11 months later... in Seoul
"Se Ri'ya, I'm on my way." Her mother's text interrupted the retort she had for Gu Seong Joon.
Se Ri had invited Gu Seong Joon over for a farewell lunch at her place. Now that Gu Seong Joon's sentencing was complete, he was a free man and ready to leave the country. The prosecution had reduced his changes in exchange for his co-operation to indict Se Hyung and Sang Ah, however, he couldn't escape prison time entirely.
"It could have been a lot worse being married to you," she offered as a rebuttal when Seong Joon had asked if she was better off being single before the text arrived.
"Well, thank god that we'll never find out," he quipped as he took in a mouthful of meat wrapped in lettuce.
Se Ri smiled while continuing to flip the meat strips over the table grill.
Gu Seung Joon's movements slowed as he noticed that the woman in front of him wasn't the same Se Ri he'd met a year back in Pyongyang. Despite her predicament of being in a country she didn't belong in, her smiles had reached her eyes then.
"Have you been in touch?" he hesitated to broach the subject that might damper her mood further. Nonetheless, he was curious."You know - with Ri Jeyong Hyuk?"
Se Ri froze. It had been a while since anyone used his name in her presence.
Averting her eyes, she giggled. "Are you kidding? It's not like he lives in Africa or even Antartica for me to give him a call. This is Pukan we are talking about."
"But he does know how to come over for a visit." Gu Seung Joon raised his eyebrows. "I helped him. Remember?"
"For that, I'll ever be thankful." She refused to meet his eyes. "And hopefully, there won't be a second time."
"You seriously wish that?" He was taken back with her response. "Don't get me wrong, but I have spent a fair share of my time being the third wheel between you two. I didn't expect that."
She turned off the grill and folded her arms. For all the days she spent yearning for him, it wasn't an easy answer. There was no doubt she wanted him in her life, but that would always remain unsaid on her part.
Just as she was preparing to respond, she heard the electronic beeps of her entryway door being unlocked. Her Omma was here.
She waved to her mother, as she entered the living area. Gu Seung Joon got off the chair and bowed in respect. Walking towards the kitchen, her omma gestured that they continue with their lunch and began putting away the groceries she'd brought.
Once Gu Seung Joon settled back in the chair, Se Ri lowered her voice to offer an explanation. "It's only a dream if you can live it for a short while," her voice began to crack, but she steadied herself in a wink. "In the end, we are always bound to return to a reality that's far cruel than the stuff nightmares are made of. I cannot have one without the other." She ended with a sigh.
"Do you mean it?" Gu Seung Joon put down the chopsticks and sat back to study her.
Se Ri carelessly bounced her shoulders. "Does it matter?"
Gu Seung Joon exhaled and on to the table, even as he was turning around to ensure that her omma was a good measure away. "What if I told you that I may go back to Pyongyang?"
"Are you crazy?" Se Ri's eyes widened. She struggled to believe that the man was returning for business. "Its a woman, isn't it?" She closed her mouth in shock, as realization quickly dawned on her. "Omo! Seo Dan'sshi?"
Gu Seung Joon cringed. "Now that I have told you, I feel terrible. But relieved just as much." Despite his assurance, embarrassment pooled into his face. Albeit a conman, it wasn't easy for Gu Seung Joon to tell the woman he'd proposed first that he was in love with another. Se Ri tapped his hand with understanding.
"I found the ring at the pawnshop," he continued, smiling as if caught in a reverie. "I proposed to her when I was hiding in Ri Jeyong Hyuk's home in the military outpost."
Oddly, the anticipated awkwardness didn't creep in. In the beginning, they had all been entangled with each other's interests. She was glad that at least one of them were destined to be together. "You did well Gu Seung Joon." Se Ri gave him an acknowledging smile.
They moved to the sunroom when done with lunch. "So does it matter now that I might make it back to Pyongyang?" Gu Seung Joon prompted again unsure of her resignation.
She tucked back a hair and put on a smile for her veil. "Ri Jyeong Hyuk and I have said more goodbyes than I would like." Se Ri paused looking afar at the billows of clouds that shared the same sky across their different worlds. "I hope he is happy. I pray that he is safe. I want him to hope for a future, notwithstanding the outcome."
Gu Seung Joon wanted to believe her. "You still wear the ring," he countered.
Se Ri looking down at her ring finger. "It's a part of me now." She turned it around, playfully, while fighting a familiar desperation inside to trust her own words. "Like a scar from a beautiful past. It's a keepsake of a love that was never meant to be."
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To: Tomato.Cultivator
Last active: 2-Feb-2019
Ms Edelweiss: I invited Gu Seung Joon over for lunch. He mentioned that he might be dropping in for a visit. I'm not jealous, but for a moment, I couldn't stop wishing it was I and not him who gets to come by. Perhaps, if I were to wait by your street corner long enough, will I get to see you cycling back home, Ri Jyeong Hyuk? On that note, at times I wonder if you secured that makeshift seat in the front, just to be close to me that night. When will you accept that you had fallen for me long before you could realize what it was? That reminds me that you haven't told me about your first love yet :/
I had to lie today, Ri Jeyong Hyuk. With omma being around, I had to tell Gu Seung Joon that I didn't want anything to change for us. But I hope you know that even if it meant saying many goodbyes, I would only choose 'us' all over again?
As that line from Pablo Neruda's Sonnet 18, titled 'I do not love you,' I suppose I have come to love you... "as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul."
Backing away from her desk, Se Ri watched the slow fall of snowflakes that began to stain the glass window. She smiled thankful for the beauty that still touched her heart.
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11 months later... in Pyongyang
"Major Ri Jyeong Hyuk Dongmu, will meet you now." The front desk associate directed Seo Dan to a large glass room that overlooked the city line of Pyongyang.
From behind his desk, Ri Jyeong Hyuk got to his feet and ushered Seo Dan towards the couch. "I would have come to meet you had you told me earlier."
Ri Jyeong Hyuk caught Seo Dan in her scrutiny of how life had shifted for him. She took in the room, the insignia on his uniform that gave away his new rank as a Major. She stopped to look directly at him before sitting down, her eyes lifted towards his swept-back hair.
In line with her usual self, Seo Dan held a serious look in her eyes. "It wasn't like you had time for me before to believe you will make time now." She scoffed. "You are not even Captain Ri Jyeong Hyuk anymore."
"It appears you are still mad at me, Seo Dan'sshi" He hoped that whatever allure that she held for her once had dissipated after the heartache he'd caused her.
"Am I not allowed?" she sat up in her seat, mistaking his statement for an accusation. "I was your namesake fiance for ten years after all."
Ri Jyeong Hyuk looked away briefly to collect himself. "It was never fair to you." He said, leaning forward. "I should have apologized sooner. If it still counts, I'm sorry, Seo Dan'sshi."
Seo Dan's gaze dropped to the floor. Her fingers bunched the bag handle she was clutching. After a moment, she abruptly opened the bag. "I wanted to return this to you," she said, placing his camera on the table.
"This is my old camera!" Ri Jyeong Hyuk was pleasantly surprised. When he'd moved out of the house in the military outpost, he'd presumed he'd lost it. "How did it come into your possession?" His forehead creased from a simmering curiosity.
"I had visited your home at the outpost a long time ago." She lingered for a bit before she could go on. "To meet Gu Seung Joon."
Ri Jyeong Hyuk sensed her sudden reserve. He inferred that it was from more than what she just admitted to him.
"When looking for a candle, I spotted this camera. It reminded me of the time you had eyes for everything but me and so I took it." Despite her diffidence, he couldn't miss her glare.
"The camera is nearly vintage." He offered a digress. "It's possible that it doesn't even work."
"It works." She slid the camera towards him. Seo Dan went still and faced him with an unseen sincerity. "I fixed it and while looking through the pictures, I also learned of the reason why we weren't fated to be together."
"Anyway," she hurriedly stood up, before he could prepare a response. "I'm past it and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I kept you from your destiny."
Ri Jyeong Hyuk, reached out to pick up the camera and paced to catch up with Seo Dan who was already on the move.
"I will take leave now." She bowed and exited before Ri Jyeong Huyk could acknowledge at his end.
There was still a modicum of guilt left in Ri Jyeong Hyuk for not having had the courage to either pursue or break their engagement early on. However, Seo Dan's admission that they weren't fated to be together indicated a closure to her bitterness and it strangely eased his mind.
Switching the camera on, he drifted towards the window. He clicked on the back button to peruse the images from a past that was long-forgotten. His father had given him the camera as a gift, shortly before he left for Switzerland. It had signified approval of the career path he'd chosen then. Though he'd lacked composition skills, the sublime beauty of the locations had redeemed itself even in his amateur shots.
The pictures changed with every click, but as he went past the Sigriswil, Panaroma Bridge shots, his finger wavered. A sliver of doubt shook his hand. The familiar spell of warmth tugged his chest. He switched direction and clicked to go back to the picture that had seized his flow.
He zoomed in and found himself smiling at the play of destiny. He'd captured Se Ri on the bridge way before he could recognize her. To him, these small revelations were both surreal and arduous, when they didn't make it easy to hold on or let go.
Nevertheless, he always accepted them as reminders that theirs was a love that was always meant to be.
His thumb grazed her cheek wanting to erase the pained expression. "I hope you are smiling now," he whispered a prayer to the heavens.
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His phone rang, as he was getting ready for bed. It was Ju Muk on the other end. "Ri Jyeong Hyuk Dongmu, if you are free, could we meet now?"
"Is something the matter?"
"Not particularly." Ju Muk drew out his words. "I know that you asked us to steer clear of anything to do with Se Ri Dongmu, unless she was in danger, but -"
"Why?" Ri Jyeong Hyuk urgently shuffled out of bed at the mention of her name. "Did you hear any whisper in the dark web?"
"No, it's not like that." Ju Muk stopped again and Jyeong Hyuk's heart began to race, despite the dismissal. "Our Eun Deok came across something by happenstance. I don't think its right for us to check it out without you."
Jyeong Hyuk, tried to appear calm. "This is a secure line. Just tell me now."
It was another moment before Ju Muk spoke. "We think Se Ri Dongmu has been writing to your game ID."
"Come again?" Ri Jyeong Hyuk fell back against the wall.
"There are 237 messages addressed to you from the ID Ms.Edelweiss." Ju Muk elaborated.
It wasn't long before he was speeding through the streets of Pyongyang to reach where Ju Muk and Eun Dong lived.
Somehow he'd fooled himself to believe that the ebb and flow of time would allow Se Ri to untie herself from him. However, he'd discounted for the other forces at play. As he drove through the empty streets, he reckoned that the picture he'd taken of her picture from the Sigriswil Panorama bridge was an answer in itself.
Their destiny was knotted beyond time and space. It was not theirs, but only for the gods to decide.