Recurring Memory

Chapter I

The picturesque view of the garden, filled with flowers, mostly of daffodils and lily of the valley, was her perfect kind of sight whenever she holds a pen and jots down the scenes inside her head. It's every writer's pleasure to have her own sanctuary. Lucky for her, she was blessed with one.

It was her dream house. Featured a couple of times in real estate and interior design magazines, the house was surely grand. Prior to the sealing of marital vows, her husband, then boyfriend, handed her a key. To her surprise, it was the key of the house she always perceived their love nest would be. The love nest was then called the Apricus which means full of sunlight. To him, she was the sun to his life and Apricus was the symbolism of his love for her – ever glowing and everlasting.

A hilltop house located at the east side of Seoul with cinematic sunrise, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, neat and big kitchen, a library where she would spend most of her time reading her collection of Sidney Sheldon books, a well-maintained lawn where she personally planted her most adored flowers, and a balcony by their bedroom where the busy life of the big city could be seen perfectly – everything was according to her liking, and he, being head-over-heels for her, did everything he could to give her the world.

It was only ten in the morning, yet, rain was pouring really hard. Sitting on her comfort chair with her arms hugging her knees, she drowned her thoughts to an endless nothing. The sound of the raindrops as they touch the green grass was her most favorite music to hear, but not at that very moment. She was preoccupied. She was lost in her own thoughts. She felt cold and lonely. Unwashed dishes were all piled up in the kitchen sink. Crumpled papers, probably her scratches after writing a crappy chapter, were scattered on the floor. A rejected paper bind with "manuscript" written on it was dumped in a trash bin next to her working desk. Empty cans of beer, unfinished bottles of soju and chip crumbs were all over the place. For the first time since they occupied the place, Apricus was a mess.

But nothing was messier than her state. Her dishevelled hair and swollen eyes were the best evidences to describe her disarrays. It has been a long time since she has last seen herself in the mirror.

Her phone kept on ringing. Thirty six missed calls and counting - from her mom, from her publisher and from her best friend, Hyo Jin, and she definitely had no intention of picking it up. On the other side of the phone was the head of the publishing company, who was desperate enough to hear a word from her.
The manuscript of her new novel was due a week before that day but it was the least of her concern.

The only thing in her head was her husband, Kim Tae Pyung, architect, a self-made billionaire and the founding owner of Korea's leading architecture company, 925 Architecture, Inc. He was a luminary in the architecture and engineering field. He was famous on his own.

Son Eon Jin, meanwhile, was a well-known novel writer. She was tagged as South Korea's Danielle Steele, known for her best-selling books like The Trouble of Hello, Lonely Highway and Gold Rush Bloodbath, all romance in genre. She has posed for Time Magazine for bringing modern Korean literature into the limelight.

Tae Pyung and Eon Jin's wedding shook the entire nation. They were all over the news. Their legacies in their own fields of expertise were to blame. Their marriage was close to perfect. All their friends envied how healthy their relationship was. Theirs was God-centered, faithful and loving. They adored each other so much. They were supportive of each other's career. They're happy in love and they've always come in pair.

However, one sudden news tore them apart. Kim Tae Pyung was gone missing. He has been gone for more than two weeks, eighteen days to be exact. No calls, no messages. His whereabouts were unknown. None of his colleagues, nor his friends knew where he was. The law enforcement was of no help.