I'm posting two chapters at once since they go together. I hope you have time to read both 91 and 92 today. Please don't forget to review.
At first, there was nothing to say. Millions of jumbled pieces that made up his colossal memory puzzle were hard to sort through. He tried to focus on her touch, her KI, which grounded him. He inhaled the faint scent of her hair floating in the air, feeling calmer. The initial thread was thin, leading through the labyrinth of many places till he reached the one she was looking for. The words began to form as the amorphous mental picture started to take shape.
What happened next was hard to comprehend. No matter how surreal and improbable was a distinct sensation of watching his own recollections emerge as if from a book with Eun Soo reading and turning pages alongside of him, filling the gaps with her own perceptions and experiences, making the memory alive and fully dimensional, like the distinct holographic image of Mr. Kim's photograph.
The warrior got into a habit of asking people time and date. He rushed from the Hwata's gate to the hospital each time, because he assumed she would be there. Where else would Eun Soo be, if not at work? During his prior trip he got plenty of cash, so taking a taxi was not a problem. The driver said something about 2009. He had no reason to stay, but something inside of him kept pushing him forward. Maybe, a rational, practical part that required him to rest between the time jumps. Here he was, asking downstairs for Dr. Yoo to have the woman look at him like he was crazy. "Which one?"
"Dr. Yoo Eun Soo."
"We don't have anyone here by that name, sorry."
"Oh, then... Can you check just one more time," he smiled a bit sheepishly.
Apparently his smile and his sad eyes worked every time because this was not the first time during his travels that somebody put an extra effort in assisting him.
"There is a first year surgery resident."
"Yes, right. Where can I find her?" he lit up.
"The dining hall. They are having some kind of meet and greet thing. All the residents are attending."
"Thank you."
Choi Young flew up the stairs and entered a huge space. There were at least a hundred people congregating in small groups; the space was large, like a huge market place, noisy and impossible to find one person among so many identically white doctor gowns. He kept looking for a particular redhead. Where was she?
"Imja..." Her special name light as wind escaped his breath, his heart tightened.
Choi Young stopped, his eyes glazed over while Eun Soo picked up the story, the image clear in her mind now, sharing the part he did not know about, but needed to learn.
Across the room she felt somebody's eyes trained on her. Among all the people these were the only eyes that made her turn. As she did, she met his – a dark and lonely stranger. He stood out from the crowd. He had dark brown eyes, shaped like almonds, deep, thoughtful, melancholic. He captured her and she could not turn away. These eyes spoke to her, they called out to her, they were hauntingly beautiful.
The distance between them disappeared as long as they looked into each other's eyes, and the world stopped, like nobody else mattered. Sounds died out and room emptied of its inhabitants; holding her breath, Eun Soo feared to blink. If she blinked, she was afraid he would disappear, because he could not have been real. Why was she entranced, a willing victim of his magnetic gaze? There was no rational explanation. Her eyes began to water, and her chest needed a release.
He took his turn, the brush of his KI painting the words with its steady flame.
Imja. My Eun Soo.
It was her. A younger version. Sneakers and light blue jeans, some kind of striped sweater underneath a white medical garb, buttoned carelessly. Her hair styled differently and the beautiful auburn fire muted into a boring brown color. Some strange curls that did not suit her at all, looking like somebody stuck a wig on top of her head. Nevertheless, despite her less exquisite appearance, the feeling of her energy was the right one.
He could not bring himself to stop looking at her. It was a mistake, a miscalculation, a glitch - the result of scrambled brain chemistry and electrical misfiring, some neuronal misconfiguration – too many trips in too short interval. His memories were so faded, her face started to escape him. He was not sure how he ended up in this time. But he knew it was too early. If he approached her now, there was no telling how the future would shape. An instinct told him to leave, leave before it was too late.
Eun Soo's memory seamlessly continued to complete their encounter.
She blinked – and he was gone. Dissipated into thin air, like a ghost of her imagination. Eun Soo frantically searched the room. This man's eyes made her feel loved. It was a faint, merely imperceptible feeling, but it was so powerful and unmistakable, she could not ignore it.
That night she had a dream. She dreamt of the stranger with the almond eyes. In this dream he was whispering something to her, and she tried to hear, but the noise of all the people around them drowned other sounds. She woke up very upset, as if she missed something incredibly important.
They froze in silence, their KIs and minds in complete synchrony, leaving them stunned by the magnitude of spiritual mystery they became a part of. Eyes still connected, souls joined, they managed unimaginable - one special memory restored fully.
Suddenly he felt her energy disconnect abruptly, as if an invisible blade cut the string linking them. Eun Soo's fingers twitched, her hold on him lessened and with a quick reflex Choi Young easily caught her light body as she slid down, losing consciousness. She looked at him bewildered, her sight darkened till she blacked out.
"Imja, come to your senses. Wake up," he urged. She was motionless, unresponsive in his arms. He touched her forehead, feeling her unexpectedly cool skin. She looked exceptionally peaceful, only too still and too pale, face carved out of beautiful marble, lifeless. Yet, her chest was rising and he could feel her warm breath; she was simply adrift and resting after the intense and apparently dangerous exercise. The fear of something happening to her was brief but all too real and he had to force the worry away before he gently kissed her lips. He pressed his forehead against hers, his energy burning as usual when she was close.
"Take a break, Imja. I'll watch over you." He collected the immobile figure prostrated on the floor and carried her into the bedroom. He made her comfortable on the bed, arranging a soft nest of pillows and a blanket around her body.
Choi Young guarded her deep sleep taking the time to reflect on the shadows of the past that hid from both of them only for completely different reasons.
Lost and unsure of who he was, Choi Young was a very different person on the night Lee Min Ho brought him to be healed by Eun Soo. His memories were faded as pages of old manuscripts, fragile and falling apart at the touch. Since then he fought to get them back so that he could help her to remember them, to remember the love they had for each other, to remember all the little moments they shared. He wanted to remember for both of them so that one day he could tell their son about it.
I wish I did, but I don't remember you, those words kept coming back to him. Those simple words stung cruelly, although he knew it was for the best. He knew because not remembering the most painful part of their life together was a blessing. He was a broken man, mending pieces together only because she was kind enough not to reject him.
He accepted this new reality of loving a woman who did not remember ever loving him, who was still confused about the past and was hesitant about the future. Despite her saying she was ready to move forward, he knew it was not entirely true. Finally they had a chance to reconstruct the past together, but at what cost?
Eun Soo's voice interrupted his contemplation.
"I used to call you stranger," she said softly.
Choi Young's heart fluttered at the long forgotten sound of his nickname. A warm lump of tears constricted his throat. "Yes, you did." He nodded in complete surprise, looking at her with hesitant anticipation.
"I still don't remember much, only the night you were brought into the hospital. I had a dream after your surgery, I don't think I ever told you about it– you looked at me with those almond eyes, thoughtful and melancholic, which I never saw before in my life and I was so confused... I only understood tonight - it's because you were that person with eyes that made me feel absolutely loved years prior to us actually meeting."
Her voice began to shake, but she continued, braving the avalanche of feelings taking over her. "You loved me for hundreds of years even before I knew you existed. I can't even begin to comprehend what you went through to come back to me. Don't you dare apologize," she preempted him. "Stop feeling guilty for who you are and what you did. If anything, I should ask for your forgiveness, for letting you go, for not remembering us. For getting lost without you."
She was trembling now, her body too small a vessel to hold the emotions she was battling with. Choi Young embraced her, giving back the potent healing energy she has selflessly been offering him. At that moment, his KI fueled by his unconditional devotion enveloped her, containing those feelings larger than herself.
"You never gave up on me. On both of us." She uttered smiling through tears of happiness.
"Never. You are my everything."
Morning light warmed the sky with gentle pinks and reds. Choi Young was still cradling the woman he loved close to his heart. As the sun rose, new dawn of past and future coming together lit up their exhausted, but content faces.