Drabbles | JENLISA Edition

Have a Good Day

(A/N):
Inspired by WINNER's HAVE A GOOD DAY
Written and published on aff : April 16 2018

This is a little tribute to Sewol Ferry and remembering our fallen loved ones. Thank you.

***

HAVE A GOOD DAY
Chapter 1. The end.

“How long has it been? How many weeks had passed by? How many months and year since the very last time? I miss you. I really do.”

The brunette finally pressed the send icon, eyes focusing onto the small word right under the bubble.

Sending..
Delivered..

She waited, one minute, five minutes, thirty minutes but it didn't change at all. She wanted nothing but to see the 'Delivered' morphs into 'Read'. She blinked, she sighed, she sniffed, she cried.

"I miss you so much." she whispers, crying while holding the phone tightly against her chest. Another day, another night, another tears wasted over a spilled milk.

Her heart hurts, nothing beats the pain of losing someone you'll never ever have, nothing beats the suffocation of being drowned in sorrow and regret, nothing beats the loneliness of the emptiness that it brought to her life.

She looks up, tears still brimming down her cheeks - messing her up even more than her messed up life. Her sad and trembling lips slowly turned into a smile — still crying, she looks stupid but who actually cares? She's alone anyway — after seeing the line of picture frames across the room.

"I miss your smile." she says as she stands up, approaching the picture frames.

That gummy smile. It's so infectious.

Those fluffy cheeks. She misses pinching them. She misses holding them. She misses caressing them.

Among the frames, she spots the shot she personally took years back when they were still college students and roommates. It was a candid shot in which she took when the woman looked at the lenses out of nowhere. She remembered how her stomach churned that moment. It was the first time. 'But I was so naive.'

"I miss how you look at me." she says as she caresses the glass of the frame.

The intensity, playfulness and innocence behind the gaze which always threw her to an abyss, to an oblivion.

Another tear drops. I miss you.

Frames after frames. Memories after memories.

Them being playful along with their other friends. Them being all serious with their individual works because the other woman has a keen of setting her own camera else where while they're either studying or finishing their projects. She protested it at first saying it was creepy but the latter would always say, 'Pictures are our return tickets to a moment otherwise gone.'

Until she reached the last frame. Her last shot of her. She holds and takes the frame with so much care. She holds it properly as if it would break if she would apply so much pressure on it.

Her vision becomes blurry. Again. She's crying.

It was a shot she made when the woman waved at her and the rest of her friends while dragging her trolley towards the inclined ramp, she was off to her very first assignment as a crew of a cruise ship.

She remembers how the woman was so excited to tell them that she finally passed and got her first job assignment in a newly made cruise ship — basically she's one of the pioneering staffs who will work and stay there for 6 months.

The timing of her capture was so beautiful but at the same time, heart breaking.

She was waving.

She was looking at the lenses.

She was looking at her.

With her yellow ribbon proudly tied around her arm.

She remembered how she hugged her so tightly, her warmth still lingers her hands and body, her voice is still so fruitful in her ears, she remembered what she told her before they part ways.

"Take care okay? I'll see you in the end. Bye."

She remembered how heart pounded so hard that day. How she felt so suffocated when she heard it. The woman rarely says goodbye so it rattled her. She kept telling herself that everything is going to be fine, until..

The news arrived in a rainy night which left everyone in shock, disbelief and sorrow.

"Crusader, the largest cruise ever launched, was hijacked in the middle of its very first course. 808 passengers were reported safe, some wounded but safe. The remaining 1608 are still missing."

She kept calling her number but it was never reached. She kept texting her but no replies. She was not religious but she went on her knees and pray.

One hour turned to one day turned to one week turned to one month but no news came about her whereabouts. Everytime there's a news about a found body, she would always wish it would not match her DNA.

One of the survivor confessed to the public how a young lady forcedly made her wear a life jacket and pushed her to the water when rafts are no longer available on deck. How thankful she was because if not because of her, she would've died too and when she knew that her saviour was still missing, she kept crying and praying that she's safe.

Apparently, she saved several more. Running all the way to the deepest section of the cabins and halls to save passengers as much as she could. It was later on revealed that it was her.

'How can you save so many and can't save your own? Stupid. So fucking selfless.'

Her hands trembled while looking at the picture inside that frame. "Where are you? How are you? Are you well?" she sniffs, caressing the glass with her fingers. "Please come back."

Regrets. That's all she could ever feel aside from sadness.

Regretting the fact that she could never hold her the way she wanted.

Regretting the fact that she could no longer caress those cheeks.

Regretting the fact that would never see nor reciprocate the way she stares at her.

Regretting her decision of making them official when the girl comes back from her first assignment.

Regretting the fact that she could not and would never hear her sweet voice while saying, "I love you."

She regrets everything.

She drops on her knees, crying while looking and caressing the picture. "My dear. Where are you?" She sniffs as reality hits her. "Now I finally remember. Wherever you are, smile like you always do."

She looks up and saw the largest frame that has been hanging in the wall. It was a headline and an article of a famous newspaper dated a year ago.

"At the end of my life, will I be able to see you?" she says.

"HEADLINES: Remains of Lalisa Manoban, a fresh graduate of Photography who became a crew of the fallen 'Crusader' and saved 58 passengers and crews, is finally found and will be laid to rest with a gun salute honored by the Marines and the President."

"Even if you’re far away, don’t be lonely. I’ll be by your side. Look here, I’ll say hello with a smile." Jennie says while crying and now looking at the purple pendant that she's wearing which has small remnants of her.

"I love you. I hope you're happy, I'll be fine. Have a good day in heaven, my love."

— END —