Oppa

“Oppa! Joh-ahaeyo...” the little girl gave her painting to the boy in question. 

“Go away!” 

“But..” 

“Don’t you understand the words – Go away?” the boy pushed the girl to the ground. 

“But..” the girl began to cry. 

“An ugly thing like you have no right to say you like me!”

He smile at her and it always amazes him how lucky he is to have married the love of his life. From that day when they collided at the bookstore, he thinks its destiny that he who don’t care much for books would choose that particular day and the sudden urge to walk into that bookstore. 

They exchange numbers and he called her out for a coffee, mainly because he thinks she has a pair of melancholic eyes which makes him want to know her more. From coffee, it became movies, move on to dinner and by the eighth time meeting her, he feel head over heels for her. 

Over the months, it has became their regular routine to meet up for dinner after work. During weekends, sometimes he will spend it at her place or she will spend it at his place. They would cook and catch up on some DVDs or just basically enjoy each other’s company.

One day he woke up and decided it’s time for a change. A change that he has been hoping will come true ever since he found out he is in love with her. He arrange a trip for them to Nami island and it was under the chest-nut trees, birches, ginko tree and maples that he propose to the love of his life. 

They had a beautiful wedding at Nami island, at a quaint motel where they stay when he proposed to her. Only close friends and family were invited. That night, he showed her again and again how much he love her. 

It’s two months into their married life and this weekend she wants to bake cake so they are walking around at the nearby grocery store to buy ingredients. 

“Okay, let’s go with the chocolate?” 

“Sure oppa!” 

“I love you” he kiss her. 

She smile blissfully and snuggle even closer to him. 

Reaching home after their little shopping trip, he dumps everything at the kitchen counter and proceed to hug her. 

“Oppa, you look tired. Why don’t you take a nap and it will be ready when you wake up.”

“Shiro!” 

“Be a good boy” she pouts. “I will be distracted with you next to me.” 

“Arasso” he gives in as like he always do. 

It was dusk when he woke up. He pads softly to the kitchen so as not to distract her but the whole house was dark. Suddenly, he heard a voice singing softly from one side of the kitchen and adjusting slowly to the dark, he can make out a silhoutte of her. Somehow that image gave him goosebumps but he brush it off. 

She can see his confusion from where she is hiding silently. She approach him slowly but surely, holding the cake she painstakingly bake for him. He smile and she rejoice in the fact that he is head over heels for her. It makes things much easier for her. 

They sat down and he blew the candle. She smile a smile that did not reach her eyes. He feels something admist but brush it off. She cuts him a piece and feeds him. She watches as he slowly chews and swallow the cake. Smiling, she waits. 

He is feeling the effect as there is pain in his abdominal. He feels choked. He reaches out to her but she just looks on as he struggle for air. 

“Oppa...joh-aeyo” she hands him a painting. 

He shakes his head. Puzzle why his wife is acting weird. 

“Don’t you remember? You told me I was ugly!” she calmly tells him. 

Flashback 

She enters the plastic surgeon’s room nervously. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I am. Just make me beautiful” 

End of flashback 

 “Wae oppa?” 

“Am I beautiful now?” she continues on. 

She stood there watching as the life is slowly drained out of him. 

Carefully wrapping up the chocolate cake, she took another chocolate cake to replace and dispose the evident. She sat at the edge of the bed with a lighter in her hand and took out a stack of photos from one of the drawer. Photos of a boy, a teenage and a man, all with a similar toothy grin. She then proceed to light one up. As the flame slowly eats the paper up, she throws it into the nearby pail and repeat the same procedure with all until all that’s left are just ashes. Then she calls 911. 

She was crying those crocodile tears of hers which she has perfected over the years when the ambulance arrived. They try their best to revive him but it was too late. She rode in the ambulance together with his body. Every now and then she would look over to make sure that he is sleeping forever. 

People from all walks of life came as he was after all a very sociable person. Offering their sincere condolences to her. Did she love him? Perhaps in a twisted way, she did but she was obsess with him more than anything. 

She was one of the last one to leave. Standing alone at his grave, from afar one would think of a griefing wife who could not bear to part with her deceased husband but its far from the case. 

“Oppa, how does dying feel like? When the air is sucked out of your lungs and you can’t breathe no more. That’s how I feel that day when you push me to the ground and call me ugly. You call it destiny when we meet and I agreed for its your destiny to die in my arms.”

The wind blow softly and her skirt rustle against the ground. 

5 years later... 

In a classroom full of students, the professor is writing something on the whiteboard. 

“Listen to this and I want you to give me the first answer that comes out from your mind. A girl attended a funeral with her sister. Then she saw a handsome guy at the funeral too. When they got home, the girl murder her sister. Why is that so?” 

She still look more or less the same except her hair has grown longer and her complexion is more darker due to the weather here. She raise her left hand. 

“Simple professor. She wants to see the handsome guy again.” 

She smile sweetly at the professor.