Forgotten Night

Flashback #8

25 January 2013, 6:30 PM

Hyun and I were walking into the Agency Office when a lady walked to us. I did not recognize her, but it felt like I have seen her somewhere. But it felt like Hyun recognized her. She seemed a few years older than us and looked a sweet kind of person, and was looking at Hyun now with a smile that had a slight sadness lingered in it.

"Han Nabi Nuna?" Hyun asked with doubt. I paused because I knew that name. Nabi was not such a common name. Especially with that surname 'Han'. [In Japanese Ha-Na-Bi/Hanabi means firework. In Korean, Nabi means 'butterfly'] I knew who she was. I had heard about her. At first from my brother, and then from Hyun. And I have seen her once. At my brothers funeral. I remember her now, clearly. I could not forget that face that looked totally shocked at Oppa's death, so shocked that she could not even properly cry. Her tears were frozen on her face.

"How are you?" She asked Hyun. "I see you a lot on TV these days. It's great to see you so successful like this."

He nodded. "What are you doing in office?" He asked. Because she had quit her job five years back. Actually, after YuJin Oppa died.

She took out something from her bag and held it to Hyun. "I...am getting married." She told him holding out an invitation card.

I felt kind of strange inside. Maybe when I thought about Nabi Nuna, I always liked to think about her as YuJin Hyung's girlfriend. The fact that she was moving on from him and getting married and now will be someone else's wife and all, I kind of had an issue adjusting with that. I know it has been 5 years since YuJin Hyung died. She was supposed to move on. And they had broken up while Hyung was alive.

I took the card from her hand.

"I hope you will attend." She said, "I want you to."

I nodded. Yeah, I should go. I still felt a bit strange about it though. I don't know why I thought that Han Nabi Nuna will always just love YuJin Hyung. Maybe in my mind, their relationship was so profound that it felt eternal. Even after they broke up, I liked to think that she still loved Hyung. I was 16 when I watched them be in love. I guess in my young mind, I had made them my idol. And pasted 'true love' title to them. But I reminded myself that just because she is getting married now did not mean that she loved YuJin Hyung any less. She was a human. And she was alive. Indeed she should be moving on. I hoped she will be happy in her life. "I will attend for sure," I told her. She nodded with a smile. And then she looked at YuBin. She knew YuBin was YuJin Hyung's sister.

The lady was looking at me now. "I hope you attend too." She told me. I smiled at her politely and nodded. She gave me a wedding invitation card. And then had some small talk with Hyun, where he asked what does her future husband do etc. My mind wandered off.

23 December 2004, 10:30 PM

"I got a girlfriend." YuJin Oppa said, sitting on my bed. Yuri had fallen asleep while playing. She was still holding on to Oppa's shirt sleeve in her sleep. I was sitting studying at my desk. I looked at him. He looked a bit embarrassed. "You are the first person I am telling this to." He said. "I mean, Hyun already knows. But I did not tell him. He just knows because he is there by me all the time." I was surprised. Not because he found a girlfriend. But because he looked really happy about that. And shy. I was seeing that side of him for the first time.