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I run until I make it to the edge of the road, an actual tarmac and straight road, that I fall and kiss with utter gratitude. Tears are welling up to blurriness. A gritty, cold, rough surface that hurts my parched lips, but I’ve never been so happy to see something manufactured in all my life. I can’t describe the elation and aching chest pain it gives me.
The truck is long gone, and I stare off in the direction it went, along a long road that curves off out of sight, and I gaze both ways, trying to figure out which would be the shortest route to a town. One might be close; one might not. Or maybe I’m being too hopeful, and it stretches for miles either way with nothing at all. If I have any chance of being rescued, I have to stick to the tarmac and not stray. Roads mean people, and people mean being saved. I am not going to give up. I get to my feet and follow the truck's route, hoping it’s the right choice.
I watch the sun all day as I w
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There’s bubbly infectious energy about this girl, and I like it. She reminds me of Yoonah when he was younger, only somehow with a mature ability about her and far less clingy. I wish I’d known someone like her growing up and had a friend that resembled her. Although if we’re the same age, it feels like I’m about ten years older in maturity. I nod and force a smile that isn’t meant and close my eyes in the hopes she walks away to give me space.I hear her footsteps move off and then the creak of a chair and the scuffs of a book being opened and flicked through. I sigh with relief and relax into my comfortable mattress.I listen to the beeps and hums of the machines carrying on around me and lay as still as possible, just happy to not hurt as much. Now I’m fully awake and compos mentis, I have nothing else to do but think. They’ve doped me on pain relief for my minor wounds and a significant headache, and I do feel sleepy, but e
Til Death Do Us Part 37
“I’m not an invalid, Greta.” I brush away her arm, frosty persona back in place, sighing heavily as I walk up the concrete path to the very beachy feel waterfront seafood restaurant she showed me in pictures the last few days. She’s been by my side at every opportunity and mothering me like she rescued a wounded duck with only one wing. Apparently, walking is now something I cannot handle alone. Along with the constant cheerleader efforts and pep talks about ‘pulling through.’“Did you just give me the ice queen routine?” She stops dead in her tracks and slaps her hands to her hips while eyeing me up and down, and I glare her way. “We talked about that, missy. I’m your boss…. Your caregiver. … Your…..”“Giver of headaches.” I finish
Til Death Do Us Part 38
“Why stay here if it’s this desolate? You can only make money half the year?” It sounds like my idea of hell, and I curse at my inability to access the millions of dollars in my bank accounts that I haven’t dared confess to her I have. It seems a little like rubbing it in her face when she uses duct tape to keep her rucksack in one piece.“I like it. I came from a pretty messed-up background with no stability, and my kid died when she was two. I needed somewhere pressure-free to go and find a reason not to end it all. This island is like a healing balm and resembled nothing in my past to give me bad memories.”“Your kid…. ?” The words catch in my throat, and my heart somersaults. Pain splicing me, and I turn my head to see the sadness in her eyes. A mirror of how I feel anyti
Til Death Do Us Part 39
“I can’t do this!” I snap at Greta for the fiftieth time as water sloshes all over me, and I lose my grip of the plate I am attempting to wash and send it skidding across the huge steel tub before it smashes to smithereens. Cursing myself for first scalding my own hands with hot water and then managing to crack three glasses that I dropped in the sink before I realized I should place them in carefully. I’m losing my last nerve. How is this so hard to master when it seems like a relatively straightforward task? Everything is so slippery, and this sink is like a bathtub; it’s so vast. I’m soaked all over, even through my apron, because of the way water slops up anytime I dip crockery into it.“You’re such a quitter. Can you stop being such a drama queen and pipe down? We have a dinner party out there to impress.” Greta flicks bubbles at me as she leans in to grab a plate I have managed to stack on the rack succ
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Til Death Do Us Part 41
“Woah…. I expected a sad story, but that….. it’s a saga.” Greta eyes me over her cup of warm cocoa, illuminated by the dawn glow as we sit by the windows on the second floor. I don’t know why I held off being honest with her about everything before now, as not once through my storytelling did I feel like she was judging me. She was quiet, attentive, and offered hugs and tissues as needed. I know she wouldn’t use who I am for personal gain, and it somehow feels like a huge weight has been lifted just by her knowing who I am.We have an unadulterated view of the tiny village and streets from up here and the vast chaotic ocean as it tosses to and fro. Its immense power and size remind me how insignificant and vulnerable humans are yet can also instill a sense of peace inside me. Like the night of the accident, it’s misty in the distance of the dull morning light, and you can’t see the landscape, or the mountai
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“And yet you don’t think they are capable of tampering with a car to off you? Do you think they’ll let you reappear now? If you show up in a swarm of ‘here I am,’ what realistically will they do? That thought scares me. They offed you for threatening his position. What will they do for creating a mass scandal and implicating more of them and damaging the entire company?”“Arrgghhhhh.” I let out a strangled noise of despair and throw my blankets off. Exhaling heavily, getting up to pace around while stretching out my arms, and crick my neck from side to side to work out the knots. Frustrated, weighted with pressure, and so tired I can’t think straight.This is my family, husband, and entire existence, even though what she’s saying makes perfect sense… It’s crazy and sounds like a movie plot. I just can’t.“Let’s just say that IF, and it’s a big IF…..Jyeon did w
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