I LOVE YOU SO
Chapter Thirty-two
❛ An ocean full of conflict. ❜

FROM ALL THOSE days of surviving, Hwang Aera hadn't been able to experience the true bliss of it until the tides brushed against her cheeks, the coldness of the waters were almost like a healing— for a moment or so though. As soon as the bitterness of the sea touched upon the tip of her tongue, she was reminded of the barbaric memories that were etched into her mind.

The recollections were like hungry ghosts, demanding for freedom. But they stayed within the tight cage of Aera's skull. They swirled like a hurricane without a way out of an already destroyed city.

With her benumbed palms, quivering, she brought them up towards her flushed cheeks and buried her face into them briefly. Hwang Aera wasn't one to lose faith in herself so quickly, but she tried her best to appreciate the freeing atmosphere around her, believing that it would be the last time she'd ever experience something like that again.

The gentle waves teetered under her fingertips, as she stretched out her battered and scarred arms, ones that were littered with purply bruises that each told a different tale. It was fascinating how soft the current was, when there was a wild and inhuman battle within the facility.

"I never loved the sea this much before," blinking slowly, almost nodding off from the lulling sea, the young girl couldn't help but bring a soft and pure smile to balance upon her pink lips, she tried forcing it down, believing that it was inhuman of her to do so, when so many people passed away. But, her heart couldn't help it, not when it was being relieved by the tenderness of the water. "In-ho would love this, wouldn't he?" The corners of her lips moved higher up her rosy, yet numbed cheeks, they drew into a smile, but teetered when she was met by a silence and only the cackle of a seagull, "Jun-ho?"

━━━━━━

HWANG JUN-HO SCAVENGED for the ziplock bag that was tucked deeply within his pocket, he collapsed onto the shore briefly. His suit was soaked to the bone, making his arms look curvy as it outlines his muscles dramatically. Combing his fingers through his damped hair, he used his other steady hand to get his phone to turn on.

"Open, open, open," with an added shiver to the end, he desperately shook his phone, trying to get the metal device to work normally. "The connection bar is hanging onto a thin thread, we need to go higher up for better service," placing a hand above his eyebrows to see the mountain better, he squinted at the height of it, and the ground that was filled with dehydrated trees and shrubbery, "are you up for a hike?"

Jun-ho brought his eyes back down onto his phone again. "Hey Hwang Aera?" The dimmed screen could only show so much, with his eyebrows pulled into a tight frown.

Silence.

Jun-ho turned around frantically, "Aera? . . . " dropping his arm to his side with his jaw hung open, his eyes followed the shoreline.

Shuffling on his feet, the rubble like rocks collided with another as he sprinted hurriedly across the stretch of land. Travelling his eyes across the land before him, his eyes met with a series of: mountainous pebbles, grey rocks, mountainous pebbles, grey rocks, mountainous— Even the sea only consisted of coral blues and fluffy waves that scattered across the canvas of oceanic green.

"Fuck—" Gripping onto the collar of his suit tightly, Jun-ho thrusted his foot against the hard and bumpy ground, this caused the tip of his foot to be inflicted, surely causing a bruise to arise later on. "HWANG AERA," he didn't care if this attracted the brutes from the facility, they were out of the picture for a split second, his eyes still followed the shoreline. "Where the fuck did you go?" His tired, pink eyes were brimming with tears, but he couldn't differentiate them between the remaining sea water on his face or if it was really his tears.

"Shit, shit, we need to leave."

His own sister was right by his side, the both of them were fighting against time and the rough waves together. We'd only just found each other again.

"HWANG AERA." Yelling after yelling, the level of his voice began to grow unbalanced as it grew hoarse, his throat dry. Still, the waves ahead rolled into the shore quietly, almost mocking his distressed state.

With an irritated exhale, and an expression of remorse, Jun-ho took a step back.

Up ahead, a band of guards that were ready to pounce, emerged into Jun-ho's view. They were armed with machinery, their fingers curled around the trigger of their guns. Every single one of them were there for a trade that costed their life; they were there just so they could earn some money.

Money.

It's disastrous how humans have to go through extreme lengths just to live. There they were, sat upon the seat of a speedboat, chasing after a man with merely a weapon to defend himself. Their shielded faces held an expression of great guilt, if they had the guts to, they would've fled with Jun-ho, to fall into the adoring hands of freedom and away from the savagery they endured.

"I'm sorry little sister."

The shiny heel of Jun-ho's leather shoes tapped against another rock, as he took another step back.

Every nerve within his body seemed to ignite at the sight of the pink guards— there was no way of getting back and finding Aera. If he found her then, he would land the both of them within the deathly depths of hell, their plan would rip into shambles and they'd sabotage all hopes of them finding their brother.

So, he decided to not stray away from the plan they had developed.

As Jun-ho took another step back, it changed the next course of events. The more he entered the forestry behind him, the more the remorse within him festered. Every step he took, the more his melancholy took a toll on him. Still, he toughened up his exterior, by forcing the deeply etched frown that fell upon his lips, into a straight line.

His face was solemn, his shoulders rigid. "I'm sorry Aera," he started to wave his phone about to try and gain signal, "I'll try and find you again, I'll make sure of it," the determined police officer announced, as he trekked deeper into the arid forest. Hwang Jun-ho wasn't going to put the plan on a pause. Knowing Hwang Aera for many years of his life, he knew from the moment they reconnected, that the case he was trying to solve was in good hands.

The Hwang family weren't easily swayed, they knew how to find a different path to each failed plan.

Each failed plan wasn't exactly failed, since the Hwang siblings knew that it was an opportunity to start anew, to construct a more thorough and beneficial plan.

Perhaps, them splitting apart was the right path to make.

━━━━━━

IT WAS AS if the calm tides lost its mystical effect, a sense of uncertainty could be felt within Aera's senses, and she began to realise that it wasn't the ocean that made her feel safe, but the presence of another— her brother. It was as if a droplet of water had caught on to the wick of a burning candle, the fuzzy, warm feeling within Aera's chest began to fade away, and the beauty of the ocean no longer seemed appealing to her.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck—" Slamming the surface of her palm onto the surface of the vast ocean, making a sizzling sensation to form on her skin, but she couldn't feel it, not when every fibre of her body was growing benumbed, her temperature falling below the deathly degrees of zero.

"HEY HWANG JUN-HO," Aera's pearly teeth chattered from the inhuman temperatures. Even her cocoa eyes began to flutter shut, but she forced them open, even if it caused a lethal headache to seethe into her head.

"Where the fuck—" Trying her best to project her unbalanced voice, her healing throat felt scratchy all over again, completely demolishing the days where her she tried regaining her full voice back.

Aera had found that gone off track for three whole minutes. She was caught under the spell of the beauteous sea, her mind drifted elsewhere as soon as she started swimming within the ocean. For, Hwang Aera had been circling the land they were on, whereas Jun-ho had already swam to the other side of the island.

Aera needed to hold onto her energy tightly, it was an instinct she learned through her harsh experiences of being confined within the foul facility. In an area full of hell, she found that all she could really do, was count on herself.

"HWANG JUN-HO—"

For in the end, all Hwang Aera really had was herself. Even if it was a situation that required another, Hwang Aera found that it was always her own choices that counted. Her own choices that created her own fates.

Dragging her fatigued and alert eyes across the cryptically peaceful scenery before her, she only found a field full minuscule pebbles that mixed in with the blades of greyish grass. To the right of her, there was a solid, beige cliff. Gliding her vision upwards, her eyes were met with a large hill that was just behind it.

It consisted of fresh, trees that were alive and well, which was ironic how the world inside of the facility was almost lifeless.

There was a strange dip within the hill, Hwang Aera felt her slightly blue lips form into a puzzled frown, it almost as if there was meant to be an opening within the hill. No one would've guessed what it was, but it didn't take a genius to realise that it was an enclosed room. The raven haired girl knew that it belonged to the sadistic owner of the facility.

With every cell within of Aera's body becoming even more benumbed, she moved her arms about and swam hurriedly through the rough waters, closing the distance between herself and the shore.

Even though Aera's scars, that were engraved upon her skin, were almost healed, the wounds that were torn along the surface of her soul was much more graver than the ones visibly seen on her skin. The wounds inflicted upon her heart were singlehandedly sewn by, not only the traumas of the facility and the past but, herself. If she wanted to find a cure for the untreatable wounds on her mind, well, she would need to revisit her past.

Swimming closer, towards the side of the cliff, Aera strained her eyes to scan the area before her. Jolting, her cocoa, tired, eyes landed on a corroded hatch that was stuck on to the surface of the beige, rocky cliff. Desperately, Aera stretched her fingers out and clasped them onto the rusty, brown bars and tried tugging.

There were some things that slipped into her mind as she pulled the hatch that led to the sewers. Throughout the journey of embracing the cold waters, the dark haired girl couldn't help but let a series of memories flood through her mind as she did so. She recollected the sight she saw when she stayed afloat on the ocean, when she came face to face with the outside world after a long period of time.

Hwang Aera then remembered a certain raven haired girl, and all the memories she shared with her.

'I'll help you find that stupid butterfly.'

The delicate winged butterflies that danced along the dry fields, reminded Hwang Aera of the raven haired girl.

'I have a matching one too, we can try and take a photo so it can go inside the pendant!'

The seagulls that frolicked across the cornflower blue skies, reminded Hwang Aera of the raven haired girl.

'Jeju Island, and look, it's exactly 224 miles from here.'

The tranquil blanket of water that surrounded Hwang Aera, reminded her of the raven haired girl.

'Kang Sae-byeok, my name's Kang Sae-byeok.'

The ashen clouds that roared up ahead, one that would surely stir up a storm, reminded her of the raven haired girl.

'We're giving us another chance right?'

The wild but soft blue waters, reminded Aera of the raven haired girl.

'I don't want to lose you again.'

The frantically quiet ocean reminded Aera of the raven haired girl.

'Because . . . we're getting out of this hellhole together remember? And when we do . . . we'll watch as many sunrises as we want.'

Hwang Aera's strong determination to survive, was motivated by her memories of Kang Sae-byeok.

Clang. The hatch broke open, thus giving Hwang Aera a way back into the facility. Tossing the hatch aside with great effort, a lengthy exhale left her sore lips, a vividly triumphant expression was illustrated upon her face.

"Here's to getting the both of us out of this hellhole . . . like I promised."

( 2365 words )

DEAR ALL,

I hope this chapter made sense, and wasn't confusing to read.

I hope you understand that Jun-ho had to leave Aera.
1. Because he literally could not find her.
2. He would've been caught and forced on to the speed boat.
3. He knew Aera was capable of finding her way back to him. There's some more reasons, but these are the main ones.
Plus, Hwang Aera wouldn't be dragging her ass back to ~save~ Sae-byeok if it weren't for that so 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hope you all are well too, I'll probably be able to finish writing the entire book next week since I'm on a break hehe❤️‍🔥💯

Keep being epic and cool, and to those still reading this, you own my heart🫂

WITH LOVE FROM, SYLVIA