WE ENDED BEFORE WE BEGAN!

Have you ever come across a situation where you had so many things in your mind and you were not able to speak them out loud? Then this short story may resonate with your unspoken words. Yup, this time I would like to share a small story of unspoken romance, love, feelings, or pretty much love, which was dead even before it bloomed.

This is some random thought, and I wish to pen it down. Don’t blame me if it doesn’t seem like a story or match any of the principles that need to be followed while writing a story.

Let me begin my story.

My main protagonist’s name is Sara. She is from Mumbai, India. Sara was born and brought up in Mumbai. She was the only child with no siblings, and added to that, her parents are both strict and easy-going. When it comes to her studies, they will be very particular to choose the best for her. So, starting from playschool till her high school, everything was done as per her parents' preplanned strategy. Sara was happy until one incident made her think, “Why shouldn’t I do things the way I like for once?”

Sara, at her high school graduation, was celebrating farewell with her folks. That time everyone made their sendoff speech among their friends. When one of her friends, Lali, was giving her speech, she elaborated on her dream of entering into the fashion industry and how much she prepared to get selected at the university of her choice, her savings, and her part-time job. She also has a plan of doing her master’s in Paris, France (the birthplace of the fashion world). Listening to this, Sara somewhere felt left out. She went back home with so many questions about herself. Who is she? What did she really want to do? Where does her passion reside? Until today she believed her parents would pave her path and she would just follow them with no obstacles and eventually get graduated and placed in a job. But not anymore. I have to find what I really wish to do.

Sara went to sleep with these thoughts. When she woke up the next day, she was given the devastating news that her parents had passed away due to a tragic car accident. She can’t believe what she just heard. She recalled all her happy times with her family and how she had always been treated special in every way. In a blink of an eye everything changed, and she was loaded to take up all the responsibility, including her parents’ final rites. Once the news reached her relatives, everyone gathered at our house and made her feel she was never alone in the situation. Though she very well knew all these dramas are just for the time being and everything will be faded in no time. But deep down she still believed, what if one of them were true and really felt bad for her and accompanied her in this vulnerable state? But as expected, slowly people's regular visits, calls, and monthly checks disappeared. She was left alone. Her parents' savings liquefied slowly in the upcoming months.

After mourning for a couple of months, she decided to face the world. She slowly took one step at a time. She joined engineering college and completed her degree with decent scores. After completing her degree, she found herself a job and started working. As years passed, her pain turned into a scar but never faded. All her pain and suffering are fresh enough that she decides to hide them and live the life by going with the flow. In the following years, he met someone, fell in love, and unfortunately all her love was in vain. She was the kind of person who fell in love easily. Like small gestures can make her fall head over heels for the wrong person. She was kind of tired of getting ditched and treated as less worthy in the relationship she had been in. To summarize, in Sara’s life, love to her is more about giving, and at the end, she received nothing. But she was always blamed.

Years passed; all her friends got married and had kids. Her circle of friends has grown smaller, and she knew that she can’t stop it or fix it either. Her parents’ death and misfortune in love made her stronger in some way. She started living on her own. Though her future romantic relationship sucks, she was shining in her career. She started working as a journalist in one of the leading newspapers. Most of the time she was busy capturing news and also spent time writing short stories in the children's spot of the newspaper.

As covid hit, things became a bit tough, and Sara lost her job due to the recession. To fight back depression, she started watching series, as most of us did back in 2020. She spends time watching series from different genres, but watching Korean dramas and listening to K-Pop songs somewhere made her feel peace, and it helped her regain confidence. She learned so many things; the most important thing is she started loving herself. She has chosen the path of self-love, and that in turn has opened up amazing opportunities to her.

She decided to turn her hobby into a passion. So, she started a page on Instagram and started posting reviews about the series she watched and shared short stories about how it changed her life. In a couple of years, her page reached a decent number of followers, and she started earning from it. Her life started to bloom back, and she loved the way she was growing.

Though she felt happy and strong to be alone on her own, deep down she hoped one day she would find someone who loved her just the way she did.

She got an opportunity to travel to South Korea to capture one of the upcoming events, and all her trips will be taken care of by the agency. She was awestruck when she received this mail. She was ready to grab the opportunity and decided to proceed. When she reached out to the agency for further updates, they said that she will be contacted by one of their employees, and he will guide her through. She said OK and went to sleep that night.

The next morning, she received a text, “Hi, I’m your guide,” from a guy called Park Dae-Beom. She replied back saying, Hi. Happy to connect with you.

She was very excited about her trip, and she loaded him with lots of questions about her trip, flight, visa process, places in South Korea, and so on. Dae-Beom asked her to relax and answered her questions one by one without neglecting any messages. This gesture of Dae-Beom made Sara develop more respect for him.

Their conversation grew gradually, but Dae-Beom never crossed the line and maintained the guide role throughout. Somewhere in between, Dae-Beom had been the perfect person for Sara, and he never neglected her messages, calls, and so on. She was pretty much impressed by his behavior and started liking him but never acknowledged it. Because deep down she knew that it’s all in her head, and thinking about the practical complications like different countries, cultures, languages, and so on, it’s not going to work. So, she decided to pass this phase.

Finally, the day arrived, and she landed in Korea. She was picked up from the airport by Dae-Beom, and he arrived just before her flight landed. She can’t resist his caring gesture but never expressed it. They reached the hotel, and he made sure she was settled and left her with a note that he will come and pick her up in the evening to go to the event place. Once he left, Sara lay down on the bed, and tears rolled down. She missed her parents badly, and she wished they would have been around at this moment. She dozed off to sleep after crying for a while.

She was startled when the doorbell rang and got up from her bed. It was past 4 pm; Dae-Beom would be at the door to pick her up. She answered the door and asked him to wait for 15 minutes, and she would be back. Dae-Beom, who never showed any sign of irritation, said "OK" with a silent smile. After 40 minutes, they both ride the car back to the event. Because it was her first time attending the event, Sara was very nervous. Dae-Beom read the mind of Sara and started talking with her casually to make her feel at ease and comfortable. After some time, Sara felt comfortable and started sharing her personal and professional breakthroughs with Dae-Beom. Their bond slowly developed, and Sara felt safe/secure around Beom. She even started addressing him as Sunbae (Senior). True friendship evolved. Likewise, the event was a grand success, and Sara did her job in capturing the details and noted down the highlights to feature them in the headlines. The day ended.

Sara had her return flight only on the weekend, due to peak season. She has three full days in her hand. So, she decided to explore the country. But being new, she needs a proper guide, and Dae-Beom is her first choice to check with. As expected, he turned her down, as he will be busy in office hours, but he will be glad to pick her up and drop her off at the nearest station/bus stop; from there she can plan her day out. She nodded yes and went back to sleep on the following night.

The next morning, she woke up early and waited for Beom to call. Beom called her once he reached the hotel. Sara double-checked her makeup and dress in the mirror before leaving the room. Beom welcomed her with a warm smile and opened up the door to her. She politely accepted the gesture. Once he settled in the seat, he made sure her seat belt was fixed and started the car. This time Sara initiated the conversation and asked more about Beom and his life.

Beom started talking about his family. He said he was born into a family with wealth; he has one elder brother and a sister. He loves his father so much, and unfortunately, he passed away 2 years back due to illness. Hearing that, Sara was touched, and she said that she can understand what he goes through. Station arrived, and Beom guided Sara to the station and left the place.

Beom is slowly scaling up in Sara’s heart without even her concern. She went in and planned her day out. She explored Myeongdong Street, did some shopping, visited Hanok Village and Insadong Street, had lunch on a nearby street, and rode the train back to the same place where Beom dropped her in the morning. On her way back she texted him she is on the way. The reply comes saying, “I’m already waiting at the spot; take your time.” She smiled while reading the text. All her deep-buried feelings started coming up, and she liked the way she was taken care of and treated.

As she was immersed in this thought, she missed her stop and got down at the wrong stop. It took her a while to find the right track and get on the right train. Because of this confusion, she reached the station after 2 hours. All she was worried about was Beom, who had been waiting for her for more than 3 hours. When Beom sees her, there is no sign of upset or annoyance for making him wait for so long. All he asked her was, "Are you ok?" Do you feel hungry? Let’s stop by a nearby place and grab something to eat. Sara was speechless, and that was the moment she realized she was completely into this person. He was the first one who made her feel safe, put her happiness first, checked on her, and, last but not least, waited for her in the station for more than 3 hours. Deep down she knows that this will never work out, and this thought hurts her a little. She brushed away that thought and decided to enjoy the present moment.

After dinner, on the way back home, she decided to gather some information about Beom's likes and dislikes. In their conversation, she gets to know that he likes elephants the most. As Sara was good at surprising people, she decided to prepare a special gift for Beom and give it to him as a token of gratitude before leaving the country. The next two days Sara went to Seoul hot spots like Namsan Tower and the BTS building, and Beom took her to Joseon Palace and a coffee shop nearby. Three days spent exploring Seoul made Sara forget all her worries. On the last day in Seoul, she decided to give her feelings one final thought. Instead of ignoring it, why don’t I express what I feel? Though he is going to turn her down, that won’t be new to her, as she is used to getting hurt. But what if he says yes? So, Sara made up her mind to express her feelings to Beom on the way to the airport and accept whatever happened.

Morning arrived, Sara was all set to go to the airport and waiting for Beom. Sara greeted Beom with a pretty smile near the parking and boarded the car. She suggested stopping by the nearby park before heading to the airport. Beom did as instructed and stopped near the park. Both sat on the bench; Sara was struggling to find the right words. Before she could say anything, Beom started talking. Thank you so much, Sara. Your presence in my life came as a light, and my dark phase started fading. I’m happy that I met you and glad to be your guide. I always believe in destiny, Sara. Everyone meets for a reason, and that’s how I met my ex-wife. Sara was happy until Beom uttered the word ex-wife. She held back the tears and waited for Beom to complete his confession.

Yes, Sara. I was married. Not only that, but I have two kids. My wife is non-Korean, and it was kind of love at first sight. I met her when I went to Australia to do my master’s, and instantly, we got connected. After so much struggle, we got married. As you know, in Korea accepting foreigners is not that easy, but I convinced my family that she is the one. So, they agreed and stood with me. Things were ok until our second kid was born. We grew apart, which I hadn’t noticed until one day, she said that she wants to move to Australia and start her life there. I tried my best to save my marriage, but it eventually failed. We are separated. The worst part is my father predicted it even before things turned ugly. She not even stood with me when I lost my father and did not even attend his final rites. What hurts the most is I miss my kids, and they have no idea about our separation. He uttered these words, and Sara can see him crying. In turn, Sara too welled up and was left speechless.

After a while Sara gathered up courage and said, "Sunbae, no worries." You are a great person, and everything will be ok soon. Your kids will definitely understand the situation and eventually come back to you soon. Just wait for some more days. Stay strong. Also, one thing I want to know: you met me just a couple of weeks ago, but you still shared your most painful past with me. Is that because I'm a stranger, or do you trust me?

Beom replied, "Yes, Sara, of course I trust you, and somewhere I feel more comfortable around you." You make me feel secure and confident, which I lost long back. Thanks for bringing hope and light in my dark phase. I owe you. If you are planning to come back to South Korea, let's meet and explore the places again.

Thanks for the kind words, Sunbae. Definitely will meet you again, and here is your gift to show my small gratitude. Hope you like it. Beom unwrapped the wrapper and found an elephant in it. He was quite happy and thanked her by giving her a warm hug. They headed back to the airport. Beom bid her goodbye and left the place.

Sara boarded the plane with a heavy heart and lots of memories. She thought to herself that my love was dead even before it had bloomed.