What's in a Name?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LLOYDIE AND PAPERCRANE, LOVE YOU BOTH!


Summer of 2015, Bali Indonesia

Hwangbo Hye Jung was walking along the sandy beaches, serene, contemplative. Enraptured by the beauty that is Bali and reminiscent of the past, a memory that still makes her wonder. She was oblivious of a man, of a pair of eyes that was staring at her, with such yearning and ache. He was watching each step, her every move, like she was someone he knew and he was checking if she still have the same body contours, the same silhouette, if she was still the same person. And the minute he was certain, he made his move.

"Hwangbo-sshi," he whispered as he neared her.

She heard a faint sound, like someone was calling her name, she paid no heed thinking that it was just the wind. She is in a secluded island, afterall, where only the elite and the privileged roam. She is in a country where her name is known to a few, so to claim that someone called her was, in a way, preposterous.

A gust of wind, a gentle tap in the shoulder.

"Hye Jung," a hushed tone. "Hwangbo-sshi," this time he said it full-mouthed. Like the first one was just a slip of the tongue, an endearment only he can hear, a name he was familiar with unbeknownst to all, a secret from her.

"Hyun Joong-sshi," she gasped, a happy surprise. "Annyeong!"

He smiled and bowed, "Annyeong! I never thought we will meet here, of all places," he mumbled.

"Yeah," she sighed. "But it's nice seeing you, you grew up well."

He looked pained, as if he suffered a blow, "Yeah, I grew up, but I was years late, wasn't I?"

His words brought her eyes upon his, she saw longing and regret, though his face remained expressionless, a mask.

"Hyun Joong," she breathed.



Hwangbo Hye Jung and Kim Hyun Joong first met on 2005, she was striving as a solo artist as her group decided on pursuing individual work and he was striving as a member and leader of a newly-formed idol group. Their meeting was inevitable as they belong in the same industry but they never did run in the same circle, until, they both signed that contract, the contract that made them a married couple, the contract that forced them closer, the contract that sealed their fate.

She's everything a man wants and hopes for, she's perfect in every sense; he didn't signed up for a heartbreak so he tried his best to distance himself. But the more he learned, the more he loved... though he fought hard to resist, the spell that she cast he just couldn't withstand.

Their relationship turned into something real, the make-believe newly-wed couple became real-life sweethearts. Heaven was in his hands and he thought it was forever.

It could have been, but his forever was cut short three years later, she had wanted something he wasn't ready to give.

He made his choice, he stuck with the career that he worked so hard for, he stood for the fans that helped him be what he is, and she... she let him go and leave.

By the time that it became clear, she was already gone; when he became sure, it was already too late. One thing he learned - Heartbreak can't kill, and he's a living proof. He is soulless, drifting to nowhere but still alive, hurting, waiting for the time when all will be over.



"I'm sorry," he broke the silence.

"Huh," she said in reply, her mind in a glaze.

"I heard that you got married," he choked. "Is your husband with you?", he added after a while, the strain in his voice lucid.

She didn't expect his inquiry, and she was mulling on how and what to say when a pretty, little girl run excitedly towards them.

"Appa," the child shouted with all her might, in full smile, eyes twinkling.

She caught her breath. 'He has a kid,' her only coherent thought.

Hyun Joong grinned and opened her arms wide, waiting for the little tot to reach his embrace, his joy more than evident. He lifted her up the minute she approached, a proud father; she giggled and kissed him gleefully, a happy daughter.

"Hello," the girl greeted her with a warm smile and a wave.

Something seemed to be stuck on her throat but she managed to smile and say hi. "What is her name?", she directed the question to him.

"Hye Jung," he answered, his eyes never leaving hers.

She just stared at him, loss for words.

"I wasn't able to hold on to the woman to which the name belongs, I wasn't able to keep you," his words were coated with woes. "I had to, at least, have your name, it didn't make my life better, it didn't lessen the pain, it didn't bring back what I had lost but it is better than nothing," he smiled, contrition etched on his face. "And every time I tell her I love her, I feel like you can hear me whisper your name."

"I love you Hye Jung!"

"I love you too, Appa!"

But he was still looking at her, only her...