A Piece of Eternity

ONE

Her tired eyes are gazing at the sunset. Another day ended right before her sight. She didn’t do much yet it ended so quickly. Will she be able to live another day or will it be her last?

            “It’s stomach cancer…”

The doctor’s words echoes clearly in her thoughts. Yes, she was diagnosed with the said illness about a year ago. She had undergone an operation to remove the tumor but it relapsed and now in terminal stage. Despite the treatments and encouragements from the doctor, she can clearly feel it….this cancer is sucking the life out of her and that she might heave her last breath anytime soon. Dying is an absolute thing especially for a sixty seven-year old woman like her. However, her heart feels wronged….she feels like she has been cheated.

She stretches her weak arm as far as she can towards the fading sun. No matter how hard she tries to reach out, still there’s nothing there but her pale and wrinkled hand. Sadness fills her chest.

            “Where did all the time go?” she whispers to the air.

It’s like everything happened just yesterday. She’s the only daughter of the Seo household. Her family is rich and her parents treated her like a princess. Wealth, influence, intelligence, class, youth, and beauty---she got all of that making young women envy her while young men admire her. She was far beyond reach during her prime. She had everything under her feet. Such delightful years……it is a time when all is about her but that’s gone now. All that’s left is her old age, frail body, and unsatisfied heart. She’s alone in this old big house. It has been her safe haven for a very long time. She used to feel safe and comfortable here where she’s separated from the opportunists and harmful people outside. However, now that her days are numbered, she feels like this hollow house suffocates her. Now it’s like a prison…..and she’s lonely.

Tears start to appear on the sides of her spiritless eyes.

            “What did I do wrong? I just shielded myself from being hurt by others….In the end why do I have to die pathetically like this?” she utters the frustration of her heart.

Silence…..no matter how much she voice out her resentment….still, there will be no one to listen.

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Yeong Won's POV

I aimlessly wondered on the street. People coming and going…..just what they usually do.  Everybody moves in a fast phase…..each one is occupied with different task that they are doing. 

I stop and observe. A man speed walks to attend an appointment….. A young lady who’s impatiently making her way through the crowd. It is her first day at work so she couldn’t risk being late… A University student who’s rushing to school. In his hand is a model project that he just finished for a deadline. …A restaurant delivery boy who’s sprinting as he makes his delivery.

Human are always like that…..They keep on repeating the same routine everyday. They often set goals to achieve. To graduate from a good university, have a stable job, buy a house and car, secure savings, support children’s education, and etc. They want to be ‘somebody’ in the so-called-society….Very predictable but I cannot blame them given the norm that they had grown up with.  However, I feel sorry for them because of this. In order to attain these goals and needs they are losing something……..Time.

I continue to walk and see an accident on the road. Two vehicles crashed to each other and the drivers are now dead. One of them is a businessman. He was very ambitious so he spent most of his years working so hard to make himself rich. He was able to achieve that yet he was not satisfied so he kept working for more. While the other driver is a career woman. She’s a single mother so she worked double time to provide her child a good life. Both focused on earning money because they desire to live well. Both forgot to cherish and enjoy the time lent to them and now they lost their lives….too late for regrets.