Alluvion's Water Lily

Chapter 21 - Liar Liar by Oh My Girl

Huh. Well, I can tell he's intelligent so the first two sound like they might both be correct, but the camaraderie between him and Mengrai seemed to likely have a solid foundation. Like they have known each other for years. Did that mean it went as far back as only ten years old though? Or did he try to confuse me with the second language comment? Did he add languages to it? I feel like that fact would have been reported on one of those fan made profile pages.

I consider them all once again before I answer. "I'm going to guess that the second one is only partially true. That you do know other languages outside of those listed in the first truth, but not as many as you tried to trick me into believing."

He smiles at me warmly. "Correct. I can speak Mandarin and Japanese in addition to Thai, Korean, and English, but I don't know the other four at all."

I turn to Jaeyeon since it's his turn now. He takes a minute to also think about his truths he wants to share, and the lie he wants to make up. I would have thought the others would make up each of theirs beforehand, but I am thankful that I won't end up being the only one to try to think of something on the fly. At least we aren't suggesting a time limit for this. "Number one. I only started writing songs after I became a member of the group. Number two. I love a lot of different music, but I am exceptionally fond of crooners like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, and even Michael Bublé. Despite the fact that he is a more modern definition of the genre. Number three. I still have the football that I scored my very first goal with." I mentally remind myself that when he said football he meant it in the worldwide sense, not the American football sense. It will take some time for me to immediately transpose football and soccer.

I take a few moments to deliberate over his "truths." Hm. I can see the first one being true. The second one had a lot of detail, but he only really named the more popular crooners. He didn't name Bobby Darin, Perry Como, or Vic Damone. Of course I only know those names because my dad loved crooners too. If that's one of his truths, my father would have adored Jaeyeon. He probably would have introduced him also to the others if he hadn't heard of them before. The last statement could also be true though. I would think it would be hard to keep track of such a keepsake for so long, not to mention the fact that there would be other players on his team that might want it also.

"I think I am going to guess that you don't still have your football from the first game you ever scored a goal playing." I kind of force myself to say football even though it is kind of ingrained in me to say soccer. I prefer watching soccer in the long run so it shouldn't be too much of a travesty to start calling it something else. After all, once my paperwork goes completely through at the American Embassy I will be an official South Korean citizen.

He makes a buzzing sound, which I can't help but laugh out loud at. He smiles at me. "I've been writing songs and stories since I was in Primary school."

"Primary school?" I repeat. "I'm guessing the school system is different here than in the United States." It's uncanny all these things that keep cropping up that I hadn't considered before now.

"Why don't you explain the school system you know first. Then we can try to help you make comparisons." Jaeyeon offers.

"Well first there's Preschool, although it's not required. A lot of children go to preschool around three or four years old." I offer up this explanation.

Jaeyeon nods. "That is similar to Nursery School for us, although the kids start attending as early as possible. So from one to four years old."

I don't completely understand the aging system yet, but I do know that is more likely to mean that they are zero to three years old in the age I am more familiar with. "That's really early." I comment before continuing. "Elementary school starts after that at age five. Kindergarten through fifth or sixth grade, depending upon the school."