The Choices I Never Made (annyeongz version)

Prelude

"Shall we die together?"

You whispered to me

At the night of firefly.

Suzuki Masajo

***

Yujin read about it once. She's seeing things. The lack of access to actual food is causing the 28-year-old woman to hallucinate.

That's it. She's hallucinating. Her mind is playing dangerous tricks on her. That's the only rational explanation for the three words before her, striking even with the low brightness of her phone screen.

I'm outside. –Wonyoung

That's it. The lack of accountability for herself and her body is taking a toll on her cognizance. She's hallucinating. None of this is real. Because there is no fucking way Jang Wonyoung is messaging her after six years of not recognizing each other's presence.

How would she even know my number?

That's right. This isn't Wonyoung. This is probably just some bored kid messaging random phone numbers and it just so happened to be hers unfortunately selected.

That's it. Nothing's wrong here. Yujin tosses her phone away, watching as the device haphazardly lands on the unkempt white spreading of her bed. She decides a shower will do her some peace of mind so she grabs her towel on the drying rack and heads over to the bathroom across the hall.

***

Kim Gaeul answers after the fourth ring. "Yes?"

"Are you sure you gave me the right address and number?" Wonyoung doesn't even greet, impatiently tapping her boot-clad foot on the pavement a few steps away from the front door of
the small wooden bungalow.

A snarky scoff resounds from the other line. Wonyoung can vividly imagine the confident look on her best friend's face. "I'm pretty sure, Wonyoung. I've visited her a lot of times."

"How about the number?"

"It's hers as well."

Wonyoung sulks. If that's the case then why hasn't she gotten any reply yet? "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Wonyoung." Gaeul answers, sounding equally frustrated and exhausted.

Wonyoung's chill about it. Everybody knows Gaeul's the last person in the world to get annoyed annoyed at her.

"Unlike you, I kept in touch with Yujin."

Somewhere inside the older woman is a painful sting called the truth. Wonyoung decides not to cause any dispute anymore. She stares at the house in front of her instead, nerves causing her hands to tremble.

Yujin lives in that?

The house is surrounded by a variation of bare trees with tall trunks, built in wood just like all the other houses in the small neighborhood. What looks to be the front yard is covered by a layer of snow with only the stoned pathway leading to the front door viewable. There's smoke coming out from the bricked chimney on top. Someone's home.

And that someone is Ahn Yujin. She is inside that small wooden bungalow. Wonyoung's heart is restless. She's beginning to ponder on her impulsiveness.

The prolonged indecisive silence from the other line tells Gaeul the older girl is regretting her decision only now. She won't argue with that. From the very beginning when Wonyoung asked for Yujin's phone number and address, she already knew this was going to be a bad idea. Despite the intuition, Gaeul didn't stop Wonyoung.