Master Roman threw the keys to Yejun as he grabbed his bag. "Do you guys know what happened to Cindy? She's barely coming anymore." I smirked and Yejun nudged my arm. "No sir." He responded. Master Roman narrowed his eyes at us. "Alright, you suspicious bums. Don't spar too hard tonight." He looked over at Yejun and smiled. "Get some rest, okay?" We both bowed.
"Saranghae Master Roman." I said as I waved.
He turned to me with shock on his eyes. Yejun instantly groaned and shook his head. "What did you say?" He asked. "Sara-"
"She meant anyeong, sir!"
Master Roman eyed both of us and left. "What was that about?" I asked. Yejun let out a small laugh. "His Korean isn't that good."
Yejun and I walked inside of the dojang and got our gear. We tied each other's chest guard and started doing some warm up stretches. After we were done, we bowed to each other and began our nightly sparring session.
'Don't look at your opponent's eyes. They can deceive you. Stare at their chest, you'll see their shoulder and leg motions.' Master Roman's voice echoed through my head.
I stared at his chest guard and kept on bouncing when I saw him switch feet. Feigning a roundhouse, I jumping snap kicked him but missed. He moved back and slid forward as I tried to kick him again. Instead, he dodged it and push kicked me. I almost tumbled to the floor and had to regain my balance. Once I saw what was happening, it was too late. My head snapped to the right as Yejun's foot went crashing against my headgear.
My body dropped to the floor, shocked at what just happened. I sat still, still not believing what happened. He seriously just...
Taking a deep breath, I got up and stretched out my neck. It hurt a little, but that's something I'll deal with later. Yejun and I went back into fighting stance.
I didn't want to get angry, but after that, it was impossible. Yejun charged at me as I moved to the side. My heart dropped when I realized what was going to happen. In a split second, I was on the ground. The bastard feigned a left roundhouse, and when I went to block it, he push kicked me again.
"Get up!" He snapped.
Glaring at him, I got up and took a deep breath. He stepped back as I fast kicked him. Yejun dodged my next kick, landing a solid roundhouse on my gear. He tried to land another, but I blocked it. I took the chance and twisted my body around. My legs left the mat as I raised my leg and kicked him with the leg I jumped with.
Even though he blocked my 360 kick, I knew it hurt. I slid forward and tried to land a roundhouse to his face, but he grabbed my ankle.
I gasped as he pushed me to the ground. I stared at him in bewilderment. What's good with him? He kneeled beside me as he took his headgear off. "You're getting a lot better. Especially with your 360 kick, you're jumping higher." I blushed as I took off my headgear.
He brushed the back of his hand against my face and smiled at me. "Just try not to get angry. It's hard, but remember a-"
"Anger leads to making foolish decisions, I know." I responded.
When I tried to look up at him, a sharp pain in my neck caused me to gasp. "What's wrong?" He asked. I tried to shake my head, but it only made it worse. "Where is it?" I pointed to it and he began to rub it.
We sat in the middle of the dojang in silence as he rubbed my neck. It started feeling better. I laid in his chest and sighed. "You're becoming a great Taekwondo player... It would be amazing to fight alongside you in the championships."
Championships? I could only imagine Yejun conquering different teams. I just know he trained for many hours.
"So you were in some?" Yejun grinned. "Yeah. I was on the Korean national team for three years. They actually wanted me to go to Yong In, but Taekwondo is a hobby for me. My real interest is in math education. My father didn't want me to be on it. He said I wasn't worthy enough. I was a third Dan at the time... They called me the Face Demon since I would always get a face shot on my opponents." His eyes looked so distant, almost as if he was reliving those three years.
I sat up a little and stretched my neck. "Why'd you leave?" I asked. He smiled and looked down. "My heart wasn't there, I was tired of being in Korea."
I poked his nose and his eyebrows furrowed. Yejun looked a little sick nowadays, but he wasn't coughing or anything. Maybe I should get him some tea.
"Here, let me untie your gear." Once I finished untying his, he untied mine.
"Thanks Yejun." We got up and headed for the locker rooms.
I put my gear away and finished getting ready. Folding my uniform, I put it on the shelf.
About twenty minutes later, I watched Yejun lock the school down. I wrapped his scarf around my neck as we started walking towards the train station.
It was silent.
I wanted to grab his hand, but I wasn't sure how he would react. If he's sick, wouldn't he want to be a little alone? I mean shit, he could have a headache right now. Building up courage, I grabbed it, surprised he didn't pull away. Instead, he looked down at me. "Are you sick Yejun?" We kept on walking. We came upon the train station and he pulled out his Metrocard.
His hand trembled as he avoided my eye contact and swiped me in. "I will tell you tomorrow." He whispered as he turned away.
What the hell happened? He didn't sound sick... But I know he isn't okay. Something happened.
The next day, Yejun invited me to his house. I didn't remember where it was, so he waited for me at the train station. "Saranghae Yejun." I said as I hugged him. "How are you feeling today?" He gave me more of a grimace than a smile. I handed him the bag I had and kissed his cheek.
"Here's some peppermint and bush tea. If you're feeling sick, it'll help you." He hesitated and took it. "Thank you... But it is not me who is sick..." He turned and started walking away.
I stared at his receding figure. He looked over his shoulder and gestured for me to come. I walked to him with my head down. I felt so ashamed. I told him everything, I mean. It takes time. Is this why he invited me over?
We walked inside of his house and I took my shoes off. He handed me a pair of slippers and we sat on his couch.
"Umma is sick." He finally broke the silence after five minutes. I put two and two together, realizing he was talking about his mother. My heart swelled in my chest.
"Yejun..." I whispered as I started to rub his hand.
He shook his head and sighed. I've never seen him look this stressed before. "I'm sorry if I seemed distant, it's hard for me to... say this." I wanted to comfort him so bad, but I knew everything I said would only be words.
"I don't know what to do... Jaewon called me yesterday and told me the doctor said she would be okay, but his voice gave him away. Umma is everything to me, I-I..." He covered his mouth as I pulled him into a hug. Yejun tightly hugged me back.
The fact that someone like Yejun is able to openly show his emotions to me is comforting. I know I can help him go through this. "Your umma will be fine. Don't worry, and your brother could have had that tone of voice because he's simply worried." Yejun shook his head. "No. No, you don't understand."
"I do understand. My father has been through so much, and he always jokes about dying." I bit. Yejun grabbed my shoulder and shook his head. "My mom is dying." It pained me how hurt he sounded.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as he continued, "She's dying and I can't do anything about it." I felt tears well in my eyes as I pulled him to me. I ran my fingers through his hair to try and calm him down.
"I'm sorry you had t-"
"Shut up." I cut him off. "Don't you dare apologize to me Yejun. You care about your mother, I understand." He sighed and nodded. Yejun picked up the bag I gave him and went through it.
"You're so cute Len. Thank you." He said as he pulled out the bush tea. "What is this called?" I shrugged. "We just call it bush tea, we never remember the real name."
Getting up, he took the bag into the kitchen. I fluffed a pillow and sat on his couch. A couple of minutes later, he came back. "I'm boiling the bush tea. Also, I didn't cook. Do you want take out?"
I scowled at him and got up. "Let me see what's inside your fridge." He laughed and led me to the kitchen. I opened his fridge and thought of what I could work with. "I have fish in the freezer."
"Fish? Hm. Do you have curry?" He nodded and showed me where the cabinet was. "I assume you're going to cook?" He asked.
"Damn right. You're eating Jamaican food today." His eyes lit up and he sat down at the table. "Yes, Chef Hunter."
I instantly got to work. Yejun took his phone and hooked it up to his speakers. Putting his phone on shuffle, an upbeat Korean song started playing.
He ran into the kitchen as I was seasoning the fish. Suddenly, he threw his arms up and started dancing. I amusedly watched as he sang along to the lyrics and I couldn't stop laughing. Yejun was just so cute.
I poured the bush tea out and gave him a cup. He drank some and nodded in approval. The upbeat song slowly faded as he finished his cup.
Suddenly, his face went pale.
'Old pirates yes they rob I. Sold I to the merchant ships. Minutes after they took I, from the bottomless pit.'
A noticeable blush crept on his face as he turned away. This bum listens to Bob Marley? "I-I can explain."
"Yejun why are you embarrassed? It's okay to listen to reggae." He gave me a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't, erhm... Want you to know I started listening to reggae. I like it a lot. Like... Dennis Brown, Peter Tosh and Bob Marley."
I was shocked. Usually people only listen to Bob Marley and claim they're suddenly a ganja smoking reggae head, but this man decided to even go further. I softly smiled at him. "Do you know the lyrics?" He let out a small laugh and nodded.
Putting the fish on the stove, I leaned on the counter. "Then sing." I purred. He let out another small laugh and took a deep breath. Waiting for the right moment, he started.
'Won't you help to sing... these songs of freedom? 'Cause all I ever have... redemption songs.'
His voice was like honey to my ears. I listened as his voice quivered a bit and then he stopped. "Why'd you stop singing?" Yejun gave me a sheepish grin and shrugged. "I'm nervous. Duh." I laughed and punched his arm.
About two hours later, I finished cooking. He stopped being shy and played his reggae playlist, just listening to his singing made cooking a lot better. I made his plate and handed it to him.
He looked down at the curry fish with white rice and spinach. Yejun picked the fork up and took a bite. His eyes lit up as he kept on eating. I poured him some more tea and made myself a plate. "Your cooking is amazing Len." I smiled and sat across from him. "I made enough to last you until tomorrow. I figured you would like it."
Yejun nodded and kept eating. I noticed a very hot pepper in his plate. When he poked at it, I watched him eat it in fascination. His face turned a little red, but he swallowed it and kept on munching down. "You took that like a pro."
Three seconds passed. His eyes watered and he grabbed the, thankfully, cool tea. I laughed as he downed it. I passed him a napkin and he wiped his sweat with it.
"I'm good." He barely choked. After about a good two minutes, the pepper passed and he kept on eating. He came upon another one and put it to the side of his plate. Yejun caught my eyes when he did that and held in his laugh.
His phone started ringing over the speakers and he went to answer it. 'Yeoboseyeo?' I heard. That's literally the only thing I caught and understood. After a pause, his frantic voice made me get up and see what was wrong.
Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he kept on talking. My heart dropped. He began yelling and paused. Is everything okay? Oh God... Did his mom die? Finally, he slid his phone in his pocket.
"Tuberculosis." He sobbed, "She has Tuberculosis. It's active. Doctor said it's too late for her..." I stared at him in shock. Yejun dropped to his knees and I instantly was at his side. "No. It's not too late!" I felt tears well. There has to be another way.
"She's quarantined Len. She's... They won't let Cheolmin or Jaewon see her!"
I squeezed his arm and forced him to look at me. "She will make it. Just like you, she is strong. Nothing can get her. She. Is. Fine."
"But... Doctor..."
"The doctors said my father would die too, but he's still here. He's still breathing well and watching his animal documentaries! So don't give up Yejun. I'll be by your side." I instantly thought of The Originals. "Always and forever."
He took deep breaths and started nodding. "Oh hana-nim. Okay... Okay, you're right. You're right Len."
I remember when Yejun told me his mom was a street vendor. She probably got it from a customer. That poor woman, I can only imagine how hard she works. I helped him up and wiped his tears with my sleeve. "Thank you." He whispered as he shed more tears. "I love you so much Len, thank you."
Smiling, I hugged him. "Don't thank me Yejun."
After he calmed down a bit, we went back into the kitchen to finish our food. Yejun's face was still a little flustered, but he was managing. My phone started ringing and I looked at the screen.
"Hello bum!"
"Hey bum! How are you?" Kat and I started laughing as I started to compose myself. "I'm fine! I was going to call you after I left Yejun's."
"You're at his house?"
"Yeah! Hold on."
I looked over at Yejun. He was scrolling through different articles. "Here." I handed him the phone and he looked at the screen.
"Yeo- Hello?"
His eyebrows furrowed and he glanced at me. "Who are you?" I snickered and he gave me the phone. "Who is that?" Ignoring him, I took it back.
"Kat?"
"He sounded so clueless!" She laughed. I smiled and instantly thought of something. "One second." Putting the phone on mute, I turned to Yejun.
"Can Kat come over?" Yejun shrugged. "Sure, she better not finish the food you cooked." I squealed and hugged him. "Kat?" I said when I took her off of mute.
"What you bum?"
"Wanna come over?"
There was a pause on her end. She probably think I'm crazy.
"You're fucking crazy. Sure! What's his address?" We both started laughing again and I gave her the address. "I'll be on my way in like ten minutes."
We talked on the phone until she was finished getting dressed. When I hung up, Yejun gave me a funny look.
"What?" I asked. He smiled and got up from the table. "You just invited Kat over. Do you trust her that much?"
My attitude instantly changed. "Yeah Yejun. If you didn't want me to invite her over, you could've just said no."
"I mean... Okay. If you trust her, then so do I. Don't be upset, I was only asking." He hugged me and patted my back.
Almost an hour later, the doorbell rang. Yejun paused Netflix and went to the door. About a minute later, Yejun led her to the living room. "Len!" She yelled as she ran to hug me.
I hugged her back and we sat down on the couch. When Yejun sat down, she did a curt nod with her head. "Thank you for having me over Master Min." His eyes furrowed as he slightly opened his mouth. His eyes flickered from mine back to hers.
"Call me Yejun outside of school." As soon as he said that, Kat jumped up, "I got upgraded!" She excitedly yelled. I instantly started laughing when she started doing a weird dance. Kat is truly something else. Yejun broke out into a small smile when she almost slipped and caught herself.
"I'm okay!" She yelled. Sitting back down, we continued watching The Boondocks. I was in the middle of Kat and Yejun, so it was easy not to make it seem like I was giving only one of them attention.
"We don't have homework right?" I looked over at Kat with confusion laced in my face. "I don't know? Wait. Yeah we do! Andrews gave us a take home test!" Kat groaned and threw her arms up. "Well fuck! Guess who left the paper at school? I legit thought that was a handout!"
"Don't worry, I have mine. I'll take a picture of it and send it to you on Facebook." I felt Yejun look at me. "You have Facebook?" He asked. Instantly, Kat and I looked at each other and laughed. Going through Yejun's Facebook was fun. "You guys are so sus." He muttered.
Looking back over at Yejun, I nodded. "I have Facebook. Do you?" He smiled and took his phone out. "I never used it in a long time, but I do! My name is in Korean though. Wait, ah..." He slapped his forehead. "I'm not allowed to add you yet, I have to wait until you graduate." I shrugged. "It's okay Yejun. Add me on graduation day."
"Master Min, I'm hungry." Said Kat. He looked over at her and pointed his finger to the kitchen. "Yejun, and there's food in the fridge. Go help yourself." Kat got up and grabbed me. We both went into the kitchen and she started to quietly squeal.
"He's so nice Len!" She whisper-screamed. I smiled and started taking some food out. "Girl, he listens to reggae." Her eyes widened and she started laughing. I put the food in the microwave and we watched it slowly heat up. "He was naming some good oldies. Everyone knows Bob Marley, but he named Peter Tosh and Dennis Brown, too."
One thing I love about Kat is she is very open. She knows of reggae, but never really listened to it. A week after school started, she was listening to my phone on shuffle and suddenly, a song by Jah Cure came on. From then, she listened to all of my favorite artists.
"Peter Tosh? Don't you love his song Bumbaclat?" I held in my laugh and took the food out of the microwave. "Oh bumbaclat!" I sang. "Oh rassclat!" Sang Kat. We both stated laughing as I set the food on the table.
"This doesn't look Korean at all. This is that yardee food eh?" I patted her shoulder, a proud smile on my face. "Of course, you bum."
Without another word, she dug in. Kat and I love eating each other's cooking. We used to do a lot of exchange with different foods, but eventually stopped since we didn't really have anything new to introduce each other to.
Yejun walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of juice. As he drank it, I saw him look at us from the corner of his eye. I rolled my eyes and Kat tried not to laugh.
"...you guys are a mess." He said as he walked to the table. I hit his shoulder and he scowled. "What's that on the wall?" said Yejun. As soon as I turned my head, he grabbed my face and landed a quick peck on my lips. "Yejun!" When Kat looked back, Yejun went back to drinking his juice. I felt a blush creep on my cheeks as I groaned.
Kat raised an eyebrow and I waved her off. When she finished eating, we fought over who washes the plate. I mean, it's her first time here! I should wash it! As we were fighting, Yejun literally stepped past us, washed the dishes, and watched us still fight. We both noticed once we were going to grab the plate.
Yejun couldn't hold it in anymore and let out a laugh. I smiled and Kat was just... shocked. She looked at me as if I had two heads. "He just laughed?" she whisper-screamed.
"Yes Kat, I did. I'm human like you." She blushed and looked down. "Sorry sir." Yejun folded his arms and looked over at me. 'Help me.' Was what I got from his facial expression. I patted Kat on the shoulder and smiled.
"Yejun doesn't bite. That's his way of saying it's okay. Just look at him, like I'm about to cut his ass right now. Do you want me to roast him?" Yejun stared at me in confusion as I turned to face him.
Instead, I couldn't roast him. This man is complete perfection. "Roast me? Are you secretly a cannibal?" He asked. I punched his arm and he scowled. "Trying to see if I'm tender enough?"
"Yejun!" I laughed. Kat's face brightened up as she laughed with me. By the end of the day, Kat and I had to go home. "I'll walk you guys to the train station." offered Yejun, but I instantly shut him down. "We're fine! Don't worry, you need some rest."
"Alright bae, I'll see you later." My heart leapt. What did he just call me? Kat and I looked at each other and back at him. "Bae?" I parroted. "Apparently it's a term used by Americans for their partners, preferably people under 30. It also means poop in Danish."
I stared at him and shrugged. "Alright Yejun, I'll see you soon. And remember, if you need me... I'm only a phone call away. I will support you no matter what." He smiled and pulled in for a kiss. He stopped himself and looked at Kat. She pulled out her phone and looked away. Laughing, he kissed my nose and then my lips. "See you soon Len."
As soon as we walked down the block, a familiar face made Kat and I freeze. I never noticed him before. Was he hiding all of this time? His dark brown eyes held nothing but anger. Why didn't he stop where he was? Why would he keep on prying? My heart wildly throbbed in my chest. Kat grabbed my hand and squeezed it. We definitely got caught. He has evidence, he probably took pictures.
"You two make a cute couple."
A-fuckin'-laric.
--
Hana-nim - God
Anyeong - Bye
I hope you bums like this chapter! What do you want to see more in this story? What can I improve on? Be honest! Don't forget to comment and vote, or I'll break your kneecaps.