The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 5

956 🩺 A Final Goodbye & Thank You

🛑 Stop
AN IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR READERS REGARDING THEFT:

If you are reading this outside W-A-T-T-P-A- D, then you are reading STOLEN WORKS 🛑

PLEASE REPORT THIS UNDER COPYRIGHT, and do not support thieves. It breaks my heart.

Sincerely,
Eve ♡

~~~

There was a beautiful view from the hill Hongjoong stood upon, looking out over green pastures and farms for as far as the eye could see. The breeze was gentle and cool on his cheeks, and beneath an old flowering tree, light pink flower petals drifted down around him in gentle succession. It was quiet, calm, with birdsong ever present, and perhaps, for some, this was paradise.

Or at least, as close as it would likely come to it.

It felt bittersweet as he stood before two timber crosses overlooking the view, with blooming flowers planted amongst them, pebble borders, and fresh colourful bouquets laid in offering, as though this was a place often visited.

His throat was dry, his hands slightly shaky, but he did not regret coming alone.

Swallowing, he took a deep breath and knelt down before the crosses, placing two bunches of flowers down, one before each cross. Pulling photos from his jacket pocket, he gently laid them down between them, letting his eyes glaze across them...

One was of himself... Unaware he was being photographed, smiling, or maybe even laughing at something that made him look so happy...

Another of him and his husband, hugging in their kitchen, enjoying the simplicity of their morning...

One of Seonghwa and Nabi sleeping in bed together, such gentle trust and love between them and their fluffy, soft hair...

Another of himself and Nabi at the table—yoghurt all across his beautiful daughter's grinning face, and his own eyes down on his little girl, hand brushing over her chestnut hair...

... The last of their little family all dressed up before the garden of white roses... Rings upon their fingers, and bows in Nabi's hair...

Forcing his lungs to gently inhale, he rested back on his heels, taking a moment to glance back towards the church, and those he had left behind to be alone, here...

Closing his eyes, he let all of the emotions he had spent a full year pushing down with all the force he could, bubble to the surface, and let their weight tug down upon him.

Opening his eyes, he let his gaze fall upon the two photographs attached to the crosses...

One of Nabi's mother...

And one of his own.

'Nabi is nearly one,' he said, the first words spoken into the gentle silence, filled only the breeze, birdsong, and the soft falls of petals around them one could only hear if they listened ever so intently...

He gazed at the photo of his husband asleep with Nabi in their bed, and let his heart tug towards it.

'She is learning to walk...' he said quietly. 'She scales the walls and the cupboards and the couches, following her father around, always with a toy in hand...