How to Be Human [EDITING]

❤︎

ACT TWO

Love.

In telenovelas, love is described as something fated; something destined; something eternal. In reality, it's as transient as the fleeting touch of a summer breeze. It's a distant dream—a mirage that once danced on the golden horizons, but now fades away into the twilight.

It's hard to let go, and it hurts, but time moves on. So do people.

Love, Jisung realizes, isn't immune to the passage of time or the scars left by unforeseen circumstances. Love doesn't always go as promised. Sometimes, it's cruel, and sometimes, it's unfair. Sometimes, it leaves you bleeding. Other times, it's a knife to your back. Sometimes, love is a dagger piercing your heart, and sometimes, it's the bullet that tears the organ to shreds.

Jisung learned this lesson the hard way.

So, he takes a deep breath, and slowly picks up the shattered pieces of his heart. He stitches the flesh that's left open—the gaping wounds, and then, he locks the memories away; tucks into a desolate crevice in his mind, and tries his best to forget.

Because even if time has, Jisung can't bring himself to let go.

Not yet.

He loves too much, and he loses even more.

(Like the protagonist in a cheesy rom-com...but at least they always get a happy ending.)

Sometimes, Jisung wonders.

What if things had been different? What if fate hadn't been so cruel to him, and maybe, just maybe, was happy instead? Perhaps, in another life, Jisung wouldn't have ended up the way he did. Maybe, he wouldn't have fallen for someone he could never have. Maybe, in a different lifetime, he could have loved without regret.

But, it's too late for maybes. This is his reality, and this is the only life Jisung has to live, even if each step feels like he's nearing his end.

Sometimes, all the wishing and praying in the world can't change the way the dice is rolled.

All he can do is keep moving forward, and pray that fate is kinder to him the next time around.