Prologue

It was an early evening with a gloomy sky. Ga Eul was waiting outside the familiar studio. She had her hair worn down, and a burgundy coat covering her pale white dress, assuring warmth in the autumn breeze.

Every now and then, her eyes would take a peek at the familiar pathway, awaiting for a certain person to appear around its corner; a person whom she was yearning to see, ever since their little conversation in front of the kiln, and someone who had changed a lot in the past few weeks, for the better, eventhough those changes did very little to ease her doubts about that particular visit.

She straightened up, hearing those familiar footsteps approach, yet she could barely take her eyes off from the ground. She had to think of a way, to start a conversation.

Would he think it's silly, for her to visit him in such a time? She wondered.

All in all, another paper bag nervously hung around her fingers.

The footsteps stopped near her. Ga Eul looked up to see him, from bottom to top she saw him; his polished black shoes, grey trousers, the matching coat and the waist coat worn over a white shirt. He was elegantly dressed as ever, though it was his smile that was different than before. Than those previous grins he wore in order to cover his face while thinking a way to chase her away, the one he wore now was more welcoming, more genuine and warmer.

"Ga Eulyang what brought you here? "he asked.

Ga Eul while returning his smile glanced at the paper bag and then at him." I …I heard from Jandi that sunbae is leaving early tomorrow morning." She hesitated." I thought it would be nice to pay a visit." She continued." Sunbae doesn't have to worry of course I will be leaving now."

Yi Jeong let out a chuckle "Anniyo. Come inside. Ga Eulyang must have waited for long.". He got his keys and opened the door to lead them both in.

"Would Ga Eulyang like some tea?"

"Ani..anniyo don't bother yourself."

"... it's not much." He went to the mini pantry and lighted the lamp." What's in that bag? Is it a present?"He gestured at the bag .

"... it's just some cookies Sunbae could have in the flight…or maybe not..I mean_"

"_Gumao." Yi Jeong smiled. "Ga Eulyang won't mind keeping it on the table, would you?"

Ga Eul let out a chuckle and kept it on the table. Yi Jeong brought the tea and served it as the many times he had done before. Seated on the table opposite to each other, they silently enjoyed the other's presence.

"Ga Eulyang, since you've come here would you mind helping me with some packing?"

"Deh?" Ga Eul shot a glance of amazement.

"I mean it's okay if Ga Eulyang doesn't_"

"_Arasso." And they exchanged another smile.

"So.. where shall we start?" She asked while standing up after finishing her tea.

"There's the boxes over there.."he pointed at a little heap of cardboard "and a roll of duct tape somewhere in those cupboards. I could find it for you." He gulped the last sip from his own tea and stood up. Ga Eul's eyes followed his actions, but as he took off his coat she switched her sight back to the boxes pretending as if she had seen nothing. Much to her pleasure Yi Jeong did not notice her crimson cheeks, or maybe he was pretending not to notice lt. He rolled up his sleaves before opening the cupboards and with just a matter of seconds he found the orange duct tape. Ga Eul was busying herself with the folding and he kept it besides the heap of cardboard.

"Four or five would be enough. I'm not wishing to take a lot."

"Sunbae?"

"Hmm?"

"What pieces are we going to pack into these?"

He went thoughtful for a moment " Probably the kettle and… that water bottle and maybe a vase or two." They exchanged another smile before retreating back to there work. Yi Jeong got a damped cloth and he carefully cleaned the dusted pieces of pottery. Ga Eul went on making a box after another and taped them at the bottom so it would be safe for the fragile pottery.

"Sunbae, have you got any bubble wrap?"

"Mwo?..Agh! Ye, I think so.." with that he left for the internal part of the studio and returned with a roll of bubble wrap. Ga Eul had finished making the boxes by then so she accompanied him in cleaning the pottery. They exchanged occasional friendly smiles while cleaning the sophisticated designs. Then they bubble wrapped them and placed them in the boxes.

"Are we all done now?"

Yi Jeong nodded. "If it isn't for Ga Eulyang's help it wouldn't have been finished this soon. Gumao."

Ga Eul smiled in return." Sunbae.. then shall I leave now?"

Yi Jeong let out a smirk." Arasso. Shall I drop you at your place?"

"Anniyo. It's okay . I could go on my own…." There was a long silence in which they stared at each other as if they were yearning to tell something. But, at last Ga Eul broke the silence with a soft chuckle for which Yi Jeong joined as well; it was a shy one in which he would look down at the ground and grin wider when he look up at her.

"Anyeongsaeyo, Yi Jeong sunbae."she bowed "Have a safe trip." And as she turned to leave Yi Jeong cought her hand.

"Ga Eulyang,"

"Deh?"

He immediately retreated his hand to the pocket and took out a pair of keys." It's an extra pair. Ga Eulyang..could come to the studio and practice pottery if you'd want." He hesitated for a bit." I mean …. There's the potter's wheel and_"

"_Arasso. Yi Jeong sunbae, gumao."Ga Eul smiled and accepted the keys. When she touched the door to pass out from the studio Yi Jeong again awaked his voice.

"It would be better if Ga Eulyang would keep it safe. There won't be another pair of keys." Ga Eul smiled again . She was more than delighted when she understood the meaning written between those words."Arasso. "she again bowed and left. After he made sure that she was far enough not to see him Yi Jeong as well smiled to himself.

Standing by the door that lead to the empty studio with the keys that he gave to her Ga Eul recalled these memories from the evening before the departure of Yi Jeong. It was the Valentine's day and it was in the studio that she chose to celebrate it.

The studio was dark as it was almost the late evening and the lights were out.

When she switched on the lights she noticed that the studio was dusty and empty. She was indeed expecting it as there wasn't anyone who visited there, and even for the visits she herself paid, were not frequent due to her tough routine.

She went to the back of the studio and got a mop a basket, cleaning liquids and all yet she thought to begin with the bowls on the rack. First she kept all the pieces on the cupboardtops, on the tables so she could climb on to it, to clean the higher racks. She dusted the racks and cleaned the bowls with a damp cloth and then with a dry one so the glaze which was buried under the layer of dust could be visible once again . Then she cleaned the cupboard tops and the pottery which was on there before placing them back. She wiped the tables and the benches before moping the whole place.

When she went to keep all the cleaning items back in there place, she saw the small pairs of keys hanging from a hook. It had been her fourth Valentine's day celebrating alone in the studio yet it always triggered the best of her curiosity when she saw those keys; the keys to the ever shut cupboards. It was her politeness which had stopped from nosing around the belongings of So Yi Jeong, though on this fourth Valentine's day her curiosity won over her politeness.

She took all those keys and began to unlock the cupboards. Much to her disappointment there wasn't any interesting thing in there. Apart from an apron or a rusted and broken equipment most of them were empty. Ga Eul's curiosity was drained off when she reached the last of the cupboards. She twisted the key and to her surprise it wasn't empty at all, and it wasn't a rusted pottery equipment that filled it's space but a magnificent vase in glass box that was.

She carefully took the vase-in-the-glass-box out. And examined it. It was indeed a beauty;a white glazed pottery with the simplest shape of a vase. On the top of it's neck there were five petal flowers engraved. They were tiny, even smaller than her finger nails. Some were embed and some were engraved. There were almost hundreds of such kind of flowers on its neck and the shoulder, and a random one or two here and there on its body. If the neck of the vase could be called as the sky then the tiny flowers were a pouring rain. It was obvious how much patient concentrated and skilled the potter should have been which took to make such kind of a master piece. At the end of the box it was titled as ' The Spring of Love'. Ga Eul let out a smile and put it back in the cupboard.

Besides the vase she noticed a small book which she recognized as a photo album. Then she took the album and sat on the bench. As she turned the pages she became aware that it was the vase which had made the great potter's debut at Biennale at the age of sixteen. There was a picture of a teenage So Yi Jeong with a man in his early sixties whom she recognized as the freedom fighter So Yoon Hee. And another with his abeojji in which as for being with Yi Jeong for a quite long time to know-how fake and forceful the smile he wore back then was. She brushed through another few pictures in which it was only that dimpled boy was the only one she recognized, and she stopped at a picture of four grinning kindergartners. As for the curly hair she recognized the one in the middle as "Jun Pyo sunbae"and the one at his left as "Ji Hoo sunbae" as for his silent nature. The one at his left was "Woo Bin sunbae"as the one at Junpyo sunbae's right with his signature dimples was her Yi Jeong sunbae. She couldn't help but chuckle seeing those joyous kindergartners. There after was the photos of So Yi Jeong and Gu Junpyo, So Yi Jeong and Yoon Ji hoo and the cutest of all So Yi Jeong and Song Woo Bin. Their happiness was gradient and obvious that Ga Eul couldn't stop laughing to herself. She was wondering what would happen if Yi Jeong would get to know about her nosiness; would he get mad or would he be embarrassed? Or would he simply join her with laughter?

As she turned more pages she travelled deeper into his life. There was a photo, a formal one with three children sitting beside a So Yoon Hee who was around his late fifties. There were two boys one about twelve years old and the other about sixteen years old. They were accompanied by another girl who was about thirteen or twelve years old. There after there were a lot of pictures of those three children in which Ga Eul took some time to recognize the girl as none other than Cha Eun Jae. Her heart stopped for a moment seeing how close they were back then.

Nonetheless she continued to turn the pages. There was again another formal one with a man in his late twenties and a woman in her mid twenties. A boy around the ages of four or three was seated in between them and there was a baby in the woman's arms. It was the one before the last. Ga Eul took some time to study it and then she turned for the last page. There was a three year old boy grinning wildly in the arms of the same woman who was previously mentioned. She was grinning as well. Their similar features were irresistibly prominent and Ga Eul could swear that she had never seen that boy with such a joyous and innocent laugh. Ga Eul did not know why but she felt tears rolling on her cheeks and as a huge drop fell on to her lap, she noticed perhaps for the humidity in the studio some fungae had grown on the bottom of it. She with immense care took the photo out, placed it in an envelope and put it in her bag.

She kept the album back in its place before locking the cupboards and hanging the keys on their hook. It was almost half past eight when she left the studio. She got into a bus and even when the street lights passed through her or was that grinning three year old who conquered her mind. The bus stopped at her destination and Ga Eul got out leaving only another old lady as a passenger in there. She walked in silence to a familiar shop and entered though the sign read closed.

"Oh! Noona. Hasn't it been a long time?"

"Ye... How's aunty and uncle? Are they fine?"

"Ye. Omma and appa would be happy to see noona."

"I'll pay you a visit then."she smiled.

"What brought noona here at this kind of an hour?" the boy asked.

Ga Eul took the envelope out and handed it to the boy. He took off his spectacles and rubbed them on his shirt before starting to examine the photo.

"Isn't it some kind of a fungi?"

"Ye... I'll get it done by tomorrow." The boy smiled and answered.

"Gumao. Then tell aunty and uncle that I reminded them. Anyeongsaeyo." Ga Eul bowed and turned to leave .

"Umm… noona wait for me, I'll drop you at your place."

"Anniyo. I could go on my own."

"Anniyo there's a new bar opened across the street and the crowd is not much decent."

"mwo? A bar?"

"Ye... Even on its second day of opening there was a fight and some one was killed.

"Deh?" Ga Eul went all pale.

"Noona, it's better you would take the next stop. For now, I'll come with you…. If in any case…."

"Arasso.. gumao."

" No big deal."

So the boy accompanied her in the lonely street. Of course the bar was loud and scary. Ga Eul thanked her cousin again at her house and her parents even asked him to come in at least for a tea, but the boy politely refused and went home.

Ga Eul collected the cleaned photo from him the next day and reminded herself to put it back in its place before she returned home.