Men Are Slowpokes | SKZ Han | Case 143 Universe#6.99 ✓

Men Are Slowpokes | SKZ Han

"Even in bed my ideas yearn towards you, my Immortal Beloved, here and there joyfully, then again sadly, awaiting from Fate, whether it will listen to us. I can only live, either altogether with you or not at all."

- Ludwig Van Beethoven, der brief "Unsterbliche Geliebte" / Immortal Beloved Letter

***

The day began the same way the past few days had begun, grim, gray, gloomy. February marched like a lion and almost half it flew away within a blink. The sunlight had begun to grow kinder and warmer with the temperature dropping a few degrees. Although to Noora, none of the differences mattered. She had been barely passing the days in a blur. And it was supposed to remain that way that day too, ever since the shutdown she had switched on for the sake of mere survival. She was okay, absolutely okay. Nothing was wrong with her. Nobody could convince her otherwise. So what if he had released some song on the fissure of lava? It wasn't a problem. It wasn't her problem. He wasn't her problem. She made the wise decision and left the problem back in December where it belonged, miles away from her. Everything was alright. Because the problems were out of her sight thus out of her mind.

But then the problem crawled back on its own. It follows, they say, like a phantom or a shadow. She didn't expect it to follow and find her here in Nürnberg, at Rothenburger Straße. She had only decided to pay a short visit to Kaufland on this fine weekend morning because her groceries ran out.

But un-miraculously on the way, she came across the problem she was running away from. He was standing in skin, flesh, and bone, right in front of Kiosk Kaiser 2, opposite to Hayman's Döner. He wasn't supposed to be here. What was he doing here? Just because she once told him back in Seoul that she used to eat döner a lot when she first moved to Germany and so they randomly decided that he needed to try döner and check his spice tolerance if ever he paid a visit to Germany? It was just a thoughtless suggestion, nothing more than that. He took it too seriously. Why did he take it too seriously? She never took him that seriously.

It didn't make sense. Noora must've been hallucinating. At this point it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. All that was left was her to begin to be surrounded by the ghost of him. And today being the day of commencement of the ghost-ceremony blended perfectly with the gloomy sky of Sankt Leonhard. The air was smoky and foggy, whereas the sky decided to cover itself with an ashen drapery. The sunlight that was promised in the beginning of the day decided to visit the tropical lands. Of course, why would she ever even trust the sun? Amidst the misty gray weather, maybe the Han Jisung she just witnessed might be a ghost after all. He had dressed up that part, an attempt to blend in with the European crowd clad in monochrome shades, his black oversized hoodie, gray sweatpants, and a black beanie. And that blasphemous blue scarf. A pair of headphones rested at the back of his neck that was wrapped in that blasphemous blue scarf.

Noora was waiting to see if the outlines of his ghostly appearance would fade and eventually disappear as whole while the crowd walking past him increased and decreased over the passing minutes. He was only an illusion her fragile mind conjured up. She was going to prove it to herself. But then the illusion glanced back at her, made eye contact with her, startled with recognition, and kept walking toward her slowly and steadily, his earnest glossy pair of eyes never leaving hers. There was a hint of anticipation and a hint of anxiety in that pair of eyes, as if he wasn't her illusion, she was his. And if he didn't catch her on time, she might fade into thin air.

Wait, that's not how she had predicted the picture to turn out to be. Illusions don't chase, do they? Why did this illusion have such vivid expressions? It was too late. He was standing right before her, defying her estimations and expectations. She suddenly felt like she had nowhere to run off to. She had that chance but she missed it and she was to blame completely. She always kept ruining her chances.