TRACKSiDED

A+

After blowing off his anger on me, the guy takes his phone out and makes a call. He begins to yell yet again; he speaks too fast for me to comprehend. 

Once he hangs up, he grabs me by the wrist and brings me back to the club, where I find Brad at the entrance. 

Brad lowers his eyes like someone sent to stand in a corner as punishment. The bouncer, aka my savior, throws me onto Brad when he sees him, and he carries on yelling.

"Okay, okay, man, I got it," Brad returns, and suddenly he seems to remember he's a client. "Hey, Mr. Kim, I don't think you should be talking to me the way you are," Brad says, stepping up in front of the bouncer whose head thrones above Brad, leaving him no choice but to look up.

Before Brad can react, another bouncer starts to scream at the guy, who continues to yell. Again, my ears drown in the overdose of sound around me, which begins to make me lose concentration.

I tug on Brad's sleeve, but he remains stiff in place while the two bouncers move away and carry on arguing.

After a few seconds, I understand I'm the cause of the havoc. Brad puts his arm around my shoulders and starts to take me back in.

"Are you okay, Jane?"

"Yeah," I say as I turn back to watch the two bouncers quarrel. It's my fault, but since I am already at the peak of guilt city, I'm unable to generate any more sympathy.

"Why did you leave like that? Mona and I thought that you went back to the square."

"I wanted toㅡ," suddenly I don't know what I was doing, and I feel awful to have caused so much trouble for nothing.

"What were you doing outside?"

"Tae Won called the club; they alerted me," Brad yells as we approach the VIP square.

It's the first time I hear his name.

"Tae Won," I whisper.

The name suits him, it's been almost three weeks since I dived the Han river after him, and it's only now that I catch his name. At the hospital, they refused to disclose it.

"Where were you?" Mona yells, almost tripping as she makes her way to us. She's tipsy, and it makes me uneasy. The state she is in used to be my gig, and to see her this way makes me realize how ridiculous I must have looked back in the days.

"Do-don't leㅡave like thaㅡ; you hear Jane."

"I'm sorry, Mona."

Tae Won is right; I'm careless. What was I thinking, leaving them knowing that I'd panic in a taxi alone? But at that moment, I just desired to clear my head, the club was suffocating, smelly, and all the faces surrounding me were hideous blurred masks. I needed a bowl of fresh air. I forgot about all the drunken people who roamed at the same hour.

Mona hugs me under Brad's apologetic eyes.

Engulfed in her embrace, I see Tae Won. He stares at me a brief second and moves on to scan the rest of the club.

I want to thank him, but  I don't get the occasion. When we leave, Tae Won is nowhere to be found. It's brad who drives, and he holds my hand to calm me all the way home while Mona snores at the back.

"I'm sorry about tonight, Jane. You didn't want to come, and we insisted."

"It was okay."

"But you didn't enjoy yourself?"

"It was fine; I swear, Brad."

"Don't lie."

"Okay, I don't thrive on nightclubs anymore. It was fun when I was underage. Guess we did things too early, and it's boring now."