Another Day, Another Shot

How Many More Tomorrows

PROMPT: Tomorrow

Yoon Se-ri counted the days until the day she got to see Ri Jeong-hyeok again.

HOW MANY MORE TOMORROWS

Yoon Se-ri marked each day that passed by on her calendar.

Day 1: ❌

Day 2: ❌

Day 3: ❌

Day 4... Day 5... and so on.

Each box that was crossed off in red ink meant that Se-ri still hasn't found Ri Jeong-hyeok. It meant that he still hasn't found her.

"Where are you, Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi? I hope you're alright," Se-ri wished, as she looked outside the window of her home office in the chalet she was staying at in Switzerland. The clear skies and beautiful weather were huge contrasts to what she was truly feeling at that moment and for the past days of her stay. And no matter how much she hoped for the best, a small part of her logical brain was slowly convincing the rest that perhaps the next few days would be the same. They still wouldn't be reunited at the place where they were destined to be --- wrapped in each other's arms here in their own home.

The train was still traveling and it still hadn't arrived at its destination.

For every box that was crossed off, more teardrops marked the paper and smudged the red ink, making it seem like blood was shed. Maybe they were tears of blood. Se-ri's tears showed just how much hurt she was constantly enduring and was still about to endure. They showed how much pain her heart was in.

Se-ri put the cap of the marker back on and closed her eyes after, trying to prevent more tears from grazing and rolling down her cheeks. 'How many more tomorrows will pass by me,' she thought to herself as she put her hands on her face. She let out a huge sigh of frustration -- frustration about their situation, frustration about Jeong-hyeok, and frustration about herself.

Se-ri knew that she chose this path without any guarantee that it would end up the way they wanted it to. But as much as she's frustrated about everything, she's still firm about her decision. She didn't regret anything and she wouldn't ever regret choosing to travel down this path.

How could she?

This path Se-ri her to the most important person in her life -- the reason why she was still alive, the reason she learned how to smile again, and the reason why she became hopeful once again.

Jeong-hyeok was worth all the tears Se-ri shed. He was worth all the nightmares she had to endure alone. He was worth the scar on her body. He was worth all the days they had to spend apart because she knew that one day, tomorrows would be the only days they would have to look forward to.

The past would stay in their memories as reminders of how they arrived at the present they were currently living in, and as a motivation for them to work hard and achieve the future filled with happiness they envisioned for the both of them.

Ri Jeong-hyeok was worth everything life had to offer.

~

Hong Chang-sik and Han Jeong-yeon kept on calling Se-ri and asked her to come back to Seoul because Seri's Choice needed her.

"Daepyonim, you really need to come back because the investors we worked hard to contract are refusing to sign important documents that hold the future of the company. They refuse to do anything as long as they haven't talked to you in person," Mr. Hong told his boss, frustration and fear heard in his voice as he talked over the phone.

"I trust you, Mr. Hong. You can convince them. I know you can. If not, stall them. Buy me some time. I'm coming back home soon," Se-ri dismissed her trusted team manager. She breathed deeply as the documents stared at her from her desk.

Se-ri's phone started ringing the moment she ended the call with Mr. Hong. This time, it was her eomma who was calling her.

"Eomma," Se-ri answered. "You should come back home, Se Ri-ah. Seri's Choice listing is coming up. You've been waiting for this moment your whole life!" Jeong-yeon tried to get her daughter to come home.

"I know you still haven't seen Jeong Hyeok-ssi. That's why you keep on postponing your flight back home," Jeong-yeon said. She knew Se-ri that much. She always knew what's going on in her daughter's mind and what her heart was feeling. "Come home so I can be there for you unlike the other times I pushed you away to be on your own."

But most importantly, they knew that Se-ri also needed all the emotional support she could get from her family at a difficult time like this. It wasn't healthy for Se-ri to stay alone and be on her own in Switzerland where she could relapse and fall back into a deep depression again after a huge loss like this. Jeong-hyeok wouldn't have wanted that for her. He asked her to live her life with the people who cared about her like her family and the people in her company.

But she wouldn't be the same Se-ri if not for her stubbornness and determination to wait for Jeong-hyeok to find her like he always did. No matter where she was, he would always find her.

"I know he will find me, eomma. Jeong-hyeok always did," Se-ri said to Jeong-yeon, her voice trembled as tears fell down her cheeks. She couldn't hold it anymore. She bottled them up long enough. If she didn't allow herself to break down, she'll fall deeper and she might never crawl out of the darkness ever again. She needed this, just this one time.

~

"I promise to book the next flight out to Seoul. I'll be home soon," Se-ri recited this line over and over again. She memorised it to the point that it became a routine already. She was like an answering machine with an automated response to every call she received.

Se-ri kept on saying that she'll book the next flight out, but every time she's about to click the button on the airline website displayed on her laptop screen or press the call button on her phone to get through the airline's connection, she would always end up not doing any of these things. It was like her hands have a life of their own.

But we all know it's Se-ri's heart that was refusing to let go.

"Maybe he'll come tomorrow," Se-ri whispered to convince herself for the -nth time during her whole stay in Switzerland. "He will, right?" she asked the flower pot placed on her side. The same flower pot Jeong-hyeok gave her after he left to go back to the North.

Until the last day of the year eventually came. Se-ri was already waiting for at least three months and she really needed to go back to Seoul. She couldn't let all her efforts for Seri's Choice go down the drain and get wasted because if all else failed, it's the only thing she would have left. With heavy luggage and even a heavier heart, she tried her hardest to drag her suitcases and her feet toward the door of the chalet she bought for them.

Se-ri wasn't giving up on the future she envisioned for her and Jeong-hyeok. But the moment she closed the door of their home, it really felt like she was giving up on them.

'How many more tomorrows would I have to wait for me to see you again, Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi? I miss you so much.'

After a few more minutes of composing herself, Se-ri finally had the courage to step inside the car that was waiting to take her to the airport toward the boarding gate where her flight back home to Seoul was.

But not without leaving anything behind.

Se-ri left her heart in Switzerland hoping that when the time came and she was back there again, Jeong-hyeok would have found her heart.