Christmas in Seoul
6:30. The flashy small screen turned pink as it started singing a very popular tune. One skinny hand got it up, stopped the annoying music and disappeared back from where it came, underneath the flowered blanket. After merely 2 seconds, the blanket flew away. In the dime light, a slim girly figure rushed its way up to the white door.
She turned on the light. The bright white tiles made her nicely-shaped eyebrows to bind above her nose. She rubbed her eyes asking them to open and stay opened, then she stopped in front of the mirror. She smiled. She spun the water tap, always smiling. She threw her face three times in her watery palm, and then checked the mirror again. Afterwards she lumbered her way up to the so called shower, which was nothing more than a long pipe with two water taps. She spun one of them and released a blasphemy until she spun the other one too, which made her nod with a smile. She threw away the long dinosaur-shirt and allowed the hot water to warm her disheveled head. After several long minutes she was done arranging the pink bow that held the red hair all together in one rich bun. She smiled one last time and took a deep breath. She giggled and rushed to the chair that was bravely holding her 3 pairs of jeans, several long sleeved shirts and some sort of pink uniform with white waistcloth and long sleeves. She looked for her black boots under the chair, also finding the black leggings that she immediately put on. She was ready now. One last glimpse at the small screen put a smile on her face again.
"Finally I'm ready on time!" she said out loud, throwing on her long, black overcoat.
The blizzard wind put some red dots on her face as soon as she stepped outside the building; some melted snow invaded her drilled boots, but she just shook her head twice, took a deep freezing breath and started walking again. She was really excited by the huge gorgeous young boys posters that hung all over the tallest buildings in town. All those unknown letters on every window-shop made her forget all about the discomfort in her shoes and her wide smile froze on her face again. After crossing 4 times she stopped in front of an enormous building covered in glass. She bowed politely to the doorkeeper in front, but he merely raised an eyebrow to her. She lowered her eyes but they hit the reflection of the Korean flag on a really shiny car hood, which brought back her courage.
"South Korea, I'll do my best! Fighting!!" she shouted from the bottom of her heart. She smiled shyly when she realized her fist was up in the air and everyone around her was staring.
"Fighting!" another soft voice joined in with a white as the snow fist up next to hers.
"Ah, Ming Yoo!" the girl said hugging the owner of the white gloves. "I thought you forgot about me!..."
"How could I ?" Ming Yoo asked smiling back at her. "You called me 10 times last night to remind me today it's your first day at work" she said laughing so charmly.
"Ah, yes... I'm so sorry, but I am so nervous about this... And I really thank you for this opportunity! Honestly! From the bottom of my heart!” she said bowing deeply.
"Oh, stop that!" Ming Yoo said grabbing her hand in a warm grip. "It's a bad job and an underpaid one, but otherwise my dad wouldn't 'have had agreed..." she blushed trying to release the grip.
"Doesn't matter!" the girl said trying to hold on the warm glove as much as she possible could "without you I would've had never be able to leave that f..." she wanted to say something bad about her country but she suddenly remembered that in here patriotism and honor for your country were a must, so she quickly disguised her words: "to live this once of a life time opportunity and I won't let you down! Gamsahamida!"
"It will be a little rough at the beginning, but... fighting, right?" Ming Yoo put a smile on her friend's face.
' "Aish... how helpful would’ve been some of the Korean interjections..." ' she thought and while she followed Ming Yoo she promised to herself that starting from today she will go each day to the library and learn new words.
They reached a nice, clean office where a nicely dressed fat man welcomed them with a bow... well actually the bow was only for Ming Yoo, for her it was the same eyebrow lifting as the doorman did.
' "So this has to be my boss" ' she talked to herself even though she was trying really hard to understand his speech and nod once in a while when it looked like he's asking her if she understood. Well it wasn’t anything too fancy or too complicated anyway, just a mop, a broom, a vacuum cleaner...last generation vacuum cleaner... and countless plastic bottles, all gathered in a neat pile inside a carrier.
' "You're not allowed to use the stairs, you may clean the room only when the costumers are not inside" ' she aped her fat boss, having fun on her own.
' "The only allowed way to move through the hotel" ' she said again using a man's voice pushing the red 'personnel elevator' s key.
After a while, she slowly spun the yellow cap on a plastic bottle. She proudly smiled to a row of 7 doors from her left but the frowned to the other 14 on her right.
“Not even half of them?” she took a deep sigh and reached for something inside her big waistcloth pocket. She energetically stirred a small bottle of yogurt and took a big sip. But she had difficulties swallowing it when she heard the elevator’s ding. She jumped up, bowing at two young women who barely noticed her. She followed them as they entered one of the already cleaned 7 rooms. She smiled and got back to her yogurt that didn’t looked so appealing right now, so she just threw it in the small garbage can she was carrying around in her carrier.
“33 37… 33, 35, 37…” she started counting.
She stopped in front of the room 3337. She knocked twice, but there was no answer. She took out from her pocket the big pile of key-cards and pulled it through the locker’s bower. She pushed the door with her back until she crept inside. Just when she was about to lock it back, some glass braking noise froze her. She rolled her eyes around as she was looking for someone to ask what she must do in such situations. Even though her mind told her to get out of the room, her legs brought her closer to the white door from where the noise came.
‘ “No, no…” ‘ her mind kept on saying, but her hand already reached the door’s handle. She spun it around and opened it in one slow move, but stopped when she heard a roar:
“What the fuck it’s your problem?!” a man’s voice roared so she stepped inside to discover the guy kneeled in front of the toilet seat.
Her mouth couldn’t spell any word and not only because she didn’t understood what the man said because he spoke in Korean, but also because her eyes were to focused on the shiny shards on the ground that led to the man’s bleeding hand.
“Oh my God, are you ok?” she rushed to help him.
“Don’t touch me!” the man yelled again. “Just give me that!!” he pointed with the bleeding hand to the paper towels on the bathtub’s edge.
Even though she couldn’t understand the words he said, it wasn’t really difficult to get what he asked for, so she dart at them. She quickly flocked some paper in her hand and pushed it on the man’s hand. She rolled the remaining paper on top of it and helped him up. Even if there were all sort of sour smells in there, when he reached her height, a sweet, flowered smell invaded her nostrils making her to take a closer look at him. He seemed fairly familiar, with his black bangs trying to reach his eyebrows, the dark brown eyes that withdrew somewhere deep inside their sockets, and the small beautiful lips that curled up in a pout now. He was pretty tall and that made the way up to his bed to be much longer and more difficult than it should, but she managed to get him safe to his brown sheets. He fell on them and they all crumpled underneath him. She stared at him for a few minutes, giving him time to fall really asleep.
“How much did you had last night, boy?” she whispered thinking he wouldn’t hear her while she leaned to gather the empty bottles on the ground.
“Not that much” his English answer came from inside the beddings. “What’s the clock?” he asked in his crooked English.
“Oh…. Umm..” she froze for a while then quickly spoke “It’s 12.35”. Just when she was about to congratulate herself for her silence, her mouth spoke without permission: “You should be having lunch now…”
“I should be out having lunch now” he spoke in the same time.
She froze again and stared at him. She would’ve wanted to say something but her eyes got drawn by the paper towels that colored themselves into some fiery red shade. She gathered up the courage to speak again:
“Sir, may I take a look at your hand?”
She got her answer through a soft snore. She smiled pleased and tiptoed to the bathroom from where she came back with the first aid kit. She gently peeled the wet paper off of his hand and slowly cleaned it until there was no trace of blood left. She warped the gauze ribbon on the hand with slow, quiet moves so she wouldn’t wake him up. She smiled satisfied when she covered the knot with a small pink patch. She escaped a short swearing word when she threw her eyes on the ground where the 5 empty bottles laid and a terrible amount of cigarettes’ butt left from long ago the overflowing ashtray. With no other words she started gathering everything up hiding them in her black plastic bag with the quietest movements she was capable of. She even swiped away the shards in the bathroom, but the other half of the glass shelf stuck in the wall and she decided it would’ve been too noisy to take it down so she just left it there. She put everything in her carrier and before she left, she stopped to take one last glance at him. The snoring ceased, leaving the room in a deep silence. She turned around to leave.
“Gajima…” his deep voice got heard again from somewhere inside the beddings.
“Well, I… “ she tried to say but this line sounded so familiar that it already started playing over and over in her mind, adding musical notes too.
“Gajima jeabal…” he said again without even moving.
“Umm…” she said stepping forward twice, without really knowing what to do. She got next to his bed but just when she changed her mind and was ready to quickly leave, he caught her wrist. She would’ve screamed only if she would’ve remembered how to connect the brains to her mouth. The only remaining thing to do now was to take a seat next to him because he was still holding tight on her hand. At first she rolled her eyes all around, slowly wiping the shy sweat drops on her forehead but his perfect side-face caught her attention. Her eyes doubled their size and her heart almost stopped its beatings so much that it started stinging her left hand.
Without sudden moves she withdrew her hand from his grip. She looked for her small cellphone inside her big pocket; with shaky hands she pushed the screen once to access the media menu, pictures and gulped loudly. She stared at him once again and quickly covered her mouth with the back of her hand just in time to stop a squeaky “eeep” that wanted to go out. She counted to tree to inhale and then she had to count again to exhale since her body seemed like it forgot how to do it on its own. She browsed through 12-13 pictures of T.O.P’s as the images indicated. She took a silent deep breath and she slowly tiptoed to the door making sure she won’t be making any sound at all. She quietly got out. Once she found herself free, outside the room, she glued her back to the door, just to allow her breathing to remember how it was supposed to work.
“1,2,3…” she counted again breathing in.
The elevator’s ding made her straighten her posture and pull herself up. She drew a nice soft smile on her face when the doors of the elevator just 6 feet in front opened. She even wanted to bow politely and say “anyoung hashimnikka” when her heart stopped. The light blonde fringes covered shortly the dark shades as they approached her in slow motion.
“G…D…” she muttered getting a grip on the door case behind her back because the floor under her feet suddenly turned into jelly.
“Umm…may I?” the blond guy asked using his most killer smile.
Actually he just barely moved up the corners of his mouth, and because she wouldn’t move he pointed to the door behind her and asked again, this time in English.
“Oh… sure…” she babbled hurrying to clean the path for him.
“Hyung, are you there?” he knocked twice, without taking notice of the girl who froze again just a couple of steps further. “Hyung?” he tried to open the door. He quickly turned to look for the young maid thinking he lost her, but instead he couldn’t restrain his laughter when he found her big bright eyes staring at him.
“Is he in?” he asked trying his best not to even smile anymore.
“Umm… I’m… I’m sorry… I don’t speak Korean…” she merely mumbled.
“Jeongmal yo?” he said taking off his glasses, killing her even more. “Umm… Hyung, is he inside?” he spelled as if he was talking to some aliens freshly landed on our planet.
“Hyung?” she said trying to imitate his speaking. His hand that was now pointing again towards the door helped her understand. “Aah… hyung!” she said toning up the last ‘g’.
“Aniyo, it’s a soft ‘g’” he said in a serious tone, piercing her again.
“Oh… yes… I’m sorry. Yes, your… friend, he’s inside, yes…” she answered lowering her eyes.
“So… Can you?...” he made her understand he wanted to get the door opened.
“Sure!...” she rushed to push the key-card through the door’s bower.
“It’s ‘joesonghamnida’ and ‘hyung’ “ he said trying hard not to smile. “Why do they even hire people like you? You can’t even speak…” he wanted to say more, but her voice cut him off.
“Maybe for the foreigners that can’t understand your English…” she answered in a split, shocking herself too.
The door broke loose and she quickly bowed to him, darted behind her cart and sped to her ‘’personnel only’’ elevator.
Jiyong stood there, in the door’s way and finally released the smile he made efforts to hide until now. The whining inside the room though made him rush in.
“Hyung, are you ok?” he couldn’t help but smile when he found his friend lying in bed, holding onto his own head as if it would run if he’ll let it go. He swooped next to him. “You suddenly fled this morning” he sat up in bed to look at him.
“Mmm” was the only thing coming out from his friend’s mouth after he shoved his face underneath a pillow.
“We gotta stop drinking like this…” Jiyong said laughing. “Honestly you ain’t got the age for this anymore…” he laughed even harder.
Seunghyun’s answer came again as a hum from under the pillow.
“Omo, hyung! What happened to you?!” Jiyong gave up his smile when Seunghyun stretched out and tried to silence him covering his mouth with the boarded hand.
“Huh?” Seunghyun finally let the pillow slide off revealing just one eye. “Aissi… yeah… I fell” he gathered all his power to sit up. He crossed his legs under him and stared at his hand smiling softly.
“Aissi, I’m so tired!” Ji yawned and lay next to him. “We really overdone it last night…” he mumbled.
“We really overdo it every night…” Seunghyun pat Ji’s head and shuffled out of the bed. He stopped in front of the big, thick drape. Using just one finger he glanced outside. The bright sunrays burnt through his eyes but they didn’t manage to steal any reaction from him. He only sighed in resign. He went to the big closet. He browsed though it more asleep than awake. In a matter of minutes some dark sunglasses completed his outfit making it look really cool. He pushed his hair backwards and took a deep sigh. Before he left, he glimpsed one more time at Ji who curled up in bed, in the fetus posture.
“Sleep tight, Sleeping beauty” he whispered and got lost behind the entrance door.
“Choi Seunghyun-ssi!” a squeaky male voice approached him as soon as he closed the door behind him.
“Ah, Lee Baek-ssi!” Seunghyun quickly bowed politely trying to conceive an apology speech for his over an hour lunch delay.
“Ah, Choi Seunghyun-ssi I am so happy to bump into you! I am really, so deeply sorry I wasn’t able to come at out lunch meeting today!” the man said bowing even lower. “It really didn’t rest on me…” he kept on bowing. “Omo!” he suddenly stopped “You waited for me until this late hour?”
“I…” Seunghyun tried to speak.
“If I’m not too bold, may we brunch in 30 minutes and reschedule our interview?” Mr. Lee said bowing again.
“Umm… sure” Seunghyun smiled really happy for how things turned out, but most of all the word ‘brunch’ made him really startle since he hadn’t had any meal just yet.
The girl curled down next to her cart and she simply stared at the empty bottles from Seunghyun’s room. Her smile was still frozen on her face and her eyes were still bloodshot with strange sparkles running through them.
“Agassi!” her manager’s voice brutally torn her away from dreamland.
“Sir! Umm… gwajangnim…” she jumped up, wildly brushing her waistcloth and bowed several times.
In pretty weak English the manager remembered the hotel’s conduct rules and God knows what else he might’ve said in there, because she lost her focus when Seunghyun’s sweet perfume invaded her space. She spotted him passing right behind the manager, but he didn’t even glimpsed towards her. She blushed and lowered her eyes to the ground, almost crying.
The manager thought he was the reason why she started crying, and he felt really bad about it.
“Look, I know it has to be difficult for you…” he said slowly touching her shoulder.
The manager funny accent caught Seunghyun’s attention. He turned around to look at him but all he could see was a somewhat fat man cheering up a maid. He softly smiled caressing the pink patch on his hand as if it was a cute stuffed animal. His Bohemian state of mind was gruesomely smashed by Ji’s loud voice.
“Yah, what’s up??” Jiyong shouted almost jumping on top of him.
“What’s up with you?” Seunghyun asked in a serious tone.
“Mian…” Jiyong cooled down “Why you’re angry?”
“I’m not angry, I’m hungry!” Seunghyun pouted.
“Let’s grab something to eat!” Ji caught his hand.
“I can’t. I have a meeting in 20 minutes…”
“The one for the magazine?”
“Yeah…” he answered in low voice. He started walking towards his room but seeing he wasn’t followed, he also stopped. “You’re not coming?” he asked Ji pointing to the door.
“Ani! I’m going downstairs to have lunch” Jiyong smiled. “The boys called me, otherwise I would still be sleeping…” he started explaining but Seunghyun’s lost eyes made him stop. He rolled around looking for the reason and he found it in the young maid’s big eyes. She was standing still in the same place where her manager left her after their little ‘chat’. After her boss tried to calm her down, he left and she honestly wanted to follow him but her eyes met Seunghyun’s and she simply froze. Now they were staring one at the other.
“Yah! ‘Non speaking’ girl!” Ji wanted to continue on their discussion from earlier but his senior’s steps cut him off.
Seunghyun walked up to her. When he had less than half of a foot to reach her, he simply stopped and took a deep bow.
“Kamsahmnida!” he said a little amused by the girl’s huge eyes.
“That means ‘thank you’ “ Jiyong grabbed her shoulders from behind and whispered into her ear.
“Mm…” she answered without realizing “I know what it means, but why?” she whispered back.
Just when she was about to find out the reason, a squeaky voice bothered the three of them:
“Ah! Choi Seunghyun-ssi!” the round man from earlier ran towards them, extending his hand like he was ready for one of the well-known western greetings.
“Ah…” Seunghyun tried to remember the man’s name but he failed mostly because his eyes were discreetly following the girl as she was getting lost behind the elevator’s closing door. He smiled at Jiyong who’s posture didn’t changed at all – he was still resting his hands on some imaginary shoulders. They both smiled and while Ji revised his position, Seunghyun stretched out his hand to greet the smiling man.
“Choi Seunghyun-ssi, are you ready?” the man asked Seunghyun after they shook hands and took a short bow.
“Umm… Yes! Yes!” Seunghyun finally remembered that he had agreed to take the new interview. He said goodbye to Jiyong, took a last glance at the elevator she used to disappear and followed the man with a shy smile.
“Aish! This is not happening!” Seunghyun whined opening his room’s door. “I think I’ll just order something to eat… It’s already past 5 and I haven’t ate anything!...” he said entering really disappointed that his ‘brunch’ turned out to be just a cup something sweet to drink.. Well, at least it was a good interview. He really did had fun… and just one banana smoothie… He threw his coat on the armchair next to the small coffee table and he allowed his body to free fall on the extremely soft and silky bed. He wasn’t yet asleep but he just couldn’t move not even to make himself more comfortable. He just smiled in resign and closed his eyes but in less than one second he curled up in the fetus posture.
“The hell are you doing here?!!” her mind shouted as loud as she could, but since the lips didn’t released it, no one could ever hear it, not even her hand that rolled the round handle and the boor burst out open in total silence. She peeked inside. She had hoped that he won’t be there, but the loud breathing made her step inside really quietly. Just to make sure if he was ok! she said to calm down her screaming survival instincts. She smiled seeing his way of sleeping. She rolled her eyes around, but except the bed anything else was just the way she left it this morning. She slowly rolled to leave the room, when his voice stoned her.
“You could at least cover me up. I’m freezing in here…” he mumbled without moving.
The girl stopped in front of the door being too afraid to even move. She just prayed that her heart ‘noises’ won’t wake him up. Everything turned really quiet, so she though she just imagined it. She took a quick sigh and rolled the door’s handle again.
A big hand caught the door when it creaked a little open and froze her to the point that she actually felt her heart slowing down its beats.
“You know, I really meant it…” Seunghyun said using his other hand to ruffle his back head. “I think I'll get a cold. I’m really feeling chilly lately. Please close the door!” he said pushing the door back, closing it.
She stood there, petrified, without even moving one inch.
“Are you ok?” Seunghyun asked trying to get a glimpse at the girl who couldn’t dare to move. “Oh! “Ganhosa” he said taking a step back to bow politely.
“Huh?...” were the only letters capable of getting out of her lips.
“Nurse…” he translated into English, smiling.
How could he possible know what she was studying for?! She looked at him with big, bright eyes and time seemed to stop, freezing everything around, even his smile.
Soon enough, minutes turned into an eternity for her... a wonderful eternity sprinkled with rainbows and flying unicorns. The answer of any question in the Universe popped up into his eyes making her to just keep staring. He smiled awkwardly and got ready to talk when a noise cut him off… again. Her eyes turned into merely two horizontal lines and red big spots started appearing on Seunghyun’s face as a loud growl from his middle part of the body started being heard. He quickly covered his stomach with both of his hands, asking it to shut it, but it wouldn’t listen: it made even louder noises.
She couldn’t restrain a giggle which turned into a real laugher when he started looking like Bashful from Snow White.
“Yah! It’s not nice to laugh at starving people!” he tried saying in a serious tone but the growls wouldn’t allow him to. “Mian haeyo” he barely said in between his laughs.
“Oh… mian haeyo… I really shouldn’t laugh at you…” she also tried to say. “ok, ok… I’m stopping right now…” she covered her mouth with both of her hands.
She wasn’t really laughing about him, it was just a normal reaction when meeting one’s idol, but her rather squeaky laughter burst out his laughter too.
“Ok, ok…. Time to calm down…” she managed to say breathing heavily, checking her already burning cheeks, but one single look to him triggered another session of out of control laughter from both parts.
“Aissi…Jin jang!” she whispered mostly and slightly slapped her face several times. “I’m really sorry” she started again wiping the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hands “sometimes when I’m really tired I get this laughter crisis…”
‘It’s ok” Seunghyun answered. “You made me laugh today and I am grateful for it” he smiled trying to hold back his laugh.
“Look…” she said shoving her hands inside the big waistcloth’s pocket.
“You look like a mama kangaroo” he said starting a new laughter tantrum. “Mian hae! Mian hae!”… he said holding on his talking stomach again.
“Here, have these!” she took out a couple of yogurt plastic cans.
“What are those?”
“Poison. Eat them!”
Seunghyun wouldn’t dare to take them, so she opened one of them in just one move.
“You gotta feed that monster” she smiled stretching her hand out to him. “It was just a joke. You can drink it!”
“But… it has fruits in it…” he skeptically looked inside the can.
“Yeah, but you won’t choke on them” she said bringing it closer to his mouth.
He grabbed it and drank it all closing tight his eyes.
“Whaa! This is good!” he grabbed the second one and drank it all at once again.
‘I know!” she smiled widely.
“Where do you take them from?” he asked chasing around the can a couple of strawberry hunks.
“Hmm… from a really special place” she answered amused by his actions.
“The store down stairs?” he asked chewing really pleased.
“Ne…” she answered and again took out other two small cans.
They were standing on the floor, with their legs crossed underneath them, staring out the big windows at the massive snow fall.
“It’s so beautiful…” Seunghyun said all of a sudden, switching the conversation they were already having.
“Mmm…” she said without taking her eyes off of the window.
“Umm…” he made her look at him “about tomorrow…” he syllabified mostly, gathering up in a perfect aligned tower the entire 8 yogurt cans.
“What about it?” she couldn’t understand.
“Well… it’s Christmas’ Eve and… you’re definitely…”
“…going to do my job” she smiled. “And the day after tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that too…” she got up grabbing the long tower “and I hope I’ll be doing it for as long as I’ll need” she concluded when he caught her wrist making the cans to shiver and almost fall.
“Wha! Care…ful…” she swallowed back her words when he stared at her. “Wae… wae… I have something on my face?” she tried to speak but she had to shut it because she feared that her voice will soon show its tremble.
It got quiet. So quiet that one could actually hear the snowflakes hitting the glass of the windows.
‘Does he know?’ she asked herself without daring to even blink, fearing that if she’ll do, she’ll get up from another wonderful dream. ‘No, he couldn’t know…’ she thought again. ‘This really has to be a dream…’ she kept on talking in her mind especially when he caught her face in his big, warm hands.
He looked at her as if he was trying to read her deepest, darkest thoughts. She couldn’t feel him inside her mind just yet, but she couldn’t also feel her heart beats any longer. Her legs started turning numb when their noses almost touched and her mouth turned dry as Sahara on a summer day. Her lips drew away one from the other in an attempt to grab some lifesaving piece of air, or probably in an attempt to take a taste of his wonderful smiling lips… whichever would happen first.
‘Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…’ the gleeful ringtone put a gruesome end to this magical moment.
She quickly blinked several times to hide the tears in her eyes and he turned away too.
“Answer it…” he said without looking at her.
“Ah…ne… “ she heavily looked for her cellphone inside the big pocket, making him to smile again. “Oh, God!” she whispered and quickly moved her finger on the green image of the green handset. “Ne, gwajang – nim!” she said louder than she should have. “Aniyo… I’m still here… Yes, I’m cleaning… Yes sir…” she forced herself to answer as short as she could so she wouldn’t embarrass Seunghyun, who was again staring and her, with his hands deep in his pockets.
‘Jingle bells, jingle bells…’ was heard again and Seunghyun’s eyes suddenly doubled.
She looked at him with big eyes too, as he quickly answered his phone.
“Yeah!” he answered a little rough but immediately softened it “Omma! Ne…” he smiled shyly.
“I’ll be right there!” she said waving to Seunghyun.
He silently grabbed her wrist while talking to his mother, but she shook her head, signaling she really had to leave. She set herself free and left but not before putting another 2 yogurt cans on his bed.
“Eat well and sleep longer!” she whispered before disappearing behind the white door.
“Yeah… be right there, be right there… but where?” she spoke out loud when she closed the door behind her. She began walking while she checked up her face. It was pretty hot and most probable already covered in a bright shades of red. She smiled and took a couple of running steps before she hit someone.
“OH! Jeez! Mian! Mian haeyo!” she quickly grabbed a napkin to try stop the black coffee to reach the light jeans.
“Yah! Cut it off!” Jiyong shouted when her napkin reached the first some sensitive parts.
He caught both of her hands and raised them up in the air to make her stop, but they both froze for a couple of minutes.
“Che… chesonghamnida…” she said releasing herself from his powerful grip. “I’m so sorry, sir…” she felt the need to add since she wasn’t sure about her Korean pronunciation.
“Yah, ‘non speaking girl’! Almost perfect!” he said smiling proud. “If you’re gonna also say ‘thank you’ in Korean I might even ki…” he started saying but her whispered “Kamsahmnida” brought an even wider smile on his face and he suddenly grabbed her waist, smashing his soft lips onto hers.
One single patter cut through the silence of the big, long hall.
“Yah! Jin jang!” Jiyong said protecting his slapped cheek with both of his hands.
“Being rich doesn’t give you the right to go around randomly kissing people!” she yelled raising her hand up again.
Ji got ready to dodge another possible slap but he actually barely managed to hide his giggle.
“Yah, non-speaking-girl!” he quickly regained his straight posture when she turned around to leave.
She stopped thinking that this was the moment when he’ll apologize, but his annoyingly calm voice hurt her ear once again:
“What am I supposed to do with my ruined clothes? Does the hotel’s management face up to this?” he said hiding his playful giggle in a cold grin.
“Mwo?!” she rolled around to face him again, but she had to take a step back because they almost kissed again.
“My stage shirt” he answered as calm as always. “I hope you guys can clean up coffee stains” he barely kept his poker face when he started unbuttoning his shirt.
“Wha… what are you doing?!” she looked at him astonished.
“Here you go!” Jiyong said handing her his shirt. “I’ll need it back by tomorrow, at 6 pm” he added before he got lost behind one of the white doors, dressed in only one as stained undershirt.
She couldn’t see where he went because she was too busy to curse him. She crumpled the white shirt and she was about to throw it somewhere in her cart but touching it better made her to quickly fold it as careful as she could.
“Damn, this shirt makes more money than I’ll do in 2 years!” she said pushing the round silver key of the elevator.
Seunghyun was still talking to his mother when the door got opened. He hurried to see who entered, hoping she came back.
“Oh my God!” he said bursting into laughter. “What in the world happened to you?” he asked laughing. “No, mother, I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Jiyong-gi. He’s wearing only his undershirt and a fiery red slap on his left cheek…” he explained to his mother while following Ji throwing himself on his bed. “A..ani!! those are mine!” he rushed to save his yogurts from Ji’s hungry hands.
“Omma!!!” Ji shouted grabbing a hold on Seunghyun’s hand trying to reach his telephone. “Omma! He’s having sweets and he won’t share!”
“I’m not sure, mom” Seunghyun set himself free and managed to save just one can. “I think he’s drunk”…
“I’m not drunk!” Ji whined opening his ‘prey’.
Seunghyun sighed once and stepped towards the big windows. Suddenly his conversation fell on a second place. Something on the streets drew all of his attention, so he only answered in monosyllabic words. His mind was too busy to follow ‘his young maid’ gathering a hand full of white snow from a car. she wasn’t dressed, she was wearing just her uniform and right now she was trying to warm up her hands, rubbing them on her hands. She was looking left and right until a man came.
Seunghyun almost went up the window to get a closer look but when the man gave her just a big colored box, he smiled and quietly left the window when she also got back inside. He turned around to check on Jiyong, but he wasn’t there anymore, so he just smiled and carried on with his conversation with his mother.
“Who can bring the big, heavy boxes? Oh, oh, we know! Let’s make ‘round eyes’ get them!” the girl was mumbling without seeing where she was walking.
Both of the boxes she was caring were big enough to cover up her entire face so she could only see her shoes stepping around. That’s why she couldn’t see she was about to hit one absent minded Jiyong. But she felt it and heard it.
“Oh… chesonghamnida!” she quickly said looking at the white boots in front of her.
Some warm hands touched hers and they took over the boxes.
“Oh, this is heavy!” Ji said sighing.
Because the voice sounded familiar, she took a step to het right to look at her ‘savior’.
“Aissi!” she grabbed her boxes back, but he wouldn’t let them go.
“By the way, non-speaking-girl,” Ji started walking “”If you bump into me a couple more times you’ll get pretty good at speaking Korean”.
“Yeah, thank you!” she said trying again to recover her boxes, but Ji was already walking towards the elevator.
“What floor?” he asked waiting for the elevator to come.
“Basement” she answered without looking at him.
“Are you still upset because of the kiss?” Ji asked placing the boxes inside the elevator.
“That’s what you call a kiss?!” the girl asked suddenly piercing his gaze.
She pushed the ‘0’ key and waited for the doors to close. When she thought she got rid of him, his long, skinny fingers stopped the doors from closing. He stepped in and smiled pushing again the key.
“Are you free on Christmas Eve?” he suddenly asked.
“Mwo?” she almost chocked on air.
“Christmas Eve. Are you free?”
“Aniyo. I’m working…” she answered trying to look unimpressed.
“Yeah… me too… but only from 3 to 7. How about you? When you’re free?”
The elevator’s ‘ding’ cut him off.
“Ah juh sshi, are you trying to ask me out?” the girl defiantly smiled.
“Uhm.. well…” Ji said a little disappointed that his ‘bad boy cover’ was blown.
“Girls, she’s here!” they both could hear a voice just before the elevator’s door to open. A dark haired maid was waiting in front of the doors. As soon as they opened, she froze.
“Omo…” she said staring at Jiyong who understood her reaction and lowered his eyes and upper body into a shy bow.
“Omo! Omo!...” the dark haired one could only mumble when other 4 women gathered around to see the reason of her reaction.
“Omo! GD!” one of them ran inside the elevator to hug Jiyong.
“Non-speaking-girl, help!” Ji whispered trying to deal with all the 10 hands trying to grab him in a tight hug.
“Yah! Noona!” she shouted pushing the dark haired one away from Jiyong. “Help me with this, will you?” she put one of the boxes in her arms and so she did with the other one that almost reached Jiyong. “Now let’s go! Gwajang – nim ‘s waiting for us!” she said pushing everyone outside the elevator. She quickly pushed any key of the elevator and stepped outside too. She took a deep bow as the doors started closing.
“Gomawo!” Ji smiled. “See you tomorrow around 7!” he shouted before he disappeared behind the doors.
“Yah! Round-eyes!” the dark haired maid put the big box back in her arms. “Who are you to know G-Dragon ?!”
“Why did you pushed me out??” said another one. “I could’ve ask for his autograph!”…
‘Mian haeyo, girls!” she tried to take deep bows but it was rather impossible with that box in her arm, so she simply followed them without answering to any other question, request or quarrel.
“Aish… I hope she won’t get in trouble because of me…” Ji said staring at his reflection in the shiny doors when he could hear all the screaming of the girls. He took a step forward to touch the ‘0’ key again when he almost stepped on something. He bent over to gather it from the ground and his eyes doubled. He was now staring at one of the yogurt cans he devoured in Seunghyun’s room. He shoved it deep in his pocket with a long sigh.
“And what’s that ‘’see you at 7’’ about?!” the questions wouldn’t stop flowing over.
“You’re going out with GD?!” one of them shouted.
“Anieyo!” the girl defended herself. “He wishes…”
“HE WISHES?!!” all the other almost shouted all at once.
‘What’s with all this fuss?” the manager asked when he heard them coming. “Stop all the nuisance and come over here faster!”
He wouldn’t allow them to say any word so they all had to help him with the huge Christmas tree he was fighting to get outside a room.
“But how are we supposed to carry this monster up to the main hall??” the dark haired one whined again.
“With these!” the man answered making her to put her hand on the big tree. “This year I think we can win!” he said really proud. “I chose it myself…” he kept on babbling while they all grabbed a hand on the tree.
After merely two hours the really tall tree was beautifully decorated and perfectly complemented the main hall. The manager laughed really loud.
“Aissi! This is what I call a well done job! I really do have an eye for what’s beautiful!” he said making all the girls scoff.
“Yah! You ungrateful girls!” he shouted. “Stop whining and gather round!” he said pointing to the Christmas tree to make sure he was understood by everyone. He took out his camera and took a picture.
“Now, let’s switch places! New girl, come here!” he called and the girl immediately took over the camera and started making tones of pictures.
It all turned quiet now. The pictures were made, the Christmas tree was already brightening up the main guest hall and the snowflakes were calmly falling from the dark sky.
The girl was silently walking on the scantily peopled sideways living this past day all over again. She didn’t even saw Seunghyun when he hurried to take the small nicely warped box from the hands of the store clerk and ran after her.
The meetings she had with both Jiyong and Seunghyun, the Christmas tree’s decorating and the camera’s flashes somehow brought back memories from her mother country and with it, a tear escaped her eyes. She squeezed the coat better on her body while several other tears followed the initial one until one finger stopped them. She froze in place when she realized it wasn’t her finger. She quickly blinked to chase away the remaining tears and looked for the owner of the finger.
“Are you ok?” Seunghyun asked when she couldn’t even spell one word.
“Mmm…” she managed to say rolling around to make sure she left the hotel.
‘Did he followed me?’ she wanted to start a conversation with herself but his thick voice snapped her out of it:
“Did they make you feel embarrassed?” he tried to sound as accurate as he could.
“Huh? Aniyo…” she quickly lied.
"Then why are you crying?" he asked smiling lightly.
‘Because you’re right here in front of me!’ her mind shouted remembering how she deleted all the hundreds of pictures she had with him in her cell phone and how she changed the ‘Doom dada’ (his latest hit) ringtone with ‘Jingle bells’ this morning before going to work.
“You know, us Koreans, we are not that bad but it’s really rare to see a foreigner around here…” he misinterpreted her silence as an ‘yes’ to his first question and he managed to explain in a quite good English.
"Oh, no, really they didn't do anything..." she said trying to hold back her tears.
“Come on, I’ll take you home!” he said smiling mercifully.
"Aniyo... it's no need..." she quickly said because she wouldn't want him to see where she had to live.
"I insist" he put his arm over her shoulders.
It seemed like even the snowflakes melted before they could reach his smile, how could she resist it?!
“Do you miss home?” he asked suddenly but he instantly wished he wouldn’t when her answer came through some pitchy sobs and long drips of tears. After three steps he made her stop and simply hugged her tight. They spent about 2 whole minutes like that. She kept her face hidden in his chest, crying like there was no tomorrow and he caressed her head easily.
“Mian haeyo…” suddenly came from somewhere inside his chest.
“What for?” he asked softly.
“Because you had to witness… this…” she said slowly pushing herself away from him, wiping her tears off.
“Feeling better?...” he asked stretching out his arm so she could grab it.
“Ne…” she answered ashamed.
“You’re sure?” he said placing her hand on his arm.
“Mhm…”
“Your hands are so cold!” he said smiling, making her blush even more.
“I only have to cross these three streets and I’m home…” she tried to explain the absence of her gloves.
Indeed, after several steps they were facing a tasteless grey door. She sighed discreetly and turned the key inside the locker.
“Um…” she said blushing again “…this is my lever for now…” she hid her eyes on the old looking rug. She took off her coat and carefully placed it on top of the pile from the already overflown chair.
“Uhm… may I bring you some… hot coco” she asked seeing that he won’t take off his coat but neither he’ll turn around to leave. “…or …some plain water…?” she resigned herself with a short sigh.
“Where’s your Christmas tree?” he asked after rolling his eyes around the room.
“I don’t have one…” she answered bitterly. ‘I can’t afford one’ she thought for herself, but he also understood it.
“If it’s not too much trouble, I would like a coco, please” he said looking for a place to put his little present box until he’ll take off his coat. He copied her and carefully placed it over hers.
Even though the room was smaller than his restroom and it didn’t had anything else but a simple bed, a table and two chairs that served as closets, it was really neat and clean. He looked for a place on the floor to sit when she giggled.
“You know you may actually sit on the bed. It’s clean, you know?”
“Ani! That’s not it!” he rushed to put an end to this misunderstanding but she already left for the small pot.
She turned on the gas cooker and after placing the pot on it, she took from a small shelf two mugs. She put them on the edge of the small uncovered sink.
He followed her without a word making everything twice as awkward.
“Careful, it’s really hot!” she said handing him the mug with the penguin holder.
“Yah, pingu!” he smiled really pleased. “I just love penguins!” he explained to her big eyes. “Oh, wait a minute!” he said quickly letting the mug on the small table and taking the gift instead.
‘When did that got here?’ she thought but she simply smiled when he faced her again, blushing.
“Umm… it’s not too much… but… I just thought it will fit you nicely…” he said giving her a beautifully warped gift.
“What is this?” she wouldn’t take it.
“Please! It’s for thanking you…” he said pointing to his bandage on his hand.
“Um… thank you! Kamsahmnida…” she said receiving it with shaky hands. “May I…”
“Open it…” he spoke in the same time with her.
“Ne…” she smiled really shy, trying to not make a fool of herself because her hand were too shaky and she wouldn’t want to rip off the paper.
Seunghyun patiently waited for her to open the gift while he chid himself for his immature behavior her clumsiness made him smile but he wouldn’t want to make her feel embarrassed so he quickly hid his face in his big, penguin hot mug.
“I love them!!” she said putting on the new pair of black gloves.
“It’s really nothing much but… “
“No, really! I really love them!!” she smiled wide caressing the red lotus flower on them. “They’re really perfect!” she said and all of a sudden she jumped crossing her arms around his neck, hugging him tight, even kissing his cheek.
He didn’t had a chance to react because she realized what she was doing quick enough, so she instantly let him go and grabbed her steamy mug, sipping the hot coco a little too fast… at least now she had an excuse for her boiling blood…
Seunghyun caught her wrist with one hand, while the other hand took the mug and put it on the table next to them. He dragged her closer and closer until their noses met. He looked like he wanted to get inside her and maybe he even would’ve had if “Jingle bells” wouldn’t start jollying it around. His upper jaw twitched visibly and his eyes rolled angrily.
“I’m really starting to hate this melody…” he muttered and waited for her to answer her phone. “Oh…” he said when she quickly showed it wasn’t hers the one ringing. “Yeoboseyo!” he said shyly when she pointed him to answer.
“Where are you, man?!” he could hear Ji’s voice screaming on the other side. Luckily they were talking in Korean so he could smile widely and ask “The hell do you want now?”
“You said you’re going for a little fresh air!” Ji answered laughing. “You took it all??”
“Mwo?” Seunghyun kept his smile on.
“It’s been 2 hours!” Ji enlightened his senior.
“Jinjja?” he answered throwing a glance out on the small window and looked after the girl as she slowly gathered the cups and took them back in the kitchen. He sighed deeply, the maigic of this night was torn. He exchanged a couple of other words on the phone and by the time he was done, she came back empty handed, smiling.
“It’s ok” she said handing him his coat.
“I’m really sorry… jeongmal mianhaeyo…” he said putting his coat on without knowing what else he could say. He simply took a deep bow and exited the door, but he regained his smile when he heard her thin voice:
“See you tomorrow…”
No, wait! That’s not what she meant to say!! She wanted to say “Good bye” but her lips got a will of their own!
“Ne!” he answered back, taking a second, faster bow.
She turned all red in a matter of 1 and a half second and quickly closed the door. She leaned on it and slowly glided down, covering her cheeks with her hands and smiling with tears on her face.
The meetings she had with both Jiyong and Seunghyun, the Christmas tree’s decorating and the camera’s flashes somehow brought back memories from her mother country and with it, a tear escaped her eyes. She squeezed the coat better on her body while several other tears followed the initial one until one finger stopped them. She froze in place when she realized it wasn’t her finger. She quickly blinked to chase away the remaining tears and looked for the owner of the finger.
“Are you ok?” Seunghyun asked when she couldn’t even spell one word.
“Mmm…” she managed to say rolling around to make sure she left the hotel.
‘Did he followed me?’ she wanted to start a conversation with herself but his thick voice snapped her out of it:
“Did they make you feel embarrassed?” he tried to sound as accurate as he could.
“Huh? Aniyo…” she quickly lied.
‘Because you’re right here in front of me!’ her mind shouted remembering how she deleted all the hundreds of pictures she had with him in her cell phone and how she changed the ‘Doom dada’ ringtone with ‘Jingle bells’ this morning before going to work.
“You know, us Koreans, we are not that bad but it’s really rare to see a foreigner around here…” he misinterpreted her silence as an ‘yes’ to his first question and he managed to explain in a quite good English.
"Oh, no, really they didn't do anything..." she said trying to hold back her tears.
“Come on, I’ll take you home!” he said smiling mercifully.
"Aniyo... it's no need..." she quickly said because she wouldn't want him to see where she had to live.
"I insist" he put his arm over her shoulders.
It seemed like even the snowflakes melted before they could reach his smile, how could she resist it?!
“Do you miss home?” he asked suddenly but he instantly wished he wouldn’t when her answer came through some pitchy sobs and long drips of tears. After three steps he made her stop and simply hugged her tight. They spent about 2 whole minutes like that. She kept her face hidden in his chest, crying like there was no tomorrow and he caressed her head easily.
“Mian haeyo…” suddenly came from somewhere inside his chest.
“What for?” he asked softly.
“Because you had to witness… this…” she said slowly pushing herself away from him, wiping her tears off.
“Feeling better?...” he asked stretching out his arm so she could grab it.
“Ne…” she answered ashamed.
“You’re sure?” he said placing her hand on his arm.
“Mhm…”
“Your hands are so cold!” he said smiling, making her blush even more.
“I only have to cross these three streets and I’m home…” she tried to explain the absence of her gloves.
Indeed, after several steps they were facing a tasteless grey door. She sighed discreetly and turned the key inside the locker.
“Um…” she said blushing again “…this is my lever for now…” she hid her eyes on the old looking rug. She took off her coat and carefully placed it on top of the pile from the already overflown chair.
“Uhm… may I bring you some… hot coco” she asked seeing that he won’t take off his coat but neither he’ll turn around to leave. “…or …some plain water…?” she resigned herself with a short sigh.
“Where’s your Christmas tree?” he asked after rolling his eyes around the room.
“I don’t have one…” she answered bitterly. ‘I can’t afford one’ she thought for herself, but he also understood it.
“If it’s not too much trouble, I would like a coco, please” he said looking for a place to put his little present box until he’ll take off his coat. He copied her and carefully placed it over hers.
Even though the room was smaller than his restroom and it didn’t had anything else but a simple bed, a table and two chairs that served as closets, it was really neat and clean. He looked for a place on the floor to sit when she giggled.
“You know you may actually sit on the bed. It’s clean, you know?”
“Ani! That’s not it!” he rushed to put an end to this misunderstanding but she already left for the small pot.
She turned on the gas cooker and after placing the pot on it, she took from a small shelf two mugs. She put them on the edge of the small uncovered sink.
He followed her without a word making everything twice as awkward.
“Careful, it’s really hot!” she said handing him the mug with the penguin holder.
“Yah, pingu!” he smiled really pleased. “I just love penguins!” he explained to her big eyes. “Oh, wait a minute!” he said quickly letting the mug on the small table and taking the gift instead.
‘When did that got here?’ she thought but she simply smiled when he faced her again, blushing.
“Umm… it’s not too much… but… I just thought it will fit you nicely…” he said giving her a beautifully warped gift.
“What is this?” she wouldn’t take it.
“Please! It’s for thanking you…” he said pointing to his bandage on his hand.
“Um… thank you! Kamsahmnida…” she said receiving it with shaky hands. “May I…”
“Open it…” he spoke in the same time with her.
“Ne…” she smiled really shy, trying to not make a fool of herself because her hand were too shaky and she wouldn’t want to rip off the paper.
Seunghyun patiently waited for her to open the gift while he chid himself for his immature behavior her clumsiness made him smile but he wouldn’t want to make her feel embarrassed so he quickly hid his face in his big, penguin hot mug.
“I love them!!” she said putting on the new pair of black gloves.
“It’s really nothing much but… “
“No, really! I really love them!!” she smiled wide caressing the red lotus flower on them. “They’re really perfect!” she said and all of a sudden she jumped crossing her arms around his neck, hugging him tight, even kissing his cheek.
He didn’t had a chance to react because she realized what she was doing quick enough, so she instantly let him go and grabbed her steamy mug, sipping the hot coco a little too fast… at least now she had an excuse for her boiling blood…
Seunghyun caught her wrist with one hand, while the other hand took the mug and put it on the table next to them. He dragged her closer and closer until their noses met. He looked like he wanted to get inside her and maybe he even would’ve had if “Jingle bells” wouldn’t start jollying it around. His upper jaw twitched visibly and his eyes rolled angrily.
“I’m really starting to hate this melody…” he muttered and waited for her to answer her phone. “Oh…” he said when she quickly showed it wasn’t hers the one ringing. “Yeoboseyo!” he said shyly when she pointed him to answer.
“Where are you, man?!” he could hear Ji’s voice screaming on the other side. Luckily they were talking in Korean so he could smile widely and ask “The hell do you want now?”
“You said you’re going for a little fresh air!” Ji answered laughing. “You took it all??”
“Mwo?” Seunghyun kept his smile on.
“It’s been 2 hours!” Ji enlightened his senior.
“Jinjja?” he answered throwing a glance out on the small window and looked after the girl as she slowly gathered the cups and took them back in the kitchen. He sighed deeply, the maigic of this night was torn. He exchanged a couple of other words on the phone and by the time he was done, she came back empty handed, smiling.
“It’s ok” she said handing him his coat.
“I’m really sorry… jeongmal mianhaeyo…” he said putting his coat on without knowing what else he could say. He simply took a deep bow and exited the door, but he regained his smile when he heard her thin voice:
“See you tomorrow…”
No, wait! That’s not what she meant to say!! She wanted to say “Good bye” but her lips got a will of their own!
“Ne!” he answered back, taking a second, faster bow.
She turned all red in a matter of 1 and a half second and quickly closed the door. She leaned on it and slowly glided down, covering her cheeks with her hands and smiling with tears on her face.
Honestly now, what was she supposed to do?! She was squeezing Ji’s white shirt in her arms and looked around for him. “Why I wasn’t paying attention to him??” she fought with herself rolling around the floor she met Ji and stained his shirt. When she reached Seunghyun’s door, she quickly hid it inside her cart and slowly knocked twice. Because she got no answer, she used her card to open the door. It was so quiet inside… she silently stepped inside the room, everything around seemed untouched. She took a deep breath and after a forced gulp she opened wide the closet’s doors – it was empty. Tears came pouring down from her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away when she heard the entrance door opening.
“Ah, so good you’re here!” the overly annoying squeaky voice of her manager almost brought the tars back, but she fought them bravely. “Clean everything and freshen up!” he said looking around.
“Gwajangnim…” she muttered.
“Ne?”
“Me… I … Today I had to bring something to the person inside this room…” she said trying hard not to let show the tremble in her voice.
“Ah, maybe he forgot!” the manager said carelessly. “If it was something important he’ll ask for it, if not, you may keep it” he spoke without facing her.
“Ne, gwajangnim…” she answered lowering her eyes so he wouldn’t see her new tears.
The snow that began since yesterday just became heavier with ever bigger snowflakes. She was following them as they hit the basement small square window, absent mind caressing the black gloves she received last night. She squatted on the floor holding a nicely warped up gift with snowmen shiny paper. Her eyes were all red and swollen, totally contrasting with her white – waxy face. She rested her forehead on the gift and sighed loudly.
“Aissi… c’mon honey… you wouldn’t be that lucky…” she smiled bitterly and took a deep breath. She hardly got up and slowly slapped her cheeks to cheer herself up. She stuffed the gift inside her big waistcloth pocket and even though she was aware of the way she was looking like, she carried around all day, hoping that she might be able to meet him. She even went against the rules and about every two hours she would climb down to the reception hall and look for him.
It was already dark and she just came back from one of her trips to the reception hall. She threw her eyes out on the small window from the basement room. The snowflakes that looked so happy all together until now, they became hectic and their suave air dance turned into a senseless overcrowding that made her smile bitterly again.
“I wonder… is it snowing like this back home too?” she whispered, not because she wanted to keep it quiet, but because she had no more power to speak out loud. She took her phone out of her pocket and dialed a number. As soon as she heard her mother’s voice, tears came falling down faster and hotter than before.
“Oh, mom…” she said almost whispering.
How could he simply ask where to find her, he didn’t even knew her name… And.. why was he here in the first place? He could clearly hear that there was a violent blizzard coming their way and he was one hour and a half away from home. He sighed silently and pulled the cap better over his eyes, entering the hotel. He looked around the reception hall but he remembered the maids weren’t allowed in there, so he slowly walked towards the elevators. ‘Why are you even here if you must do it while hiding?’ his conscience started to charge him, but he wouldn’t quit it just yet. The ‘personnel only’ elevator was just around the corner and he was heading towards it when a girl with a pink waistcloth went by. He quickly rolled around to pretend he’s changing his path, but in fact he followed her all the way down on some stairs until they reached a long grey hall with doors on a single part. The girl entered one of them and he planned to follow her more but he passed by a slightly opened white door. He thought he heard a familiar voice so he glided past it. He pushed it but he didn’t anticipate that it would creak so loud. He froze in place not only because of the loud noise but because of the girl’s pouring tears that drew on her face long black mascara stripes. He listened to her while she said her goodbyes in her language and only then he was able to step inside, smiling shyly.
“Anyoung haseyo” he said taking a short bow. “Are you ok?” he asked approaching her.
“Mhm…” she barely muttered. She was staring at him with teary, big eyes not knowing what to believe. Did he came for her or…?
“Mianhaeyo…” he started again when he stopped almost next to her. “I should’ve told you last night… yesterday was my final day here. After the last night party I had to leave…” he spoke a little slower than usually because he had no idea why but his words wouldn’t come out as easily as they used to… ‘maybe because I’m speaking in English?’ he thought trying hard to conceive a speech but his mind stuck on her lack of reaction. “Are you ok?...” he felt the need to ask the same question again, paying much more attention on his spelling.
“May you please give me paper tissue?” she said pointing towards a short table.
“S… Sure!...” he replied turning around to look for the indicated place, quashing on his own amused smile.
“Kamsahamnida…!” she said grabbing it in one quick move. She rolled around and suddenly she noisily blew her nose and quickly wiped away the mascara under her eyes.
“Another one?” he asked without being able to hide his amusement anylonger when she turned to face him and she looked like a panda.
“No, thank you” she quickly replied trying to clear better her under-eyes makeup. She suddenly realized she was wearing the gloves he gave her. Every drop of blood rushed towards the tips of her ears when she noticed his eyes stuck on her hands too. “I… I told you I really like them…” she babbled and slowly took them off.
He smiled looking down.
“Were you talking with your mother?” he asked switching away from the subject.
“Nae…” she answered stealing another smile from him. Realizing she just answered in Korean, she quickly lowered her eyes too. “I’m… trying to fit in…”
“C’mon!” he said all of a sudden and grabbed her shoulders. “I’ll take you home!” he said gently guiding her towards the door.
“Oh, waith!” she stopped in place.
“Huh?”
“Um… i… also have something for you… “ she mostly whispered, searching for the same spot she noticed on the floor a little time ago.
“You do?” he chuckled like a kid receiving candy.
“Well… it’s literally nothing big… but… it’s just that…” she stumbled upon her words judging herself for the guts she had to talk to him like this.
“It’s Christmas Eve” he helped her up. “And I really enjoy gifts” he smiled stretching out his hands to grab the package she took out of her giant front pocket.
‘Whaa… he’s so able…’ she smiled at his handiness when he unwrapped the gift without ripping the paper.
“Yaah!!” he shouted startling her. “Oh, mianhae…” he laughed out loud “I just love penguins!” he said rolling off the long, black, knitted scarf with a small penguin attached at its very end.
She smiled congratulating herself for the great idea she had to sew the small doll on the scarf after she knitted it. Her eyes doubled when he gave the scarf back to her and he laughed at them when they ran back on the floor.
“I said I really like it” his low voice melted away her legs and his perfume almost stopped her breathing when his ‘old’ scarf surrounded her neck.
She stared at him mesmerized as he rolled the black scarf he just received around his own neck.
“Ah… so fluffy!” he smiled totally pleased. “Gomawo! Thank you!” he laughed again at her eyes. “How do I look?”
“Divine…” she found herself thinking out loud.
“Come with me! I have an idea!” he suddenly said grabbing her hand.
They took a couple of steps, but suddenly stopped in front of a hanger.
“Is this yours?” he asked pointing to a black coat.
“Mhm…” she answered preparing to say something else too, but he covered her shoulders with it.
“Wait, where are we going?...”she asked following him.
“it’s a surprise” he answered dragging her away.
“But I’m not done here yet… and my boss…”
“I’ll deal with him” he said opening the big glass door of the hotel.
They both froze for a little while they lost their eyes on the heavy snowing outside. “C’mon, let’s go!” he said again dragging her towards a car.
“Whe…where are we going?” she tried once more to find out when he fastened her seat-belt and just smiled, starting the engine.
“Huh? Hyung?: Ji asked himself seeing Seunghyun’s car passing right by him. He was actually suspecting something but he wouldn’t want to think about it too much… even though his hands caught a little shake inside the pockets where he had hidden a couple of small yogurt cans.
He freed his head from under the grip of his big hood and entered the hotel smiling. He looked around a little.
“How do you find a person you don’t even know his name?” he said laughing at his own and went straight to the reception clerk. A pink waist-cloth made him forget his “Excuse me sir…” and run after it.
“Excuse me, miss!” he changed his direction and stopped the girl.
“Yes?” she turned around and they both had somehow the same reaction: she covered her mouth with both of her hands and him, recognizing her from the other day, his first urge was to turn around and leave.
“Oh my God!” the maid shouted. “I can’t believe it!!! You… you really came for her!...” she lowered her voice at the last part.
“Ne…” he smiled shyly. “Is she around?”
“The luck on some people…” she enviously whispered. “I haven’t seen her in a while” she then said with a rather loud voice. “But I can ask my boss about her…”
“I would appreciate it, thank you very much…” he smiled squishing the yogurts inside his pockets.
“Oh, Miss Ming Yoo!” the maid suddenly said taking long bows to the girl slowly approaching them.
“good evening!” Ming Yoo answered unimpressed. “Please call…” she wanted to say but the made cut her off.
“Miss Yoo, this is…” she said a little overexcited. “This is…” she froze again without knowing what name to use – his stage name or the real one? She decided to use them both: “Miss Yoo, this is GD, Kwon Jiyong, the singer…” she said in a glance “and she’s also looking for the new girl.”
“Are you?” Ming Yoo looked at him for a while allowing her nicely done eyebrows to betray her astonishment.
“Mnm…” he answered smiling without realizing he started a soft back-and-forth balance.
“Park Goo!” the screechy voice of the fat manager stopped them. “Where’s round-eyes?!” he roared walking towards the maid who was discreetly trying to sognal him to lower his voice. He understood her only when he faced the upset look of Mong Yoo.
“Round eyes?” she asked for an explanation as soon as he reached them.
“Oh…. Miss… I can assure you there’s no offensatory meaning in here… it’s just… an innocent n…nickname because we…” the maid’s eyes made him babble “I… I find it difficult to pronounce her name…” he quickly said waving his hands up in the air. “It’s only with love…”
“Well, looks like we’re all looking for her…” Ming Yoo replied on a cold voice.
“Are we?” the manager widened his eyes. “Why?” he asked but again, Ming Yoo’s glare froze him. “Umm… ok…. Umm… I’ll find her… no problem…” he mostly mumbled dialing a number on his cell phone.
“Jingle bells” filled the awkwardly quiet car. the girl startled visibly and quickly glanced at Seunghyun who simply smiled without taking his eyes off of the road. Seeing that the call wouldn’t stop anytime soon, she raked through her pocket and took it out. She checked the caller’s ID and frowned.
“Who is it?” Seunghyun asked without looking at her.
“My boss…” she answered ready to swipe her finger over the green jumping icon. Before she could do that, he suddenly grabbed her phone and shut it off.
“O..oh…” she barely managed to whisper.
“I said I’ll talk to your boss, but not just now” he felt the need to reassure her when she stuffed her face deeper in the big scarf.
Again it turned silent in the car.
After about two hours or so, they reached a huge iron gate.
“What’s this?” she asked as two men hurried to open it up.
Seunghyun just smiled and lowered his head a little saluting them.
‘Oh, no, no, no! what’s he doin`?!’ she thought without having the guts to actually spell the words. She refused to get out when one of them opened the car’s door and invited her out.
“Jaebal…” Seunghyun stretched out his helping hand. “Please” he translated for her thinking she’s not reacting since she doesn’t know what he said.
‘ I’m not sure I can walk’ she would’ve answer but she knew it wasn’t a good thing to say so she just summed it all up in a faded smile.
“But what’s here?” she managed to ask while grabbing his hand.
“My house” Seunghyun answered proudly.
She froze just before her foot landed the ground and she just stared at him.
“ C’mon” he smiled hiding his eyes away “let’s get in, I’m freezing…” he pulled her hand.
“Why… why would you bring me here?” she asked aimlessly following him.
“You looked like you needed a family” he answered painfully sincere “so I thought why not mine?”
“Yeah but…” she would’ve protest but he was still dragging her and in no time they reached the four small stairs they had to climb to get in front of the big, double door that Seunghyun opened in one quick move.
She was holding tight on him, just like a kid in his first kindergarten day; her heart was about to burst out of her chest and maybe just for now she really had to stay focused on this new thing called ‘walking’ which seemed to be needing all of her strength and attention.
“What?!...” she startled when he asked for her coat with only one gesture. “Oh… yeah…. Yeah…” she whispered handing over the long, black coat.
She felt like she will just melt away in those fluffy pink, artificial fur slippers she just received. She wasn’t quite sure but it looked like the floors were made of some sort of a jelly since every step she took made her feel like she was sinking inside the soft carpets. It really became difficult for her to follow him, especially now that he left her on her own… And this sweet scent.. this surely wasn’t a place on earth!
Seunghyun’s voice startled her:
“Eomma , na wa sseo!”
‘Eomma? This means ‘mom’ doesn’t it? “ she barely got the chance to think before a thin voice cut her off. Most probably it said ‘I’m here’ because he grabbed her wrist again and made her walk. They entered a big, bright room and she had no idea at what to stare first – the really huge Christmas tree or at the three really beautiful women who were just as surprised as she was.
“Umm… Annyeong hashimnikka!” she tried to pronounce as accurate as she could, bowing 90°.
“Good evening” one of the women answered in English. She hung the sparkling honeycomb and took a little bow too.
“I had no idea you could speak Korean” Seunghyun whispered as he lowered his upper body in a polite salute.
“Neither had I” she quickly answered turning Seunghyun’s smile into a laughter.
The woman who spoke the first stretched out her arms and he hugged her really tight. He did the same with the other two, and the last of them ruffled his hear winking at him.
“Eomma, imu, Hye-yoon”, he began talking in Korean, “I would like you to meet…” he stopped all of a sudden. He just realized he had no idea what was the name of the girl he carried up to here.
Ugh She lost herself in his eyes when he pierced her sight, but luckily she understood soon enough what he was asking for. She took another deep bow:
“Oh…umm… Annyeong hashimnikka! Ah Rin Nah imnida…”
“Yeah, she is … AR Rin Nah…?” he mostly asked rather than said it. “Please don’t treat her as an outsider and take good care of her” he smiled peeping at the youngest of the girls to whom he reffered as ‘Hye-yoon’.
“We couldn’t even if we’d wanted to” the oldest one said smiling. She turned towards the girl and spoke in a perfect English: “Welcome, darling! Please feel like at home. I’m Seunghyun’s mother, this is his aunt an she is his sister, Hye-yoon”… the woman said but the girl recognized them quite fast and right now she was in awe, not being able to believe that she was actually greeted by Choi Seunghyun’s mother herself.
“Annyeong hashimnikka!” were the only words that kept coming out of her mouth.
His mother then said something to him in their language and she turned around to give some explanations to Hye-yoon.
“Ah Rin Nah?” he whispered to her ear when no one was looking anymore.
“I had no idea how to translate Alina in Korean” she answered so sincere he burst into a fost laughter.
Hye-yoon came back carrying a tray with 5 steamy mugs. She served everyone around smiling brightly when she faced Alina. She smiled back tasting the brown liquid. Her eyes widened but she wouldn’t dare to say a word.
“My mum made it” Seunghyun smiled and whispered, making her to hide her content face back inside the big mug.
“Ooh… what a storm…” Hye-yoon suddenly said looking outside the huge glass wall.
“It’s OK, sis” Seunghyun replied “it’s a little snowy but he’ll make it”.
“Ya! You wenchy face! Of course he’ll make it! This is no storm to stop him!” she smiled a little worried while she gently pet her belly looking at the big, hectic snowflakes.
“I know, but if the planes won’t fly…” he said again with a challenging smile that cost him a knock on his head.
“Stop it, both of you” their mother stopped them smiling softly. She turned to face Alina: “Do you speak any Korean?” she asked at first in Korean, and after a merely 3 seconds asked again in English.
“Oh… no, not really” Alina blushed. “Only the basics hello, thank you, excuses me…”.
“In this case…” the woman said making everyone stare at her, “we won’t be using any other language than English, even when talking to each other, alright?”
“Yes, mom!” Seunghyun and his sister answered almost shouting like they just received an order from their superior.
“Kamsahmnida!...” Alina whispered.
“…Rin-nah-ah…” she found it pretty difficult to say Alina’s name since she didn’t even provided her first name too, “…would you like to help us?” asked pointing towards the board box filled with Christmas glass bells and ornaments.
“Of course!” Alina answered jumping up.
Seunghyun lounged himself on the big cozy sofa, watching ‘his women’ as they hung everything on the really beautiful looking Christmas tree. He wasn’t even realizing he was smiling quite pleased. his cocoa was replaced with a glass of red wine, but right now it was long forgotten in between his fingers.
A sudden bright light hit his eyes. He blinked several times in awe until the figure of his sister appeared clearly before his eyes.
Hye-yoon started laughing and he pouted.
“What the…”
“Just look at your face!” she mocked him showing the picture she took.
“Why you…” he said stretching over to grab the photo, but before he could, Alina approached them and leant over Hye’s shoulder to take a peek at it.
“Oh my God, you look stunning…” Alina found herself talking out loud, making both of them smile.
“May I see it?” Seunghyun got up too.
“Sure!” Hye gave him the photo.
“It says instagram on it all over!” he smiled proudly.
“May I…” Hye asked gaining back her cell phone. “Smile please!” she said pointing it towards the both of Alina and Seunghyun.
“Oh, sure!” he grabbed Alina’s shoulder and even though she refused at first, now she was smiling shyly on Hye’s long phone screen.
The doorbell made everyone stop and stare at the door while a maid went to answer it.
“It was about time” Seunghyun’s mother said mostly for her, then she made Hye-yoon follow her to the door, greeting the guests.
Soon enough the house filled up with totally unfamiliar faces, and even the familiar ones couldn’t be found since Seunghyun went to the kitchen to refill his long glass, Hye-yoon cuddled with, most probably, her husband, Seunghyun’s mother was entertaining someone her age.. just Alina was left alone, in the middle of the huge living room, next to the Christmas tree.
Seunghyun carefully chose a a nicely labeled wine bottle and poured it in two crystal-clear glasses. He was about to take them to the next room when a buzz inside his pants made him stop. He put the glasses back on the table and searched his pants. He quickly glanced towards the door to look after Alina – she was still standing next to the Christmas tree, looking even shyer than before. He smiled and pressed the jumping envelope icon on the small white cellphone. His eyes widened. He was holding her phone and she just received a reply message to one of her posts on a Bigbang forum. He squeezed the phone in his hands ready to throw it away but quickly changed his mind and accessed the email.
‘I bet they’re cool in real life’ was the answer to her previous post which he found to be ‘I wish I could meet them in person…” with three little hearts next to it. He looked for the media folder next. He nearly dropped the phone when his own pictures hit his eyes. He took a deep sip from the glass, in fact he drank the whole glass at once. Right now he felt betrayed because anyone who was his fan knew he said he’d never date a fan… so she must’ve had pretended to not know him to lure him over? Or she found out recently who he was and looked for information about him and his band? He quickly checked on her forum account: 6th of May 2013… three years ago. He browsed through her pictures – his and GD’s were the most. Even more, some of Gd’s pictures also had hearts and kisses around him. He drank the second glass too.
He tried to find any other explanation to those he already found but he failed. He scratched the back of his head to give his brain some time to think and looked for her ringtone menu. He grinned as all of his or his band’s hits appeared one after another… among them just a single “Jingle bells” was now set as the main ringtone. Could it be that she changed it because of the Holidays? No! He was certain she tried to trick him. Tears started gathering in his eyes when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” he yelled louder than he should.
He quickly hid the phone back in his pocket and shuffled towards the door. The image of Jiyong from Alina’s phone interfered with the image of the smiling Ji in front of the door. Suddenly his blood rushed to his cheeks and one could almost feel the fire in his eyes. Ji opened up his mouth to say the rightful Christmas cheer, but he couldn’t.
“What the Hell are you doing here?” Seunghyun cut him off.
They entered a big, bright room and she had no idea at what to stare first – the really huge Christmas tree or at the three really beautiful women who were just as surprised as she was.
“Umm… Annyeong hashimnikka!” she tried to pronounce as accurate as she could, bowing 90°.
“Good evening” one of the women answered in English. She hung the sparkling honeycomb and took a little bow too.
“I had no idea you could speak Korean” Seunghyun whispered as he lowered his upper body in a polite salute.
“Neither had I” she quickly answered turning Seunghyun’s smile into a laughter.
The woman who spoke the first stretched out her arms and he hugged her really tight. He did the same with the other two, and the last of them ruffled his hear winking at him.
“Eomma, imu, Hye-yoon”, he began talking in Korean, “I would like you to meet…” he stopped all of a sudden. He just realized he had no idea what was the name of the girl he carried up to here.
Ugh She lost herself in his eyes when he pierced her sight, but luckily she understood soon enough what he was asking for. She took another deep bow:
“Oh…umm… Annyeong hashimnikka! Ah Rin Nah imnida…”
“Yeah, she is … AR Rin Nah…?” he mostly asked rather than said it. “Please don’t treat her as an outsider and take good care of her” he smiled peeping at the youngest of the girls to whom he reffered as ‘Hye-yoon’.
“We couldn’t even if we’d wanted to” the oldest one said smiling. She turned towards the girl and spoke in a perfect English: “Welcome, darling! Please feel like at home. I’m Seunghyun’s mother, this is his aunt an she is his sister, Hye-yoon”… the woman said but the girl recognized them quite fast and right now she was in awe, not being able to believe that she was actually greeted by Choi Seunghyun’s mother herself.
“Annyeong hashimnikka!” were the only words that kept coming out of her mouth.
His mother then said something to him in their language and she turned around to give some explanations to Hye-yoon.
“Ah Rin Nah?” he whispered to her ear when no one was looking anymore.
“I had no idea how to translate Alina in Korean” she answered so sincere he burst into a fost laughter.
Hye-yoon came back carrying a tray with 5 steamy mugs. She served everyone around smiling brightly when she faced Alina. She smiled back tasting the brown liquid. Her eyes widened but she wouldn’t dare to say a word.
“My mum made it” Seunghyun smiled and whispered, making her to hide her content face back inside the big mug.
“Ooh… what a storm…” Hye-yoon suddenly said looking outside the huge glass wall.
“It’s OK, sis” Seunghyun replied “it’s a little snowy but he’ll make it”.
“Ya! You wenchy face! Of course he’ll make it! This is no storm to stop him!” she smiled a little worried while she gently pet her belly looking at the big, hectic snowflakes.
“I know, but if the planes won’t fly…” he said again with a challenging smile that cost him a knock on his head.
“Stop it, both of you” their mother stopped them smiling softly. She turned to face Alina: “Do you speak any Korean?” she asked at first in Korean, and after a merely 3 seconds asked again in English.
“Oh… no, not really” Alina blushed. “Only the basics hello, thank you, excuses me…”.
“In this case…” the woman said making everyone stare at her, “we won’t be using any other language than English, even when talking to each other, alright?”
“Yes, mom!” Seunghyun and his sister answered almost shouting like they just received an order from their superior.
“Kamsahmnida!...” Alina whispered.
“…Rin-nah-ah…” she found it pretty difficult to say Alina’s name since she didn’t even provided her first name too, “…would you like to help us?” asked pointing towards the board box filled with Christmas glass bells and ornaments.
“Of course!” Alina answered jumping up.
Seunghyun lounged himself on the big cozy sofa, watching ‘his women’ as they hung everything on the really beautiful looking Christmas tree. He wasn’t even realizing he was smiling quite pleased. his cocoa was replaced with a glass of red wine, but right now it was long forgotten in between his fingers.
A sudden bright light hit his eyes. He blinked several times in awe until the figure of his sister appeared clearly before his eyes.
Hye-yoon started laughing and he pouted.
“What the…”
“Just look at your face!” she mocked him showing the picture she took.
“Why you…” he said stretching over to grab the photo, but before he could, Alina approached them and leant over Hye’s shoulder to take a peek at it.
“Oh my God, you look stunning…” Alina found herself talking out loud, making both of them smile.
“May I see it?” Seunghyun got up too.
“Sure!” Hye gave him the photo.
“It says instagram on it all over!” he smiled proudly.
“May I…” Hye asked gaining back her cell phone. “Smile please!” she said pointing it towards the both of Alina and Seunghyun.
“Oh, sure!” he grabbed Alina’s shoulder and even though she refused at first, now she was smiling shyly on Hye’s long phone screen.
The doorbell made everyone stop and stare at the door while a maid went to answer it.
“It was about time” Seunghyun’s mother said mostly for her, then she made Hye-yoon follow her to the door, greeting the guests.
Soon enough the house filled up with totally unfamiliar faces, and even the familiar ones couldn’t be found since Seunghyun went to the kitchen to refill his long glass, Hye-yoon cuddled with, most probably, her husband, Seunghyun’s mother was entertaining someone her age.. just Alina was left alone, in the middle of the huge living room, next to the Christmas tree.
Seunghyun carefully chose a a nicely labeled wine bottle and poured it in two crystal-clear glasses. He was about to take them to the next room when a buzz inside his pants made him stop. He put the glasses back on the table and searched his pants. He quickly glanced towards the door to look after Alina – she was still standing next to the Christmas tree, looking even shyer than before. He smiled and pressed the jumping envelope icon on the small white cellphone. His eyes widened. He was holding her phone and she just received a reply message to one of her posts on a Bigbang forum. He squeezed the phone in his hands ready to throw it away but quickly changed his mind and accessed the email.
‘I bet they’re cool in real life’ was the answer to her previous post which he found to be ‘I wish I could meet them in person…” with three little hearts next to it. He looked for the media folder next. He nearly dropped the phone when his own pictures hit his eyes. He took a deep sip from the glass, in fact he drank the whole glass at once. Right now he felt betrayed because anyone who was his fan knew he said he’d never date a fan… so she must’ve had pretended to not know him to lure him over? Or she found out recently who he was and looked for information about him and his band? He quickly checked on her forum account: 6th of May 2013… three years ago. He browsed through her pictures – his and GD’s were the most. Even more, some of Gd’s pictures also had hearts and kisses around him. He drank the second glass too.
He tried to find any other explanation to those he already found but he failed. He scratched the back of his head to give his brain some time to think and looked for her ringtone menu. He grinned as all of his or his band’s hits appeared one after another… among them just a single “Jingle bells” was now set as the main ringtone. Could it be that she changed it because of the Holidays? No! He was certain she tried to trick him. Tears started gathering in his eyes when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” he yelled louder than he should.
He quickly hid the phone back in his pocket and shuffled towards the door. The image of Jiyong from Alina’s phone interfered with the image of the smiling Ji in front of the door. Suddenly his blood rushed to his cheeks and one could almost feel the fire in his eyes. Ji opened up his mouth to say the rightful Christmas cheer, but he couldn’t.
“What the Hell are you doing here?” Seunghyun cut him off.
The image of Jiyong from Alina’s phone interfered with the image of the smiling Ji in front of the door. Suddenly his blood rushed to his cheeks and one could almost feel the fire in his eyes. Ji opened up his mouth to say the rightful Christmas cheer, but he couldn’t.
“What the Hell are you doing here?” Seunghyun cut him off.
“Umm… what?” Ji tried to look for a friendly look since he couldn’t find any in his friend.
“Nothing…” Seunghyun tried to smile as if really nothing happened, but all he could do was an unpleased grin. “Please come in! Merry Christmas…” he barely muttered.
“Hyung… is anything wrong?” Ji whispered looking for his friend’s eyes, which seemed a little more dazed than usual.
“No, not at all… here, let me help you…” Seunghyun took the boxes in his hands so Ji could take off his coat and hang it on the wooden hanger.
“Ah, Jiyong-gi!” his mother stretched out her hands to hug him when they both came inside the big room. “I am so glad you could come!”
“Yeah… me too…” Ji said looking after Seunghyun as he placed the boxes around the tree.
Seunghyun really wanted to ignore Alina pretending he didn’t saw her right in the exact same place where he left her, next to the big Christmas tree, but he really couldn’t – her big, bright eyes almost froze him in place.
“Is everything alright?” she asked so slowly that he wouldn’t even hear her if she wouldn’t shyly grab his sleeve.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” he answered as cold as he could trying to keep his eyes away from her.
She lowered her head and let go of him.
He turned to look after her thinking that she must’ve turned around and left, but she was still there and her teary eyes forced a warm smile on his face when his conscience hit him hard. All he wanted right now was to ask for an explanation, to fight with her, but her lost glance threw his already too confused and twisted thoughts into an even bigger chaos.
“You?...” Ji’s voice made his body to react again to the environment. “What is she doing here?” he whispered knowing she couldn’t understand him.
“Why?” Seunghyun snapped at him but right before his answer, a group of elderly men and women led by his mother approached them and practically cornered him.
Jiyong grabbed Alina’s wrist and made her follow him, something that didn’t escaped Seunghyun’s fast eyes.
“Come!” Jiyong said dragging her around until they reached the kitchen. “What are you doing here?” he asked as soon as they entered.
“I really don’t know..” Alina answered with whiny voice. “I just want to go home… “ she mostly whispered.
“Oh, that would be impossible now, on this weather… “ Ji started smiling.
“Ani… I just wanna go home. My home…” tears started falling and soft hiccups silenced Ji for a couple of seconds. He couldn’t take it anymore and slowly grabbed her chin in between his fingers and made her look at him.
Seunghyun was about to enter the kitchen when he saw them, so he quickly turned left to hide behind the door. He peeped inside just to see how Ji’s lips gently lowered over hers. He clenched his fists and shut tight his eyes.
‘So she was just using me to get to him??!’ he wanted to think but her voice wouldn’t let him finish:
“I told you to never do that again!!” Alina yelled pushing Jiyong aside. “Don’t, never…” she said again when he tried to calm her down. She quickly turned around to face the door but she froze after just three steps: Seunghyun stared at her with a very unpleased look.
“Oh, hyung…” Ji wanted to say something but suddenly he couldn’t find any reason for what he should be apologizing.
“Do you know who I am?” were the only words that left Seunghyun’s uptight lips, shocking everyone, including him. This wasn’t what he prepared to say. He opened up his mouth to speak again but he just couldn’t, images of Ji’s pictures in her phone and the kiss he just witnessed froze his mind.
“Hyung…?”
“What?” Alina merely whispered, not because she didn’t heard him but because she simply lost her voice. Like a thunder strike just hit her, in the back of her head she visualized the moment in the car when he took away her phone. She instantly regretted for feeling so lazy last night and didn’t finish deleting the pictures and the songs… Two hot tears burnt her face when he indeed took out her phone from his pocket.
“Tell me! Did you?...” he asked again a little more wired.
“Hyung…” Ji tried again to speak.
“Stay out of it, Kwon Jiyong! It’s none of your business!” he froze Ji and kept on browsing the phone.
Alina just stared at him, tears pouring down her face, but she still found his trembling fingers extremely hot as they wiped the screen uncontrollable. Oh, God, she just couldn’t lose everything right now! Yes! Of course she knew who they were! She was their biggest fan.. well actually to be completely honest he only pirated their albums and everything else because she never had money to buy one, but still she was their biggest fan and she really did know Seunghyun’s opinion regarding a date with his fan… This was the main reason why she hid the truth from him and why she really shouldn’t have been so damn lazy last night and delete everything!
“Actually!...” Seunghyun’s voice brought her back “It’s ALL of your business!...” he said stretching out the phone to Ji’s face.
“What’s that?” Ji pretended to not understand the picture of himself covered in hearts.
“It’s her phone!” Seunghyun answered in disbelief.
“So?...” Ji kept his poker face.
Seunghyun ceased to look for understanding in his friend and turned to face her again.
“Back then… at the hotel… when you entered my room… Did you knew who I was?...”
“No!” Alina’s fast answer surprised them both.
“But then why…” Seunghyun started to back away.
“Park… Park Goo!...” she suddenly yelled happy that this thought came through, and really fast went back to her teary eyes and whispering voice: “…she told me to look for this band, Bigbang…”
“What’s Park Goo?” Seunghyun asked.
“Not what, but who” Jiyong said. “She’s a maid at the hotel…” he started explaining but the still burning fire in Seunghyun’s eyes shut him up.
“How would you know that?” he asked in a rough tone.
“Mianhae…” Ji raised his hands up like he surrendered.
Because she knew she couldn’t let him organize his thoughts, Alina quickly began talking again, being extra careful to maintain her crying voice:
“…She and this other girl downloaded everything in my phone… and they tried to make me memorize everyone… but I couldn’t…” she discreetly checked on Seunghyun’s face and tears began forming again when he caught her eyes: “Have I done something that bad? I mean I know that you’re a celebrity, that’s why I never wanted to… ”
“But then…” he interrupted her “why do you have an account on the official forum since three years ago?”
“Eh?...” she almost forgot that she was supposed to be sad, but luckily Ji’s giggles reminded her just in time, before Seunghyun finished accessing the forum and point the screen in her face.
“You thought that was me?” she really congratulated herself for not using her real face as the profile picture, “…That’s Park…” she got to say before he turned the phone off.
“I… I thought… I’m sorry” Seunghyun said handing over the phone and simply left without any other word.
Alina and Jiyong exchanged a quick look. Before she could make any movement whatsoever, Ji’s soft laughter blocked her.
“Don’t stress too much, you’ll understand his ways over time” he smiled and pat her shoulder. “Fighting!” he encouraged her giving his fist up in the air and winking at her.
“Huh?” was it possible that he ‘read’ her?
“Umm…” he said right before he exited the kitchen “…mianhae, I really had no idea he was your bias… usually girls fancy more about me” he laughed.
“What?...”
“Now don’t let his ass freeze for too long” he said looking over the big window behind her.
She turned to look over there too and followed for a short while a dark silhouette crossing by.
“What do you…” she started turning back to face Jiyong, but he wasn’t there anymore. She rolled around but still he wasn’t nowhere in the kitchen. She took a step forward to take a look inside the living room. She did found him in there, talking and laughing with Seunghyun’s sister and her boyfriend. She shook her head almost smiling, then she remembered about Seunghyun. She quickly turned around to look for him from the window but before reaching it, her eyes hit something on the table: two small yogurt cans, the ones she used to eat, were carefully placed there. She took them both and exited the kitchen in a haste, but Jiyong’s eyes stopped her. He winked at her and signaled to get outside. She nodded and smiled. In less than a second she grabbed her coat and exited the glass door. She followed the barely seeable footsteps on the snow and reached a wooden gazebo.
Seunghyun was sitting there all alone with his head and face covered by a big, furry hood and nothing more but a glass of wine in his hands. He looked like a monk saying a prayer to his god (Bachus in this case) with his hands bound on the glass and his head down.
“Are you angry with me?” Alina’s soft voice surprised him.
He took off his hood but didn’t look at her.
“Ani… I’m more angry at me…” he said after a rather long pause.
“Why are you sitting here all alone? Aren’t you cold?”
“I’m not. I like coming here to clear up my mind…”
“May I take a place in there?” she interrupted him.
“In my mind?” he turned to face her.
“On the bench” she smiled and waited for him to move a little to a side. She sat next to him and pushed away the glass in his hands. He looked at her with wide eyes and an unknown smile on his face while she replaced de wine with one can of yogurt. He looked at it for a while and her eyes from the first day they met appeared in front of him.
Alina couldn’t understand why he stared at her like that, but she was determined to resist his glare. He smiled lowering first his eyes.
“You’re the first one…” he mumbled smiling.
“First on what?” she felt really proud of herself but kept her true feeling behind a soft smile.
“Saranghaeyo…” he cut her off.
“Huh?...” was the only sound she could render, thinking her own mind was playing tricks on her.
“You have no idea of what I said, do you?” he smiled a little relieved but somehow disappointed.
“That’s the first word I learned in Korean…” her cheeks started boiling already not knowing what to do anymore.
His hand on her face froze her more than the blizzard managed to do it in all of her 20 years on this earth. His lips over hers melted her faster than an ice cube on a flame and lucky it was below 0° outside otherwise she couldn’t ever explain the unnatural red color of her face.
‘Never doubt the love of a fan… he loved you since the beginning without even knowing you and no matter what he’ll always be there for you’ ...maybe she’ll tell him this someday, but not this day. Today nothing else mattered, not the howling blizzard nor the colored, dancing lights that set off the house’s impressive outline joyfully singing “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all around”…
the end
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu