𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

                                    

                                          
20 years later......
                          
Yes. It's been 20 years since Yuqi had last been to Korea. Finally, she was ready to see her beloved again. 
                          
Those 20 years were long but necessary for her. After going back to China, she moved in with her best friend, Yanan in an apartment. It was only after months that Yuqi processed and got over Miyeon's death. She lost contacts with all her friends from Korea which wasn't really surprising to her. 
                          
A year later, she married Yanan and they had two kids, two beautiful daughters to be exact. 
                          
And now, 39 years old, Yuqi was ready to go back, at least for some time. 
                          
Yanan was to stay with the girls back in China since she wanted to go all alone. 
                          
After a long and tiring flight, the first thing she wanted to do was to visit Miyeon's grave. It was still noon and it was also the 28th of December, the date of her death. 
                          
The bus she was in wasn't really crowded and she managed to find a seat with a window. 
                          
Looking at how the world of South Korea changed, she felt such a familiar weirdness.
                          
Some buildings she remembered were there, were either gone or taller and most houses were renovated. 
                          
And finally she arrived at the cemetery. 
                          
She walked diligent to Miyeon's grave and couldn't see a single flower on it. She remembered on the day she died how much of flowers have been there. 
                          
She sat down next to the grave and started talking to it, like she would have talked to Miyeon. 
                          
"Miyeonnie~ it's really been such a long time since I've last come to visit you. I miss you so much and I sometimes wonder if you are better over there than you were here. I still love you the same way, don't worry about that. I love you and will forever love you, Cho Miyeon...."
                          
Some tears fell and that's how Yuqi recalled how how Miyeon would always wipe her tears when she would cry, how she would always be there for her when she needed it.  
                          
Yuqi smiled. She opened her bag and got put a vibrant red rose, similarly to the one she'd put on the same grave roughly twenty years ago. 
                          
She put it in the same place. 
                          
She got up and felt the same warm breeze that she felt 20 years ago. 
                          
"Even if you are no longer here physically, you will always reside in my heart." 
                          
She was ready to leave now but as she turned around, she saw four familiar faces, staring at her in utter shock, like they couldn't believe their eyes. 
                          
"Yuqi?" The four of them said in unison. 
                          
There, in front of her stood, Minnie, Soyeon, Soojin and Shuhua. 
                          
"Long time no see."
                          
________________________________
                          
"Two kids?!?" Minnie shouted to her, even though Yuqi was right beside her. 
                          
After their awkward meeting at the cemetery, they wanted to have lunch together since they haven't seen each other for so much of time. 
                          
"Yep, it used to be very hectic around the house when they were babies but now they are a little grown up."
                          
Presently, Yuqi had just related to them what happened to her in the last 20 years. 
                          
"What about y'all? What did you do after....she was gone?"
                          
Minnie was the first to answer. 
                          
"After Miyeon's death, I was devastated and broken from within. I didn't want to stay in Korea anymore, I needed a break. So, I went back to my hometown and stayed there for five years but I came back. Here, I was able to contact Soyeon again and......"
                          
She looked at her wife with a huge smile. 
                          
"......it's been 15 years since we are married."
                          
"For me, it's pretty much what Minnie said but I didn't spend five years waiting for her to come back. I spend them drawing and selling comics," Soyeon continued. "Then we got married."
                          
"For me, it was hard to get over Miyeon's death but I somehow made it. Shuhua came to Korea as promised and we got married after a year," Soojin said, holding her Shuhua's hand. 
                          
"After I got to know what happened to you, I didn't know whether I should have tried to contact you or not. I did not, fearing that you might feel down, hearing from me. I work in a bubbletea shop nearby," Shuhua said. 
                          
"B-bubbletea?" Yuqi stuttered, remembering the first time she started working a part time job in Korea. She had worked in a bubbletea shop and that's how she really got to know about Miyeon. 
                          
The others seemed to have read her mind. 
                          
"You want to go there perhaps?" Minnie suggested.  
                          
Yuqi nodded. 
                          
And off they went. 
                          
"Here it is," Yuqi said upon arriving there. 
                          
The furniture and their position were still the same. She recalled the day when Miyeon confessed to her and how they had so much of fun in her apartment. 
                          
"What happened to her apartment?" She abruptly asked. 
                          
"It has been destroyed. Actually, the entire street has been and a theme park was built there."
                          
Yuqi sadly nodded and continued looking at absolutely everything inside the shop. 
                          
"It's been 20 years and nothing changed at all."
                          
It was already dawn when she went back to her hotel room. 
                          
And that's how she started to reflect and I need you, readers, to reflect and think as well.  
                          
I just need you all to think about it. What if Yuqi or Miyeon never stood up to their parents and just followed the path they laid for them, would they have been happy? 
                          
No, obviously, this story has been the heck of an adventure and we all can agree that there were many other situations I could be talking about but for this epilogue, I wanted to talk about how some parents force their children to do things and end up being unhappy. Sometimes, the child also needs to know how to display and explain their idea which is proving very difficult in this generation.  
                          
Another thing I wanted to talk about is how unpredictable life is. Who would have thought that a straightforward cold figure like Miyeon would fall for the bubbly and jovial personality of Yuqi? Who would have thought that Siyeon would have killed Miyeon at the end? And who would have thought that Yuqi would meet her friends after 20 years of absence? 
                          
Life sometimes bring in different flavours that we do not and may never understand but all we can do is live through it and stay happy. 
                          
That's how Effervescent is going to end, readers. 
                          
I wish y'all a good life and sincerely hope you found emotions and entertainment in my work. 
                          
That being said, rest well, 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭.