Crash Landing on You - Edelweiss Diaries

Part 9 - Everything and nothing

Se Ri looked at the letter again. The simmering frustration rose inside her and a hot flush of anger renewed the color of her ears to a darker pink.

One week ago...

Se Ri was not the one to fall sick often, however, when the flu got to her mid-winter, she fell apart. She continually reminisced the time, from about two years ago, when Ri Jyeong Hyuk had stayed by her side at the hospital. The memory felt distant, unreachable to scoop the warmth out of the montage that played in her mind's eye. When both her physical and mental strength faded, she crumbled to repeat a mindless murmur. "Ri Jyeong Hyuk'sshi-"

Her Omma couldn't place if Se Ri had taken his name only caught in the fever's delirium. Otherwise, her mother had nothing to go by when she'd never nursed her daughter back to health before. Trapped in the hell of maternal guilt that she'd not been a constant figure in her daughter's life, she turned to the letter hoping it would offer solace to her daughter's ailing heart.

Although Se Ri's reaction later that day had been far from what her Omma had expected. Stony silence had prevailed when she asked her mother to leave her alone. "I can take care of myself," she'd said then, which her mother understood was, in truth, a veiled admonition.

Today, she sat with her arms folded over the desk, avoiding the text inquiries from her mom. In addition, she'd curbed all urges to write him. 

Not that he awaited her notes, she reminded herself. However, for the same reason, she decided to write away her displeasures.

Logging in, she sighed when the jangle from her bracelet caught her attention. This time she couldn't ignore admiring the thoughtfulness he'd showed towards picking the charms.

"Get a hold of yourself, Se Ri," she said aloud for good measure. Her eyes narrowed with practiced anger and she got to typing out her gripes.

Ms.Edelweiss: Omma gave me the letter that you'd left for me. Next time... if there is a next time, you better hand it to me while I'm awake and conscious enough to tell you that I can manage goodbyes.

Don't decide for me when you don't know what I can and cannot handle, Ri Jyeong Hyuk'sshi.

I'm a grown woman for godssake! Treat me like one.  Both you and Omma too. I don't need you to protect me like I'm made of glass.

Know this... I'm a rock. But when I drop into deep waters, I also make a splash and sink... that makes me more of a rock than anything else.

So, what if I sink a little... what's the big deal if I cry for a bit when I miss you? That's who I am, at that moment. Can you take that?

Tears streamed down her cheek, as she wrote.  For a wink, her eyes closed on its own accord, as the painful realization that they had breathed the same air and yet, she hadn't gotten to see his face hit her.

I'm beginning to forget the details of your face... I don't remember how deep your dimples go when you smile. We don't even have a picture of us together in the same frame.

Face me next time, will you? If there is a next time...

She turned the charms in the bracelet attempting to find any memory of him from the night he'd come and left like a ghost. When nothing came to her, she sat unseeing at the screen. A chime went off, drawing her back to reality.

"Mr.Incognito has invited you to a duel," the notification read.

Without another thought, she declined the invite like the others that had come her way.

About to log out, she reached for the mouse, when a Live chat window opened with another chime.

Mr.Incognito: Hi! I respect that you declined my invite to a duel. No hard feelings. I wanted to let you know that this morning I went on a hike looking for Edelweiss flowers but to no avail. I logged in here to drown out my blues and found you online... with the same profile ID. Life is just funny like that eh?