The Perfect Life

We Meet

Psych books say that the mind can lock memories away. Said person may or may never recover them in their lifetime. I think the heart can work in the same way. Human emotions are so complicated that if so distraught the heart just buries the pain away in hopes of better days. Beyond its bloody depths a person may never speak of hurt again.

That's the point of no return. Like a crime committed, hard to solve. Police, investigators, and forensics will need to do all their separate work to come to one solution. To bring justice, as much of peace as possible to the victim's family, but the perp is too smart at hiding. The problem gets bigger. More complicated.

Humanity is like that. Solving a problem can no longer be easy. Minds are so complex, each and every person a far cry from each other. Discovering that common ground is like playing a game of chess. To get to the queen you have to overcome blocks along the road. When you make it, will the queen happily embrace you or scorn you?

Endings are unpredictable. Perhaps that's why when people fall in love over a course of difficult times, they hesitate. Does tragedy end here? Or will hearts break again? Is it worth it?

Have you once looked across the horizon mesmerized by the strips of pink, yellow, and orange becoming one? Imagining peace, that the hardest obstacles have been overcome? The fog is gone, all is well. The uneasiness settles, the chest is empty, the rage and pent up grief is slowly flowing away. Sun will set and a whole new day will begin.

If only it were that easy...

The sky in Daegu is never changing. The same sky shared with the rest of the world. If a person's eyes are the window to their soul then looking into the sky would be the same as looking into the heart of the world. But what is that? Perhaps it has to do with drawing a reason out of something to make things easier to understand. Human beings always seek comprehension. Makes it easier to accept the tragedies of life. Like the lies everyone tells themselves.

Like the lies 27-year-old Kim Namjoo has been telling herself for four years. That she has moved on.

Yet, standing here like the world has come to a pause isn't really helping her. They always say the past will catch up to you. And it's a god-awful past she had tried to bury. For the peace of herself if not anyone else.

"Namjoo!" He had called after her.

If pretending was easy the mother next door would never be caught for drowning her two babies. There comes a time, though, when pretending comes to an end. Walls will always come down. Even the thickest of vines can be sawed away.

Four years counting and now her insides were trembling. She had seen him standing, but had pretended not to. It would have, could have worked if she passed and disappeared into the city like the wind. His fishing line had caught her anyway.

Four years counting.

Four years hiding.

Four years escaping.

Four years had come to an end.

In all her life she didn't think he would want to see her again. The insensitive agony she had given him made her feel close enough to a criminal. The last she remembered from Seoul was packing up as if her past never happened at all.

The world's standstill abruptly ended and the wind chewed at her hair as she fully pivoted to look behind her. White clouds now gray bloomed across the sky. Streets empty, the mass of pedestrians all gone home. It was late. For the citizens. For them. Too late.

Kim Namjoo would never be able to touch Oh Sehun again.

4 years earlier...

This was crazy. A bad idea. His nerves tingled. Bells rang in his ears. His fingers continuously tapped his thighs. Eyes watching the clock. Sunu had promised he could leave by 9. It was 7:45 right now. His date was nowhere in sight. Let him be stood up Sehun prayed.