PRO.
I still can't forget the day we first met. It was a brief encounter, but I still vividly remember her bright smile.
I When I was in the first year of middle schoolThis is what happened. While my mother was driving, she was suddenly hit by a car that came out of nowhere. The impact caused her car to bounce and fall into the sea.
I couldn't believe it. The image of my caring mother, who had been softly saying, "Jungkook, you need to get up," just this morning, patted me awake when I screamed, refusing to go to school, was so vivid in my mind. Now I can't bear to see it anymore.
I look back on ‘that incident’ four years ago, when I was standing on the edge of hell.
“Do you happen to know where Jeongguk is?”
"excuse me－, lying on the desk and sleeping.”
“···Okay, thank you.”
Knock, knock. Someone knocked on my desk where I was sleeping. I jumped up and yelled, worried that I might have unintentionally woken up my friend from his sweet dream.
“Oh, it’s still lunch time, why are you waking me up?－!”
I looked up, screaming in a voice that sounded like it was about to break. It wasn't my friend sitting in front of me, but my homeroom teacher. I was so shocked I couldn't move. The teacher cleared his throat, placed a hand on my shoulder, and spoke.
Jeongguk, from now on, don't be surprised and listen carefully to what the teacher says.Gulp, I swallowed without realizing it. The teacher grabbed my shoulder and shut my mouth tightly, then opened it again as if making up his mind.
“Jungkook, your mother died in a car accident······.”
...What? The teacher's words made my sanity slip away. I jumped up and ran out of the classroom. The teacher seemed to call me from behind, but I ignored him and ran as fast as I could. "Do you even know where the hospital is?" "It's the only big hospital in this small town. There's nowhere else to go."Mom, Mom, please...
* * *
I ran without a moment to breathe and finally arrived at the hospital entrance. I went right inside, and there were so many people. I looked around and cried, trying to find my mother's room. It was the first time I'd been to a hospital for something so serious at such a young age. Then, I started to sweat and ooze fluid from my body. Over there.－. Are you okay, student? Someone asked me, and I looked up at the question, holding my trembling head.
“Who are you looking for? Tell me the patient’s name, and I’ll tell you.”
“My mother, my mother···.”
I spoke my mother's three-letter name in a voice choked with trembling and tears. The nurse, who had been listening, glanced at me from her computer for a long moment before standing up and speaking.
“Student, you know what the situation is right now, right?”
“I know, I know. So please hurry up.－!”
“······Follow me.”
I followed the nurse, and where I followed, I saw someone's body covered in a sheet. "Isn't that my mother?" I asked. The nurse simply nodded silently, telling me to stay put while she called a doctor, and left.
With trembling hands, I lifted the cloth covering someone's—no, my mother's—corpse, and I was in shock. "Mom, is this a dream? Huh? Mom, please open your eyes!" I cried, looking at her. "I was wrong, please. Mom, I'm so scared..." Someone placed a hand on my shoulder, making a noise, and when I turned around, it was the doctor.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.”
"Oh, you said you had no choice? You should have saved her somehow. What kind of doctor would say that? My mother! My one and only mother······."
I only have one parent, my mother. Today, even my mother, who had been on my side, vanished before my eyes. I wanted to run away from that place, and I didn't want to believe it. I wished it were all just a dream.
I ran out, holding back tears. Am I alone now? I just rushed toward the fire escape and climbed the countless long steps.rooftop, I got there. I grabbed the rooftop doorknob and turned it, and the door opened.
“······Mom, I’ll come with you soon.”
I was half-conscious. I rushed recklessly toward the rooftop, where there was no barbed wire. At that moment, someone grabbed my wrist.
“You’re crazy－?”
I heard the voice of a girl my age, and I turned my head to look behind me. She grabbed my arm and pulled me further away from the cliff.
I stared at him, my eyes wide, and he still held onto my arm. Without realizing it, my eyebrows narrowed and I shook his hand away. Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke.
“I don’t know what happened, but not yet, not yet.”
"What's wrong with that! Now I'm alone. Do I really need to live in this world? I'd rather just die."
“Just leave it alone.”
“···If you’re going to die, talk to me for a bit and then die.”
“······.”
He grabbed me again and moved me higher, higher than my current height, where I could clearly see the sky. He tapped the floor, telling me to sit down quickly, and I sat down without hesitation.
Then the kid stared at me intently and opened his mouth. "So what happened? Tell me. Could I really tell someone I'd just met today about what happened today?" I wiped away my tears and said, "Okay, let's just talk." I began.
I stared at the floor, struggling to hide my tears as I spoke, and the child, silently, patted my back and hugged me. His embrace was so warm, I found myself closing my eyes and sobbing. Just that silent pat on my back was a great comfort to me at the time.
“Your mother must have gone to heaven with the angels now, so you should live diligently to take care of her share as well.”
"Would your mother be happy if we followed along already? No, even though it hurts so much right now, let's just endure it for a little longer, okay?"
“······.”
“I’ll be by your side.”
That was the first time I looked up at her, and she smiled at me with such a beautiful, innocent smile. She was so mature, it was hard to believe she was an elementary school student just a few months ago.
She had long eyebrows, cherry-colored lips, a high nose, and finally, a pretty dimple that looked like a sunken pond.
* * *
From then on, I fell in love with you. In short, I had a secret crush on you. Within a short year, she suddenly moved away, and I, unaware of the news, moved back to the place where we first met.That was because I had been secretly coming to the rooftop often since then.
“I hope you like it···.”
I grabbed the corners of my mouth, which were crumbling, and went up to the rooftop. But there was no one there, and I found a piece of paper written in neat handwriting. My pupils shook, and I dropped the baby's breath flowers she had loved so much.
And then, before I knew it, I became a high school student and now, a year has passedYeonhwa High School 2nd gradeThis happened. My aunt gave me a house and I was living in the attic. AndMy usual bright personality disappeared, and I was trying to live a cheerful life. Then, the child who was precious to me came back.
“Hello, I’m Lee Yeo-ju. I look forward to working with you in the future!”
Coincidence or inevitability, the woman who was most precious to me suddenly disappeared－. came back to me.
－
Written by: Janakkaenaangkeum⁷
Retirement work: Kkeuye