The Eleventh Letter From Nayeon

August 14, 1995

Dahyun learned from the past that she should be more patient. She waited and waited because Nayeon’s letter took longer than usual to arrive again. The previous exchanges had been pretty frequent, and she tried her best not to worry when it had been a month since her last letter.

But she knew better. She knew that good things come to those who wait.

And she felt like she had been rewarded for being more patient and a little less worried this time, because she just opened her mailbox and a single envelope was inside, waiting for her to bring up and be read.

Maybe her patience had finally worn thin because she couldn’t wait for her to go upstairs. She could spend a little more time inside the mail room to read the letter.

Dahyun paused when she held the envelope. There was something inside, and it was thin. Her previous letters with Nayeon had been a little thicker than usual because Nayeon had been sending her pages and pages. But this felt like the first letter she received.

Almost empty.

She carefully opened the envelope, brow perking up when she saw a single paged letter and a developed photograph. She picked up the photo and it was a dog, looked like a Beagle but his snout was a bit longer than the regular ones. He had white fur spread through the middle of his eyes, the brown in his ears slowly turning into a lighter shade.

Then it hit her.

Dahyun frantically picked up the letter and read it quickly.

Her heart dropped when the words she read started to sink in. “Oh.”

Dear Dahyun,

I apologize if I sent my letter late or that my letter is going to be shorter than before. But I don’t think I’m able to think and process this properly.

Bruce passed away last night.

A couple of weeks back, I brought him to the vet and the doctor found a cyst in his body, which he said had been there for a while, but we couldn’t remove it because Bruce is old and he might not survive the surgery. The doctor said he was healthy, but I don’t understand why his health rapidly declined. I tried everything. But I guess he wanted to rest.

He lived a happy life. He was so, so, loved. He may not be my dog originally, but he really was my dog. You know? He was everything to me. I wanted to give you a photo of him, so you’ll know what he looks like. Doesn’t he look so perfect? He was such a beautiful dog.

Dahyun, why would the world take him away from me when I needed him the most? Why? I miss him. It hasn’t been days, but I miss him so much.

I’m sorry. Your last letter really helped me through this.

I don’t know if I’ll ever recover.

But thank you again for always giving me a reason to look forward to something. My life is a mess, but you’re the only thing in my life that seems like it makes sense.

Thank you, Dahyun.

Please take care.

Yours,
Nayeon.