Oppa Sarang Haeyo..

“Ooopa sarang hayo”, she whispered her last word , a salty tear rolled down her cracked and parched cheek, gently it fell onto her hospital gown. He felt dumb and muted; his body felt stationary that made him impossible to move from the chair that stood next to her bed. Slowly he moved his lips closer towards her and gave a gentle kiss; yet ignorant of the truth that it was his last kiss. Her lips drew a simple smile and then closed her beautiful eyes. Five minutes elapsed but she never reopened her eyes, he hugged and tried to bring her back from a deep slumber but all proved in vain. For the last time he leaned his head over her immobile chest and cried like a baby. But she has slept never to wake up again.

On the task bar of his laptop, the battery signal began to blink, warning of its exhaustion. The power got cutoff an hour before but being fully engrossed in the movie he just forgot to connect the charger. In the nick of time his laptop  got automatically shut down. “oops”! He exclaimed and then just adjusted his position on his bed. He leaned his back on the pillow that was kept in between the wall and his back. The hour hand on the wall clock struck 1am and a sweet melody played automatically. He rubbed his puffy eyes and prepared to sleep.

But the scene from that movie came flashing like a lightening frequently. He felt completely emotional and lost, felt almost tomfoolery to some extent. Actually he was going nuts over that movie and it counted to 10 times watching all over again and again as if he was too dull to understand at once. Moreover he was really touched and heartened by the performance and beauty of the actress. He always enjoyed thinking about her and began to enter even into his dreams.

Most the time he browsed google and search for images of that actress, he just typed “Song hye kyo”, then image of exquisite beauty flickered and appeared in the screen. He downloaded so many images and also printed to be pasted on the walls. People who happened to visit his room came with mouth full of exclamation such as “oh my gosh”, “ goodness “ etc. Every nook and corner were occupied with her pictures some canvas were almost his size.

Time went as it goes, he started to develop strange feelings, and his heart was imbued with strong touch of sensation which he couldn’t describe himself. The food appeared tasteless, and the night too became sleepless. The constant loss of appetite made him anorexic so much so that he eyes swallowed deep inside, as if a big tunnel has been dug right across his face. Friend of him who got concerned about his strange incomprehensible symptoms advised him to consult specialist doctor, but their entire attempt ruined without any positive outcome. The doctor declared his results as NAD, despite their slog medical examination. Short abbreviation NAD stood for “No abnormal detected”. But his condition deteriorated, often he spend whole night crying holding the picture of that Korean celebrity in his palm.

A lethal venom of emotions slowly started taking its toll on him, his memory became fainter like a dim sunlight. He walked a long way in solitude and mumbled to himself all the way. He shouted to any passerby and picked up argument with all his friends. He refrained from going to regular class and loitered around the campus in terrible lunacy. “Sonam, sonam, sonam” at the top of their voice called him but he showed a stony ear. His name meant nothing to him and his reckless presence was avoided by everyone around him. One fine day everyone the college watched poor sonam taken in a car to a asylum. There after they never heard a word about him and his whereabouts, few time a rumor sailed among his fellow mates that he took his own life where as some said he was alive but his condition deteriorated.

Karma was an intimate friend of sonam when he was not sick. He had very cordial friendship with sonam and his absence made his eyes rain with tears.  HE really felt sorry for his friend and always crossed his two hands into one and prayed for the tiny Buddha in his altar. One fine lunar night , he stared out of the casement to the road that passed just below his hostel. Under the bright glitter of the full moon, he saw a solitary man singing a sweet song and dancing in the pin drop silent night. He rubbed his puffy eyes in astonishment and gave a closer inspection. Gods went crazy and discovered it was sonam on the road, not a second lapsed when the man suddenly disappeared like a magic.  Only the stars twinkled and moon shone, jackals howled from the jungle above the hostel forcing the silent dogs to cry in pain and anxiety.  Karma quickly chanted some prayers and burrowed deep inside his blanket, for he knew sonam died and his spirit came to pay a visit to him.

Novin closed the last page of the short story and inhaled a deep air of contentment. He checked the time on his wrist watch; the hour hand stuck quarter past 12 am. His eyes were red and sleepy, without much ado he got inside the blanket and prepared to slumber. Short story from the teepees dairy conjured in his mind, and he felt so sorry for the sonam in that story… “Holy Jesus”, let this not happen to me he prayed and ran into a deep slumber.