A Piece of Eternity

EIGHTEEN

 “Are you really who I thought you are?”

His unfamiliar frigid tone and stony expression brings chill to her spine. He knows…He now knows—her mind keeps repeating.

            “You…Who are you?”

Seo Hyun swallows hard.

            “Come inside….I will tell you everything….”

She enters the house and Yonghwa follows her. When Seo Hyun decided to give in to her heart, she had also accepted the fact that there is a possibility of Yonghwa finding out the truth…she just have to be prepared. Although she hopes that this won’t happen. She was taken by surprise but she knows what to do. She thought about this scenario before and there’s only one way for her………..tell him the truth.

How he found out is no longer important….Seo Hyun just wants him to hear the complete truth from her. Her hands are shaking so she clutches them together. She takes a deep breath before facing Yonghwa. She’s going to try her best to be calm in order for her to explain everything clearly.

            “Before you think of anything, please listen to what I have to say.”

Yonghwa’s brows furrow. Seo Hyun starts speaking.

            “This would definitely sound insane but please…..listen…”

Yonghwa remains to be just staring. He definitely wants to hear what she has to say.

            “A few weeks ago, there was this old woman…sitting alone in her rocking chair by the window. Looking at the setting sun…she kept asking herself, ‘Where did all the time go?’” Seo Hyun says with her eyes staring at space. “No matter how many times she asks….she couldn’t find the answer. All she know is that she felt cheated on by it.” She remembers the view of that fading sun and her wrinkled hand trying to reach it. “There is this young woman….being the sole daughter of the Seo household, she lives her life inside the bubble of absolute comfort and security. No matter how much she tells herself that she’s fortunate but still, she feels undeniably hollow and lonely.”

Yonghwa still puzzled by Seo Hyun’s words, continue to listen.

            “Then an unexpected chance presented itself…..both decided to take it. And because of that chance….” She meets his eyes “I’m here.”

The crest on Yonghwa’s forehead deepens while Seo Hyun prepares herself to say something which will sound even crazier.

            “I……I drank a few drops from the fountain of youth and because of that, I returned to youth….From being sixty seven years old, I became eighteen again.”

            “Wait, what are you saying?”

            “I, who’s an old woman was given the chance to be young again. I might appear young but in reality, I’m already an old woman.”

A crook smile flashes his face.

            “You don’t have to tell such lie.…stop making this ridiculous story.” He says.

            “I hope the truth is as simple as that but no…..” she swallows hard. “I have to tell you the complete truth….I only returned to youth so that I could experience life once more before I go. In order to do that, I have to come up with a different identity.”