"The locals believed that if you take a pebble from this beach, you'll come back again."

It took her a year to finally came to the decision. Whether to throw the pebble away... or keep it. Or come back to return it to its proper place, or just come by and throw it from a distance. Or have someone else do it for her instead. Those thoughts had always been there. Regardless of when she consciously brought the idea into her mind... or during those free minutes when she wasn't doing any surgeries.

She couldn't stop thinking about it. Thinking about the pebble would eventually let her to thinking about other trivial things. And that led her to think about him. And it started to become a habit for her, to carry the pebble everywhere she goes. Even some of the interns started to become curious about it, whereas her friends kept their thoughts to themselves. She wondered if they've been talking to Myeongju about it.

"I never got over you..."

"...I like you more than you like me."

She wondered if it had been the same for him as it had been for her. All those times back then in Uruk, when Yoo Sijin had the pebble with him. Or even far back, ever since their first break up. Before the pebble even came to his possession. As she tried to stop herself from thinking about him too much by taking as many surgery operations as she could possible take, was it the same to him back then? She missed him a lot. She still is.

"I missed you a lot."

"I couldn't keep you out of my head. I kept myself busy, tried to distract myself and drank a lot."

"But I still missed you a lot."

And then she wondered if the pebble made it worse, for him back then... and for her. Now. Because to others, this pebble would have just looked like any other pebble. But to her... and him, this pebble would contain so many memories.

Also lately, she couldn't help regarding the pebble as a personal good luck charm. Back then, in Uruk... in a way, it had protected Sijin. Sure, back then... a lot of things has happened. The incident with the Arab chairman, that near-death experience at the edge of the cliff, the earthquake, the M3 epidemic, that fiasco with 'Private Ryan'... but they turned out all right. Of course, most of those incidents one way or another involved her as well... but she couldn't help feeling as if the reason they managed to survived through all of that, was because of Sijin. As well as the pebble's 'magic spell'.

Because it crossed her mind lately. That when Sijin passed the pebble to her, the magic that protected Sijin was taken away from him. Thus leading to the incident where she had to see him being brought to the hospital, covered in blood due to multiple gunshot wounds. And there also that minor thing with him falling off the wheelchair down the hill.

That made the news of his death even more painful. Because she started having the thought that; if she had given the pebble back to him, he might have still be alive now. Or that if she had been there by his side, she might have been able to protect him. Just as she barely saved him, when he almost died at the hospital.

The first year death anniversary was looming near, she might as well make some preparations.

xxx

She placed the stone carefully, beside the small flower bouquet but the pebble kept falling.

"Stay still, will you?" she said as she silently begged the pebble to stop falling. Or for the winds to stop blowing it away—strange, though, because the winds seemed to only touch the pebble—as if not wanting her to leave it behind.

I'm not going to forget him. I'm just leaving the pebble here, she silently reasoned to herself. Because she hasn't had the heart to return to that place alone. That would have been even more painful to her compared to leaving the pebble here.

The walkie-talkie hissed again, and she wondered if there was anything else that the people at the refugee camp wanted her to bring back. What she heard instead, froze her heart for a moment.

"This is Big Boss."

Was this the reason the pebble refused to stay on the pillar?

xxx

This is impossible...

This can't be...

She couldn't believe her eyes as she saw the figure that seemed to approach her from afar. Yoo Sijin... was that really him? Was he really not dead?

Her body moved by herself as she tried to go towards that person. Yet it seemed so surreal that even her legs couldn't seem to move properly as she then the man reached her and held her and helped her up. Her eyes met up with his.

Was this real?

Perhaps what the legends said was true...