Twisted Paths

Refuse To Be The End

But there was nothing. Nothing but the hollow ache inside me that refused to go away. I wanted to scream. I wanted to rage at the unfairness of it all, to shake someone until they made it all reverse. But I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but stand there, broken.

"Joon-soo, please..." Ha-ri's voice broke through the fog in my mind, her hand on my shoulder, trying to steady me, to pull me back to reality. But reality... reality was too much. Too much for me to handle.

She was gone.

Aera was gone.

The life we had planned, the family we'd dreamed of, the love we had fought for—gone. And all I had left were memories of her smile, of her fire, of the way she made me feel like I was worth something. But now... now I was just empty.

I felt the tears before I even realized they were coming, hot and heavy as they burned their way down my face. I didn't bother wiping them away. I didn't care. The tears didn't matter anymore. Nothing did. Not without her.

Nothing.

A crowd had formed on the bridge, although it was almost 1 am at night, people were still out, still curious as ever.

Ha-ri gripped onto my shoulder, looking down at the water while Ji-min was sobbing on the phone. I think it was Aera's brother.

How could this happen though? Just last month, we got married. Just yesterday, I was in the hospital, whining about a fever that didn't matter, her scolding me for being too stubborn.

Suddenly, one of the officers from the river bank let out a yell that reached even up here on the bridge. "We found the body! Inform the paramedics!"

Ha-ri almost fell down trying to stand straight while I shot up. Hye-rin gripped my wrist and yanked me forward. "Come on damn it! They might be able to get to her, they might save her!"

I stumbled forward, my feet dragging beneath me like they were made of lead. My breath was ragged, each inhale coming short and sharp. The words didn't process, didn't settle in my mind. They found her? They could save her?

But I had my doubts.

Aera...she was gone. Gone when the car hit the water. Gone when her body went under. Gone in a way that didn't leave room for hope.

Still, I let Hye-rin pull me, her grip tight and desperate. Her breath matched mine, uneven and frantic, like we could somehow pull her back if we just kept moving. But there was no escaping the truth. The truth that hit like a weight on my chest.

Ha-ri was muttering, barely keeping herself together, and I could hear Ji-min's choked sobs as he tried to make contact with Aera's brother. But all I could focus on was that feeling. The heavy, suffocating weight of loss. The feeling of nothing. A hollow, aching space in my chest where she used to be.

We reached the bank, and I could see the paramedics now—working quickly, pulling something from the river. My heart stopped. I didn't need to see her face. I didn't need to hear the officer's voice when he said, "No pulse, no signs of life." It didn't matter. The truth was in the cold, empty air between us, thick with finality.

And just like that, everything—everything—crashed down on me.

I couldn't breathe. My lungs were on fire, struggling to fill with air, but it was too much. Too much to handle. The sobs, the choked sounds breaking from me, felt foreign. Like someone else's grief taking over my body.

Aera. My wife. My love. The mother of our child.

Gone.

But for some reason, I refused to believe that, refused to believe she was gone.