the words we buried
247qian:
Father never goes to the cemetery to visit Taiyu — not that she knows, at least —and, truthfully, she doesn’t go often herself. Like it or not, she takes after the tough businessman and the two of them don’t like feeling anything less than powerful and reminding that their empire means nothing compared to the will of God and life is fragile don’t help. Qian loved him deeply, still does, so she makes an effort to stop by from time to time and make sure the grave is still clean and colorful, that his portrait isn’t full of dust. Today is a special day: his birthday. Taiyu would turn 30 this year. Although she drives with a smile on her face during her lunch time, a small break from the hospital, her heart aches and there is nothing she can do to fix it — not even as a skilled cardio.
She has flowers in one hand and a bottle of liquor in the other. One is for him, the other for her. As someone who works hard to save lives and keep people alive, cemeteries show her that she’s no God, that all those names were there because her colleagues of profession failed. It’s a bitter place, chills run down her spine, but she misses her gege and as his own blood, she has to do it and be with him for an hour. It catches her attention how he probably would roll his eyes and shake his head knowing how much like father she was now, how she spent more time locked in the hospital than partying hard; if he could say it. As she slowly walks towards his grave, she spots a woman there, but she can’t see the face. However, the canvas she is placing by his grave reveals it.
Park Yeeun. Does she come here too? Qian almost couldn’t believe her eyes. Since she cut the other off years ago, back in high school, she never once wondered how Yeeun felt about her brother, so it’s a bit surprising to see her giving him something he loved: art. The heiress had no intentions to hurt her old friend, especially when she knew the girl was suffering too, but how could she stay around when Qian felt like she caused it? She was too close to break down and people like her only made her remember of her brother, which was too painful, and she couldn’t let it show, couldn’t keep going like this.
“You knew it was his birthday?” she asked in a flat tone as she approached the other. “I’m surprised to see you here, Yeeun-ssi.”
it would have been naive of her to not expect to see someone on this day. whether it had been a family member or a friend of his, yeeun should have expected someone because it was taiyu’s birthday and it isn’t a day that is easily forgotten by those who knew him or knew of him. he was that type of person to yeeun. he somehow gave a strong impression to those who met him, no matter if it had been for one moment of their day or their whole life. what she didn’t expect was to see qian, his sister- her friend standing in the same space after so long. she had long blurred herself away from yeeun’s life and seeing her was finally painting the picture of all three of them together in her memory again, but it felt off this time. other than yeeun aging, now qian’s face aged as well. it was only taiyu who froze in time and the hurt was becoming apparent once again.
she wanted to say her name as if it had been a while since they have seen each other, but yeeun couldn’t lie to herself. she had never been a good liar and both of them knew it hadn’t been “a while.” there was no way the other’s name would come out casually from her mouth. it took effort to speak the other’s name as if it was an instrument unused for many years and she approaches it cautiously, weary if she still knows how to play it or not. instead she swallows her name, hopefully to be used in a better moment and simply looks at her and shrugs slightly. “i was late last time to give him a present.” she motions over to the painting resting besides his grave. “i didn’t want to miss out this time.”
yeeun steps aside, giving enough room for the other to stand besides the grave and besides her for the first time in years. some could easily mask that they aren’t uncomfortable with the situation and talk with ease to someone who cut off any contact, but yeeun was never that person. her holds her hands in front of her, making herself small besides the other, not wanting to intervene between them as if she hadn’t been close to both of them at some point. she doesn’t look at the other after that one time and keeps her eyes on the grave, shifting towards the painting and back. but never to qian. “i just came to pay my respects. i think it’s better if i leave you two alone.” she says, but her feet wouldn’t budge from the ground.
