💭Forget-Me-Not: Chapter Seventeen

The breakdown. 🖤

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Sung Joon paused. “It could also be he’s getting help, as well.”

A silence fell. Sae Ra frowned.

Sung Joon continued, “But that seems unlikely.” This comforted her, like he had covered her up with a warm blanket—but his next words were as if he had yanked it away as soon as she had begun to snuggle in.

“Unless…how well do you know Tae Ri?”

Sae Ra was speaking before she had even realized what she was saying. The words came straight from her heart. “If you’re suggesting Tae Ri has something to do with this and is working with Hyun Woo to sabotage me, you’re wrong.”

The only sign that Sung Joon was taken aback was the slight raise of his eyebrows. Because the two seemed so closely connected, Ms. Ma likewise stirred just the tiniest bit, but enough for Sae Ra to take notice.

Sae Ra almost felt like she was channeling Kang Yoon at this point, as she was sounding much more logical than usual. “There’s no reason for her to do this, and she’s been trying to keep me out of this for as long as possible.”

Silence fell. Finally, Sung Joon gave her one firm nod. “Okay, then. That alleviates any concerns I had.” He smiled. “Now let’s get to work.”

That was enough for Sae Ra for now. There was no reason to antagonize someone who was going to help her. With determination, she engaged in the lesson.

Sung Joon taught her to meditate, which she hadn’t expected.

“The key is to be able to hone your focus, sharpen it so your mind is closed off from other influences, and you can feel that it’s just you and the energy of the people you want to alter around you,” he murmured. “That’s the thing with anger. Sometimes, it can overwhelm you, so you lose control. Your mind takes on a barrage of thoughts and what-ifs and poison that renders you unable to think clearly. However, with a clear purpose, anger can be sharpened. A desperate animal can see a clear route of escape.”

“That’s what happened with Hyun Woo…”

“Yes, but you’re not prone to acts of desperation or fear. And it’s not the most reliable method. So I’m going to teach you how to focus through meditation.”

The rest of the lesson went smoothly, although Sae Ra struggled at times to stay focused and not get carried away by her thoughts. She had to let them drift away like clouds in the sky. At one point, just for the briefest second, she had this strong awareness of herself and the presence of Sung Joon and In Ha, but it went away quickly as the thought of bulgogi invaded her mind. She shook it off.

By the time the session was done, she felt both sleepy and slightly dissatisfied. Sung Joon, as if reading her thoughts (as well as her subtly grumpy expression like a toddler woken up from a nap), smiled and told her, “Until next time.”

The next day, it was very much the same. Sae Ra didn’t even know what to report to Kang Yoon and Tae Ri, who were curious and concerned. They wanted all the details, but she could only tell them they were meditating. The news that Sung Joon knew about Tae Ri and that their powers had come from Sung Joon did little to satiate their curiosity.

On the third day, Sae Ra felt like her meditating was getting worse, not better. The passage of time was wearing down her patience, like a current of water rubbing against stone. She finally said, “I feel like I got the hang of it. Can’t we do something about Hyun Woo now?”

“Patience,” said Sung Joon. “I understand, but we only have two more days to go. There can be repercussions if we rush this.”

“What repercussions?”

“You’re out of the loop. After the confrontation, Hyun Woo had been off work for a few days.”

Sae Ra raised her eyebrows. “Really? Why? Did Kang Yoon and Tae Ri beat him up?”

Sung Joon just continued gazing at her.

She sighed and amended, “He felt unwell afterwards?”

Sung Joon nodded. “It appears so. It took a lot of energy for him to do what he did. He was running on adrenaline, but afterwards, it seemed he needed time to recover. Luckily, he’s back now and appears fine, but I’m not entirely sure what happened.”

“But the more time that passes, the more I have to erase,” Sae Ra pointed out.

“While I understand, I’d rather play it safe and teach you sustainability. We’ll schedule a meeting with everyone involved for the end of this week.”

But his intention was for naught.

The re-recording of the session had been scheduled for the next day. With Ms. Jung’s blessing, Sae Ra was going to sit out—and this was understandable for most as she was considered the root of the problem last time. No one, especially the actress who was returning, wanted to see her back in the studio.

She stayed in the writer’s room alone. But for some reason, she wasn’t left alone.

Hyun Woo dropped by.

As if nothing had happened between them, the door slid open and he peeked in like a friendly co-worker checking in on her. She was so surprised to see him again she froze up, the nonchalant smile on his face leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

“Just wanted to see how you were doing. And, well, of course make sure you had no thoughts on sabotaging this recording again,” he said lightly. After a pause, he added, “Just kidding!” Another pause. He continued, “I already went over the script, and it looks okay…”

Sae Ra finally found her voice. “You went over it last time, too, and thought it was okay then, too.”

“People make mistakes,” he replied with a shrug, not looking her in the eyes. “In this world, we have to look out for ourselves. No grudges, right?” and he left without even waiting for her response.

She fumed. Why had he come to see me? Why was he trying to antagonize me? What was the point of that? She slammed her fists down onto the table half-heartedly, too upset to channel enough force into them. But the anger started brewing more and more, and her fists started to shake.

She stood up, her chair rolling back to hit the yellow couch behind her. The memory kept running in her mind, over and over, like the only film strip that the broken player in her mind had access to. She didn’t know her feet were carrying her out the door and up the stairs until she stood outside the studio.

She steadied her breathing. It felt like she was on the precipice of something. As she closed her eyes, she felt it. Her presence versus the rest of them. Their energy was a giant glob she could feel on the other side, radiating and pulsing, calling for her.

She had to be closer.

Sae Ra slowly slid the door open, ignoring the red light signaling they were either recording or just about to start. No one saw her at first. She didn’t mean to be seen, but, as if sensing her energy, too, Ms. Jung and Joo Young turned. Their faces fell, their mouths open in silent gasps.

Hyun Woo turned. He looked less surprised, more displeased. They had been about to start recording, meaning everyone was there. Everyone from the last recording who had judged her, who had been victims of Hyun Woo’s manipulation.

Sae Ra felt like she wasn’t in control of her feet as they took a few steps closer. People started whispering as more people realized she was there. It was the same as last time. Their expressions, their words. All of them dripped with derision, disbelief, scorn.

No more.

She felt it.

It had been a long time since she had felt that invisible hand reach out from her own head to another’s, plucking out a memory. But this time, it almost disturbed her, how many wispy hands she felt flinging out from her body to pluck, pluck, pluck at the many memories in the many heads all around her. It was like a fog had settled around these people, stealing parts of their lives, casting a dimness around their faces, to hide from Sae Ra the vacancy that settled in their eyes. The hands dug in deep.

Hyun Woo was the only one who was alert and looking back at her. He couldn’t feel the hands plucking out the false memory he had planted and the subsequent ones that had naturally followed. But he knew something was going on. One hand teased him. He could feel a disturbance, like he was being tickled by a mosquito. He brushed away the air around him.

Sae Ra focused harder, her anger sharpening like a needle, ready to pierce him, not realizing this strengthened all of the hands that were going around. Pluck, pluck, pluck.

Hyun Woo’s own face started to grow vacant, confused. Sae Ra almost smiled in satisfaction, and she wanted to see if she could invade his mind after all and, if so, how much—when she was suddenly yanked. The motion jolted her out of what felt like a hypnosis. She was pulled into the fresh air in the hallway before she knew it, but still she struggled to go back, the image of Hyun Woo shrinking before her as his eyes regained their focus.

She briefly saw Kang Yoon’s face, but turned away, back to the chaos in the studio—her self-made chaos. So much power there. She had felt so in control. And that feeling? It had been insidiously addictive. But then what she felt were two arms, firm and comforting, wrapping around her, stilling her from behind, Kang Yoon’s warmth seeping through.

“Stop.” His voice was soft. “You’re erasing them.”

The words echoed in her mind briefly.

I’m erasing them?

The wispy fingers that had greedily been holding more memories than they needed, like out-of-control children who gleefully felt no restriction from their careless caretaker, reluctantly popped open, the memories sinking back into those who had been wondering who they were, how they got there, and what any of this was for…

They were left as who they were—only the memories that Sae Ra initially meant to have targeted disappearing into the abyss, as they were the first ones she had grabbed and she had done so with clear purpose. Hyun Woo’s eyes were focused on her, wide in shock. Deep within, she saw fear. And it was as if she could see herself reflected back.

And that made her snap again.

She popped her arms out to break Kang Yoon’s embrace. While the people inside all tried to wake up from grogginess, as if they had all been in a weirdly vivid and deep dream, Sae Ra closed the studio door on them and spun on Kang Yoon.

Her head ached. The anger seemed to multiply, but her head was too unclear now. The frustration she felt was clouding her, the control slipping away.

“Why did you do that?” she cried out.

Kang Yoon tried to hide his confusion and hurt. “You were doing too much. You were out of control.”

“So? They were the ones who were out of control. They were the ones who hurt me. They didn’t listen to me. They were getting what they deserved.”

His mouth slowly dropped open, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to recognize who was standing before him. In all their years together, he had never seen this side of Sae Ra. But now her eyes, which had never held malice, looked at him with utter hatred, such a shocking contrast to the warmth they normally held. He took one small step back without knowing, his other foot ready to continue the retreat.

Without another word, without any consideration for his feelings, Sae Ra left, leaving him in a wake of anger as she knocked over the trees she and Tae Ri had hidden behind before, ripped notices off the walls, and finally slammed the door to the stairs behind her.

And then she was gone.

Next time on 🌸Forget-Me-Not🌸

How could Kang Yoon?

I could’ve done it all. Erased them all.

Hyun Woo deserves it. Nothingness for him.

I could do it to Kang Yoon, too.

He better not stop me again.

My head hurts.

My heart hurts.

**Author’s Note**

Hello, hello, dear readers! Part two of Forget-Me-Not is quickly coming to a close! I’m not yet sure if I’m going to take another break before releasing part three, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I got great news for readers of my other novel, How to Write a K-Drama! That story will be resuming next week, so stay tuned for a new chapter on Monday. 😊 I’m so excited!

Thank you so much for your patience and for reading my stories. I really appreciate each and every one of you. See you next week!