As always, Talotkan handled the customers with ease.....graceful, confident, and full of that playful charm everyone adored.
Today was no different. Piles of white fabric had arrived, waiting to be transformed into vibrant shades of red, blue, pink, violet....colors that would soon breathe life into their pale emptiness.
One by one, the people left.
Evening descended quietly. The sun had long slipped beyond the horizon, and the world slowly surrendered to darkness. Talotkan's room mirrored that silence....deep, quiet, almost suffocating.
In front of others, she was always cheerful. Laughter, mischief, light-hearted words.....that was the Talotkan everyone knew.
But when she was alone… the mask fell away.
Sadness seeped into her like a shadow clinging to her soul. The weight she carried was heavy, suffocating, and yet she bore it in silence. Pretending had become second nature...because she could never let her grandmother know the truth.
The truth that months ago, she had suffered a heart attack.
And the doctor's words still echoed in her mind:
"If it happens again… it will kill you."
But strangely, this never frightened her.
Because in her heart, she believed this was her fate.
After all… her name meant "Come Together."
And if names carried the reverse of destiny, as she always believed… then perhaps she was destined to disappear.
That night, exhaustion consumed her.
After an entire day of work, Talotkan quietly slipped into bed.....motionless, soundless, as if even breathing felt unnecessary.
---
The Next Morning…
Her grandmother walked slowly into her room, her voice soft yet firm.
"Talot… the goat's been sick since yesterday. You'll have to go to the city and bring Dr. Yim."
The moment Talotkan heard that name, her face darkened.
"Yim?!!!"
Her voice rose in outrage, sharp and accusing.
"That murderer! She killed my rabbit! I don't even want to see her face!"
Her words spilled out in that fiery, mischievous tone of hers....the kind that always made people both laugh and tremble.
"I'm not going. Absolutely not!"
---
The very next moment…
There she was.
Sitting on a chair inside Yim's clinic, arms folded, face turned away in defiance.....like a child refusing to admit defeat.
Across from her sat Dr. Yim...calm, composed, and fully prepared for the storm of insults that was about to rain down on her.
Because every time Talotkan met Yim, it was always the same:
"You murderer! How dare you call yourself a doctor! You're nothing but a liar! You killed my precious rabbit!"
And thus… their endless battle began once again.