Memories | Sanjoong

37. Patience

*
Feels like you're
standing on the edge
Looking at the stars
and wishing you were them
*

San stared at the array of books around him. This was his final chance. He knows that he didn't have long left because when he was on the phone with Wooyoung, he stupidly mentioned Busan. His father would do anything to bring San home and if he has help from Wooyoung's dad (which he most probably does), San could be dragged back to Seoul at any moment.

His first plan was to sift through the entire pile of books. He found something important in one of them so his best guess was that there was more where that came from. As he sat in the middle of the piles, San wasn't expecting much. Just because he found one doesn't mean he'll find a whole lot more, but this all depended on Mr. Park's son. He was an interesting character to San because they were so similar. All San had to do was think about what he would do if he was in that boy's place, and he would find something.

Picking up a book, San first inspected the cover. It was another romance book with a typical and dusty cover. San opened it, flicking through the pages, only to be disappointed. There was nothing in it. He sighed and placed the book inside a box then picked up another. It seemed to San that there was a recurring theme of romance books that seem to tell a sad story. Either Mr. Park's son enjoyed the genre, or they had a link to the memories.

As San continued to open books and find nothing, he was beginning to think that this was a bad idea and a waste of time. He must've just got lucky with the first one. But suddenly as he was flipping through yet another tragic romance book, San's eyes fell on something colourful on the dull pages. He stopped on that page to take a closer look. San noticed that a couple of lines were highlighted with a neon yellow colour.

Decades will go on and my heart will still yearn for you.

And when a butterfly visits, I'll know that it's you.

And when my years catch up to me, I might see you

But what if you're not there when finally, I reach you

San's eyes furrowed as he quickly went back to the cover of the book. It read 'Memories of You'. It was a poetry book. He took his time to look closely at all the pages and found that a couple poems were highlighted and from each poem, a few key lines were highlighted. San took out his phone and took pictures of those pages, then kept that book close to him. He finally had some hope and started his search again.

By evening, San had managed to go through two boxes of books. His eyes hurt and his body was sore from being hunched over all the books. Out of a hundred different books, San kept 4 of them, whilst putting the rest back. Along with the poetry book that had highlighted lines, he found another book that was annotated and had colourful sticky notes covered in scribbles and the other two had a couple more photographs in them.

Picking up everything into his arms, San carefully went down the attic stairs to the bedroom. He placed everything on the empty desk, then turned a lamp on. He took out his notebook to record the things he found. San began by writing the different poetic lines down along with anything scribbled around them. When he was done, San looked at the photographs he had found.

First there was a picture of a daffodil field, a vast stretch of green stalks adorned with spots of yellow and white, some fully bloomed, some wilted. San knew what it linked to, but he couldn't make out if this was a real photograph taken in the boy's lifetime. There was something off about it. The condition and quality of the photograph made it seem old, but from what he knew, Mr Park's son was about his age before death.

The next photo was of a couple on their wedding day. They held each other's hands, the woman looking up at her groom with shining eyes. In contrast, the groom looked past her with an empty expression. San tried to work out who the couple was, already deciding the groom could not be Mr Park as the features were completely different. This photo was in the same condition, grainy and tattered.