By Chandrasekaran Shreya (24S06A)
Missed Part 1 of this series? Access it here!
Confronting one’s past, twenty-four years later
Twelve years pass.
Nora–twelve years older, pin-straight hair now a mess of waves–is an accomplished writer. She’s married to Arthur, a fellow creative she’d met at an artists’ residency. He is presumably born and raised in America, and in a tender gaze he casts at Nora from across the street, we know from the get-go that he adores her.
As per an earlier request to meet Nora during his vacation in NYC, Hae Sung finds himself in a public park in the city: backpack securely strapped to his shoulders, pacing back and forth, brushing his hair back as he waits. He waits, footing faltering in this foreign land, till a familiar voice–one he’d been anticipating–calls out his name.
It’s Nora, smiling, as she walks forward and embraces him.
In this moment, for the second time, the present and past collide.
Continue reading ““Past Lives”: Reminiscences on being human–in motion, and in love (Part 2)”