In Another Life: Han Ji Pyeong's Happy Ending (Start Up)

Chapter 3: Chemistry

Dal mi's POV

Halmeoni smiles as I help her apply cucumbers on her face.
"Halmeoni, just you wait. When I'm finished with your facial, you'll look twenty years younger!" I say happily.
"Aigoo, these cucumbers would be better eaten, rather than yielded to my face." Halmeoni says but still smiles brightly. "What a waste of food." She adds.

"Halmeoni, this is not a waste. This is an investment!" I exclaim. Halmeoni smiles at me.

"Dal mi ah," She starts.

"Orh? What is it?" I reply as I start nibbling on the extra cucumber pieces.

"Which Do san do you like better?" Halmeoni asks. I stare at her for a second, thinking I must have misheard her.

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

Halmeoni doesn't look me in the eye.

"The one who used to write you letters fifteen years ago or the one you met again as an adult?" Halmeoni asks in a serious tone.

"What? What kind of question is that?" I ask. I sound confused but my answer still pops up in my head, as if it were an instinct. As if my heart knew something that I don't.

I try stalling for a second. I'm almost scared to voice out the answer that popped up in my head.

"Anyway, which Do san would you pick? The pen pal Do san or the Do san that you know now?" Halmeoni asks again.

"Mmm... The pen pal Do san." I say, parroting the answer that came to mind the moment Halmeoni asked. "He's my first love. I care about him and treasure him dearly."

Halmeoni's question seems to have opened a can of worms, because now I'm airing all my thoughts out loud.

"Maybe it's because it happened a long time ago... I mean, fifteen years is a long time," I say. "And within fifteen years, people can change a lot..." I say quietly. A million thoughts fill my head and I have to process them one by one.

"I'm still getting used to Do san I met as an adult. Honestly, when I met him, he was quite different from fifteen years ago. You know, the words in his letters used to flow so easily, like a stream of water. And each time I read his letters, they are a great source of comfort to me." I say. A sudden sense of deep longing has abruptly lodged itself in my gut. Suddenly, I have a great desire to read the letters again. To hear Do san's voice through those beautiful written words. I have a weird urge to cry, which frustrates me. Why should I be crying? I should be happy. I have found my first love.

"Do you miss the pen pal Do san?" Halmeoni asks quietly. She can read me like a book so I try to stiffen my face. I crack a smile.

"Why do you make it sound like they are different Do sans?" I say.

"I guess it just takes time to build chemistry." I say before Halmeoni can answer me.

My face feels stiff and the air seems to be closing in around me.

"Anyway, I'm tired. Halmeoni, I'll go to bed now. Good night!" I pretend to yawn, finding an excuse to escape back to my room.

Halmeoni's POV

"But chemistry is something that is found... not built." I say softly after Dal mi has gone back to her room.

Dal mi's POV

"Ah jeez, why is my face so warm." I mutter to myself as I rub my cheeks which feel hot. There's a restlessness unfurling within me.

I reach for the box of letters from Do san and read them. His words are like a gentle melody that has a way of soothing my soul.

I can almost hear his voice through these letters. Each word is like a gentle hand that reaches out and holds my hand, holds my worries... holds my heart.

Reading his letters is like a gentle hand reaching out and slowly caressing my face...

"Oh my!" I gasp in shock. As I imagined the letters reaching out like a gentle hand, a sudden image of Ji Pyeong removing the thread from my head flashed across my mind.

"What are you doing?" I chide myself and slap myself. "Shake it off." I sigh as I shake my head from left to right.

I push away that thought of Ji Pyeong and dive deeper in the letters.

"He really has such beautiful handwriting..." I whisper as my fingers run over the neatly written words.

"I miss you." The words flow out of me.

I soak in the beautiful written words.

"Wait, what am I doing?" I sigh as I push the letters aside. I scold myself. Why do you seem to behave as if there really are two Do sans.

Shaking my head, I tell myself to snap out of it. I push the letters aside and dive into the email that Ji Pyeong sent me, with regards to my questions.

"Wah, he really answered all my questions." I gasp in awe. It's as if I've been handed the treasure map and there are millions of gems waiting to be discovered.

As I read through the email, Ji Pyeong's voice flows in my mind.

I slam my computer shut when I realise that Ji Pyeong's voice resembles the voice that I imagined the letters in. It's absolutely bizarre. I read the email and the letters in the same voice.

"Oh my gosh. I must be really sleep deprived." I say quickly and quickly shove my laptop and the letters away. 

Out of sight, out of mind.