The End in the Fall

Eunseong is only twenty-nine when she’s informed she won’t make it to winter. The diagnosis is final—six months max. Rather than spend what little time she has left in hospital beds and under fluorescent lights, she rejects treatment for liberty. Eunseong quits. She leaves behind a life she no longer calls her own. She dyes her hair a color that her mother would have disapproved of. Having lived so long in someone else’s way, always restrained and held in check, Eunseong feels like doing something for herself—without shame and without needing an excuse. That’s when she encounters him. A man who’s never been a believer in commitment, who’s used to keeping things surface-level and temporary. To him, love is temporary and sex is never permanent. But he’s exactly what she’s looking for: someone who won’t ask, someone who won’t ask for tomorrow. She remains. Not forever—just for a while. For a summer that lasts like a held breath for too long. And as autumn approaches… They’ll part ways. And she’ll be gone.