Three Years Later
On the outskirts of the city, a small plant nursery buzzed with life.
People crowded around, buying every kind of plant imaginable ... flowering vines, fruit trees, and tiny decorative pots that glittered under the morning sun.
The place was brimming with color and chatter.
All around, there were plants ..... rows and rows of them .... and behind the nursery stood towering trees, their shade wrapping the place in soft green calm.
One corner was filled entirely with blossoms, so vivid and fragrant that it felt like the most beautiful place on earth.
Among the crowd moved a girl, steady and radiant, organizing everything with practiced ease.
Just then, a boy came from behind, his arms full of small flowering plants. He began handing them out to customers, laughing as he did so.
It was none other than Shubi, his laughter clear and bright ....
like sunlight through the leaves.
Beside him, helping to manage the growing crowd, stood Wee.
She moved with the same quiet confidence she once had in her old dye shop ... graceful, alert, warm.
Her face glowed with a kind of peace that only comes after long pain ..... as though the whole world's happiness had finally come to rest within her.
Wee was cheerfully attending to customers when someone asked for a pine tree sapling.
A wide, joyous smile spread across her face.
She turned, calling out in a voice that carried through the entire nursery .... a voice so full of life that even Shubi couldn't help but laugh.
In a warm, affectionate tone, she called out.....
"Yim!"
Far across the field, among rows of seedlings, Kai ... Yim .... was busy planting jasmine seeds.
They weren't just any plants; they were her plants, carefully nurtured, full of quiet meaning.
The moment she heard her name echo across the nursery, a bright smile lit up her face.
She quickly stood, brushed the soil from her hands, and hurried toward Wee.
"What happened?" she asked with a soft laugh.
Wee smiled, her eyes dancing.
"They want a pine sapling."
Kai nodded, her smile deepening.
She turned to go, walking away lightly .... but after a few steps, she suddenly stopped.
Turning back, she called out in a voice warm with infinite sweetness and love,
a voice that carried across the blooming fields....
"Talotkan… today, we're going home."
Then she turned again, laughing, and went to fetch the pine sapling ...
leaving behind the sound of her happiness echoing in the air.
Wee smiled too ..... a smile that spread to everyone around them.
The customers paused for a moment, watching the two of them.
They didn't know their story, but they could feel it.
They could sense the love and the bond shining between them ..... as bright as sunlight through spring leaves.
And then, just as the world seemed so full of light.....
The story returned once more,
to where it had all begun.
The door had been left open.
Inside, there was mourning.
And the knock that came upon that door was from none other than Shubi ...
Wee's younger brother.
He had just arrived, only moments after hearing the terrible news.
Running inside, he went straight to Yen, threw his arms around her, and broke into tears.
The sister whose shadow he had barely known .....
today, the news of her death shattered him completely.
Shubi had been born last ..
one year after Mevi's death.
He had always known there was once a sister…
but he had never imagined her story would end like this.
Seeing him cry, Wee's restraint finally broke.
Her strength, her silence .... all of it melted away.
She went to him and held him tight, sobbing as if releasing years of pain she had carried alone.
Even their father couldn't hold back anymore.
His eyes filled, the weight of regret finally breaking open.
But what came next was beyond anything they could have imagined.
They say everything that happens in this world happens for a reason.
Nothing ... nothing ..... is without purpose.
When the leaves refuse to fall, autumn must arrive.
When flowers refuse to bloom, spring must come.
When rivers stop flowing, the rains must return.
And so ....
when life falls apart, fate must come too,
to piece it back together.