I LOVE YOU SO
Chapter Twenty-seven
❛ Time truly heals it all. ❜

SCINTILLATING RAYS OF sunlight glimmered freely onto Aera's cool cheeks, blooms of soft pink painted upon them as she flicked her head to the side, her cocoa pupils expanded at the sight of Sae-byeok munching clumsily on a Choco Pie. The light snack sat between the raven haired girl's slender fingers, crumbs of the chocolatey good covered the corners of her cherry coloured mouth. Drawing her sweet lips into a broadened smile, Sae-byeok chuckled cheekily when she caught Aera staring at her.

They shared a large sun bed, the comfy fabric was just large enough to fit both of the tall girls. It waved to and fro, lightly, against the quiet Jeju breeze. There was a towering umbrella that only covered their angelical faces, Aera demanded that they soak the rest of their skin under the sun, so that they could earn the full Jeju Island experience.

By their feet, was a picnic mat adorned with the finest of snacks: Pocky, more Choco Pie, Pepero biscuits . . . There were also glasses of Mojitos and lemonade too, to wash down the sugary snacks. Perched on the stripy yellow and green picnic mat, was a content man with salt washed, curly hair. Within his arms was a young infant that had a similar soft grin to his father, and a gentle chuckle like his mother. There was a content glow upon Ali Abdul's flushed cheeks, as he cooed at his son whilst trying out a bowl of kimchi- though, soon after that bowl he went for seconds, then a third, then a fourth . . .

Handing over a glass full of sweet tea, with tapioca pearls, for Aera, was a lean man with a unique, contagious and joyful smile. His structure was more confident and relaxed as his skin tanned under the Jeju sunlight. Attached to his strong hips was a pair of arms that belonged to his gleeful daughter, Ga-yeong, she embraced him strongly as she begged her father to play in the sand with her. Seong gi-hun let a cheery chuckle fall out of his lips, telling her to wait a moment as he wanted to see Aera's reaction to drinking the freshly made boba tea.

The icy glass benumbed Aera's fingers for a moment, swishing the metal straw within the sweet beverage, she placed her bubblegum pink lips on the straw and took a sip- her insides felt sunny as she drank the bubble tea, a blissful smile illustrated itself on to her lips as she tried to savour every sip. Seong Gi-hun clapped his hands together with an overjoyed chuckle, he even shimmied on his feet cheerfully.

Nudging at Aera's arm, was Sae-byeok. Her prettily shaped eyebrows pulled together, puzzled. Taking her own straw away from her matcha flavoured drink, Sae-byeok put it into the bubble tea, a drink made by Gi-hun's friend. A burst of joy filled her senses as she tasted the drink, her cherry tinted lips curled into a tiny smile at this.

Just beside Ali Abdul and his lovely family, was a curly haired woman and a beauteous girl with chocolate brown highlights. The two had a dish full of juicy cherries from Hwang Aera's hometown, with their hands full of the sweet drupes, they took in turns to throw a cherry into the other's open mouth. Mi-nyeo always threw too far, or too far towards the side, whereas Ji-yeong always threw a cherry exactly into Mi-nyeo's mouth. There were a lot of frustrated cries from Mi-nyeo, but nevertheless, they were both exultant.

Running into the tides, was a young boy with a cherubic glow upon his cheeks. Kang Cheol tried catching the chaotic waves without being lifted into a piggy back ride by Hwang Aera's brothers. The Hwang brothers chased the young Kang around the shore, the soft, crashing waves hugged at their legs. Quite faintly, you could hear their ecstatic laughter, alongside the elegant seagulls that hollered from the coral skies.

Walking side by side in a tranquil manner, were Aera's Oma and Sae-byeok's Oma. The two strode along the pulpy sands, their minds peaceful, their hearts were truly joyed. With their children by their sides and any sign of negativity behind them, the two Omas felt relaxed.

After such a long time, they found true happiness.

Pushing a stroller in front of them, they had a small infant sitting within it. Much like her mother, Gidae was strong-willed, the tiny child thrashed around within the stroller, wanting to sit on the soft sands. Giving in, Mrs. Hwang and Mrs. Kang relented and let Mi-nyeo's daughter play around on the golden sands, even though it was past her bedtime.

Aiding his frail mother was a tall man, with broad shoulders, a head strong persona and a large heart. Sang-woo helped his mother set up an ice-cream stall, one with quite a handful of matcha flavoured ice-cream. Quite immediately, a crowd of young children lined up, eager to munch on some sweet tasting ice-cream.

The lean man, with a genuine, elated smile upon his face, then returned to stand next to Gi-hun's side, once the ice-cream stall was set up. Both Sang-woo and Gi-hun flew a kite, that was in a shape of a butterfly, it fluttered against the soft winds. Whilst Ga-yeong watched the beautiful kite, she blew iridescent bubbles from her bubble wand, with a bottle of soap between her fingers.

Hwang Aera dragged her gleeful eyes upwards, her cocoa brown eyes met with a canvas full of opalescent colours. The sky was being painted by the golden rays of the sun, as it moved further up the sky- palettes of magenta, pastel blue and salmon pink could be seen within the sky. With Sae-byeok's soft fingers intertwined within her own, Aera was truly happy.

Hwang Aera closed her eyes and counted to ten, just to make sure it was all real.

One.

The palm trees started to whisper, its roots crumbled, the leaves wavered.

Two.

Cheol, In-ho and Jun-ho disappeared into the chaotic waves, their figures nowhere in sight.

Three.

There were no sign of cherry seeds that littered the floor, no sign of Ji-yeong and Mi-nyeo chuckling together harmoniously.

Four.

The picnic basket, blanket and its goods flittered into nothing. Ali Abdul's chirpy laughter was faint, the light chatters from his family were practically nonexistent.

Five.

A lone butterfly kite flew into a mass of clouds, it soared into the sky, some pretty bubbles surrounded it too. Though, the owners of the butterfly kite were nowhere to be seen. Sang-woo, Gi-hun and Ga-yeong were out of the picture.

Six.

The mass of children lining up to buy some of the overly popular matcha ice cream, vanished without a trace. The stall was empty, Mrs. Cho wasn't there. Just the sound of the ice cream stall curtains could be heard, as it flapped against the strong, festering winds.

Seven.

The air grew cold. Life seemed almost rare as everything dulled in colour.

Eight.

The clouds grew greyer, they formed in clusters, hovering manically above both Aera and Sae-byeok.

Nine.

Sae-byeok's gentle touch seemed faraway. Her soft skin felt lifeless, almost like nothing against Aera's hands. Aera frantically turned around, her eyes were filled with tender tears, her bottom lip aquiver as she found herself looking at Sae-byeok's fragile expression. Sae-byeok's jubilant smile was replaced with the same, destroyed face that she held when Hwang Aera sacrificed herself for the life of Mi-nyeo and her baby.

Ten.

In a large exhale, Hwang Aera faded away from her make believe world, away from the life she wanted, away from the ideal life she created within her head. Instead, as Aera slowly awoke from her slumber, she could indistinctly hear Sae-byeok's cry, "HWANG AERA," a yell that was identical to the one she croaked out when a bullet punctured Aera's chest.

"SAE?- KANG SAE-BYEOK?" Tossing around within her damp sheets, the distressed girl let out a choked cry. Finding her cheeks, drenched, in a couple hundred tears, Aera gradually departed from Dreamland and awoke with a blocked nose and a skull pounding headache. A messy weep forced itself out of her tired throat when she found herself trapped, temporarily, within four walls.

Still confined within the facility.

Aera's reddened eyes were tender from crying during her deep slumber, thus making her vision blurry as she trailed her eyes onto her surroundings.

Almost as if she were iron bolted down on to her bed, her back ached immensely as she tried propping herself up onto her sore elbows. Thankfully, the small room she was confined in, had soft yellow lights, making it pleasing to the eye. It was almost identical to the ones within the marble game room. A devastating blow could be felt within her chest- which surprised Aera since her chest felt extremely hollow.

With a staggering breath, Aera's eyes followed the blank, dark, walls. There were intricate designs painted along the surface of them, if you looked closely enough, it was as though they were painted in gold. The detailed designs, only, consisted of: a circle, a triangle, a square. All these familiar shapes rang a bell within the back of Aera's mind- these shapes were everywhere. They were usually found on the guard's masks, mostly were predominantly triangles, and the only person allowed to speak, usually, were the ones with a square painted upon their masks.

Still, with salty tears painting her grim cheeks, Aera tried swinging her legs over, though, they seemed floppy, or asleep. Her entire body felt that way. From her limbs to her muscles, it was as though they were drenched in numbing cream. Even her eye lids weighed down heavily- Aera's entire being refused to do anything. With a zombie like appearance, all that Aera wanted to do was to return to bed, sleep her days away and escape by dreaming about Jeju Island, a world she'd created within her mind.

But Hwang Aera had to face reality. Her brutal, cruel, reality. Even though she felt completely drained and empty at that moment, she needed someone to tell her that: time heals it all. Time may seem dangerous at times, but it truly heals it all.

Almost tripping over on her first step, Aera felt helpless. Like a small child taking their first step, she used the side of the smooth walls to aid her over towards the table, one that was just beside her bed. At every step, it wasn't her leg that was causing her pain at that moment, but the wound on her chest. Gently rolling her plain white t-shirt up, one with no crinkles, she had no time to think about who dressed her, but who stitched the bullet wound up.

The events from the night before were hazy, almost as if it were a distant, forgettable dream. Aera thought hard about it, but it only caused the two sides of her brain to hurt, as though it caused her skull to be drilled down by a bunch of sharp needles. Clutching the side of her head temporarily, she sucked in a sharp breath as she trailed her finger along the tightly done stitch. Some tears stung at her eyes as she continued to touch the stitch, puzzled by how she managed to survive the bullet.

Harshly pulling her shirt down again, a slither of hope entered Aera's mind as she thought about her survival. If she was able to survive her bullet. Did that mean Ji-yeong survived hers too? At that thought, a whole deal of determination fell on Aera's shoulders, she almost cried with joy, her eyes swimming with tears.

It could be possible, Aera found herself wondering.

With a hint of adrenaline pumping gingerly within her veins, Aera blinked slowly as she tilted her head at the sight before her. Laid out on the golden table, were three outfits.

The very first one, was the same old, tacky, obnoxious green pair of tracksuits and jacket. Despite the fact that it was finely cleaned, there were traces of faded, crimson blood that would surely stain material forever. The collar of the shirt was fraying, the stitches that pieced the scruffy rim of the green collar on to the clean shirt, was torn and the thread was almost undone. It brought back unwanted, harmful memories into Aera's mind, but also bittersweet ones.

Thus, this caused Aera to flicker her eyes hastily on to the next outfit.

Sitting in the middle of the other two outfits, was the innocent coloured supervisor uniform. Though, the connotations of the actual outfit was not at all pure. If Hwang Aera chose this, she would have to carry a burdensome gun at all times, one she would have to use to take the life of naive, guiltless people. Aera already found it hard to forgive herself for meddling into this mess. If she became a guard, she would never even consider trying to forgive herself.

Tearing her eyes away from the bright pink outfit, Hwang Aera's fatigued eyes landed on a black present, wrapped in a bright pink ribbon. Hesitating, Aera hovered her fingers above the present, her mind raced with what ifs. Sighing deeply, she finally unraveled the pink ribbon- her eyes met with a dark suit that was wrapped neatly within the box. The colour of the suit was pure black, a colour that matched the dark night skies in Seoul, when the weather was clear, and stars would litter the sky. Placed upon the black jacket, was a mask in the shape of a pasta spoon. A pair of squeaky clean, black, shoes also sat beside the box.

Intrigued, Aera scanned the professionally made suit with all her attention. Fumbling around, cautiously with her hands, she frowned at what it could be for.

"Why is it so fancy? . . . What's the occasion?" Muttering to herself, also wincing at how her voice scratched heavily against her tender throat, Aera itched the back of her neck, lightly, with her untrimmed nails, she avoided picking at the red scars that painted her skin. "Is someone getting married or something? God, what sick fucks would want get married in this hellhole?"

Letting go of the silky material, Aera flickered her eyes, rapidly, at her three choices. The player outfit. The supervisor outfit. The black suit. The player outfit. The supervisor outfit. The black suit- Aera's pulse drummed hastily, and it only sped up the more she looked at them. Curling her purply, bruised fingers tight, Aera viciously tucked her cracked bottom lip under her top teeth.

"Fuck this shit." Aera reached forwards and grabbed the outfit she wanted to wear the most, her mind exploded with different thoughts.

With time to heal her, Aera held a more unshakable stance, one that was unwavering, her shoulders broader. Time was Hwang Aera's only noble steed, she couldn't waste it, she needed to use it wisely- so she can go ahead with her own plan.

(2620 words )

DEAR ALL,

Ngl guys, when I wrote about Aera's dream, where the whole gang was in Jeju Island, my heart cried pls can we just pretend they're all there rn 🖐🖐😩

Things are about to go down and Aera's inner baddie side is going to come out again are you ready💯💯

Love you all a lot, thank you for the support I mean it, sorry for being mushy but its true lol🫂

WITH LOVE, SYLVIA