Fics for 2026 #005 ~ With the palm of your hand (Korean GL)

[kerk_hiraeth]

 
    TITLE: With the palm of your hand * (intended for Halfamoon 2026, Prompt #12 Her sanctuary; will post for 2027's challenge) 

     AUTHOR: kerk_hiraeth

    FANDOM: Inspired by Korean GL Characters (dramas; movies, short films)

    RATING: PG-13;

    LENGTH: 200 **;

    CHARACTER(s): Three original characters; un-named here, but inspired by various lesbian / wlw / Gl characters from Korean dramas; movies and short films.

    SHIP(s): Three relationships; one now a friendship,

    SUMMARY: Had to look for a suitable Korean proverb, but the title is based on one dealing with loss and, I think, found family (also, in the context of this story, past love and continuing those concepts into the future.) A woman, grieving, and losing her footing, seeks solace in an old relationship.

    A/N: The proverb from which I got the title goes, in English, as follows ~ 
             * ''Don't try to cover the whole sky with the palm of your hand.'' In Korean it is  -  손바닥으로 하늘을 가리려한다 ~ the meaning of the proverb { found here en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Korean_proverbs } is somewhat different from what I was initially looking for, but it fits the ideas I was exploring when I was trying to get my thoughts down.

             I think I probably had prompt #3, The caregiver, in mind when I did my initial draft but, as I completed the further drafts it seemed to me to fit #12, Her sanctuary, better.

            ** for the purpose of the word count I used the English original ~ 'I came as soon as I could.'', but wrote in the Korean the character was speaking.

 

      She had, if she had ever kept it, lost track.

    The sky was rain grey; wind chilling the air by the second.

    She could not leave her alone.

    Not yet.

    So she waited.

    Home.

    They had to go home.

    Without.

    Where would she sleep tonight?

    She waited.

    Maybe it was not real; maybe that familiar touch would guide them,

    Her touch.

    Just one more time.

    Please.

    Just once more.

    A hand took hold of hers.

    She sighed.

    A familiar touch; not the one she wanted.

    Just the needed one.

    Her head turned mechanically; eyes opening.

    Knowing what she would see.

    An old familiar face.

    Lined; hair buzz short, long on one side.

    Sprinkled with early grey.

    A dusting of snow on a dry, dry day.

    Life.

    Three decades.

    ''가능한 한 빨리 왔습니다 ''

    Sighing, her head rested; untold and unbidden, on the old familiar collarbone.

    Silence.

    Then, shoulders shaking; chest heaving, the dam cracked.

    Old; familiar and safe arms, held her tight; grief forcing tears through them.

    She mourned the one in the safe, warm familiarity of the past.

    Comfort of the old eased the pain of the onrushing painful loneliness.

    Their home beckoned.

 

 

 

'     'Harlem'' by Langston Hughes (1951)

 

          What happens to a dream deferred?

 

                Does it dry up

                like a raisin in the sun

                Or fester like a sore –

                And then run?

                Does it stink like rotten meat?

                Or crust and sugar over –

                like a sugary sweet.

 

                Maybe it just sags

                like a heavy load.

 

               Or does it explode?

 

            Goddess watch over you, 

       
              

            kerk 

Comments

[elisi]

This is achingly beautiful. More poem than fic for sure.

Especially love 'She mourned the one in the safe, warm familiarity of the past.' You really have a way to turn a line. <3

The whole paints a beautiful picture, like a painting in water colour, simple and delicate, the brushes vividly creating a moment, a world.

[cmk418]

Lovely. It's a tender moment, beautifully captured. Well done!