Memories || Wonu ff

four

Ji Young

Entering his study, I'm not surprised that everything's still messy aside from the few papers I stacked before we left earlier today.

Walking over to his desk and lifting up some of the papers, I easily find the leather bound book and scrapbook again. Picking up the scrapbook first, I'm still a bit surprised at how... sparkly and colourful it is compared to all the neutral and muted colours in here.

I wonder why I've never seen this before?

Opening to the first page, I was met with it filled with a collage of beautiful photos of buildings- mainly of the college he went to. There were also polaroids of other things such as sunsets, flowers, and silhouettes.

They're so simple, yet so pretty.

I continue to flip through and the pictures progressed from simple subjects to photos of the skyline, art exhibits, and of... dad. I thought he was the one taking these pictures?
Not long after, I see of pictures of dad in his college years; consisting mostly of candid shots of him or when he's just doing mundane everyday things, and then there's some pictures of him posing with a woman I've never seen before. Soon, I kept seeing more and more of her throughout the scrapbook.

"She's so beautiful..." I whisper to myself as I found more pictures of her.

She looked shorter than dad, but not by that much. She had dark and wavy hair that cascaded down a little bit past her shoulders, rounded doe eyes and a heart shaped face that made her look as delicate as a flower.

Is this... her? The woman that dad and Mr. Lee were talking about?

Continuing to flip through the pages, there were more polaroid photos of her with dad's writing on each of them:

A sunset polaroid with her silhouette in the center had writing at the bottom that said "My first and last love"

Another one was a picture of her focused on reading a novel on a couch, and the writing on the side had read "What a book nerd, but she's my book nerd ♡"

And a third one was of her wearing dad's glasses and smiling widely, and all the writing said was "My beloved Hyeonie"

Continuing to flip through the pages, one picture really furthered my curiosity: a picture of them posing on either side of a tree with a carving in the bark that read "Jeon Wonu ♡ Kang Seo Hyeon"

"Kang Seo Hyeon..." I mutter to myself as I kept staring at her face. It may have went on for a little too long, but I snapped out of my trance and kept flipping until the couple pictures abruptly stopped and the rest of the scrapbook had been filled with my baby pictures.

What the heck? What happened to the rest of the pictures of Seo Hyeon?

Flipping back two or three pages, I find a picture of her holding a large bouquet of flowers and smiling uncontrollably while dad was kissing her cheek while holding up the camera. What really caught my eye was the bouquet in her hands: multicoloured tulips and coral peonies.

Those are the same we have in the garden. Is that why dad likes them?

But also... why does it change so quickly?

There was a huge gap between the timelines of them just getting married before it quickly switches to my early years of life.

My curiosity rising, I then look down at the leather bound journal on his desk and began to reach for it, hoping it'll provide the answers I need. Though as I reached for it, I could already hear the sound of jingling keys and the front door unlocking.

Dammit, he's back already??

Putting the scrapbook down where I found it and covering it with the papers, I grab the first book I could get my hands on from his shelf and open it to a random page, pretending to read the book.

"Ji Young?" Dad calls out to me as he takes off his coat and hangs it up.

"Hi dad," I respond nonchalantly. He pops his head through the door, concerned as I pretend to be engrossed in a... plant encyclopedia "your errands were quick."

He raises an eyebrow "Quick? I've been gone for over an hour."

Wait, really?

"Oh.... so it has." I continue to mumble as I scan the page.

I hear him sigh behind me as he closed the book in my hands straightened my posture "Ji Young, as much as I love the idea of you reading and educating yourself, please read while sitting down or when your back has some sort of support. This type of posture isn't good for your back."

"Right, sorry. I was just so... engrossed in it, y'know?" I explain with the first lie that came to my head before I hold up the encyclopedia in front of my face "I'm gonna go read in this in my room, is that alright with you?"

He then lights up as his lips curl up into a big smile, he pulls me into a hug and places a kiss on my temple "Of course, sweetheart. I hope you enjoy that one as much as I did."

"Thanks dad." Is all I say as I leave his study and head up towards my room.

Kang Seo Hyeon, huh?

I'll have to get more answers another time.