1975

(8)

It had been a few months since Pan-yong and Begonia’s wedding. Begonia had shifted all her things to Pan-yong’s room although nothing had really changed. She used to stay at her dad’s house whenever she wanted. Funny part is that whenever they argued on something, Begonia would kick Pan-yong out of his own house. So, there were a lot of times when Pan-yong stayed at Jimin’s house while Begonia stayed at Yoongi’s.

“Dad where did you keep the car keys?” Pan-yong yelled as he was getting late for his work. “It’s on the side table in my room” Yoongi replied while grooming his flower plant sitting in the veranda. Pan-yong huffed as he had to remove his shoes although he just tied them. He dropped his office bag on the couch and headed towards Yoongi and Nellisa’s room. He walked towards the night stand on Yoongi’s side but couldn’t find the keys. He looked at the other night stand on Nellisa’s side but they weren’t there either. So he went back to the first one and started rummaging through the drawers.

He didn’t find the keys but one thing caught his eyes. “Cinderella?” Pan-yong said as he took out the old book in his hands. He chuckled as he said, “Dad’s into Disney princess stories? Unbelievable” He remembered that he was getting late so he was about to keep the book back in its place when suddenly something fell from it. Pan-yong crouched and picked the thin white material. Being curious he turned it around and to his surprise it was Jimin. His eyebrows furrowed, why would Yoongi keep a picture of Jimin? That too in a story book? And by the looks of it, it was obvious that the picture was very old and Jimin was very young when it was taken. He turned the picture to see if anything was written on it. “09 September, 1965” Pan-yong’s confusion increased even more after seeing the date. He had to know what was going on.

“Dad?” Yoongi looked at Pan-yong who looked extremely lost. “You didn’t leave yet?” “Dad, what’s with you and Cinderella?” “Huh? What do you mean?” “Okay, let me change my question a bit. What’s with you and him?” Pan-yong asked showing Yoongi the picture that he had in his hand. Yoongi instantly stood up as he snatched the photo away from Pan-yong. “Who told you to go through my things?” “I didn’t meant to. But now that I already have seen it, I would like to know the story behind it” “You’re getting late. Go to your work” Pan-yong rolled his eyes as he sat on one of the bamboo chairs in the veranda. Yoongi looked at Jimin’s picture as he sighed. Pan-yong was stubborn and curious, he won’t stop till he knows. Yoongi always thought of letting Pan-yong know everything someday. But he wasn’t prepared for it right now. Yet he had no other choice.

“You remember the day you asked me if the one I fell for was your mom or not” “Yeah” “And I said ‘you’ll know’ ” “Uh-huh” “I guess today’s the day when you’ll actually get to know about it” Yoongi said as he sat down. “Finally” Pan-yong smiled. “It wasn’t. It wasn’t your mom with whom I fell in love. I don’t know how many times a person can fall in love but for me it was just once. I fell once and never got over it” “So…was it…” “You guessed it right. It was and still is Jimin”

When Yoongi finished his story, his eyes were teary. Pan-yong felt overwhelmed which made him instantly hug his dad. Yoongi felt relieved as his son wasn’t narrow minded and so he took it all positively. And that day Pan-yong didn’t go for work at all. He sat there with his dad and had a heart to heart conversation, a very long one. They sat there till sunset when Begonia came back from her work and Nellisa came back from her day out with Sangmi.

Yoongi felt a lot light hearted after that day. He was very happy to let Pan-yong know everything. He felt delighted because talking about the past made him realize that even after all the problems and sorrows Jimin was still there with him and so was he.

Year: 2019
Winter. The lake’s water was frozen. All the green plants coated with snow. Streets were slippery and there were  snowflakes on all the boats and benches. A few snowman were built here and there. The sun was hiding behind the fluffy and grumpy clouds. Everything was peacefully silent.

Jimin and Yoongi were sitting on the bench at the corner of the lake. The same bench where once they had planned to run away years ago. They didn’t get to run away then and now they didn’t had the strength in their legs to run. Jimin’s head on Yoongi’s shoulder, as usual. Their hands were intertwined. A lot of freckles and folds on their skin, things you get for free as you age. Yoongi was 72 and Jimin was 70.

“Where did all the time go?” Jimin asked stroking Yoongi’s hand. “To hell” “Shut up” “Fine” Yoongi sighed. “Yoongi, do you have any regrets?” Yoongi didn’t reply. “Why aren’t you saying anything?” “Let me guess, because someone just told me to shut up?” “Idiot, speak” “No, I don’t. I don’t have any regrets at all. All I have is you” “Cheesy” “But that’s a 100% cheese free truth that I just said” Jimin laughed. “Seriously Jimin, things might not have been like what we wished for but we got what we wanted. We grew old together” “Will anyone believe us if we say that although we ourselves are about to die any day but our love is still as fresh as the time when we were kids?” “They don’t need to. It’s our precious little secret” “I love you” Jimin said as he connected their lips. The warmth of the kiss felt like enjoying a few seconds of summer in that freezing winter. “I love you too”

The next morning was very hard. Pan-yong woke up to his mom’s broken cries. When he ran to her room, he saw her sitting on the bed’s side holding Yoongi’s now cold hands. He had passed away in his sleep. Pan-yong couldn’t even process his loss when the doorbell rang. Begonia opened the door to find a sobbing Sangmi. She took the younger two to her house because when she woke up and called her husband, he didn’t move at all. Jimin too had passed away in his sleep.

After the doctor came and confirmed their death, the sound of mourning in that house kept increasing. The doctor had confirmed that Yoongi had passed away at 3:29 am and Jimin at 4:13 am. Just a few minutes between the two soul’s departures. Both the deaths were natural, very common for people in that age.

Everyone was wearing warm and comfortable black clothes. The two shining black coffins kept at the center of the lake side. There was a bouquet of begonia flowers kept in front of the two frames of pictures of Jimin and Yoongi. They sure did love each other till they took their last breathe and maybe even after that.

Pan-yong’s one arm was wrapped around Begonia’s shoulder as the other was holding one of his twin kids. Begonia was crying her eyes out in her husband’s chest while holding the other twin in her arms. Instrumental of “Everybody loves somebody” was chosen as the funereal music, thanks to Pan-yong.

No one present there had any smile on their face. No one except Pan-yong. He sure had tears in his eyes but there was a content smile on his face. He was content to see how strong the bond of love was between Yoongi and Jimin. Right when he heard that Yoongi was the one to leave first and Jimin later, he felt overwhelmed. Surely, Mr. Prince Charming didn’t want to leave alone so he took his Cinderella with him.

“And that’s how Cinderella and Prince Charming went to another universe and stayed with each other happily ever after” Pan-yong said as he placed kisses on the twins foreheads. The younger ones still didn’t know why their dad would tell them a story that is nothing like the original one. But they never complained as that one was their favorite and although it didn’t had anything to do with magic, it still was magical.

Pan-yong turned off the lights of his kid’s room as he went to his own. He saw Begonia sleeping peacefully so without making any noise he went to his cupboard. He opened the locker and saw that old Cinderella book. He took it out to look at the age old objects that he had decided to preserve as long as he can. In between page 18 and 19 lied a picture and a flower.

                                The End