"Have you ever met a stranger you recognized?"
One in ten thousand- that's how many people have someone predetermined for them. It's even rarer for them to actually find each other, but thanks to a special birthday wish, fate might just be on their...
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nostalgia, fifty-six. ❛ likean old song ❜
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PRESENT DAY.
The time would never be right. Han Yebin knew that now. She just recounted to Jungwon the exact memory of that day, the one she'd spent hours cursing herself for. Every afternoon, she sat in front of her bedroom window, looking through old photos and racking her stupid brain for any recollection. And every time, she'd end up with nothing, just the sad reality of her lies piling up after each other as she stared out into the setting sky. If the sun could talk, the whole world would know.
Footprints in the sand. Whenever she got close to remembering, to even a millisecond of that déjà vu she'd been praying for, the ocean of reality would come crashing right back, filling the shallow footprints of memory with the sand of a harsh truth, as if it were never even there. That was another way she'd explain it. But at that point, she wasn't sure Jungwon wanted to hear her explain anything at all.
She'd heard of what some called "justifiable lies." Lies that are morally required under the right circumstances, when the good consequences outweigh the bad. Such lies are told to prevent hurting innocent people. Such lies are told to prevent irreversible pain. She used to think this was that situation, but now, as they sat there by the ocean and the beach that had turned cold, she knew this was a lie she shouldn't have made. The false hope she'd given him was pain in itself.
"So, you've been playing this sick game?" was the first thing Jungwon asked. "This past month you've been with me, you had absolutely no idea who I was?"
"I-I wouldn't say that."
"Really?" he scoffed. "Cause that's what it seems like."
"I didn't have no idea- not exactly," Yebin desperately tried. "I didn't remember you. I thought I didn't know you either, but after thinking about the first time I saw you again, I did- somehow."
"How is that possible, Yebin?" Jungwon exclaimed, burying his face in his hands.
"I don't know, ok? Jungwon, I'm so sorry." She closed her eyes to calm her shaking. Heated conversations often did that. The girl looked back at the ocean, breathing out and watching as it cooled into a small, misty cloud, before dissolving into the air.
