Chapter 166 - 27 YEARS AGO - A Wish

27 YEARS AGO

Park Nam Joo, a pregnant 23-year-woman, looked with hope at the property on the horizon. The late fall tinted the landscape in red and gold_ except for the sky, which had a plumbeous color contrasting with the silhouette of the estate at the distance. She caressed her huge belly, smiling:

"If there is a place to have pomegranates at this season, it can only be there. Wish me luck, Mrs. Shin," she optimistically said, from her position next to the truck parked by the side of the interstate road.

"Aigoo, girl..." Mrs. Shin didn't look comfortable at the driver's seat. "I don't think it's a good idea, my Gosh, why don't your husband come out there and do it instead? It's a strange place, and you don't even know the owner. Why don't we just go to the grocery and buy another type of fruit, my dear?"

The beautiful young woman turned her head to answer the older lady,

"Mrs. Shin, I went to nearly all the groceries in our town, and my husband searched from top to bottom, without success…! I crave eating ripe pomegranates... Oh, I even can feel its taste and texture in my mouth just by thinking of it, my mouth even fills with saliva... And, my husband would be very angry if he knew that I'm going around the town asking things to strangers. However I was told that a pregnant woman was seen there, so she sure will understand my situation... To be honest, I also find this property a little odd, but what can I do? If the pomegranates that will satisfy my craving are there, then I should knock on that door."

"Aigoo, that I remember how hungry I was for popcorn when I was expecting my first child. There is nothing to replace a pregnant woman's craving!" the older lady nodded, with an empathetic smile. "Nam Joo, I wanted to go and do this with you, but I have to get to the bank before it closes. Promise me to not get yourself tired. After doing my errands, I'm going by your husband's workplace."

"Just let him know he needs to pick me up at this exact point when he leaves his work, just as we agreed."

"And take it," the driver searched the back seat and gave the younger woman an umbrella. "You should use it to protect yourself in case of rain, and also to defend yourself from stray dogs or whatever."

"Aish," the pregnant youngster laughed sheepishly, taking the loaned umbrella. "Our little town is very peaceful, Mrs. Shin. Nothing happens even if we want to."

"I hope it stays that way," Mrs. Shin smiled, starting the car, "Nam Joo, by any chance don't you want to leave this for tomorrow, so I can come with you?"

"Ah, don't worry that much, Mrs. Shin. People who believe in haunted houses just have a lot of imagination and free time to think about it. I'm sure there's an explanation for the property's neglected state. I want to go there before the last pomegranate rots and I'm not even sure I can sleep tonight without gnawing my teeth on a pomegranate!"

"Hahaha, that's right, I'm going to come by your husband's garage... And tell him only after you have done what you want to do, so he cannot prevent you from doing it! You're really smart, Nam Joo!

"Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Shin, and thank you for telling my husband! And for the umbrella too!" Nam Joo shouted in genuine appreciation, greeting her benefactor as the car drove off and Mrs. Shin waved goodbye.

Nam Joo nodded to herself optimistically, feeling that her plan of action would work out very well. She opened the umbrella, and reached the unpaved road that led to the property. She whispered to her belly,

"Yes, I'm walking slowly this time. I have plenty of time for this and to wait for your papa to pick me up here after work. We're going to be fine today, finally, my little baby girl!"

...

The fairy Myung Hee wiped a furtive tear from the corner of her eye, closing the cameo where the image of her lover smiled tenderly at her. Her pale, wan face was very weak in health; her frail hands had little energy left.

With languorous movements, she stood up, seeming not to mind her own advanced state of pregnancy. Whatever her gaze was on, there was a memory of her beloved husband, Jeong Hyuk. Even on the ceiling, where a starry sky was cleverly drawn, encircling portraits of him and her touching each other's hands... The touch of their hands matched the chandelier in the center.

"You were so talented and creative..." Myung Hee finally sat down again. A heavy sigh came out of her chest. A new urge to cry was suppressed with a sob. "I don't know what to do! If only you were here!"

After some time looking at her own empty hands, she lightly touched her own belly, "I have no will or reason to live, but why it should be a burden on you? I still need to eat, for you... But I cannot go outside like this... Or could I?"

Myung Hee went to the window, watching carefully through a crack in the curtains. The property's garden and orchard, once a cultivated and productive place, now grows wild and untamed; full of thorns and twisted parasite branches trying to stifle fruit plants and flowers.

The fairy narrowed her pale eyes, searching through the chaotic landscape she can see from her window. After a while she could spot them, among their hiding places.

Wraiths. Lots of them. Their somber and distressing presence wreathes the surroundings of Myung Hee's house. One of them suddenly loomed in her field of vision, as if mocking on her. Like hyenas, they were there patiently waiting for her to lose her strength, Myung Hee knew it, "That will not take long," she said aloud, with horror putting her feelings into words.

Closing the curtain with a surge of energy created by fear alone, Myung Hee walks away from the window, reaching for a kettle that she clumsily filled with water, in order to make some tea. She sits down at the kitchen table with a grimace of pain and discomfort.

"Myung Hee!" She hears the voice of her beloved, calling her outside. "Myung Hee ... Myung Hee" his voice echoes and doubles, in varying tones of joy, apprehension, calling, suit.

Myung Hee covered her ears, shaking her head. 'You are feeling weak, susceptible.'

She looked around, seeing shadows that look like her husband's silhouette, through the window curtains.

"No, it's not real. Jeong Hyuk is gone, there's no way he's coming back!"

She glanced at the door. It seemed as if she heard it open. She then saw her husband, the handsome, smiling Jeong Hyuk, arriving with apologetically loving eyes full of longing, opening his arms to her as if apologizing for making her wait so long.

"No!" she screamed, covering her face, succ.u.mbing to a moment of despair. The pain in her w.o.m.b made her twitch, the sensation of life itself bringing her a bit more of resilience, she with a grimace faced the door once again, and the illusion vanished like smoke.

'It's leaking. Soon I will not have more strength left to resist. I made a mortal mistake.'

Opening the diary within reach on the table, the fairy forced herself to read aloud the record from the previous day.

"Two hundred days passed without you.  I know there's no turning back, not in this life of mine. Why did it have to be like this, and why was I so foolish to give up everything, if you'd left me something to cherish on? You did what should be done, because you had confidence that I would be well. But... foolish me, I was driven by despair and buried my magic under the ground... And I opened the door of my heart for their thirsty. If I am here..."

Tears would stop her to continue reading, she nodded. "I'm not going crazy, I have to endure it... Hold on, baby!"

Myung Hee stood up unmoved to prepare something for herself and stood up to turn the stove on for the tea. 'Just a miracle...'

Suddenly in the midst of her desperate thoughts, she hears a woman's voice calling with energy:

"Oh, hello there, is there anybody home?"