"When you get a new heart, will I still be in there?" She says, barely a whisper. "Will I still be in that heart?"
"You're not just in my heart," Jeongguk replies truthfully. "You're in the blood flowing through my veins, you're in my mind, you're u...
"The heart dies a slow death, shedding each hope like leaves until one day there are none. No hope. Nothing remains."
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Jeongguk sees lights.
Too many to count, dancing all over his field of vision. Each one is brilliant, unique in its own way. He wants to look at each one and marvel at how beautiful it is, because no matter how many lights there are, no two colours are the same.
Sitting beside him is a child. A girl with long raven hair in a baby blue dress. Her mannerism appears to be so innocent, so pure. But no matter how hard Jeongguk tries to squint his eyes at her, he can't see her face clearly. It's like a blur and she doesn't look like anyone he's ever seen before.
She's pointing out at the horizon as balls of light fall down from the sky. It takes him awhile to realise the surface that he's sitting on. It's like...it's like he's on another planet. Mars? Jupiter? Saturn?
Jeongguk then sees the familiar colours of white and blue; a planet rising from somewhere in the horizon. The child is pointing at Earth, and somehow, Jeongguk just feels a gentle smile tugging onto her lips.
"Should we save it?" He finds himself asking.
"Yes," the child replies without a moment's waiting. As if the answer is already that obvious and he shouldn't even be asking that question in the first place.
Jeongguk says, "I'm not strong enough," and the girl gently lays a hand on his own. It's warm and soft, exactly like how a child's would be.
"You are," she says with comforting tenderness. "You always will be."
"Can I ask you something else?"
The girl tilts her head curiously.
"How can I save the world when I can't even save a life?" Jeongguk queries. A part inside of him throbs as images of Yerim cross his mind.
There's a shuffling sound beside him and the girl stands up. Jeongguk looks up at her with puzzled eyes as she holds out a hand to help him stand up. He follows her, enveloping her small hand in his larger ones.
She then dusts off something on her dress and looks back out at the Earth rising higher and higher in front of them. The colourful lights turn out to be stars, Jeongguk can see them clearly now. They're blinking on and off like diamonds in the dark void of the universe, a spark of hope.
"Love," she finally answers, and cold mist comes out between her lips.
"Excuse me?" Jeongguk prompts.
"The world doesn't love enough. There's so much hatred and jealousy and anger and sadness. Living isn't that complicated, you humans just make it seem to be that way. All that you need is love," She says without a doubt. And then she glances at something over her shoulder and Jeongguk follows her gaze by instinct.
