FALLING SLOWLY ||Complete||

Dead End

Guilt is bitter - So had told her once. The random thought is trailed by a memory of a sunny afternoon on a windy rooftop. She remembers the sun on his bronze face as he had it turned skywards, hands perched on the tiles for grip and eyes closed. Corners of his T - shirt rustled in the air and so did his hair flying in the summer breeze.

Guilt is bitter and joy is mint. They had been talking about her Omma, of how she felt guilty of the way she had left her behind, of her remains in the Columbarium. Instead he asks her what was her favorite memory of her mother - his is some distant Christmas family dinner when they had shot for a family portrait. She takes a moment to answer. As she sits in the shadow she has to cover her eyes to look at him all dazzling in the sun. His eyes sparkle - like there are stars in them. So she decides to tell him about the time they had gone stargazing, about how her mother had taught her about the constellations - how they would make star - shaped cookies and arrange them to resemble Pegasus - her favorite constellation.

“How did she learn so much about them?” He asks, genuinely curious. It feels strange to talk about her and be listened to…her uncle hardly ever mentions that sister of his. So she tells him that it was her Appa who had taught her - the star enthusiastic that he was. They met at a meteor - shower camp. She doesn’t talk about his death. Of losing their house or of their return to her Omma’s family -

“Oh you have them too!” He tells her, blocking the sun as he scoots closer to face her. “Stars in your eyes…” He explains.

“Then I must get them when I’m sad -”

“No,” he tells her, his hand warm from the sun squeezing hers. “You get them when you think about people you love.”

Now that she stands - so close to her mother as she could possibly be, Ha Jin wishes that it was So standing beside her. She would have loved them to meet - her Omma and So, he was just the kind Omma would love. But instead there is a cold glass between them, a decade of silence and Jung standing behind her, shadowing her with his huge frame. She lets her palm rest on the glass and blinks away the moisture in her eyes.

“Hello Omma,” she whispers. “It’s Ha Jin…”

She tries not to feel too guilty at the fact that it was Yeon Hwa’s clue that brought her here - more than her own desire. Still with some childish part of her heart Ha Jin held on to a denial of their separation. Seeing physical proof that her mother had truly and fully left her hurt and she had been selfishly guarding herself against that pain for so long.

“I’m sorry…” the apology slips from her lips with a shudder of a sigh. “I’ve been such a bad daughter. I’m so sorry -”

“She knows Ha Jin - ah,” So’s soft words fill her ear from the Bluetooth that connects them. “She knows how you feel.”

She clutches the flowers she brought for a moment longer before finding that her fingers are steady enough to arrange them. At the same time So is speaking to Jung.

“Move a little to the right - closer - ah - stay like that.”

“What is it?” Jung mutters to his collar, brows frowned as he tries to stay completely still. Being the taller one - he is wearing the button camera that supplies So with the footage. “What do you see?” He asks further.

“Ha Jin - ah, there’s a photograph to your right - do you know the people in it?”

Her hand brushes the frame - her eyes drifting from a candid shot of their family to one of her mother with her old colleagues. “Your Omma is acquainted with Dr. Lee Gyu?”

“He was her professor,” she replies. “I’ve heard so many funny stories about his forgetful nature - their contact drew distant after she settled back here post Appa’s death. Why - do you know him?”

So takes a moment to answer.

“He is Eun - ah’s grandfather.”

“Oh your sponsor? I never knew he was into sports…”

“He is a friend of my grandfather, he was the one who did the surgery to remove that scar on my face.” He speaks slowly as if working on a different thought than the one he talked about. “Ha Jin - ah, when you said your mother worked in the cosmetics field did you mean cosmetic surgeries?”

Ha Jin gulps, watching the picture - finally seeing where he was going with the conversation.

“You think - do you think -?”

“Yes.” So says shortly. “Yes.”

“That’s what Yeon Hwa wanted us to realize? That possibly my mother was the one who performed the plastic surgery that changed Jun’s face? Why would she? How could she?”

“Let’s not jump into conclusions,” Jung says stepping closer and rubbing her shoulders in a gesture to calm her down. So seem to agree with him.

“It could very well be Dr. Lee himself - He always said I had a familiar face… But the circumstances fit a bit too well - she came here with you - and you met Jun, she did not want you to interact with Jun - it is as if she knew something about him that others didn’t hmm?”

“Maybe it was her key back to Hae clan, you know they didn’t particularly approve of my parent’s marriage.” Ha Jin concludes, realizing for the first time how deeply interwoven her fate is with that of the Hwangs.

“There is only one person left who could answer that - Dr. Lee himself. As you said since he forgets ever so easily all his consultations are documented.” So says finally. “In the meantime let’s find out of this Hae Jun really is the man we are looking for - if not how he vanishes from Hae family registry all of a sudden.”

“Hyung -” Jung says abruptly. “I think we have a problem.”

**

It happens too fast for them to realize - the lull of the day that followed their escape from the city is shuttered rather rapidly and So fears he wouldn’t get to them fast enough. Jung did know what he was doing and he was one hell of a driver but still it is not his home ground - the area is unfamiliar to him and that would eat away at the advantage of his speed.

Thankfully they had reached out to Eun the other day and had him over even under the pretext of his injury. What mattered to So was that he had brought with him a car - the one he had been expressly forbidden to drive a matter of hours ago. Now, he gives Eun no time to protest and leaves him at the rusty middle school record room where they had been perusing for records of Hae Jun - while he kept an eye on the progress of Jung and Ha Jin.

Tracking them is rather easy - as Jung tries to cut off the people chasing them. To So his route looks too predictable and he is certain Wook would agree. With each minute that passed, he grows a bit more frantic. When he talks to Jung - he tries to keep that fact to himself, and wills his voice to sound steady enough to fool his brother. He directs them through an elusive curve, cutting into less populated - more foresty roads until they come to a halt - facing each other.

They hardly have enough time to exchange a look - with his hand griping Ha Jin’s wrist, he pushes Jung back behind the wheel.

“Wha - NO!”

The young man calls after them, his arguments So has no time for. Still he wastes time, securing the belt around her, holding a fearfully wide gaze for a minute before it becomes absolutely necessary that he breaks it and takes them away. The sound of wheels crunching the ground, of gaining speed and looming danger drowns their thoughts.

Ha Jin’s fingers are ice cold as they reach and wrap around his wrist, she is looking not at him but straight ahead- only a touch remains there - a question hanging over them.

“I was stupid,” he tells her. The bump in the ground rattles against their bones.

“I wasn’t the one bugged.” He feels her exhale and knows when to turn and find her eyes on him.

“It’s me…” she exhales.

Ahead of them the road draws to a close, ending abruptly in a steep cliff edge.