𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒 | 𝐊- 𝐏𝐎𝐏

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗁𝗎𝗇𝖽𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝗌𝗂𝗑𝗍𝗒 𝗈𝗇𝖾

Chapter 42: Tear

"What are you talking about, that's my Grandfather, Noah Wright," she says pointing at the image. Taehyung's frown becomes more evident and she looks at him confused.

"...Standing next to my Grandmother," he says as his eyes flash with a sort of anger and distrust. Suddenly he seems so distant, his look frightens her.

"No, that's Hyunsook, the girl he fell in love with." Taheyung's eyes grow wider. He flips the image over and sees the words written in faded handwriting on the back of the picture.

'Hyunsook, my love, 1954'

He drops the picture from his hands, allowing it to fall to the table as he jumps back out of his chair, startling her.

"What is it? What's wrong?" she asks, confused. He points at the picture on the table, as he steps back farther, away from the table, away from the image, away from her.

"Hana, who are you? Why did you really come here?" His words sound crazy to her, she has no idea why he is asking her this and she blinks hard hoping to see him smile, hoping to see his warmth again.

"What do you mean? I came here to fulfill my promise, you know that." She tries to step closer to him but he backs away from her.

"That- that girl in the picture, is my Grandmother. My Grandmother was Hyunsook," he says, his voice shaking as he continues to back away. She looks down at the picture and lifts it from the table, turning it over and studying it.

"Taehyung it must be a mistake. Maybe that was a popular name at the time." He turns away from her and raises his hands to his head, holding it, covering his ears as if he can't bear to hear the words. He shakes his head. She tries to step up next to him but he jumps back as though she's startled him.

"That's her. I know what my Grandmother looked like when she was younger," he says coldly. "She married my Grandfather in 1958. He lived down the street from her parents. She met him at a neighbor's party. They danced together all evening, and her mother told her that was the man she should marry because he would make a good husband and father," like a mantra, he repeats the words he has been told over and over through the years. Hana shakes her head, unsure what this means, unsure what he is thinking, as she holds the photograph. Each time she steps closer, he backs away, as if trying to distance himself from the image in her hand. He continues to shake his head, overwhelmed, as he speaks.

"My Grandfather was the most wonderful man. He was kind and thoughtful, he was a great husband and father. My father admired him and loved him, and so did I..." He backs almost to the far wall in her living room as she steps closer to him, confused and frightened by his reaction. "...and you expect me to believe that my my grandparents weren't soulmates? That he wasn't 'the one' for her?!"

She shakes her head 'no', unsure what to say. She looks down at the image of the two, clutching each other. She had always believed this was the one woman that her Grandfather had truly loved in his life. He and her Grandmother had had a difficult marriage. But they had her father, and they raised him well. They took care of her after her parents were killed. But after her Grandmother passed, she felt the lament in her Grandfather that seemed deeper than the grief he felt at her Grandmother's passing. When she was old enough, he shared his story with her, telling her about Hyunsook and his time in the service, asking her to promise to take him back to Korea one day.

She had always thought it was a wonderful story of star-crossed lovers, wanting to be together, but fated to remain apart. It made her sad to think of this great love unfulfilled. It made her so willing to make the promise to him, to change her entire life, just to bring him back to the city where he had found true love. She was prepared to say 'goodbye' to him, forever, leaving the last part of him at Tapgol park where he had met her 72 years before. She had known since she was a teenager that she would keep this promise to him. She learned Korean in school specifically to fulfill this promise. She applied for the Master's program at Seoul National so she could be in the city where he said his life began.

She doesn't understand the connection to Taehyung, or why he is so upset by it. It doesn't even seem possible, out of all of the people in the country, in the world, that their grandparents could have found each other, and fallen in love.

She looks up at Taehyung, pressing his body against the wall, tears filling his eyes. He looks frightened and confused, and so vulnerable. She wants to comfort him, she wants to tell him that everything will be alright, that they can talk, and understand this connection, together. She instinctively moves closer to him, reaching out her hands to touch him. He turns his body away, hiding his eyes from her, almost flinching at her gentle touch.

"I have to get out of here. I can't be here any longer," he says, nearly crying the words out.

"Taehyung?!" She feels the panic rise within her and she reaches out to take hold of his arm but he pulls it away from her quickly. He turns to look back at her, and his eyes flash dark with anger.

"It's not true! Whatever your Grandfather told you, it's not true!" He grabs his keys, picks up his shoes and flings open her front door. He moves through it quickly, leaving it to swing open in his wake. He doesn't look back.

She stands in stunned silence in the open doorway, looking down at the photograph in her hand. She hears the front door slam and she runs to the window, moving the curtain aside, she looks out to see his car starting, and driving away, driving out of her life. She bursts into tears in a flurried mix of astonishment and profound anguish.

***

She lay awake in her bed most of the night, thinking about the picture, thinking about the promise. How could this woman really be Taehyung's Grandmother? How could her Grandfather have fallen love with her, at 18, and been so sure she was the one? How could he have longed for her for almost seven decades of his life, never letting go of the memory of her? She had always felt that this story, his love story, made anything possible, it made true love - real.

She's confused and hurt as to why Taehyung thinks that a love his Grandmother had four years before she even met his Grandfather, somehow disrespects his memory. The tears stain her pillowcase as she wonders if Taehyung can ever forgive her for the sins he believes of her Grandfather.