A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

A Thousand Purple Stars

Jisoo awoke to the sound of Dalgom barking. She groaned and rolled around in the oversized sleeping bag that she shared with Rose and tried to her dog to shut up. They were all bundled up in layers of clothing to combat the nightly chill. Dalgom continued barking. Jisoo's eyes flickered open stubbornly and she looked around for her dog.

"Dalgom-ah," she said groggily. "Shh, please be quiet."

But the little white dog was still yapping off, barking at a squirrel in the tree. Jisoo groaned.

"Dalgom, shut up, please," she said again. When the barking suddenly died down, Jisoo became alarmed. She shot her eyes open and looked up just in time to see Dalgom escaping his leash and running down the path.

"Shit!" she said, springing up from the sleeping bag. She stuffed her feet into her shoes and took off down the dirt road after the little white dog.

"Dalgom-ah!" she shouted after him. "Stop! Get back here! Sit!"

How could a dog with such little legs run so fast? Jisoo was already going as fast as she could without tripping over loose stones and raised roots. It must have been very early since the sky was still dim and the world around her was gray and colorless and the air was damp with vapor.

"Sit, boy!" she shouted, but Dalgom had disappeared into a thicket, and Jisoo had to run in after him. Branches and leaves scraped her clothing and she threw her arms up to keep the brush from hitting her face. "Ugh, damn dog," she cursed. She heard him barking again, just a few feet ahead. She prepared herself to pounce on the puppy and trap him in her arms when the bushes and trees cleared away. She found herself in the midst of another forest clearing, a meadow, and she went completely quiet.

There were thousands of them. Thousands of small flowers covered every bit of ground as far as her eye could see. Pale purple with petals spread out like rays of light from a star. One thousand pale purple stars exactly like her lucky flower, swaying gently in the morning mist and taking up every bit of space in her line of sight.

She didn't know why she felt so overcome with emotion. They were just flowers after all. She stepped forward carefully, bringing herself closer to the center of the field until she was properly surrounded by the little violet blooms.

Her mind traveled back through time in the few minutes she spent taking in her surroundings. Back through the years who the moment her lucky flower came to her. The moment she crouched in the gravel of her driveway and took its delicate purple petals into her palm and how much better she felt knowing that hope could come from practically anywhere even in the most hopeless of times.

But something was different now about that memory. Looking around at the thousands of purple flowers, the memory became more vivid. The boy's face became clearer.

Jisoo thought about their date by the river. He was the one who told her she should take this camping trip. He talked about a flower field that he thought she'd like.

Jinyoung. He was the little boy.

Jisoo crouched down then reached out and touched the soft yellow center of one of the purple blooms and smiled. All these years, she kept that flower as a charm for good luck. Here she was discovering that it wasn't luck at all, but fate.

No more moping around, Jisoo thought.

Her camping trip with friends was exactly the kind of refreshing start she needed to the next chapter of her life. Yes, her situation at Hanguk Lighting and being stuck back on her family farm wasn't what she had planned for herself after graduation. But as she descended Mt. Sol that day, she made up her mind that she was going to be a writer anyway. To hell with Embrace and to hell with all the red tape and community politics. She wasn't going to sit around and wait for someone to give her a chance anymore.