Ever After

Interlude

Back in her hotel room, Seri took the pamphlet out for a closer look. It listed a date two weeks from now for a joint concert between the State Symphony Orchestra of DPRK (so that explained Seo Dan's presence) and the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich. She noticed a piece of white paper peeking out and opened the leaflet to find a letter folded inside, with slanted, rushed-looking handwriting. She'd recognize that elegant penmanship anywhere, even given the fact that the writer had taken care not to mention either of their names.

I'm sorry we couldn't meet. It wasn't for lack of trying. This letter (and its messenger) is a last resort.

I've been hoping and planning all these years for this chance meeting. Much to my regret, it still managed to catch me by surprise. Yet what little time we did spend together meant more to me than you will know.

There is a reason it has taken us this long to meet again. It may take longer still until we can do so without caution. I don't ask for your patience, but if you do decide to continue on this journey with me, I only ask for your trust.

I will remain in Zurich until this concert, at the Opera Hotel. Unfortunately, I haven't found a better way for us to communicate. If you do decide to return, you have my promise that I will have better plans for when we meet again.

Please do me the favour of burning this after reading.

Still yours.

"This man," Seri scoffed to herself, even as a smile started to bloom on her face. The letter had managed to momentarily erase any doubts from her meeting with Seo Dan. "Has Su-Bin been showing him too many spy movies or what?"

Against his wishes, she decided to keep the letter just for her long flight home as a small reminder to herself that it hadn't all been a dream. When they were halfway through the flight and everyone else was sound asleep, Seri took her precious letter out to reread it, tracing the corners of his words with the tips of her fingers.

Once she was safely in her apartment, Seri did end up reluctantly burning it over the stove.

It felt strange to return to her role as Yoon Seri, respected female CEO and glamorous public figure. She would catch herself daydreaming during meetings, reminiscing about memories she hadn't dared let herself dwell on before this.

Her visit to Grindelwald had been for a personal vacation. It had become a habit of hers to travel to Switzerland for pleasure as well as for work over the years. Even so, Seri hadn't intended on returning anytime soon, much less in a week.

She was dying to tell someone about her encounter with Jeong-hyeok. Her umma. Her team manager Hong Chang-Sik. Even Se-Jun and his wife, whom she had begrudgingly made amends with over time. But she settled for her trusty pot of edelweiss, the only thing that would reliably keep her secrets.

"Switzerland. Paragliding. Kiss. Soup. His eyes," she counted out these happy fragments of her trip one by one on her fingers. "His smile. His hug. Green mountains. Driving. Zurich." The moment she said her last word, she realized she had already made the decision to return.

Seri didn't know what game she was playing but tried to play along nonetheless. Her appearance at Seri's Choice's nonprofit for talented musicians wasn't out of ordinary, but she took care to express special interest in an upcoming concert in Zurich.

She went to meetings, went over her paperwork. Tried to schedule two weeks' worth of work into one. Went to the occasional lunch with her employees. Her insomnia returned in full force as her imagination ran wild at night, and she was back to tossing and turning in bed.

She couldn't help but picture Jeong-hyeok and Seo Dan together in Switzerland, holding hands, strolling as a picturesque couple on the picturesque streets. She pictured them lying on a hotel room bed, whispering 'Poor Seri. Silly Seri, she's still so infatuated.'

She pictured Jeong-hyeok alone on a hotel room bed, missing her.

Last and worst, she pictured the hotel room bed empty, missing a Jeong-hyeok.

Her manager Hong Chang-sik pulled her aside after a meeting, the day before her flight to Zurich. "Is... everything okay, daepyonim? Was..." he hesitated, because this was an unspoken taboo territory. "Did your Switzerland trip not go well?"

"No, it went better than expected," she replied dreamily. "But I have unfinished business there. I'll be working remotely from Zurich next week, Manager Hong. I trust that you'll keep Seri's Choice running smoothly in my absence."