Soft Landing With You ( a 'Crash Landing on You' fanfic)

The City We Love In

Jeong Hyuk fidgeted with the sleeves of his trench coat. He had arrived Switzerland on Friday and settled in. Almost a week later, here he was going up the hill where he was told he would find Yoon Seri. He had been keeping tabs on her arrival because he was told all the participants of their Concert were assigned the same hotel. He had hoped they would meet but he later overheard that although the party from Queen's Group and Seri's Choice stayed at the hotel, President Yoon never did. He decided to wait, hopefully he would meet someone from her team that he knew. I have waited three years, a couple more days is nothing, he had thought then.

Well, his waiting paid off. He had met Manager Hong, who had told him in an exasperated tone, that President Yoon went paragliding; his implication that she never learnt her lessons. After getting the direction to the place, here he was going up the hill on his way to meet her. As for what he was feeling... It was hard to describe.

He recalled his visit to his parents' home the day after his dad's visit. He had spent the whole day and night over. He had spoken to his mum for a long time. She had asked how it felt to follow his dream again. He said he couldn't explain it but he felt at peace sleeping at night and was excited to go to work the following day. She smiled wistfully and told him she understood what he meant.

Mother Ri had been a Pansori¹ singer and a successful one too before she had married into the Ri Family, a military family. Jeong Hyuk had asked if she regretted giving up her dreams after getting married. She responded, "Jeong Hyuk ah, I am currently 68 years old.  Your father and I were engaged for almost ten years. I was considered an old spinster by the time I married your father. Ours, as you know, was an arranged marriage but your father supported my dream. So when time came, I was willing to give up my dream; why? Because I had lived my dream for 27 years, so I had no regrets.

"After Mu Hyeok passed away and you came back to join the military, your father and I felt like we had lost our two children. You were different. You were never a talkative child but you were outgoing, friendly, warm. At that time, seeing you so closed off, cold and strict even with yourself, it made me feel even more lost. I was mourning the loss of my two sons. I prayed everyday for my son to return to me." Mother Ri smiled and faced Jeong Hyuk. "But then your father came home one day. He was spitting mad about how you were risking your life for some lady and how Seo Dan had come to see him. I felt like it was an answer to my prayers. And then Seri said you made her noodles, and my heart was full. Then you came and you said you were saving Seri so you could breathe again." Mother Ri was openly crying by now. "Jeong Hyuk ah, it was all blessings coming in on the same day. You came back alive and Seri was the reason. I am forever grateful to her for helping me to find my lost son."

She held his hand and placed a small ring box in it. Looking into his tear stained eyes, she said, "That's why I'm saying Jeong Hyuk ah, live. Every one of your dreams, live them out so that if a day comes and you have to give them up, you will have satisfied your heart and you will have no regrets."
So, here he was, doing his best to live without regrets...

On getting to the hilltop, he saw Seri, in red paragliding gear, crash land and be swallowed by the canopy. As she was struggling with it, he found himself saying, "Seems you landed in the right place this time." She replied, pulling at the lines to release herself from the harness, "Yeah, well but not as nicely as I would have wanted." "Ah, is it because you crash landed, or should I say descended?" Jeong Hyuk followed.

At that statement, Seri looked up and met his eyes and suddenly, Jeong Hyuk realized what he was feeling. It was not excitement or joy, it was peace, a homecoming for his heart. "I've missed you" He said, his voice full of emotions. With tears in her eyes, she ran into his embrace. "Is this real? Am I dreaming?" Seri said, her hands shaking as she leaned back to touch his face. "I feel like I've dreamt of this moment but it doesn't even measure up. I feel like, I don't know how to feel, I..." Jeong Hyuk pulls her in and hugs her, understanding that she was babbling out of surprise and joy. "How have you been? How did you come here?" Seri says, looking up to meet his eyes. "Well, I guess you can say the universe believes in our love. We gathered a lot of hope and faith with a lot of effort and tears; the universe finally yielded to us."

After all the going and coming, the blood, sweat and tears, this moment is what one lives for. The hopes that were kept alive were not in vain after all.

¹Pansori (Korean: 판소리) is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer.

A/N: I've heard a song or two of modern style pansori. I quite like it. You can check it out on YouTube. I recommend "Song So Hee's Tomorrow" or Song So Hee's "Have you seen my person?"