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It was winter when Sarang came back into the sea. The waves were calm, and the sun were covered by the grey clouds unlike that time on the end of her— their — seventeeth year. The sand was soft, grinding against the sole of her shoes. She breathed out. The warmth of her breath dissipated back to the air.
How could a few years melt it away?
She looked at her hands next. Sarang touched her hand, wrist, and arms. The scars were still there. They eventually smoothed out like marble, but they weren't quite the same. Like how she could still see the scar on Eunjo's arm. It didn't fade.
Eunjo didn't mind. Sarang chuckled, gazing into the blue sea. It was like Eunjo, what was she even expecting?
"Oh, this scar?" A smile sweeter than any honey Sarang could have ever tasted. Her eyes lit up like the silver moon above.
"I don't mind it. No. I love it, in fact," she carressed the scar as if it was something precious — a treasure— gifted to her from God. "Because it's proof of what we did."
A pause. And that same smile came back again, her eyes soft like Sarang held the stars in her hand.
"I never regretted that," a hand slipped in hers like a puzzle piece fitting into one. "Not with you."
Sarang walked until the waves touched just the bottom of her boots. Not enough for her socks to be wet, but just enough that she could imagine the feel of it on her skin. She closed her eyes basking in the emptiness around her.
The beach was devoid of people today. Who in their right mind would go to it in winter?
Sarang long knew she wasn't sane.
She thinks and thinks and thinks until there isn't any more to think about. After all these years, her corpse would have rotted away, eaten to the bone by the fish swimming around in the sea, joined together by Eunjo. Until death itself could never let them part with each other.
If Eunjo didn't save her. If her father didn't appear when he did in the depths of her mind. If Sarang didn't wish that she would like to live for just a little longer. She wouldn't live long enough. Long enough to see hatred, resentment fade away. Long enough for broken bonds to mend. Long enough for new ones to be created.
Sarang watched her breath freeze just enough that she could see. She watched with mesmerized eyes as it disappeared joining the winter wind.
A proof that she was alive.
"Sarang!"
A voice called out. A voice her soul knew to it's very core. A voice that Sarang wished to hear until she was on her deathbed waiting for it's claws to sunk into her bones like she once wished. But now?
"I'm coming, Eunjo!"
Her boots thumped into the sand as she ran with all her might, imprinting her existence into the beach that was once her grave. A past buried, a present she now cherished, and a future to look forward to. All of it Sarang wished to tell to the sea that once dictated her fate as she now leaves for a new horizon.
Because now? Sarang has a tomorrow and now to look forward to. She would be engulfed in their hug as it warms her heart, her bones, and soothes her soul with their love and kindness.
Because Sarang now has something to live for.