"You didn't bring Gyu? Huh…" The girl ducked down to look through the window.
"Just get in, Sara… or I'm moving past," Garam said in a tired tone.
"Damn, man." She pushed her bag into the trunk before sliding into the passenger seat.
A visible pout settled on her face, growing with every passing second as the car sped down the road. Garam hadn't said anything yet, which only added fuel to her annoyance.
"Whyyy…"
She suddenly wriggled her entire body, startling Garam with her sudden shriek.
"What the—"
"I dare you to complete it." she glared down at him.
Garam knew exactly where she was coming from. She was frustrated by Gyu's absence, obviously. He swallowed, holding back the words that almost slipped out.
"Why are you so possessive of her?" she began. "I mean, I get it. She's the only girl in your home, your precious sister and all, but still… shouldn't you give her some damn space? Let her roam out of that cramped little place of yours."
She paused for breath before continuing.
"When you said I must see her on the phone, you know how excited I was."
"She's not at home," Garam cut her off.
"Tell me something new, mister. I know she went to some boarding school. I don't know how she even gets out of that home, let alone gets away from your sight. Must have cost a lot of tears. Don't know who poured more. Must have been you, I guess… You don't like tears in her eyes anyway."
Suddenly, her eyes widened as she turned to face him.
"so you're saying she didn't come back. she's with you, right? Or am I right?"
She wriggled her brows.
"I have something to share with you," he stated, his voice calm and deep.
"Well, we'll talk after I reach your damn house."
Garam nodded, but his heart already knew about the explosion that was waiting to happen once she learned the truth about the real Gyu.
"You remember our first meeting?" she suddenly asked.
Garam shook his head.
"No."
"Ah, man. That's something impossible to believe. You seriously don't remember?"
Garam shook his head again.
"Well, i guess I was five or six then. the boys who used to bully me came that day too. That was when I saw her for the first time."
Her voice softened as she slipped into the memory.
"She came to me with a dazzling smile, handing me a strawberry popsicle. I was covered in mud because, just before she came, they had pushed me into the rain-soaked puddle on the playground. I was terrified at first. I kept thinking about what would happen to her if they found out she was talking to me." She smiled faintly.
"So I ignored her popsicle. She truly looked like the most beautiful little cat-faced girl I had ever seen, but her face was saddened when I rejected her."
"I didn't even turn back. I just ran toward my mom, hoping they wouldn't see me with her."
"But the next day, she appeared in my space out of nowhere, saying we are in the same playschool, so I had to befriend her because I'm a loner."
Sara let out a small laugh.
"This time, she actually puzzled me. So I threw my hands up and screamed that I didn't want any cat-faced friend. She looked shocked."
"But then, on the third day, her desk was right beside mine."
"I couldn't understand her persistence. Why was she so eager to be around me?"
"So I asked her, 'Why are you so clingy to me? Can't you see I'm ignoring you?'"
"She didn't say anything just pointed at a boy and said a dumbstruck person wouldn't leave her alone for a breath. So she had to stick with me because I was a girl, a safer choice for making friends."
"But when I asked her about the others, she simply said they wouldn't be better than me."
That bewildered me.
"But through all of it, I noticed something."
"My bully stopped crossing me. And she was the reason."
"You know what happened to that bully?" her eyes glowed.
"The boy she was fed up with, beat those bullies, just to make sure she was safe around the campus."
Sara's lips curled into a knowing smile.
"Oh, to be devoted like that."
"Wanna know who he was?"
She wiggled her brows, a naughty grin appearing on her face.
Garam swallowed hard.
"It was you."
A soft curve crept onto his lips.
"You seriously don't remember this?" she asked for the third time.
"I didn't…"
His voice trailed off.
"But now I do."
His eyes glistened slightly, though he kept the tears from falling.So now, at least one of her memories had returned, one he could confidently say belonged to her.
Sara continued with different stories, stories from a life that existed apart from Gyu.
Garam didn't interrupt her even once.
He only listened intently.
For him, it was like listening to a very delicate recording, one where, if he interrupted, the message might get corrupted.
He wanted to hear more. He wanted her to reach the part about Gyuri. What was she like? How did she sound? What did she do?
Because he couldn't trace the exact image of her anymore. He had no memory of her that existed completely on its own, separate from everything he had come to know as Gyu except for the one Sara had just given him.
"Can you go deeper into the memories you have of her?" he asked cautiously, careful not to sound desperate.
"Only if you let me be a guest at your house tonight."
"Eh?" He turned to her, completely baffled but before he could find the words to ask what she meant, she reached toward his cheekbone, her thumb brushing beneath his eyes as though cautiously trying to wipe something away. Then her expression changed.
The hollow shadows beneath his eyes didn't come off. They weren't something smeared onto his skin. It was as though they had settled there, becoming a part of him.
Garam's back stiffened at the sudden proximity of her hand. He calmly lowered it, placing her hand back at her side.
"Hyah! W-What are you doing?" he asked, exasperated.
She looked at his face for a moment, "Did something happen to you?" she asked softly. Her gaze remained fixed beneath his eyes, and the concern she had been trying to hide slowly became visible on her face.
"What is wrong?" she whispered.
"Nothing" Garam muttered averting his eyes.
She didn't say anything further. She remained silent, her gaze lingered on the tear caught in his lashes.
You never asked me before to go over my memories of Gyu... she thought, the question almost leaving her lips but she pushed it away for now.
"Are you.... having a hard time?"
"Is this about Gyu"