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41 " What does it mean to be like others? When everyone is different, who should I follow? What would Mom say? "
― Won-pyung Sohn , Almond
42 " Old books seem all right, though. They have a richer scent that’s more alive. Like how autumn leaves smell. "
43 " Well. Only your heart knows,” he said, still smiling. “You mean my brain, not my heart. We do whatever the brain tells us to do.” “Technically, yes, but we still say it’s from our heart. "
44 " I felt my body had outpaced my mind, and that it was as unnecessary and bothersome as a long overcoat in summer. I wanted so much to take it off. If only I could. "
45 " Will I live like this my entire life, feeling nothing at all?” I asked after slurping down a bowl of udon. "
46 " Luck plays a huge part in all the unfairness of the world. Even more than you’d expect. "
47 " You're basically a blank canvas. Better to fill it up with good things rather than bad things. "
48 " Mi cabeza era un desastre, pero mi espíritu no se había corrompido gracias al calor de esas manos que habían aferrado las mías a uno y otro lado. "
49 " Anything will lose its meaning if you repeat it often enough," she said. "At first you feel you are getting the hang of it, but then as time goes by, you feel like the meaning's changing and becoming tarnished. Then, finally, it gets lost. Completely fades to white. "
50 " It was incorrect to say I was fine to her question yesterday. You can just leave me alone. That was what I should've said. "
51 " I wonder what it means to get beaten by a father you're reunited with for the first time in a dozen years. Before even having the chance to get to know each other. "
52 " His shoulders, which had been hunched and still, gradually sank. His face turned wrinkly like a deflated balloon. His head slowly hanging low, his knees buckled. His body was shaking, his head sunk down against his chest. There was no sound, but I knew he was crying. I looked down at him, saying nothing. I felt like I'd become uselessly taller. "
53 " For one thing, Mom knew Broca and Wernicke were scientists, not patients. She had read all kinds of books about the brain from her regular visits to the local library. She also didn’t like that the doctors saw me as an interesting specimen rather than a human being. She had given up hope early on that the doctors would cure me. All they’d do is put him through weird experiments or give him untested medicines, observe his reactions, and show off their findings at a conference, she wrote in her diary. And so Mom, like so many other overprotective mothers, made a declaration that was both unconvincing and clichéd. "
54 " Dora was usually surrounded by people and ate with a group. The groups weren't always the same. She wasn't a loner but she wasn't necessarily attached to certain friends, either. She didn't seem to care who she ate with or who she walked home with. Sometimes she was by herself. Still, she wasn't bullied and never looked out of place. She seemed like someone who could exist on her own. "
55 " To me, that's like being asked, Why do you live? Do you live for any purpose? Let's be honest, we just live because we're alive. When things are great we're happy, and when things aren't, we cry. Same with running. I'll be happy when I win, I'll be sad when I don't. When I feel I haven't got it, I'll blame myself or regret starting this in the first place. But then I'll still run. Just because! Like living life. That's all! "
56 " Do you think I have a crush on here?" I regretted asking him the question as soon as I asked. "Well. Only your heart knows," he said, still smiling. "You mean my brain, not my heart. We do whatever the brain tells us to do." "Technically, yes, but we still say it's from our heart. "
57 " Yes. I know. That Gon is a good kid. But if someone asked me to talk about him in more detail, I'd only be able to say that he beat me and hurt me, he ripped apart a butterfly, he set his face against the teachers, and threw things at my classmates. That's how language is. It is as hard as proving that Leesu and Gon are the same person. So, I simply said, "I just know he is. "
58 " From now on this is an entirely different story. Completely new and unpredictable.I do not know how this story will unfold. As I said, neither you nor I nor anyone can ever know whether a story is happy or tragic. It may be impossible to categorize a story so neatly in the first place. Life takes on various flavors as it flows. I've decided to confront it. Confront whatever life throws at me, as I always have. And however much I can feel, nothing more, nothing less. "
59 " I also felt comfortable at our bookstore-home. Other people might say they “like” it or even “love” it, but in my vocabulary, “comfortable” was the best scale. "
60 " Books and the aroma of coffee. They were the perfect combination "