59
Park
He really didn’t expect to receive anything from Eleanor ever
again. However, he was so surprised when his dad handed him a postcard. It wasn’t
a mistake. Eleanor did send him a postcard. He could identify her handwriting.
He just wanted to leave it intact. He didn’t want to see what
the contents are about. Long time no contact, then an abrupt postcard arrived?
It just didn’t seem right. What if this postcard was the end of their
relationship? What if Eleanor decided to stop by telling him through this
postcard?
It took him almost half an hour to open the envelope. He didn’t
want to see the words “Park, just stop” or “Park, let’s end it”. However, when he turned to the back of the
postcard, only three words were written.
His eyes were filled with tears. As he smiled, his facial
muscle just made a motion which made his eye lids contracted. The tears
trickled down both his cheeks. He wanted to phone Eleanor right now, but he
remembered that he didn’t have her cell’s number.
Eleanor
Staring at all the postcards─ those that were written by Park
and those that were written by her─ made Eleanor’s chest difficult to breathe.
Since the last day they met, she had never contacted Park. Not even once. The postcards
that he sent were left unopened. All the postcards that she wrote with the
intention to send to him were all kept in the box. She just couldn’t find the
courage to do so.
Of all the postcards she wrote, one was outside the box. It
was the most recent one. It contained only three words. “Park, just stop”. It
was written for almost 2 weeks ago, yet it still hadn’t been sent.
She needed to be strong. She couldn’t act like this anymore.
Ending it with zero contact like this wasn’t the proper thing to do. She needed
to find courage to officially end it. So, she wrapped the last postcard of her
into an envelope and wrote down Park’s address.
It was 12:oo am in the morning, she left the wrapped postcard
at the same place and went to bed. Since the moment she lay her back on the
bed, she just couldn’t close her eyelids and slept. She kept staring at the
ceiling for hours. It was 3:00 am in the morning that she decided to get up
from her bed and walked to the window.
She stared into the blank darkness on the street. Not many
people wandering around at this hour. She enjoyed the peace for five minutes
when something appeared and irritated her peaceful mind. A night time bus just
stopped for the red light two-hundred meters away from her house. She got a
flashback right after seeing the bus. Her memories just invaded into her head. She
remembered the first day she met Park on the school bus, the first time they
shared the comics, and the first time they kissed. Her first kiss. Then, the
memory of Park got off the school bus to take off his coat and climbed back in
to hit Steve just because he called her big red. Park’s protective face just
popped up like a notification inside her head.
When the traffic light switched back to green, Eleanor walked
toward her desk and tore the wrapped postcard. She pulled out a new postcard
from the other box. She was about to turn to the back of it when she noticed
the photo on the front page. It was a picture of a school bus. “Such a coincidence,
“Eleanor murmured to herself. She flipped the postcard to the back, grabbed a
pen and started writing.
Park
He woke up to the sound of his mother calling him for
breakfast. Actually, he didn’t have an appetite. However, he knew that if he
refused to eat, his mom’s voice would blew the house’s roof away. He dragged
himself out of bed, washed his face and brushed his teeth. Then, he climbed
down the stairs to sit at the table.
“So, that postcard is from Eleanor, right? “ his dad asked as
soon as Park sat down.
“Yes,” he answered shortly.
“Okay. So,…is everything fine?”
“Yes”
“Okay, then. Good to hear son”
Park just ate a slice of bread and drank a cup of milk.
“You’re done?” asked his mother.
“Yes,” Park got up and
returned to his room.
Eleanor
Eleanor couldn’t concentrate on anything. It was the third
day, leading up to now, that she sent Park the postcard; the first postcard
ever since their separation. Yet there was neither a letter nor a postcard sent
back from Park.
Did he really angry with her? Did he want it this way?
Eleanor needed to find out.
Park
It was the third day now that he had received Eleanor’s first
postcard. He was still clutching Eleanor’s postcard tightly whenever he went to
sleep.
What should he do? Should he go to Eleanor and talk face to
face?
Park had made a decision now. He had to confirm her postcard personally.
He put on his jeans and a black T-shirt with the white letter printed Same
same but difference. He got his coat from the hanger and slipped the
postcard into its right pocket, snatched his car key from his desk and headed
downstairs.
“Where are you going?” asked his dad. However, Park just
walked straight ahead toward the front door without answering.
“Just let him be. He is eighteen now. He knows what he is
doing” his mom said to his dad just after Park banged the front door closed.
“Just want to know though. What business does he do so early in
the morning?” said his dad.
Eleanor
This morning, she woke up earlier than usual. She reached out
for her phone, which was placed at a small table near her bedhead, and saw that
it was just 4:00 am in the morning. She decided to go back to sleep;
nevertheless, she failed. So, she sat with her back lean on the bedhead and
lost into her own thought.
Her reverie was woken by the alarm clock which she had set from
last night. She turned off the alarm and got out of bed. She had made her
decision. She went to stand in front of a mirror and talked to herself, “since I
have courage to contact you, I should also have courage to face you”. She went
into the bathroom and got ready for the new day.
When she reached the kitchen, her uncle was eating breakfast.
Her aunt was nowhere to be found, and she didn’t even bother to ask. She stood
next to her uncle and asked politely.
“Uncle, can you give me a lift to Omaha? Just a lift”
“Omaha? Your hometown? Why? I thought you don’t want to
return to that hell again”, asked her uncle in bewilderment.
“There is something important I need to settle there,”
“What if you end up meeting that Richie bastard again?”
“I will make sure I won’t bump into him.”
“It is not good. I just can’t let you alone in that terrible
place. I will go with you, not just a lift, but a full service. Wherever you
go, I will go there to.”
“But…”
“No but. It is for your safety.” her uncle said firmly.
“Thank you, uncle.”
“So, when are we leaving?”
“Now, please” Eleanor replied with her face down.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go then. I will write a
note for your aunt to tell her where we go”, said her uncle. Then, he got up
from the table and went to find a note.
Eleanor was surprised by her aunt and uncle’s kindness and
generosity. They had never failed her. If only my mom could be like this,
Eleanor thought to herself.
When Eleanor and her uncle hit the road, Eleanor glanced at
her wristwatch. It was exactly 7 am.
Park
Ignoring his father question was wrong, he aware of it.
However, he didn’t want to lost concentration right now. He was afraid that he
might change his decision if he was distracted. He could just apologize to his
dad later.
He walked toward his car with longer strides. He opened the
car door, slid it behind the wheel and inserted the key into the ignition.
Before he stared the engine, he took out Eleanor’s postcard once again.
He glanced at his car’s watch and saw that it was 7:00 am. He
left the postcard in front of the steering wheel and started the engine.
There are only three words on the
postcard. It read “I Miss You”.
No comments:
Post a Comment