Seoul, Gangnam
It was December 17th, Hye Mi's 18th birthday. Soo Yeon never imagined her eighteenth birthday, but she always thought she would celebrate it with her family. Like her 16th, which was anything but sweet, and the 17th birthday, it was a lonely moment where she didn't celebrate.
Soo Yeon sat in front of her window, watching Gangnam when her doorbell rang. She hadn't ordered food, and her neighbors didn't ask for anything. She looked at the face on the interphone.
"Ah, tchin-aish, this man, what have I done to deserve this?" Soo Yeon cursed as he kept on ringing, and he wouldn't stop.
"What do you want?"
"I have something to say to you."
"Say it there."
"I can't. It's important; I can only say it face to face."
Soo Yeon pondered as she paced a minute in her corridor.
"It's cold, Soo Yeon. Please let me in."
"Ah, this man, I'm going to kill him, I swear," Soo Yeon muttered.
A few minutes later, Jun Ho was in front of the door that Soo Yeon barely left a crack open.
"What is it you want to say?"
"Let me in; come on, it's not like you're scared of me. Don't you trust me?"
"No, I don't."
Jun Ho was embarrassed, thinking he hadn't done anything to gain her trust, yet he persisted, "okay, that was a dumb question. I have something for you," he said, showing her a white bag. Soo Yeon opened to see. Jun Ho dodged her and entered.
Jun Ho stepped into Soo Yeon's apartment for the second time. The first time had left a bitter sensation on Soo Yeon's cheek.
Soo Yeon remembered how she pushed Jun Ho to his limits, the ounce of guilt the moment left made Soo Yeon allow Jun Ho to enter this time. They stood in almost the same position as the last time.
Soo Yeon broke the silence first, "now you are inside. What is it you wanted to say so bad?" She crossed her arms, which portrayed her defensive mode.
Jun Ho stretched out his hand with the bag, "Happy birthday, Hye Mi."
Soo Yeon didn't move an inch as if the bag was booby-trapped.,
"Aren't you going to open it? Okay, then I'll open it" Jun Ho went to her table where he posed the bag and took out the box.
The trap was a cake.
"It's gluten-free, it was no peanuts, it has been made especially for you. Do you have plates and forks? " Jun Ho said as if their reunion was routine.
Soo Yeon remained silent.
"Okay, I'll take care of it, it's your special day, so I guess you can sit back, relax. Let Oppa take care of things," Jun Ho walked to her kitchen, where he opened all the drawers to find what he needed and came back to sit down.
Jun Ho frowned, "aren't you going to sit down?"
So many emotions queued up in Soo Yeon's mind, she didn't know how to react. The turn of events could almost compete with Su Jung's kiss in the shock wave category.
"Is this funny? Are you having fun playing pretend? What kind of sick joke is this? Get out, Jun Ho."
The man's expression changed. He got up and went to face her, "aren't you exhausted, Hye Mi, of putting on your hard girl act? Who is playing pretend? Which one of us isn't how he should be. I know you, Hye Mi. Even now, as you stare at me with your scorching eyes, I know you are there—a shy fragile girl whose brother treasured more than anything else.
"I'm here for Kyung Gi. Your brother would have never wanted you to spend your 18th birthday alone. I don't want you to spend your birthday alone. So you are going to come and eat this cake that had me running all over Seoul to fetch."
Jun Ho gave her a stern stare filled with determination. Soo Yeon surrendered and sat down.
The season and the day itself were tiresome, school, Netizen, it was one of those days where Soo Yeon just wished to become oblivion.
"Good, let's eat," Jun Ho said with a smile and the enthusiasm of a child on his way to Disney.
"Did you bring Soju?"
"Why would I bring alcohol?
"Geez, I'm 18; you really suck," Soo Yeon said, getting up and going to her fridge to fetch a bottle of Grapefruit soju.
"You drink, and what did you say I suck? Since when do you speak like that?" Jun Ho said in shock.
"Get over it, Jun Ho, and no, I don't drink. I just bought it earlier."
"You can drink in my presence. Only drink in my presence."
Jun Ho's sentence made Soo Yeon roll her eyes.
"What did your boyfriend get you?"
As soon as the sentence came out, Jun Ho regretted it.
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"Then who was the boy who kissed you?"
Jun Ho wanted to bang his head against the wall, shamed by his indiscretion.
"You saw it? You spied on me?"
"I wasn't stalking or spying. I happened to see him kiss you," Jun Ho said.
"He violated my private space, and he stole my first kiss."
Soo Yeon still couldn't digest despite the budding feelings she had. She felt as though he had trespassed on her territory.
Jun Ho pounded his fist on the table, "I'll kill the scoundrel."
Surprised, Soo Yeon laughed nervously, "you really think you're my brother, don't you?"
Jun Ho didn't know what to answer as he wondered who he was for her, "eat," he replied.
Soo Yeon took a fork and cut a piece. If Jun Ho weren't there, she would have rolled on the floor like a rolling pin glorifying the taste of the cake. But she just blushed at the thought and continued eating and drinking.
"Don't drink so quick," Jun Ho said. He had barely touched his glass. He watched 18-year-old Soo Yeon become red every second. He turned his hand to look at his phone, which vibrated.
Caller:
HONG GA EUN
Jun Ho put his phone on mute.
As he turned back to look at Soo Yeon, his face was blinded with a white splurge of cream. Soo Yeon giggled, falling on the side as she watched Jun Ho's reaction to his newly creamed face.
"오, 좀 웃기네. Is this funny, Soo Yeon?"
"Yes, it is," Soo Yeon replied.
Jun Ho had never seen her like this even before; she was so different. Grown-up, Hye Mi was other; it was only there as she laughed that he realized how long her hair was. He observed her; she was thin, maybe too skinny.
Did she eat properly? Jun Ho wondered.
If her arms were not a little muscled, giving them an athletic aspect, one could have sworn she was boney. But she still had the babyface, which sulked a little. And how he heard her giggle, it too was a first. It was with amused eyes that Jun Ho gazed at her before realizing the giggles were cries.
"Hye Mi, Hye Mi."
"Appa, Oppa, Eomma 보고 싶어 [bogosiepo], I miss you all so much why did you all leave me?"
The man awaited anything except this outburst, which paralyzed him. The last time he saw her cry was on the Han River, where she ran away. Now she rolled on the floor crying, covering her eyes with her elbow.
Jun Ho approached, gently taking away her elbow from her face, "Hye Mi, I'm here; you are not alone."
She stopped sobbing, opening her eyes to find Jun Ho's face hovering over hers. They stayed in the same position for a minute, with him holding back her elbow, gazing into her eyes. It was like a close encounter of the third kind, as Jun Ho met Hye Mi, not the shy, awkward seven-year-old but the young woman.