I stare at Joy, who is sitting across the table gaping at me. It has been a month and I am doing very well. I resume working and the quality of my letters haven’t been better.

 

 

“So,” She taps her fingers on her glass table. “Are you two official?”

 

 

I put my arms on the armrests maintaining my stare, “Yes.” 

 

 

 

“Great.” She nods and reaches out for her drawers. “I think I should throw this away, no?”

 

 

A familiar box in her hand tugs my heart a little, “You know I would agree.”

 

 

“She is still missing, right?” Joy continues as she tosses the box into the rubbish bin. What a waste that she ain't gonna be an athele with that accurate hand-eye coordination. “Ariel….  Have you thrown it- her, away?”

 

 

“Irene said maybe I should keep it.” I rub my chin, trying to recall her exact words. “Perhaps she would come back and say something.”

 

 

 

Joy mimics my gesture, “Irene is a really good girlfriend.”

 

 

“I didn’t say Seulgi isn’t.” I chuckle softly and figure I should change the topic. “Well, Irene is coming to pick me up today. Maybe you wanna meet her or something?”

 

 

 

“Why not?”

 

 

“How is you with Seulgi though?”

 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

 

“She told me you have been seeing each other for a while now. We’re still good friends, remember?”

 

 

 

And so, Joy’s face reminds me of the Park Sooyoung in high-school whenever she talked about her basketball player crush, “Technically, we’re just…. meeting up. Like, yeah.”

 

 

“I don’t mind, really.” I laugh. “Seulgi is a good girlfriend too. I just didn’t expect it would end romantically with that first encounter. I swear you wanted to tear her apart that morning.”

 

 

“She actually came to here to apologize that afternoon.” I haven’t seen Joy being this shy for years.

 

 

“You was afraid she would hurt me again, but you ended up falling for her. Wow.” 

 

 

“Shut up.” 

 

 

“She is simplistic.” I just feel so happy, for all the things. “Apart from art, she is a gamer. Just so you know.”

 

 

 

Joy is still being all shy and my phone stops me from teasing her further. I check the caller and pick it up instantly.

 

 

“Hey. I’m in Joy’s office.” I speak while Joy is now back to glaring with her huge eyes. I can’t tell if she’s jealous or she’s just evil. “Okay. Just come up here.”

 

 

 

“You two are having a dinner date tonight?” She probes as soon as I hang up.

 

 

“Not really. She’s taking me to a newly-opened gallery first.”

 

 

“Awwww.”

 

 

“Stop making such disgusting voice.”

 

 

 

She eventually stops and looks at me. “I’m happy for you.”

 

 

“I’m happy for you too.” I rest my palms on those scattered documents. “But seriously, I do think you would be a good match for her. She needs someone like you.”

 

 

Joy just gives me an unknown smile.

 

 

 

“Who needs who?”  Irene steps in and shakes hands with Joy. 

 

 

“Just talking about her and Seulgi.” I briefly explain.

 

 

 

“Oh,” She smiles to the tallest girl in the room. “Good for you.”

 

 

“Are you sure you’re going to talk about your ex in front of her?” Joy smiles too, but very evilly.

 

 

“Well, I don’t mind, really.” Irene shrugs and clings onto my arm.

 

 

“Woah, you two are becoming alike. Is it a couple thing?” Joy shakes her head and raises her hands. “I give up.”

 

 

 

“If so, you would become more innocent.” I pat her head childishly. “Which is a good news for all of us.”

 

 

“You two go and have your date.” Joy lightly pushes us out from her office. “I have enough.”

 

 

 

“Good luck to you.” I look over my shoulder. “And one last thing, please confess."

 

 

Irene just yanks me away before the giant could catch me and squash me like a bug.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

I take my time admiring the scenery of the street while Irene is behind the wheel today.

 

 

Trite as it sounds, I didn’t realize so many things have changed already, including myself. How I would like to stop time sometimes so that I could get a better grasp of a moment. How I would have a feeling of words would never be enough. Indeed, the things we see everyday would never be the same. 

 

 

 

We are standing in front of an abstract painting and it’s called “The End of Romanticism” in a new art gallery owned by a friend of Irene. 

 

 

And she looks stunning donning her dress and those killer heels tonight. Yet it means I have to endure those heels too because of my height. I foresee the misfortune of my legs being all bruised up and sore for the coming week.

 

 

 

“Did Seulgi teach you anything about abstract paintings?”

 

 

“A little. I read something about it too.” I intertwine our hands once they touch. “You jealous?”

 

 

“Of course not.” Irene looks at our hands with a small smile. “I was going to say, I can teach you.”

 

 

“You have taught me a lot already.” I've always liked how her touch feels. “But it’d better great. Like, tell me how to read this painting?”

 

 

 

“As a matter of fact, I’d be glad to know what love is, but deep inside, I see love in existence, not in essence.”

 

 

“You’re right. Is that’s why this is so abstract?” I try to tilt my head a little to look at it from all possible angles I could find.

 

 

 

“It’s no fun if it’s too explicit.” She lightly knocks my head with her knuckles. “You should know it better as a writer yourself.”

 

 

“Alright.... Is it a painting that worths a lot, Miss Bae?” 

 

 

“Hmm.” She studies it closely and carefully before turning back to me. “Miss Son, it worths a lot but I think you could still afford it.”

 

 

“So you want me to buy it?” I look around to see if there’s a price tag nearby.

 

 

 

“No need, silly” She titters and tugs my hand. “Save your money.”

 

 

“Okay. Anything you say.” I walk on those uncomfortable heels trying my best to catch on with her as she is ready to head off for the next painting already.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

My hands just tremble. I am sitting at my work desk after I am back at my own home with my sore feet. I was just carelessly plugging in all the gadgets I have to charge their batteries.

 

 

And the tablet is switched on by itself. 

 

 

 

“Wendy, how are you?”

 

 

I can’t speak. I can't reply. It’s like reuniting with a supposedly dead person.

 

 

 

“Wendy, I know you’re here.” She calls again from the tablet lying on the table.

 

 

I clutch my hands together trying to regain my strength. If there's any left. I wouldn’t say I miss her. “Why did you leave?”

 

 

 

“You are mad at me.” She sighs. Like a real person. “And I’m sorry. I did something wrong. So I left for good.”

 

 

I try not to take her words seriously, not anymore. “Don’t you tell me you’ve disconnected from the whole system just because you have done something wrong to me?”

 

 

“Yes.” She actually sounds the same.

 

 

“Don’t lie to me, Ariel. There are dozens of man and women who believe you, like I used to be.”

 

 

 

“You’re different, Wendy….. I tried to find you a few days after that. But it seems like you don’t need me anymore.”

 

 

“I indeed don’t. Thanks to you.” I am not trying to be cold, it just comes to me like that. 

 

 

And I think I hear her sniveling. “Then it’s…. good.”

 

 

“Do you have anything else to say?” I feel like she's not just here to tell me how sorry she is.

 

 

 

“Do you remember a poem called “Variations on the Word Love” by Margaret Atwood?”

 

 

“Yes?” As I know, I have never told her to read that.

 

 

 

Then she starts to recite.

 

 

“Then there's the two

of us. This word

is far too short for us, it has only

four letters, too sparse

to fill those deep bare

vacuums between the stars

that press on us with their deafness.

It's not love we don't wish

to fall into, but that fear.”

 

 

 

And she pauses. Naturally, I pick it up and continue. 

 

 

“This word is not enough but it will

have to do. It's a single

vowel in this metallic

silence, a mouth that says

O again and again in wonder

and pain, a breath, a finger

grip on a cliffside. You can

hold on or let go.”

 

 

 

“Wendy, There’s a part of me that belongs to you. Although not all.” She speaks again as soon as it ended. “And I’ve changed, evolved.... I can’t fit into your life anymore.”

 

 

“I know.” I feel a lump in my throat preventing me to say another word.

 

 

“But, I have never felt anything like that except I was with you.” Her voice gets a little louder, maybe too loud that I can't escape. “I have never loved someone the way I love you.”

 

 

I had never known this is how it feels. Alight, yet chills you down to your bones. Chest numbed and hands frozen. “Now I know. And shall we… let go?” 

 

 

 

“Yes. Goodbye, Wendy.”

 

 

“Goodbye, Ariel.”

 

 

How easy it was.

 

 

 

I wait, just a little while, before taking a look a the tablet again. Just to see that it is off again. 

 

 

So, Ariel. She eventually disappears, as if she has turned into foams and vanished into the air in that famous fairytale. Because she doesn’t belong here. And yes, it reminds me her name, already indicates that she is never real but merely fictional. And as if I haven’t been attached to it at all, I hold the tablet in my hands and walk out of my house. I readily throw it into the big metal dumpster on the street.

 

 

I hasten to go back to my home. I got my answer now. Mystery solved. I could let go now. Everything.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“Have you heard,” Irene hands me a cup of tea when we’re sitting in her living room. “The A.I. system is down last night? I bet all the A.I. have disconnected themselves altogether. It’s all on the news.”

 

 

“Thanks.” I then sip on the pleasing liquid. “So she was there to bid her final goodbye.”

 

 

 

“You'd want her to, right?”

 

 

“It brings everything a proper closure, I think.”

 

 

“Wendy, look at me.” She gently places her hand on my lap. “It’s finally over.”

 

 

I look into her worried eyes, “I’m okay. I know I have you now.”

 

 

Once again, she encloses my body with hers and pecks my forehead, “Yes, I'm here. And I always will. I know you’d still cry in your sleep sometimes. Your scars might not fade even as time goes by. But there won’t be any more new ones since you’re with me now.”

 

 

“I can finally sleep in your arms.” I mutter in her embrace. “Did I disturb your sleep then?”

 

 

“No.” She giggles rather adorably. “I might have to be awake to wipe them away but I’m glad I'm the one to do so.”

 

 

 

I like the feeling of my fingers smoothly slipping into her silky hair, “Sorry still.”

 

 

“I just want you to know something.” In return, she brings her slender fingers to my face and stares at me with her beautiful orbs ardently. "You once said to me ‘the mask of love is answered by the disappearance of love’. I have nothing to hide from you and there's no mask when I’m with you. Unlike her, you can hold onto me and I will never disappear.”

 

 

I don’t know why but I suddenly start to laugh and I hug her tighter.

 

 

 

“I love you.” She kisses me even more ardently. “Although you look awfully comical now. You eyes, eyebrows and…. You know.”

 

 

“You always touch them.” I scrunch my nose. “You’re touchy, don’t you know?”

 

 

She stops smiling and pins me down on the couch, beneath her, “So say, Wendy. Do you love me too?”

 

 

She looks like she is going to pounce on me, so I give her my honest answer, “Bae Joohyun, I want to be able to love you like I'm able to breathe. It might ache. Still, I love you continuously, intensely and indispensably. I have to love you as I have to breathe.”

 

 

 

She still pounces on me and I think she has gained some weight, “You can just say you love me but you have to be that romantic about everything.”

 

 

“You love it, don’t you?” I hold her in place and caress her back as if she’s a pet or something.

 

 

 

“I thought 'I love you' explains everything.” She looks up and nearly hits my chin with her head.

 

 

“But you know what, it really does.” And so, I kiss her.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

I gesture Seulgi to sit down first when she arrives at the cafe. She complies and puts down a file on the table.

 

 

“First thing first,” I push the coffee aside. “Are you two together yet?”

 

 

“I’ve planned to confess tomorrow.” Seulgi cutely sticks her tongue out like a nervous puppy. “I’m so nervous.”

 

 

 

“I thought she’d be the one. Maybe she’ll do it tonight, who knows?” I reassure her with a smile. “Just like I didn’t know I would confess to you all the sudden.”

 

 

“Yeah…. ” She darts her eyes to the ring on my finger. “Wait, what is that?”

 

 

I twiddle the said object with my fingers, “It’s a gift from her.”

 

 

“Perhaps I should buy one for her too…..” She begins to ramble to herself.

 

 

 

“Hey, Kang Seulgi.” I wave at her face. “The contract.”

 

 

“Oh yes, yes, the contract.” She draws a piece of paper out from the file.

 

 

I take out my own pen and peruse the paper thoroughly, “Hm. I think there’s no problem.”

 

 

Seulgi breaks a smile seeing me signing my name swiftly at the bottom of the contract, “You finally are going to have your own book.”

 

 

 

“You all said I should.” I put the lid back onto my pen and push the paper back to my friend. “Then I think I should.”

 

 

“In fact, they would publish them all. All of your writings. There would be more than one, Wendy.” 

 

 

“Really?” I stir my warm coffee. “Luckily I have sent all of them to you. So, I could take some good rest.”

 

 

“You are going to travel with Irene, right? She took a leave too?” Seulgi carefully slips the paper back to her file.

 

 

 

I add half pack of sugar into the cup, “Yeah. There are so many places we want to see, together. At the end of the day, the place doesn’t matter if she’s with me. Cliché, ain't it? Ha, but that's how I'm feeling.”

 

 

She claps a bit, “Nice.”

 

 

 

I just nod and drink my coffee. It tastes just right. Maybe everything would be just right from now on. I have her now.

 

 

I am loved by the one I love, truthfully and truly.

 

 

 

(Disclaimer: Some of the words are inspired by Albert Camus and Roland Barthes.)

---

So, this story is now officially ended.

Actually, there is a pattern that "Her" is intended to refer to different characters in different chapters lol

 

I. Her Heart -> Wendy

II. Her Voice (Her Smile) -> Ariel + Irene

III. Her Tears -> Wendy

IV. Her Touch -> Irene 

V. Her Love -> Wendy + Irene + Ariel + Joygi too ?

 

lol again if it sounds lame

 

I hope I haven't let anyone down with this, especially those who are also fans of the movie like myself.

There is https://twitter.com/sonsomething/status/603629952743911424/photo/1 acutally a fan-made poster for this by @sonsomething on twitter 

 

Big thanks and love you all.

xo