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5 years. 5 years since she had last seen Minji, the love of her life. Life had moved on from the insignifact story of theirs, and so had the two girls. But sitting in the same field where she and Minji used to hold hands under an oak tree, Siyeon couldn't help but think of the magnificent girl.
"AAAA!! Jiji", yelled an eight-year old Siyeon, sprinting around madly while Minji aimed at her with the garden-hose. The two girls ran around the field, chasing each other at mach speed. Siyeon caught hold of the hose from a further end and yanked it out of Minji's hands, and began spraying Minji with the water. "Singnie, stop it! I'm drenched already!", the ten-year old said, blowing the dark wet hair out of her face.
Siyeon ran to her best friend and began pulling her wet cheeks. "You're so cute", the little one mused. Minji pouted and ran back to her house. "Come back here, Kim Minji!!" squealed Siyeon, going back to chasing the little girl. Innocent laughter rung through the air, teasing the wind, and resonating throughout the empty field, voicing it's thoughts.
Sniffles. "Where did I go wrong, Jiji?" asked a high school junior Siyeon, wrapped in the arms of her beloved best friend. "You weren't wrong, Singnie, he was, he cheated on you," said Minji, trying her best to sound calm. "WELL I MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG, WHY ELSE WOULD HE DO THAT??" cried out Siyeon, her silent tears breaking into violent sobs as she buried her face into Minji's chest. Minji's heart wrenched at the sight of her friend breaking down like that, but there was nothing she could do at that moment other than comfort her, rubbing circles on her back, signalling that everything would be fine.
"M-make it s-stop, Jiji, p-please..." "It'll be okay, Sing, you'll find someone better...", whispered Minji, secretly hoping that "someone" would be her. Dry, orange autumn leaves fell off the oak tree, surrounding the girls in an orange flame illuminated by the setting sun.
Siyeon was crying again. This time, because her childhood best friend, her dear Jiji was leaving for Japan. "Why do you have to leave? What if something happens? What if you find a new best friend? Will you forget me? Will you-“ Her flurry of words were stopped by Minji’s finger on her lips and the older girl said, “It’s just 3 years, it’ll be over before you blink Singnie. Besides, we can still call each other and text, you know. And don’t ever think I forgot you, even if I can’t text you every day.”
Siyeon calmed down on hearing her words. Her Jiji always knew what to say. Suddenly, she felt something land on her nose. Minji burst into laughter as Siyeon scrunched her nose adorably and crossed her eyes to try and get the intruding ladybug off her skin. “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE LAUGHING AT KIM MINJI?” yelled Siyeon, and began chasing her around the oak tree. The blue spring sky seemed to smile upon them, and everything seemed to be peaceful again.
5 years. Siyeon had finally managed to return to Korea after finishing university studies in America, whilst signing with a music label there. Her debut album was scheduled to be released in two weeks, and she finally got a well deserved break. Of course, the first place she thought of once she landed in Korea was Minji’s house. Her own family had disowned her once she came out to them, and she had been living with Minji for some time, before Minji eventually left Korea to finish her own studies. Minji was her life’s only constant, her only strength, and her only motivation. Whenever she felt lonely or helpless during her time in America, she just remembered Minji’s wonderful words of support and she got the incentive to keep going on.
She was thinking of all the time she had spent with Minji as her cab rolled up to Minji’s house. The house looked surprisingly quiet, and there were no lights even though it was twilight. She knocked on the door a few times, expecting to to see Minji excited opening the door, but she only heard the eerie silence. Suddenly, a door opened to the right. It was Minji’s neighbour, Bora. “Are you Minji’s friend?” she said in a quiet voice. “Yes, do you know where she is?” asked Siyeon. “I-, I’m sorry to say this but, she passed away three months ago.” said Bora, her head down. “What?”, Siyeon said, her voice breaking. Bora sighed, and touched Siyeon’s arm while saying, “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Siyeon shook her hand off, and began shaking her head incredulously. “No, no it can’t be true, no, she can’t leave me, no,” she spoke to herself before breaking into tears and running away. This time, the only place she could think of was the empty field with an oak tree in the middle.
She sat under the tree for what may have been hours, days or even months, realising she was nothing without her Jiji. She didn’t want to sit under their tree all alone, she wanted Minji by her side. And she wasn’t going to let life stop her from being with her soulmate.
The next morning, a shepherd found a girl laying under the old oak tree, her breath and pulse gone. A few more people gathered around the corpse, trying to see who it is. One of them saw her hand clutching a piece of paper tightly. They pried her fist open and found an envelope with “To the love of my life” written on the cover.
The envelope was empty.