Joon Soo
"Baek Hu, I need you to do me a favour," I said as I called him one morning.
A couple of hours later, we were standing in front of a door that supposedly lead to my apartment. I pulled the cover on the door down and was confronted by numbers.
"As if I will remember a pin code," I said to him.
"Do you have your wallet on you?" Baek Hu asked.
"Yes." I pulled it out and passed it to him.
"No, your real one," he said after flicking through it.
"Oh, of course." I pulled the wallet I picked up from the hospital out of my other pocket and passed it to him.
Baek Hu took no time at all to extract a card and check the back. He punched in a couple of numbers and the light on the door went green. He waved his hand to the door, inviting me to open it.
I put my hand on the cold metal pole, and, after a deep breath, I opened it.
The room inside did not seem foreign, yet I did not completely recognise it either. As I walked in slightly and took my shoes off, I scanned over the room. My hazy dreams seem to fit this place. I remembered the dining table where we completed that puzzle. As my eyes swept across the room, they came to a halt when they met another's eyes.
"Annyeong," she barely made audible.
"Annyeonghaseyo," I replied with a slight bow.
"Annyeong, Audrey," Baek Hu said.
"You know each other?" I asked Baek Hu.
"Yes..." he trailed off.
"This is my apartment, right?" I asked her.
She gave a small nod.
"Why are you here?"
"I'm just collecting some... Do you not remember me at all?"
I cocked an eyebrow and glanced over her, when suddenly a memory came to mind. Her face lit up. "Oh! You were at the hospital, right?"
The excitement immediately dropped from her face and she said, "Yes."
"That's not what you're referring to?"
She let out a sigh and wheeled a suitcase out of the room she was standing in. "It's fine. It doesn't matter anyway."
She walked passed me and slipped her shoes on.
"Who are you, by the way?"
She turned around and forced a smile. But the smile didn't mask the sorrow in her eyes. "I'm Audrey Jones. We knew each other once... before your accident."
I nodded. "I'm sorry that I can't remember you. Were we close?"
"Well... no. No we weren't." Without another word, she slipped out of the apartment.
"If we weren't close, then why does it seem like she was living here?" I asked Baek Hu.
"Do you really not remember her?" he responded.
I shook my head. "Why? Is she someone important?"
"Yes."
"Would she... possibly have anything to do with the girl I was going to marry?"
Baek Hu's eyes lit up. "Yes. Did you remember something?"
"Hold on."
I ran out the door, scanning the hallway. She was already gone. I reached the end of the hallway and saw the elevator was already heading to the ground floor. I headed over to the stairwell, taking two steps as a time as I raced downwards. I reached the bottom and headed out into the foyer. The retreated red-headed figure walked out the front door.
"Audrey, wait!" I called out, but she didn't hear me.
I followed her out onto the pathway and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. I was breathless. Bent over, I tried to regain a steady rhythm. "I—called—out—but—you—couldn't—hear."
She put a hand on my back and bent over to meet my gaze. "Don't exhaust yourself," she told me.
Once I caught my breath, I stood back up and looked her in the eyes. "Why were you in my apartment? You never answered."
"I was..."
"You were?"
"I was..."
"What?"
"I was... collecting things."
"Your things?" I looked down at her suitcase. "Were you staying in my apartment? Why? We must have been close for that."
She shook her head and avoided my gaze. "I was collecting a friend's things."
"My fiancé's?"
She nodded.
"What was she like? Do you know?"
"Messed up. But you really helped her. Like, you two fought quite a lot but... in the end, you couldn't give up on each other. It's a shame that this happened. You two felt so right together..."
"Do you possibly have a picture of her?"
She looked at her shoes. "They're on your phone."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket that I had retrieved from the hospital. "I'm sure she wouldn't have told you, but, by any chance, do you know the passcode?"
She looked up into my eyes as she said her next words. "It's her birthday. Day then month."
"And what's her birthday?"
She shook her head. "If you miss her enough, you'll remember."
With that, she turned around and walked away.
I went back up to the apartment and found Baek Hu in the kitchen, having a glass of water.
"Do you know my fiancé's birthday?"
"How do you know you had a fiancé?"
"I remembered her."
His eyebrows furrowed. "You sure?"
"Well, I remember proposing. I remember the feelings. I just don't remember her. It's driving me insane and I hate this."
"But how did you remember her?"
"She kept coming up in my dreams and after going to the hospital to collect my belongings, I found a ring."
"What else did you find in your belongings."
"Well... Oh! There was a photo of that Westerner, Eo-da-ree Jeon-su, or whatever her name was."
"Yeah? Show me."
I pulled the wallet out and showed him the photo. "It's ripped though. So I'm guessing the missing part ripped off is what my fiancé looked like. If I could just see her, I'm sure I'd remember her."
A sigh left Baek Hu's mouth.
"What?"
"I don't think you ever will remember her."
"But I have to! It's not right to feel like I'm missing someone and know she's gone, but not mourn her."
"Wait, wait, wait... mourn?"
"Because she's dead."
"Why do you think that?"
"Eomma told me. I know you've all been avoiding telling me in order to not upset me. But I know. I just want to remember her so that she's properly missed. If anyone should remember her, then I should."
Baek Hu sighed again. "Babo."