The Wall | Yejisu

Chapter 3

In the morning, sunlight went through the iron grey curtains in Yeji's bedroom and shone on her eyes. The windows were slightly open and curtains flowed when a gut of wind blew through.

She woke up, refreshed herself and got dressed. The uniform was like the one worn by Korean high school students. She put on simple makeup and wore a bit perfume. It was a quarter to seven. She had to hurry up or would be late for the school bus.

"Good morning, Yeji" Yuna saw her walking to the bus stop. They lived near each other. Every morning they greeted like this. Tho, after what Yuna said yesterday, it was a bit awkward. Yeji smiled back and two of them sank into silence for minutes.

    Yeji seemed normal, she listened to music on earbuds. Yuna, though, seemed uneasy and kept glancing at Yeji to see if she was unhappy or...

"Hey, um, will you come to the practice today?" She asked.
"I can't go. I have to meet someone."
"The girl?"
"Yeah, I have to find her. I think she lives near the wall and will show up."
"But we still" Yuna held back the word in throat.
"Okay...I will talk to leader."

Two of them sank into another silence. And it wasn't long before the school bus took them away.

At school, in every class, Yeji seemed distracted and thoughtful. She wasn't focusing on the class. She played pens, messed up hair, fished out  cellphone for times.

    She started to think if Lia would like to see her again. Would Lia show up? Anything that was certain yesterday was uncertain now. You know, you start thinking a lot when waiting for so long. Yeji looked out through the window, at the wall, and rest her head on the palm.

Finally, the last class was over! She grabbed the school bag and bent down to take out the books she needed from drawer. Then, she went through the hallway quickly, Within minutes, she was at the wall, panting.

Slowly, Yeji sat down on the ground in front of the wall. The ground was heated due to the sun, and sitting on the grass felt itchy.

Then, she waited.

Yeji was attracted by sounds coming around. The place where Yeji sat was quiet. And over the wall, the corner of the old town, was quiet, too. If you listened, you could hear the rustle of leaves, and subtle voice of people talking.

An hour passed, Yeji wondered if she should just forget this and go home. And there, came a bicycle. She saw it, and took a closer look. The girl on it had a bandage on the knee. She was Lia!Yeji stood up right away and called her.

"Hey, Lia!"

    Lia pressed the break of the bicycle and stopped right over there. The rear wheel left the ground because of the sudden stop.

    "You, what are you doing here?" Lia's voice sounded cold, but also something else.
    "Umm, you um, you went away yesterday before I came back. Just wanna check if you're okay" Yeji put on a little smile.

    For a few seconds, they didn't say anything. Lia nodded to show that she knew what is going on. The long black hair fell over her shoulders. She flipped it aside and walked the bicycle to the wall. She placed it near the wall and sat down in front of Yeji.

    She wore a similar uniform as Yeji did. Yeji's skirt was brown-white plaid skirt while Lia's was A-line marine blue skirt.

    "I haven't known your name" said Lia
    "oh I forget, I am Yeji"
    "Thank you. I didn't know you would be here"
"Of course, I'm wor.., I think you may need help"
    "You worried about me?" Lia said in a flat tone.

    Yeji was finding a word to cover that word. She had been worrying but she didn't want Lia to know. She avoided eyes contact with her.

    "You don't need to worry. It was just a little accident. And we just met" Lia said before Yeji could find that word, in a plain tone.

    "Yeah, haha, you're right" Yeji felt the air is getting cold. She moved on with a question. She asked Lia if she live near.

    "The house is three blocks away. I can walk to here" Lia pointed backwards.
    "I was going to the supermarket yesterday. My dad wanted me to buy some vegetables"
    "And you? What it's like to live there?"

    "It's a modern place. we got malls, super quick Internet and trains under my feet" Yeji said
    "I live far away from here and take school bus every morning. My apartment is on the hill."
    "My seat is at the window. I look at old town sometimes and it's beautiful" Yeji smiled.
    "Maybe we are closer then we think" Lia said and the corners of her eyes softened.

Yeji thought of something.
    "Ah, the bandage" she opened her bag.
    "Why you keep that in your bag? I have mine" Lia found it funny about her.
    "You must take it. I insist" Yeji pulled all the things from the bag and found it at the bottom. The ground was scattered with books and pencils.
    "Here" Yeji passed the bandage to Lia through the gap of the chain-link wall. She put it in the pocket of her A-line skirt.

    "Yeji" Lia called her name for the first time.

    "Why do you talk to people like me? Didn't they tell you that we're bad?" Lia looked at the ground while asking her question.
    "Yeah but I'm not one of them. I don't think you're bad. And after talking to you, I think maybe we can be friends"

Lia was thinking about what Yeji said. She didn't response immediately, but the corners of her mouth slowly moved up.

    "Thank you" a tiny voice came out from Lia's mouth with a slight smile on her face. She looked at the colour of the sky.
"I should probably go home" she stood up and pat off the dust on her skirt.
    "Can we meet tomorrow? Have a little chat like today?" Yeji asked and really expected Lia to say a yes.

    Lia nodded and sat on her bike. She placed her right feet on the pedal and then rode off.

    Yeji waved her goodbye. Her little figure finally became a dot and blended with the shadows of trees in the evening.
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