Love? (1/1)

Hong Nan was alone.She sat at the bench by the railway in Bardo, alone.I guess I knew I had to leave eventually, but it all seemed to happen so suddenly.She looked at her hands that only minutes ago had held Yi Yeon’s face.Realisation finally hit her, now that Yi Yeon was gone; she could stop holding back her own tears.They came out slowly at first, gently rolling down her cheeks. Seconds passed and all of a sudden she was sobbing.“Song Yi Yeon…”She repeated the woman’s name over again as she wept.“Song Yi Yeon, I’m so sorry.”Her teardrops hit the ground beneath her, turning the earth a darker colour wherever they fell.“Song Yi Yeon, I miss you so much.”She hid her face in her hands.“Song Yi Yeon. I love you.”“You love her?”Hong Nan jumped at the unexpected voice. She glanced up to see the angel watching her with curiosity.“Maya-ssi? Are you here to take me to Heaven or something?” Hong Nan spoke, a little embarrassed that her whole crying scene had just been witnessed. She was still shaking slightly from sobbing as she tried to wipe her tears away.“You love her?” repeated Maya, ignoring the woman’s question.Hong Nan’s cheeks became tinted with pink.“I- uh – you… heard me say that?” Hong Nan was stuttering, just as she used to do when Yi Yeon made her nervous.“We don’t have time for this Hong Nan-ssi.” Maya looked serious. “Do you love Song Yi Yeon?”Hong Nan saw Maya’s deathly serious expression and swallowed her embarrassment.“Yes. I-I do. She means everything to me. Now that she’s gone I just- I can’t cope without her.”Hong Nan took a deep breath before continuing.“Even if I went to Heaven, I would still feel like I’m in Hell. I miss her so much.”She broke down again.For the first time that day, Maya started to smile.She laughed a little.Hong Nan looked up at her confusedly.  “Do you find this funny or something?”Maya shook her head and looked Hong Nan in the eyes.“Hong Nan-ssi, do you know what the meaning of life is?”Hong Nan was surprised at the sudden question. She was however, intrigued to know where this was going. An angel was asking her what the meaning of life was.Is this some kind of weird test or something?“Uh… 42?”Maya’s smile disappeared, and she looked at Hong Nan with a disappointed expression.“No, you nerd. The meaning of life is not 42.” Maya retorted, shaking her head disapprovingly.“Well what is it? You’re the angel here.” Hong Nan was starting to get impatient. I’ve just lost the love of my life. I’m too tired to play these games.Sensing Hong Nan’s hostility, Maya continued.“The meaning of life is to love, and to be loved.”Hong Nan’s impatience disappeared. This sounds interesting…“Are you aware that, just as you left, Song Yi Yeon confessed her love for you?”Hong Nan felt her pulse suddenly get faster. “She… she said that she loved me?”“Yes, indeed she did.” Maya’s smile crept back onto her lips. “Now, Hong Nan-ssi, I don’t know about you, but to me, that sounds like you loved and were loved.”“I guess… But what does that mean?” Hong Nan’s tears had stopped completely at this point. Instead of tears, a sense of intrigue was now clearly present in her eyes.“It means that during your time being back on Earth, you have lived. No matter how short your experience may have been.  And a life, Hong Nan-ssi, can’t be taken away so easily without a reason.”Hong Nan looked intently at the angel. She didn’t fully understand everything that she was saying, but it sounded like there was a possibility that she might get her life back. Any opportunity that she could get to be with Yi Yeon was worth fighting for. Hong Nan would do anything at this point to simply have Song Yi Yeon in her arms.“What do you mean?”Maya chuckled. “It means that we just proved that you had a life worth living. There was no cause of death, so legally; a life has been taken for no proper reason. I looked into it at the legal office and-”“Wait.” Hong Nan was bewildered at this news. “There’s a legal system up here?”“Of course there is. There needs to be some sort of system to decide whether a rightful death has occurred, and so on.”Hong Nan nodded slowly. She was having trouble processing all this.Does this mean what I think it means?“Han Hong Nan.” The volume of Maya’s voice suddenly increased.Hong Nan was ripped away from her own thoughts. She looked up to Maya.

The latter’s expression was a mixture of happiness for Hong Nan and pride at her own ability.

Being an angel, she was often the deliverer of bad news. Telling Hong Nan- someone she had grown attached to over the time she had helped her on Earth- good news was a blessing.“Yes?”“I am delighted to tell you, that you’re going back home.”