There is a soft, feminine voice: "I don't think we should see each other anymore."
When she talks it's clearly not in English but is understood.
The memory comes into focus. A young woman is seated at a small restaurant table wearing a pleasant yellow sun dress. Her hair is pulled up elegantly from the back of her long neck. She has only picked at her food while her wine glass has been long emptied. Across from her is a well dressed young man in expensive casual attire. The rest of the eatery is out of focus. Besides the clatter of plates and the bustle of the wait staff which surrounds the memory there are precious other details to match with the couple's location.
"You're not serious?" The young man smiles quizzically, as though he cannot comprehend what his girlfriend is proposing. "Someone told you! You're just nervous, aren't you? You have nothing to be worried about, my father will adore you."
The young woman frowns. Blood drains instantly from her face. "Your father? ...He's here?"
The young man laughs with relief. "That's it! Someone told you! You had me worried. I thought you were really breaking up with me! He should be here any minute. It was supposed to be a surprise."
The young woman stands up instantly, her napkin thrown over her mostly untouched meal. She makes her way instantly for the exit. The small area of focus follows her. The young man's voice is heard from behind her, but the table has already disappeared and the woman in the yellow sun dress is pushing her way past a large party of American businessmen, "Yun-Er! What did I do wrong, Yun-Er?"
Before Yun-Er can make it to the door, the young man's father is there. Yun-Er stands frozen in the waiting area. A hostess tries to ask Yun-Er in English if she needs something. Yun-Er, in her pretty dress and modest flats, ignores the hostess white staring at the older man who has now come into the restaurant.
She knows, as you know, that this is the man responsible for the sum of her life's suffering and Yun-Er cannot bring herself to move; not to run away, not even to take the pen from the hostess' hand and stab the old man in the neck with it. Both thoughts strongly pulled at her, at you. The older man sees Yun-Er. He recognizes her. He does not move either.