At first, everything around Eon Jin seemed to spin that she had to squeeze her eyes shut in an effort to alleviate the discomfort. She saw specks of light of different patterns and colors, which eventually turned into a vivid image similar to the regular preludes to her tasks.
Nevertheless, she surmised that this was different as it appeared more like a hazy recollection than a foreboding.
The mental picture gradually became more lifelike as Eon Jin’s senses quickly picked up. She supposed she was in the middle of the forest at night time as she was greeted by the diffused light from the full moon and the echoes of the occasional hoots of an owl perched on a nearby tree. The evening breeze blew and rustled the leaves of the trees around her, while its warmth gently caressed her skin.
She was sure it was summer, yet her teeth chattered senseless. Even her hands trembled as they clung tightly to the hem of someone else’s jeogori.
It was then that Eon Jin realized that she was in the embrace of a tall and young man, with his arms strong enough to support her full weight when she lost her balance and almost fell back just a moment ago. With her face buried in his chest, the space between them proved to be so little that she was able to hear every breath he took and even the rapid beating of his heart.
She stepped back to gently pull away from the young man holding her, then slowly lifted her eyes to look at his face.
“Are you okay?”
It was Kim Tae Pyung who asked, pulling her out of her trance.
Five, ten seconds passed before Eon Jin noticed that she was still clutching the lapels of his jacket. Upon realizing what happened, she hurriedly stepped away while Tae Pyung proceeded to gently support her by the elbows. He looked as perturbed as she was, probably because of the sticky situation they got themselves into.
“I’m alright,” she lied, still feeling a little dizzy.
“Are you sure? Just a while ago, you were —”
“I’m perfectly fine,” she snapped.
Tae Pyung pursed his lips in an effort to restrain himself from reacting poorly to the situation. He rationalized with himself that perhaps the woman was equally bewildered by what happened earlier as he was, thus the attitude.
“You were crossing the street haphazardly,” he told her as calmly as he could. “Didn’t you see the car coming at you? You could have been hurt.”
“I was not,” she asserted. “I would have been able to protect myself anyway even without your help.”
The man literally took a step back, his eyes wide as he was obviously floored by her cold personality.
“I don’t know what we’re still doing here. It’s getting late and I need to go now,” she seethed. “Can we just get straight to the point? What do you need from me?”
Eon Jin was speaking way too fast that she had to catch her breath by the time she said the last word. Her hands were starting to get cold and clammy, while her eyes kept darting away from the man in front of her to avoid his gaze.
Tae Pyung had to look away too and recover his composure before he answered her questions. The last thing he wanted to do was to match the insolence of the woman in front of him.
“I just wanted to ask a few questions, since you are a potential witness to the accident,” he said in the most civil manner possible, yet frustration threatened to seep in his voice. “Have you seen the culprit? What type of vehicle hit the victim? Can you remember the plate number?”
“What? Am I being interrogated now?” she asked, her tone already accusing.
“Can we please not overreact, Miss?” Tae Pyung cautioned as he fished his phone out of the pocket of his blazer to take notes. “The medics probably forgot to ask you a while ago, but I’d like to get your number just in case the team who will be investigating the case would need witnesses.”
Eon Jin took a deep breath and tried to keep her facial expressions under control. Truth be told, she was not angry with the man in front of her. She was aware that Tae Pyung was actually making an effort to keep his words and tone civil — if not purely courteous — in spite of her arrogance. Her reactions were unequivocally irrational; the frustration was misplaced.
She was confused, anxious, scared...
For the first time in a very long time, her emotions overwhelmed her and she was not able to keep it under her usual façade.
When she did not answer, Tae Pyung lifted his eyes off the phone to meet hers. She probably was looking so ridiculous at that moment that the man could not help but smirk. Two dimples etched deeply in both of his cheeks.
“Don’t worry, Miss. I’m not a creep,” the man assured Eon Jin while his eyes looked intently into hers. “Using cheesy pick-up lines is not my style.”
Eon Jin let out a dry laugh at that remark, clearly unimpressed, and then bluntly switched back to her usual flat affect.
“Look, I wasn’t here when it happened,” she denied. “The victim was already in the state you found her in when I passed by.”
Tae Pyung’s face turned serious, the playful smile on his face was replaced by doubt as he knew she was not telling the entire truth. Eon Jin was also aware that he wasn’t completely fooled.
“I’m sorry if I wouldn’t be of much help, Officer Kim Tae Pyung.”
With that, Eon Jin slightly bowed and went on her way back to her black sedan which was parked across the street. Tae Pyung wordlessly regarded her until her car was out of sight.
He was baffled all the same and was too distracted during his drive home that he had to pull over to think. He recalled the evening’s events in his mind, trying to make sense of the situation.
The moment he held the feisty woman in his arms, an image flashed in his mind. It was a scene from a different time and a different place — the hues too bright, yet misty. However, the sensations made it seem too real.
A powerful, evocative memory that — frankly speaking — felt as if it was his own.
Her scent still lingered in his mind. It was distinct yet delicate, something that was exclusively hers. He wondered if she spent her afternoons walking along flowery fields because he thought she kind of smelled like magnolias with a hint of freshly cut grass.
Tae Pyung looked at his hands and remembered how holding her felt like. She seemed so tiny and fragile against him that he was afraid his hands might break her shoulders or her arms if he was not careful.
And those big, round eyes that reflected fear and desperation.
He dismissed the thought. Given that it was the first time in his entire life to see that woman, he presumed that it was impossible for that vision to be a memory, let alone his.
Déjà vu , he concluded, like it already happened in the past and he was experiencing it for the second time.
It took around fifteen minutes for him to eventually decide to shrug it off and hit the road again. Yet, before he was even able to put the gear to Drive, he received a call from an unknown number.
It was one of the police officers assigned to work on the hit-and-run case who wanted to ask for his cooperation in the investigation. He also happened to be Tae Pyung’s acquaintance, someone he got to know while working on some cases in the past, so he was a bit confident to probe for more details.
“Yes, I can drop by the station tomorrow to give my testimony,” he confirmed to the person on the other line a few moments after he picked up. “By the way, have you heard if the girl was able to make it?”
The doctors had to resuscitate her. They said that if she was brought in five minutes later, she’d probably be dead , the officer on the other line informed him. But this one’s lucky. She’ll be under observation for the next 48 hours, though.
Tae Pyung let out a sigh of relief.
By the way, we’ve got the plate number, the officer added.
“That’s better than I expected,” Tae Pyung said. “Anyway, just so you know, there was also another person at that time. She was there before I arrived, although apparently she did not witness the accident.”
The officer sounded confused at what he just said.
“There was,” Tae Pyung reiterated. “Have you checked the CCTV recording?”
We did , the officer affirmed. Only one camera in that area was working and it was only you and the victim who were caught in the footage.
“Is that so? Is it possible that there was a blind spot?” Tae Pyung wondered aloud.
Probably , the officer replied. We’ll check tomorrow morning if we can get another footage out of the nearby cameras. Anyway, your statement seems to be enough for the time being. Please feel free to drop by anytime tomorrow, sir. Thank you for your help.
“Sure. I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon,” he guaranteed before hanging up.
✽✽✽
Tae Pyung had a hard time trying to catch a wink that night in spite of his conscious efforts to relax. When he got home, he immediately prepared to hit the sack and took a warm shower to ease the knots on the muscles of his back. He tried to unwind and finished three cans of beer, then watched random shows on TV for an hour or two without any success of getting drowsy.
And even when he finally dozed off at around 3:00 a.m., he was still unable to rest as the woman he met earlier that evening made another appearance in his dreams.
Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash
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