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Splash. A lull. Splash. A lull.
The rhythmic flow and ebb of the sea echoed around Yoon, the sounds evoking a certain meditative state in him. Or so he recalled.
The sea was too far away to be heard clearly where they were situated, up on the hillside facing the sea, but there was a whisper of the ceaseless ebb and flow of the tides from below in the stillness of the evening.
Yoon took a moment to breathe in deeply, fully. There was just a hint of salt in the cool air. The abiding breeze from the sea caressed his hair as it swept past, tousling his by now already messy hair.
He raised the soju glass to his lips, gulping down the last mouthful. The burning liquid slid down his throat, briefly warming him up from the inside out.
It was not often he got to spend quiet time in a fishing town away from the unceasing humdrum and noises of life in a city, even a mid-sized one like Sang Yong.
He stared up into the night sky.
Here and there, puffs of clouds covered the dark velvety canvas high above, but the enduring twinkling of mysterious celestial bodies still made their presence known. Here, away from the perpetual light pollution that characterised urbanized areas, the stars were just that little brighter.
*** *** ***
“Jerk?! How could you?!” Kang-hyeongsa thumped Hwa Pyeong on his shoulder but Yoon observed the force was entirely negligible.
“Ouch! Still as hot-tempered as ever, tsk tsk,” Yoon Hwa Pyeong-sshi groused, a hand clutching at the spot she had punched him at, smirking.
In the next blink of an eye, however, Kang-hyeongsa had launched herself at Hwa Pyeong-sshi, enveloping him in a tight bear hug.
Yoon stood beside her awkwardly, tears still mists in his eyes, unsure whether he should do the same.
Hwa Pyeong-sshi grinned fondly as he patted her on the shoulder.
Their gazes met in commiseration over her shoulder for half a heartbeat before Kang-hyeongsa turned and extended an arm towards him, “Why are you just standing there?”
And that was how Yoon found himself squished against his two dearest friends, their arms circling each others’ waists and shoulders as they mimicked a group hug.
It was decidedly surreal.
Joy and relief flooded him, and Yoon felt a lightness in his soul which did little to alleviate the tears still threatening to leak.
Hwa Pyeong-sshi had survived. The solid warmth Yoon felt against him let him know that Yoon was not dreaming. That he was still with them in the land of the living. Yoon recited off a grateful prayer of gratitude in his heart for the blessed miracle.
***
“A whole damn year?” Kang-hyeongsa grumbled.
“I had to make sure,” he shrugged, eye lowered for only a breath before looking up at them again, gaze clear and steady with conviction.
Yoon could not fail to notice the rosary - formerly his - on prominent display in front of Hwa Pyeong-sshi’s chest.
Yoon could understand his concerns but nevertheless, Kang-hyeongsa’s mild rebuke was a sentiment Yoon shared.
“I’m never taking a knife to the hand for you a second time,” she declared.
“Believe me, I’ve no desire for a repeat of something similar. I was in and out of the hospital for months,” he explained somewhat irreverently, as if it was a lark which happened to someone else, but Yoon had no doubts that Hwa Pyeong-sshi still suffered from the aftereffects of the injuries and traumas from that night.
He still did, and he knew Kang-hyeongsa did too.
And the grief and sense of loss he had felt keenly for a year did not simply dissipate into nothingness now that they had learned that Hwa Pyeong-sshi was still alive. The stain of those feelings were still there, if a much smaller blot now as compared to the depthless oceans it was before.
But there nonetheless.
The faint shadow of annoyance on Kang-hyeongsa’s beautiful face turned into one of heavy concern.
“Have the injuries healed well? That’s why you should’ve contacted us earlier, we could’ve helped out a bit.”
“Kang-hyeongsa-nim is right,” Yoon chimed in.
“I’m mostly recovered now, don’t fret.”
Before either Yoon or Kang-hyeongsa could say anything more, Hwa Pyeong-sshi piped up eagerly, “What I truly need, as always, is a good dinner with lots of beef. So, shall we celebrate this happy occasion with one? I know just the perfect place.”
She huffed, glaring softly at Hwa Pyeong-sshi, but no amount of mock annoyance could hide the fact that she was overjoyed over finding Hwa Pyeong-sshi alive and relatively well.
It was written in her varied expressions, in the more relaxed square of her shoulders, the softness between her eyes and brows. The now and again quivering of her lips, always on the verge of blooming into an ecstatic, permanent beam.
The exhausted tension and palpable grief etched into her tensed posture and the flex of her hands which he could not help but notice - earlier in the day - while they were on the way to Gyeyangjin, had evaporated. Leaving in their wake someone free. Liberated - partially - from immeasurable loss.
Yoon felt the same.
“I should make you go and eat it from the death anniversary memorial feast we readied for your benefit. We got you lots of beef,” she blustered.
Hwa Pyeong-sshi looked just a tinge half of sheepish, stating with another grin, “I know I could count on you guys. I’m sure the meat for my memorial is nice, but trust me when I say this hole-in-the-wall eatery serves even better.”
Kang-hyeongsa caught his eye, and they shared a look ladened with exasperated fondness for their friend. A friend they had never expected to ever see again before this unexpected reunion.
She turned back to Hwa Pyeong-sshi.
“Fine. We’ll go where you want tonight. It had better be delicious,” she relented easily, a small smile skipping across her pretty lips.
*** *** ***
The quiet contemplation they had descended into was broken by a sudden ding of the clink of glass against glass.
Hwa Pyeong-sshi had rested the soju bottle on the rim of Yoon’s shot glass, “More?”
He nodded. “Thanks.”
“You look like a poet ready to wax lyrical. What’s on your mind?” Kang-hyeongsa was looking at him quizzically.
There was a long beat of comfortable silence as both Hwa Pyeong-sshi and Kang-hyeongsa waited for his answer.
His words - echoing throughout his heart, body and soul - was spoken in a silkily gruff voice threaded with gratitude, unshed tears and love.
“I am just thinking that this is a wonderful night to be alive.”