Finding You

SPECIAL CHAPTER: ONE HUNDRED

The digital clock on the dashboard told Eon Jin that it was ten minutes past four in the morning. She only had a few hours of sleep and was kind of edgy without her coffee - thanks to the person who, at that precise second, opened the door to the driver's side.

"Ready?" Tae Pyung asked as he buckled up in his seat.

"Not quite," she complained in the midst of a yawn. "I long to be back in bed, to be honest. I reminded you last night that we should tuck ourselves in early, but you insisted to go to the cinema for a last full show."

He raised a questioning brow at her, then said, "If my memory serves me right - between the two of us - it was you who had a fill of adrenaline rush watching all those car chase sequences."

"Only because the actor looked so good in those scenes," she stated with an air of sophisticated nonchalance.

Tae Pyung snorted and grumbled under his breath, being adorable in every sense of the word and prompting Eon Jin to cage his face in her dainty fingers and tilt his face towards her direction.

"Yet, no one can ever take my breath away like you do," she told him softly as if it were a secret, placing a chaste kiss on the tip of his nose for good measure.

There was something special in the tenderness of that fleeting moment between them, so much so that it made Tae Pyung's heart beat fast and rest easy in sheer juxtaposition. He wanted to confide to her, but his mind already went into overdrive to even put his jumbled thoughts together.

Eon Jin bit her lower lip like an impatient kid on Christmas morning, excited to find out what his secret agenda was for the day. Although she was sure that he would not budge, she took a chance using the method that always worked. She wrapped her arms around his neck unhurriedly, pouted her cherry lips with feigned innocence, then gave him an oh-so-familiar smolder with those doe eyes - all in an attempt to compel him to yield to her.

"Care to tell me where we are headed to?" she teased.

Tae Pyung shook his head, pressing his mouth in a straight line to keep himself from caving in. Even as Eon Jin pulled herself away and glowered at him, he ignored her and pretended to busy himself with mundane tasks such as rearranging their luggage in the backseat, trying his best to hide the smirk that was playing on his lips.

"You really aren't going to humor me, are you?" she tested him.

"Of course," he replied. "It's supposed to be a surprise."

"I am not the type of person who's into those kinds of things, though," she shrugged. "So do confess while I am still asking nicely."

"Patience, love," he told her as he turned the key, the engine of the SUV consequently coming to life with a soft purr.

"Sure, Officer Kim, sure," she mumbled as she lifted the handle beneath the cushion to adjust her seat, reclining on her side facing the other way and snubbing him in a petty fit of pique.

It was just a few minutes from daybreak when the feel of Tae Pyung's fingers tickling her chin gradually pulled Eon Jin out of her dreamy stupor, stirring her from her short nap much to her chagrin.

"Good morning," he greeted her casually. "I hope you're not mad at me anymore."

She paid no heed to his words as she forced herself to wake up, taking a peek at the view outside and squinting at the silhouettes of landscapes flashing before her.

"Where are we?" Eon Jin slurred slightly in her daze.

Tae Pyung chanced a sidelong glance at her, then said, "See for yourself."

Confused, Eon Jin rolled the heavily tinted window down and the cool breeze of the countryside immediately welcomed her home. Her eyes flew wide open as the dew of the dawn misted every inch of her face, rousing her senses to full attention little by little.

Not too far ahead was a majestic mountain that towered over the quiet rural town with a distinct authority and dominion; at its foot was a picturesque river, the tranquil surface sparkling under the subdued hues of purple, pink, and orange of the 5:30 a.m. sky.

"This was our hometown, Tae Pyung," she uttered without taking her sight off of the nostalgic panorama. "And that was our river - over there."

When he did not answer, Eon Jin turned to him and asked, "Am I right, love?"

Tae Pyung only smiled with endearing smugness as he cruised along the paved road, his confirmation causing happy tears to copiously brim in her eyes.

He pulled over in front of a clear path that led to the dock a while later, then alighted the vehicle in high spirits to open the door of the passenger seat and led Eon Jin to the place that he presumed she was longing to visit.

She clung on to him as they traversed the trail that descended to the natural stream of water that curiously seemed to be waiting for their return, locking her fingers firmly with his while her heart fluttered to a beat that matched the spring in her every step.

"Here we are," Tae Pyung sighed with palpable contentment as soon as their feet landed on the wooden platform.

Eon Jin reached behind her to wound his arms around her waist, then leaned against the sinewy chest of the man who enfolded her in the safety of his embrace in all those bright and dark days - her rock, her refuge, her forever port in a storm.

"You found it," she managed to say in spite of the tension in her throat. "The same way you have found me."

Tae Pyung's response was to bury his nose in her hair, allowing himself to get lost in the poignant memories of their past and their present and associating those fragments of their lives with the scent of magnolias and fresh grass that was all her so that he would never, ever forget.

Intoxicated with the various emotions that filled every bit of his soul, he pulled her closer, almost crushing her body against his as if there was no tomorrow.

"Happy one hundredth day, love," Tae Pyung murmured, brushing his lips on her cheek.

The butterflies on her stomach urged Eon Jin to swiftly spin on her heels so she could completely behold his face, not at all caring that she might lose her balance because she was a hundred and one percent positive that he would catch her anyway.

"Happy one hundredth day, Officer Kim," she whispered back before letting her eyelids fall in total surrender, helplessly melting the instant he crossed the infinitesimal distance between them with a gentle, yet profoundly heartfelt kiss.

At that exact point in her life - by the grace and mercy of the powers that be - Eon Jin felt that once again, after three hundred years or so, all was right in the world.

—

Still from Memories of the Alhambra (tvN)