INSIDE MONSTER. THE FUGITIVE.

CHAPTER 42: A SPARKLE OF LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

The old sawmill burnt eventually to the ground, leaving only a huge cloud of black smoke behind, which turned the old building into a kind of ghost if looking at it from far away. A building at which SolHi looked for a long time before entering Bear's car and leaving that place. The reason? She tried to remember if that place reminded her of a particular case or if she'd been brought there that night years ago when she lost her child and part of her life. „A night I would like to leave behind me but... I wasn't ever able to do that."

„Maybe you'll leave it behind one day," Bear told her when he stopped beside her, circling the car to get to her right.

Hearing him talking to her, SolHi winced. She did that, although she clearly heard him opening the door and heading toward her to check how she was. Yet, even if she heard him opening the door, she didn't see him coming, something that took her by surprise eventually when he talked to her. After that, understanding how pathetic she was to wince even when she was among friends, SolHi smiled and, looking at the young man out of the corner of her eyes, she told him, „Do you really think this? That... the past can be left behind and forgotten?"

„Honestly?" SolHi approvingly nodded. „Yes."

„Why?"

„Because... it's so easy to do this sometimes. It's easier than you believe, actually. Not for everybody, I also accept that. Yet, for those who don't have regrets about their past, they can forget it."

„Whereas I have plenty of regrets," SolHi whispered.

„Allow me to think differently," the young man confidently replied, making SolHi attentive. Seeing her watching him curiously, Bear smiled. Then, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the car, he said, „I was talking about regrets, something I don't think you have, and I think I'm right about that."

„What makes you think this?"

„The simple fact that you don't want to turn back time and change it?" SolHi winced this time. Then, she frowned, realizing that the young man was eventually right because she didn't want to turn back time and change the past. All she wanted was to forget it. „I'm right, right? You don't want to relive the night you lived years ago just to change something but to solve the mystery of that case and move on. Right?"

„I won't say that you aren't right because you are: I want to solve the mystery of that night and move on. Yet, this doesn't mean I don't regret what happened."

„I never said that because... all of us have regrets. Even so, in your case, the desire to bring justice to yourself and others prevails over the rest. Then, there are the regrets. Yet, I think they aren't as strong as the pain you keep in your soul, a pain that overwhelmed you for years."

SolHi frowned again, looking to her right. The young man instead kept looking in front at the big black monster that kept smoking in the distance. Then he smiled when SolHi said, „Although we didn't contact too much in the past, you seem to be someone who knows a lot of things about me. Why?"

„Dja Iun," Bear said, the pain was felt in his voice, making SolHi wince again.

„Dja Iun? Did he tell you about this?" Bear nodded. „Why? I mean... how did he know so much about me? As far as I remember, I have never talked to him about this case. All I told him were trivial things... something everybody knew."

„Yet, he went further than only talking to you about random things, Detective Ian. Dja Iun dug deeper than you wanted him to dig. Why? He had beautiful feelings for you. And, even if he knew he had no chance to have you, especially when Prosecutor Han appeared next to you and saw how your eyes sparkled while watching him, Dja Iun wanted to be at least that trustful friend you can count on in difficult times. He did everything because he cared about you and not because he was curious about what happened to you."