There are familiar faces Y always looks for in a crowd – faces that bring warmth just by appearing, that fill the heart with quiet joy when encountered. Not just anyone’s face, but that one, unmistakable, irreplaceable.
It’s the face of a beloved father, riding his bicycle across miles and miles, just to wait for his girl at the school gate during exam season. That same slender silhouette waiting on the bridge near the university, under the scorching sun for hours, anxiously wondering: Did she do well? Was she calm in there?
She walked out, discouraged: “I think I failed, Dad.”
He gently reassured her: “Let’s wait for the results.”
And yet, she passed.
He was always there – steady, patient, a quiet guardian in life’s most important moments.
It’s the face of a little child, full of giggles and sparkling eyes, sometimes sulking:
“Why were you so late, Mommy? There are only a few kids left!”
The child had been waiting… And the mother – rushing through a hectic day, barely making it before the gates closed – smiled and said: “I tried my best to get here.”
It’s the face of a mother at the airport, weary from a long journey, delayed flights, lugging bags full of homegrown food for her daughter and granddaughter. Tired, yes – but still smiling brightly. And that granddaughter, leaping with joy upon seeing her.
There’s something sacred in the reunion – a quiet happiness only maternal love can offer.
It’s the face of a grandmother who rises before dawn, tending to the fields, pulling weeds, chasing pests. Her eyes have grown cloudy, her hair silver-white, her frame bent with age, her hearing fading – but her love remains crystal clear in every glance.
Then there are the faces of little siblings, carefree and muddy, full of innocence.
The familiar smiles of neighbors and those who’ve been part of her life for so long…
Each face – the eyes, the nose, the lips, the brows, the hair, the silhouette – so familiar, so beloved.
Y longs to see them again, to hold them close, to touch their face and smile with all her heart.
Yet… there are also faces Y wishes never to see again. Ever.
Because some faces stir only pain – frustration, resentment, even anger.
Better to be alone than bound to a connection that poisons the spirit.
Y chooses indifference – as if those faces had never existed.
And then… there is one very special face.
A face Y would give anything to see just once more in this world.
If there were a miracle, she would trade her life for his – to bring him back, even for a moment.
A gentle soul, thirty years young, full of love, dreams, and unfulfilled hopes.
He has returned to the Earth, to his homeland…
Now, he only lives on in memory – in the most sacred corner of Y’s heart.
(Excerpt from “Faces” – TV, Ha Kim)
