At Long Last

Leaving on a jet plane

If her emotions were a thunderstorm, then surely, these tears must be the torrential rain.

Dabbing at the relentlessly falling tears as she sat snugly in her spacious first class seat, Se-ri couldn't be more grateful for the privacy.

The plane had only just taken off, so cabin crew remained at their respective stations.

In that space, it was just herself, and her dying heart.

Her engagement ring shone brilliantly in the afternoon sun rays filtering through the A380's windows, a stark reminder of her loss.

She didn't quite know what to do - the last two weeks were pure heaven, but the sudden plunge to hell was torturous.

Apart from crying, Se-ri genuinely did not know what else she could do.

Her fingers were still aching to hold Jeong Hyeok's hand. During moments like this, a warm squeeze of his hand over hers would never fail to make things better.

But now, he was no longer with her.

She could only cry, and cry she did.

Then it started Se-ri on a vicious cycle of crying herself to sleep, before waking up thinking it was a nightmare. She would inevitably cry again when reality sank in, only to be tormented further when well-meaning cabin crew members asked if she needed help.

Surely she did, if someone could actually help tear the border down between the North and the South.

But she knew better than to entertain such thoughts.

Tapping on the in-flight information service, Se-ri saw that three hours had gone by.

At least sleep had been merciful to her.

Drawing a long gulp of chilled water from the complimentary bottle at her seat, her parched throat received some relief. Her eyes were stinging from the earlier persistent crying, and her nose oddly stuffy.

She would take a look at his Instagram account. Already, she missed him to unimaginable levels.

Going by the instructions, Se-ri logged on to the inflight WiFi, before opening up the application to go to TomatoCultivator1402's account.

There were easily a hundred pictures.

She scrolled all the way down to the bottom.

The first picture was of herself sitting at the dressing table, patting moisturizer on her cheeks.

She was back-facing the camera, but Jeong Hyeok had captured her face in the reflection of the mirror. Her hair was tied up in a messy high bun, looking as domestic as can be.

This was Day 1, in the early evening.

"She claims that she doesn't look as good without makeup, but her beauty in this instant took my breath away."

Two teardrops fell before wracking sobs once again shook her frame, causing her to put her phone down on her lap for a moment.

She didn't trust her hands; the unbearable agony rendered her grip useless.

"Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi, your kindness and love might really just kill me one day."

Drawing shaky breaths to steady her emotions, Se-ri gingerly picked her phone up again.

It was such an irony, knowing that the contents of the Instagram account would send her troubled heart and mind into overdrive, yet being unable to look away from what he had spent effort in creating for her.