Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Min-hee baby! Come here!"
Little Min-hee's childhood was mostly located at the beach. Wearing her tiny baby pink swimsuit and a pair of oversized heart glasses, she would break into the littlest of giggles and her dimpled cheeks would shine on their own, a little tooth between her every smile.
Her mom keeps yelling out to her, warning her that if she doesn't come now, they won't return next week. Even though she is aware of her mother's warning, her eyes can't seem to tear from the view of her precious, magnificent sandcastle almost overrun by the ferocity of the tides, soaking the soil and destroying prints of memories embarked of memories and promises.
Her mom sighs when she sees her small, little girl leaving her tiny footprints marked on the sand as she pads over to a clump of sand.
"How many times have I told you it's dangerous, darling!" Her dad runs after her, his Hawaii shorts billowing in the wind as her mother runs along with him, for the third time that day.
She holds the hand of a slightly older boy who squeals when he is taken with her, "mom! It feels like we're flying!"
His mother smiles widely at his adorable words and she swings their hands so he gets more excited, "yes let's fly! Oh, look, dad's with Minhee! Shall we fly there, angel?"
The 7-year-old boy grins cutely, his cheeks bunching up like a baby hamster would smile, sun-kissed glow lighting up his features.
In the meantime, his dad has met with adamant Min-hee who wiggles her body around with frustration, sobbing and wiping her tears slowly when her dad holds her by the shoulders, trying to calm her down.
"It's okay, honey! It's alright!" He yells, pinching her cheeks but her aching heart doesn't heal so soon.
"B-but the sandcastle! Water and, gone!" She tries to form words, a baby tooth peeking in when she speaks, trying to explain with pointing.
She points to the waves, "water splash my, uhh, sandcastle!"
Her dad looks at the broken castle with worry, "how about I'll tell you something pretty, darling?"
His loving eyes meet hers, she stops crying and nods her head slowly. Convinced that he has managed the situation, her dad swiftly picks her up and seats her next to him.
"Now listen to dad's words clearly okay?" she replies with an "okay" and he pats her hair softly.
"Look forward min hee sweetie, what do you see?" He points to between the sea and the sky, as she struggles to find the words, her eyebrows crinkle in confusion.
The sight in front of her was familiar in her memories. Orange streaked skies and pink horizons, a dimming sun and its glassy reflection on the waters of sea. Bright, white puffs of air steadily moving along, are hidden within the seams of late evening skies, painted with midnight blues and yellow lights. She had figured it out.
"The sun seat." She giggles proudly, her teeny hands poking her dimples.
Her father is overjoyed to see his baby finally smile and he chuckles warmly before tapping her head lightly.
"It's a sunset silly! You know what they say, sweetheart, a sunset reminds you that light can be found in the darkest of times."
"Oh, " she pouts sadly, disappointed that she didn't find the answer on her own. A small smile however involuntarily appears on her lips as she is determined to say something smart. "Just like I'm sad when Mr Sun leaves, but he'll be back tomorrow so I'm happy!"
She is ecstatic when she sees her father's mouth form an 'o' shape, so she understands that she's said something new.
"That's amazing baby!"
She is shaking her tiny body, with a lovely smile that doesn't seem to leave her chubby cheeks and lift her lips. She imagines her father swiftly lifting her up and spinning her around with his eyes smiling, her hand on his shoulders as a beautiful painting. A painting that is stained with long strokes of blue as the sea, short scribbles of faint orange and bright yellow and red brown as the sun bleeding into the horizon as sunset and red as euphoria. As red as familiar love.
The love that had put the starlight to her eyes and the moonlight silken in her hair, and the enthralling, comforting feeling of someone making sure that you were the happiest you could've ever seen yourself was beautiful, enchanting and it was certainly bewitching.
Maybe it was too good to be true. Too gorgeous to remain.
Maybe because the scarlet red was slathered on the painting and it hid the darkness of the landscape behind it. Maybe the colour was so bright that it it had to seep through the linen and paint the threads to a part of her painting because his strong arms that had wrapped around her torso, his words that had deep undertones and meaning, all the warmth that accompanied his hugs, had been taken by the wind and vanished into mid summer air.
They had ceased to exist and were replaced with icy chains, strong shackles of iron that began suffocating her thoughts and freezing her tears, repeating sounds that kept resonating of him, their memories, his smile, haunting her at the peak of midnight, twilight.
But Min-hee had kept her father's words locked into her heart.
Wrapping his voice like a locket around her neck, she carried that exact moment of euphoria reminding her, that in the darkest of areas can shine if you glow.
She remembers those days as the happiest.
But pretty memories are eventually forgotten and happy moments don't last forever.
They always say that it isn't the person you miss, its the memories that come haunting back.
Goodbye, dad.
She knows now, that as much as you wish them to retain, they fade away.
Just like her dad had.
A/N: the titles contain a letter each, and together they make up words, just wanted to clarify that. Thoughts on this chapter?
