
“You’re—After twenty years, I can’t believe this… I-I can’t comprehend this…
Everything about you stays the same, down to even your full name. This—This is crazy, beyond incomprehensible…
You’re finally reincarnated, Chorong-unnie.”
“Good morning, Chorong-unnie,” the sound of her sister’s greeting woke Chorong up from her sleep and she groaned tiredly, burying her face into the warm blanket. She didn’t remember falling asleep, didn’t even remember closing her eyes. Was she even dreaming last night?
“Unnie, are you alright?” Sooyoung climbed to the upper part of their bunk bed, where Chorong was, and the older girl could see her sister’s eyes clouded with genuine worry, “your face is flushed, unnie. Are you—Oh God, you’re burning! Mom! MOOOM!!”
The tall girl jumped down the bed’s ladder and practically sprinted out of the room. Chorong could barely make out muffled screams of “Unnie’s sick” and “is she dying OMG call the sobangcha”, and the sick girl could only chuckled sleepily.
“I should wake up—oow…!” The girl felt herself getting dizzy all of a sudden, as images began flashing in her head and voices suddenly appearing out of nowhere into her ears.
As she ran back and forth around the empty grassland, her foot got tangled around the grasses as she fell, she fell—
“Ouch!” Chorong muttered, eyes closed and her face wrinkling in pain. She opened her eyes and looked at her knees, both bleeding freely without any sign of stopping.
“,” the girl looked around the deserted grassland, devoid of anything useful to help ease the growing pain. She felt tears welling up in her eyes but blinked them away as she stood up.
Nothing, not even these puny little injuries, could stop her from searching for that idiot elf. That ———.
“—! ” she shouted, “Yah, ———!” her voice cracked, “come out already!”
“This isn’t funny, you idiot…” Chorong sniffled, the crack in her heart opening up even more. Her thoughts grew more and more negative with the forest elf’s disappearance.
Somehow, she managed to leave the now-empty flowerbeds and went further into the forest—
—completely missing the sign that said, ‘DO NOT ENTER! WOLVES’ LAIR AHEAD!’
“—rong! Chorong!” a familiar voice called—shouted—with a tone of desperation and panic.
The girl opened her eyes slowly and was met with the sight of her mother and sister, hair messy and eyes puffy and red. The wet streaks on their cheeks were a sure giveaway that they were—and still is—crying.
“Thank goodness! Are you okay, dear?!” her mother spoke again, this time in massive relief, as if a huge burden had just left her shoulder. “Sooyoung, dear, don’t make me panic like that ever again! I thought your sister was literally on fire! You should’ve said ‘call the doctor’, not ‘call the sobangcha’!”
Sooyoung scratched her cheeks, “forgive me for being a fifth-grader who kinda forgets which thing is for which cases…”
Chorong couldn’t help but giggle at the pouty face her younger sister was sending their way.
“Mom, Sooyoung-ah, I’m terribly sorry for making you two worry like this…” she softly spoke, “I’m okay now, I think… yeah.”
Though seemingly unconvinced, the two of them nodded understandingly. “Okay. I called your teacher earlier, and she said Ilhoon’s going to stop by and deliver your homework for today later. Sooyoung, you stay home and take care of your sister, okay? I’ll be going to the city and buy some medicines and dinner.”
“Wait, isn’t today Sunday?” Chorong raised an eyebrow.
Sooyoung shook her head, “no, it’s Monday already. You were burning—with fever, of course—that you got knocked out for the entirety of yesterday.”
Holy , the older sister thought.
“Well, I’ll be going now,” Mrs. Park said.
“Okay! Let me accompany you to the door, mom!” The fifth-grader said chirpily, apparently happy from the thought of some ‘fancy city dinner’.
Soon the two left the room, leaving Chorong alone to sort her thoughts for real now.
Well, it appears that my dream just now wasn’t exactly the same as last time, she began. It seemed to be from another person’s perspective, but it felt like a continuation from my dream, which was from my perspective… okay, now I’m lost. I really need help.
As if on cue, the door to her room creaked open. Chorong looked to her side and locked gazes with none other than Ilhoon.
“Hey, Chorong! Wow, I didn’t know you could get sick!” the boy greeted cheerfully.
The sick girl snorted, “of course I could. I’m not an idiot who couldn’t get sick, like you.”
“HEY! That is so totally uncalled for!” Ilhoon faked a sob, “to think I went out of my way to deliver you your homework, and all I got is this, this—how do I even call this again? Whatever.”
Chorong rolled her eyes good-naturedly and smiled, “thanks, Ilhoon.”
“, you really are sick. Park Chorong doesn’t say thanks, ever. Have you called the sobangcha already?!”
“Hey, there’s a kid in the house! Don’t swear you ba—baggage of burden!”
Ilhoon laughed, “that’s so lame! And no worries, Sooyoung’s sleeping on the living room.”
“That’s good then… wait no, that’s too bad. She should’ve heard that stupid mistake you made. I can’t believe a high-school senior made the exact same mistake as a fifth-grader.”
“What? What did I say wrong?”
Chorong didn’t bother answering as she stood up. Looking at her clothes she realized she hadn’t change out of the outfits Eunji lent her yesterday, the ones that used to belong to her past self.
Then it hit her, could it be that dream just now...
“Ilhoon, are you free right now?”
The boy looked up from whatever he was doing with Sooyoung’s PS Vita and nodded, “yeah, why?” he asked unsurely.
“I need your help. Come with me.”
“What? Like, right now?”
“No, next year. Of course right now you idiot! Now get out of my house and wait outside, I’m going to change my clothes!”
“Good thing I brought my bicycle ‘cause look at what we’re doing! Do you know where we are right now—”
“I know, we’re in Tongyeong.”
“—right, and do you know how frickin’ far away this is from Unhwa?! I can’t even—”
“I know, this place is really far from Unhwa.”
“—well then, why do we have to come here—”
“Because I have to meet this person right now okay will you just shut up?!”
That successfully stopped Ilhoon from rambling his mouth out, and while Chorong didn’t miss the way he shot her a dirty look, she didn’t exactly care as long as he clamped his mouth shut.
“Ah, right there! That cottage near the cliff!”
The exhausted boy finally gained a sliver of hope and pedaled powerfully, just wanting to arrive there as soon as he could. It didn’t help that the distance they covered was massive and Chorong was being a bossy brat. Sometimes he wondered why he even decided to be friends with the Park. Why didn’t he just approach Bae Joohyun instead—oh wait, that girl’s too mysterious as and probably had the hots for their new history teacher. Nevermind then, he could just be a monk and embrace his lonesomeness forever.
“Eunji-unnie! Are you there?!” Chorong shouted as soon as she hopped off the bike, leaving the boy drenched in sweats and basking himself in the sunlight while being sprawled on the ground.
“Yes, who is—omo, Chorong-unnie—err, I mean, Chorong-ah,” Eunji smiled unsurely at the approaching girl, “how did you get here?”
“A friend gave me a ride here,” the girl answered simply, “unnie, I need to talk to you about some urgent matter. In private.”
“Okay…” the eye-smiling woman glanced over at the heavily panting boy, “how about your friend?”
“Oh, wait,” Chorong turned around, “yah, Ilhoon! Don’t you dare leave the village, okay?! I’ll get back to you when I’m finished with my business!”
“Hh, hh… what-whatever, hh, hh…” the poor boy panted.
“I see…” the Jung nodded in acknowledgement as she sipped on her tea, “well, I’ll tell you what I know, then.”
Chorong straightened her posture, ready to listen. Eunji chuckled and began,
“I think that second dream you had was really Chorong-unnie—your past self’s, memories… well, unpleasant memories, actually. Moments before she entered her impending doom.”
The younger girl saw a trickle of tear on the corner of Eunji’s eyes.
“Well, I didn’t say this before, but the doctors said that Chorong-unnie’s injuries was most probably caused by wolves,” Eunji continued, “and wolves are actually a common sightings deep into the forest, that’s why the sign was there. Yeah, who am I kidding? It’s so obvious, talking about it will only open up bitter topics.”
“I’m sorry.”
Eunji looked at the downcast girl and smiled, “what are you even apologizing for? You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”
“And I’m not saying this because I think of you as unnie’s replacement, which is just wrong and a dickish move,” she added, “you’re really growing on me, Chorong-ah, and not just because you’re her reincarnated self.”
Chorong smiled.
“I’m growing fond of you too, Eunji-unnie, and not because you’re my past self’s cousin.”
Eunji gaped at this, and the younger girl found herself wondering about things too. When did she became so accepting of the fact that she is Eunji’s cousin’s reincarnation?
But it indeed felt so right. Eunji’s cottage felt like an actual home for her, and the older woman’s presence felt so… so right. As if this place was indeed where Chorong truly belonged, and Eunji really was her own distant cousin that had lived with her since forever.
“Unnie, in my dream—the one with my past self’s memories,” the Park began asking, “I was searching for something, like I had to find it… for some reason, when I thought about it, it was as if I’m looking for someone, but more like something… I don’t know, it’s so confusing.”
The older woman set her mug on the wooden table and looked at Chorong with unconcealed intrigue.
“Of course, you’re looking for her.”
“’Her’? So, a person then? A girl?”
“Haha, not necessarily,” Eunji laughed, she was being cryptic and it confused the other girl, “do you believe in myths, Chorong-ah?”
The brunette involuntarily scowled, “oh hell no, what was that?”
A slight laughter escaped Eunji’s lips, “You’re really her reincarnation, not that it’s a mind-blowing revelation now,” she grinned, “wait until you hear what I’m about to say next.”
“Well, what is it?”
“Chorong-unnie had a girlfriend—” Chorong choked on the empty air, “—and her girlfriend was—wait for it—a forest elf.”
“WHAT?!” the young girl spluttered, and she was sure Ilhoon must had heard her outside, “I’m, I was… dating an elf?”
“Oh, I thought you’d be more surprised at the fact that you were into girls.”
“Not really, no. I… kinda expected that, but an elf?! As a girlfriend?!”
“You won’t be saying that when you see this elf for yourself, not that I know how she looked like though…” Eunji commented matter-of-factly.
Chorong’s brain short-circuited, “I just—I, err… I just—”
“I know,” Eunji suddenly interjected, “how about you go to the forest? To that empty grassland you saw in your dreams.”
“EH? B-But, how about those wolves??”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head off. Five years ago they had been exterminated for good, and as long as you don’t venture too deep into the forest I think you should be fine,” she said, “and since you’re so bad at direction—that other trait you shared with Chorong-unnie—I’ll accompany you there, but probably not too far. I’m not too good with forest, I prefer sea anytime of the day.”
“You said you’d accompany me!” Chorong reiterated in horror, looking at the amused Eunji as though the latter was a ghost and she had been told to be in that horror survival you usually found in anime and manga or something (it wasn’t actually horror survival, more like bravery test but Chorong was being her dramatic self).
“Yes, I did,” Eunji nodded, “but I also said I’m not good with forest, right? This is as far as I can go.”
“Pfft, ‘not too far’, you said. You didn’t even go past that ‘Tongyeong Forest’ sign!”
“Oh, really? Well, maybe I did this on purpose,” a chuckle escaped Eunji’s lips.
“Why you—”
“But you know what’s more amusing?” Eunji looked like she had raised her voice, but it sounded normal… wait what?
“That you don’t even stop and just keep on walking is what’s more amusing!” she laughed, “just follow where your legs’ taking you and you should be fine, Chorong-ah! I’ll just be here waiting for ya!”
“Yah, Eunji-unnie!” too late, her legs really didn’t stop and soon Eunji disappeared from her line of sight. Horror struck her face as she realized that her surroundings became more and more homogenous, green everywhere and on everything and all.
And yet as if trained by memory, she swiftly treaded her way past the thorny bushes, past the roots that stuck out dangerously, and soon she found herself in a clearing.
And it hit her.
This clearing…! she gasped, “for real…?!”
It was the same grassland she saw in her memories, except now it wasn’t mere grasses and deserted, devoid of any other living things as how she remembered it. Instead, vast flowerbeds had bloomed colorfully, some petals dancing along with the wind like those scenes you saw in TV. It was such a breathtakingly beautiful sight, Chorong was at a loss of words.
She didn’t remember when she had stopped, but soon her legs picked up their pace and she ever so slowly walked into the natural garden, the sweet scents of the blossoming flowers filling the air around her.
The Park looked around and soon her eyes landed on something—someone—at the east side of the flowerbeds, where the natural border between the clearing and the forest was at. This person was holding something on her hand, something that looked like paintbrush and a pallet, and beside them was a canvas.
This person was looking at her, and Chorong could make out a girl’s feature. Walking closer, she could finally see the girl’s expression more clearly now: one of… confusion?
“Excuse me,” the stranger called out, “would you mind stopping where you’re at right now?”
The brunette’s body complied all of a sudden and she stopped, standing in the middle of the garden. She took this chance to think, just why was this stranger’s voice so soothing and beautiful and… familiar?
“Thank you,” the painter smiled in gratitude, and Chorong swore it was so cute and pretty and describable by any complimentary adjective in the dictionary, “sorry about that, but would you mind staying there for a while? I’ll be finished soon don’t worry!”
The stranger looked back to her side, her brush gently against the canvas’ surface, and she looked so elegant, so fragile, so… ethereal.
Chorong waited for a good five minutes before speaking up, “uh, are you done yet…?”
“Wait, wait… yeah, I’m done! Thanks, stranger! You saved the day!” the other girl said chirpily.
“I did…?”
“Yeah, you add variety to my painting! And hey, now that I take a good look at you, you’re really pretty,” she complimented suddenly and the Park found herself blushing ever so slightly, “you look good amongst all these flowers. No wonder my painting looks so beautiful now! Here, take a look!”
Chorong didn’t know if she was supposed to be put off by this girl’s absurd friendliness, but she took a look anyway, and damn it was a breathtakingly beautiful painting. Although, she didn’t know for sure if she really looked that beautiful standing in the middle of already-beautiful flowers.
“Hey, stranger, now that I think about it, what are you doing here?” Chorong looked away from the painting and locked her gaze to the stranger, and now that she took a good look this stranger was actually one of the most beautiful girl she had ever met. And she thought Joohyun was beautiful.
“Uh, I was just… taking a walk?”
“Wow, you’re a weirdo. I don’t think I’ve ever meet someone who takes a walk into the forest, even though there’s such a beautiful garden here. But wait, I also like to take a walk here so does that make me a weirdo too?”
Chorong felt like she should have felt insulted or offended, but instead she found herself chuckling in amusement.
“You’re so funny,” the brunette said.
“Thanks, I get that a lot,” the mysterious stranger rolled her eyes playfully, “you know, this is just my weird-self speaking but…”
“But?”
“But do I know you? Like, I can’t shake off this feeling that I know you from somewhere but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen someone as beautiful as you are in my life,” the stranger scratched her chin, and Chorong found herself agreeing with her.
She hadn’t notice it before, but she felt this… attachment, towards the girl she had met just five minutes ago, and strangely though it didn’t bother her, like it felt just right to feel like that towards the beautiful stranger.
“Yeah, I can’t help but think I know you too. Like, not just know know, more like best-friend sort of know… Ugh, how do I explain this—”
“It’s okay, I know what you mean,” the girl said, “in fact, I’ll just say this bluntly—I feel as though we’re each other’s missing puzzles, you know. Not that I even realize I have a missing puzzles… Maybe in the past life we used to be together a lot or something? That kind of familiarity. I feel the same thing towards this flowerbeds too.”
Chorong spluttered. Could this girl be? But she looked one hundred percent human, well that ethereal aura notwithstanding, but can forest elves paint with a canvas? Still—
“Hey,” the Park said suddenly, and received a hum in response, “what’s your name?”
The stranger blinked, looking confused. Chorong gulped, was she being too sudden?
“I just, well… we talked about this feeling of familiarity as though we’ve known each other for a long time, but I don’t even know your name.”
“Oh, fair point!” The stranger grinned, “Well, why don’t you tell me your name first?”
“Uh, my name is Park Chorong. And you are?”
“I’m—”
“What are you humming to?”
Chorong stopped humming and turned her head to her side, her gaze meeting her girlfriend’s and immediately getting herself lost there, in the dark orbs that contained million stars.
“Just this one song that means so much to me.”
“I’ve never heard it before. Do tell.”
The other girl shuffled closer to Chorong, and side-hugged the human. “It’s about a star-crossed couple,” the Park began, “that promised to meet each other again someday.”
“Who made that song?” asked the ethereal girl that Chorong could proudly call her girlfriend. After their story-telling session, they had spent time saying sweet nothings to each other with occasional kisses in between. While Chorong was glad the girl didn’t get emotional, she decided to tread carefully in case her girlfriend burst out crying. Which probably wouldn’t happen anyway.
“My mom, actually,” the human girl smiled sadly at the memory, “I found it while cleaning up her old stuffs. She wrote it in her last moments.”
“She wrote it to soothe your father’s aching heart, maybe?”
“I’d like to think she wrote it with my whole family in mind, but you can say so, yeah.”
“Can I think of it as a song made with mine and Naeun’s past in mind?” the elf chuckled, “star-crossed siblings that lost each other, hoping to reunite someday. What is this, Chilseok theme song?”
“Don’t remind me of Chilseok. That’s when my mother… you know.”
“Oh, I-I’m sorry…”
Chorong giggled softly. It was rare to catch her girlfriend flustered, even if the reason made her sad. “It’s okay. You wanna hear it or not?”
“Of course I do! Sing away, my love.”
The girl blushed at the nickname but soon began singing with her sweet, calming voice she knew her girlfriend loved so much.
7월 7일 (One Of These Nights)
It's just me waking from a dream
That one star, that has become dark again
Goodbye, I greet it clumsily
I turn and say, today’s road is long
In the same time span, just for a minute
In the same space, stay for a minute
In that short moment, everything
Stops for us, in that moment
Why did we not know that was a miracle?
I, who stopped that day with this old story
I’m spending more time away than when I loved you
Beyond the Milky Way, in a distant, far away place
I, who cross our white memories
Since at least, even in dreams, it’s okay
Let’s meet again, one of these nights
Let’s meet again, one of these nights
Oh, I can’t forget easily
Even if I turn the calendar, I’m still in the same place
In your gaze, just for a minute
Within brushed past fingertips, stay for a minute
In that short moment, everything
Stops for us, in that moment
I think I sparkled at that moment
I, who stopped that day with this old story
I’m spending more time away than when I loved you
Beyond the Milky Way, in a distant, far away place
I, who cross our white memories
Since at least, even in dreams, it’s okay
Baby, one of these days
One of these years
Waiting for me, is just a trivial daily routine
I, who stopped that day with this old story
I’m spending more time away than when I loved you
Beyond the Milky Way, in a distant, far away place
I, who cross our white memories
Since at least, even in dreams, it’s okay
Let’s meet again, one of these nights
Let’s meet again, one of these nights
“Chorong?”
“Hmm?”
“If—just if—we ever find ourselves separated by the cruelness that is fate,” the ethereal girl whispered thoughtfully, seriously, Chorong didn’t have it in her to interrupt her even when the words were at the tip of her tongue, “I promise you, I’ll find you again. We will meet each other again.”
“Okay…”
“I’m sure I will,” the elf continued, “and not as an elf again. I want to—I will—meet you as a human, as someone who can truly be with you.
I love you, Park Chorong.”
Chorong cried, her heart swelling with happiness and bliss and all other emotions no existing words could describe.
“I love you too,—”
“—Yoon Bomi.”
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author's note » asdfghjkl like finally!!! It took me two years but it's finally here and I'm just... I'm emotional guys I'm sobbing. Next chap is just afterthoughts feel free to read them if you wanna.
by e.g.
finally putting this story to a rest. final chapter is up gaiiissss :D that 'complete' status makes me a bit teary :"
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