A Month Later
I was walking downstairs with Beverly. As we entered the kitchen area, we could see Eddie helping eomma cooking some pancakes and heard Bill and Richie talking with appa at the breakfast table. Stan and Mike were outside, exploring the garden.
“Yesterday, I heard two tacos sleeping in a bed,” appa said. “One suddenly turns to the other and says, “Taco dirty to...”
“My sausage,” Richie finished the line as he smirked.
“Hahaha, Richie, you got me there!” appa laughed. “Anyways, this is just a lame pun that dads like me make.”
“And it looks like Beverly and Jasmine are finally here,” Bill said, looking at the two of us.
I gave appa a short morning hug before I hugged Richie.
“How’s your sleep, buttercup?” Richie asked.
“Good,” I answered. “I slept like a baby.”
“Aegiya, everyone,” eomma called as she carried some plates of pancakes over to the table. “Breakfast is ready...wait, Hyeonsuk, aegiya?”
“Eomma,” I said, breaking off from Richie to hug her. “Did you cook pancakes? It smells so good.”
“Yes, and Eddie helped me with that,” eomma smiled. “He is such a sweet and helpful boy.”
“Thanks, Mrs. J,” Eddie shyly thanked her.
“Well, you guys can eat now, I’m going to get Stan and Mike,” Beverly said.
“A-Alright, Beverly,” Bill replied as his cheeks went pink.
After Beverly, Stan, and Mike had returned inside, we all ate the pancakes on each of our plates. While eating we also discussed a bit more of what happened last month.
“Can we not talk about this?” Stan asked. “That experience makes me so sick.”
“Alright, then what?” Richie retorted.
“I gotta tell you all something,” I told the others solemnly as I finished my breakfast. “Appa, eomma, I’ll be going to the garden, and guys, meet me at the garden.”
“Okay, aegiya,” eomma replied.
They all nodded and a few minutes later, they were finished their breakfast. Beverly led the other six outside to the backyard. As soon as they saw me by the blackberry hedge, we all gathered around and sat in a circle.
“I thought I was dead. That’s what it felt like. I saw us, saw us together, back in the cistern,” I said. “But we were older...I mean, our parents’ ages…”
“W-w-w-what were we all doing there?” Bill asked.
“I just remembered how we felt, how scared we were, I don’t think I can ever forget that,” I answered.
Then Bill stood up and picked up a fallen bramble twig nearby.
“Swear, swear if IT ever comes back, we’ll come back too,” Bill declared.
Agreeing to all that he said, both Beverly and I stood up before the others did the same. Bill then pricked his hand with one of the thorns on the branch before he did the same to Richie, Eddie, Mike, Stan, Ben, and Beverly.
When Bill was about to pierce the thorn onto my palm, I began to get nervous. I knew IT may be defeated for now, but I still felt a tight knot in my stomach whenever I did see blood. I looked around at everyone before I exhaled and closed my eyes.
He took my hand closer before I could feel the thorn puncturing my palm’s skin. I winced a little from the pain as I opened my eyes. We all silently held each other’s hands together to establish a blood oath to defeat Pennywise once and for all if IT ever came back again.
After a while, we released our hands when Richie broke the silence afterwards.
“So, what now?”
“How about let’s play Truth or Dare,” Beverly said as I was yet to notice the naughty glint in her eyes.
“I’m good with that,” I agreed. “But, first, we need to wash our hands first.”
All of them nodded, and the eight of us went inside immediately, searching for the kitchen sink. Eomma and one of the maids also happened to be there, washing the dishes.
“Aegiya, what is that on your hand?” eomma asked as she looked at our hands worriedly. “Your hand is bleeding.”
“Oh, it’s just...we made an oath,” I reassured. “I’ll explain it later, eomma.”
“Okay,” eomma said. “I’ll get a first aid kit for you guys.”
All of us then thanked eomma, and after eomma applied betadine, band-aids, and bandages on our hands, I led them to the drawing room to play the game. We decided that Bill should be the first one to ask.
“So Mike, truth or dare?”
Half an Hour Later
We carried on with the game. After quite a while, everyone, except for me, already had at least one turn.
Then Ben asked me, “Jasmine, truth or dare?”
I hesitated for a moment. Should I pick truth or dare? But since my friends and I had managed to defeat the monster clown, I knew that I should be braver than just a single dare. Anyways, Ben seemed to be nice enough to give me at least something not embarrassing.
“I’ll choose dare,” I said with confidence.
“I dare you to kiss Richie,” Ben said innocently.
Oh no, what am I getting myself into, I thought to myself as my cheeks started to burn up.
“Can I just…” I started before Richie cut my words.
“Aww, come on, buttercup,” Richie said before he gave a knowing smirk. “You can’t deny it anymore.”
I could see amusement on their faces as I stood up and went over to Richie, who just stood up, waiting for me.
“Alright,” I quietly tried to calm myself down before I closed my eyes and leaned in to touch his lips.
He instantly returned it as he wrapped my neck with his arms. Despite him being so intense all the time, the kiss was surprisingly soft and gentle. Not long, I could hear the others cheering and hollering at us.
“Finally,” Beverly rallied from behind “Jaz got some lovin’.”
“I gotta admit Beverly,” Stan laughed. “They are such a cute couple.”
We broke off the kiss a few seconds later, and after a few more rounds of the game, we saw Stan going upstairs.
“Wait, are you going home right now?” I asked him, causing him to look at me.
“Soon, I just want to get my bag first,” he answered.
“Alright, then,” I said.
After Stan got his bag and went back downstairs, I saw the others going upstairs too. They went back to the drawing room as soon as they got their bags. We talked to each other for a while when we saw Stan standing up.
“I’ll see you later,” he said and walked away from the room with his bag.
“Goodbye, Stan,” Mike said.
Then Eddie, Mike, and Ben did the same and left my house, leaving Bill, Richie, Beverly, and me left.
“You all packed for Portland?” Bill asked Beverly.
“Yeah, pretty much,” she answered. “I’m going tomorrow morning.”
“How long will you be gone?” I asked sadly.
“My aunt she says I can stay for as long as I want,” she replied.
“Damn, carrothead,” Richie said. “You’re really going? For good?”
“Yes, Richie,” Beverly said.
“We’re gonna miss you a lot, Bev,” I told her as the three of us hugged her.
“See you three around,” she said as she picked up her bag and walk away.
I waved at her when Bill also got his bag and said to Richie and me.
“I-I-I’m going home, Jasmine.”
“Well, bye Bill,” I said.
“Farewell, Billiam!” Richie waved at our friend as we saw him dashing through the entrance while we walked into the hall.
“Jasmine, I gotta tell you something,” Richie said, facing me.
“What is it?” I guessed.
“S-Saranghae (1),” he confessed as both of his hands held mine. “Yes, since we first met,...when we were just little kids. I mean when you first defended me from Bowers.”
At that moment, memories of my first day at Derry Elementary flooded my mind. I admitted that it was definitely not a good memory, but it wasn’t entirely bad either.
I was walking, excited for what the school had to offer, when I saw a gang of four big boys bullying a young boy. The boy had brown curls and wore huge glasses, which made me go “aww” for a second. As scared as I was of the big boys, I still couldn’t help seeing him getting hurt.
“Hey! You over there,” I shouted, thus distracting the four from the small boy. “Please stop hurting him.”
“Ooh, are you a new student?” Henry went on to ask me.
“Yes, but I still don't like this,” I replied. “He didn't do anything to get this.”
“Well, you know what? He is just a loser, just like his maggot friends,” Henry jeered at me.
I then looked at him, puzzled and mad at the same time. “Maggots? What are they?”
“Don't you understand? They are bugs, just like them and now you,” Henry screamed at me before getting his goons behind him. “Let's get her, boys!”
They dragged me outside afterwards. They shoved me over to the mud puddles and peed on me there. I could hear others laughing at me as I shut my eyes closed and cried. It was before one of the teachers called us that class was starting soon.
After all the chaos, I finally opened my eyes, feeling dirty from looking at the mess. While I stood up to go to the bathroom, I saw four boys walking towards me. One of them seemed very familiar to me from his glasses.
I didn’t know what to say next when the boy with glasses approached me.
“Thank you for protecting from Bowers, and by the way, my name’s Richie,” he said before pointing out the other boys to me. “That’s Bill, that’s Eddie, and that’s Stan.”
“It’s nice to meet all of you guys,” I replied. “My name is Jasmine. What class do we have next?”
“W-W-We are going to have English next,” Bill said.
“Good to know,” I smiled before all of us went back inside the school.
I smiled weakly as my mind diverted back to reality.
“I gotta be honest with you,” I stated. “I like you too. I mean...”
“Do you want to be my y-yagiya (2a)?” Richie finished.
“Richard, it’s not yagiya, it’s jagiya (2b), and of course I do!” I excitedly told him before we hugged and kissed again. This time, the kiss was much more powerful and passionate.
When I heard footsteps behind, I gasped, breaking off the embrace to only see appa and eomma smiling at the two of us.
“Appa?” I questioned, surprised that they were here. “Eomma?”
Eomma only laughed lightly as appa said, “Hahaha, aegiya, already had your first kiss, huh?
“Old man, I actually first kissed her in the sewers,” Richie said.
“Oh, son, that’s not what I expect,” appa chuckled. “But I gotta like that you got the balls to do so,” he added before eomma playfully slapped his arm.
“Ah, yeobo (3)!” appa pleaded before he looked at the clock. “Wait, I need to go to work.”
“Eunbyul, aegiya, annyeong (4), and bye Richie.” appa said as kissed eomma goodbye before walking towards the front door.
“Eomma will be going upstairs,” eomma told us.
“Okay,” I replied.
As we saw eomma walking up the stairs, Richie looked at me and said, “I gotta go now. Meet me at the kissing bridge around three on Sunday?”
“Alright then,” I answered as he went back to the drawing room to get his bag.
I remained standing in the hallway, thinking to myself of all the memories made this summer. I was still feeling sick about getting kidnapped by IT, let alone facing IT all by myself even if my friends were around. On the bright side though, this summer also brought out the best memory in my life.
And that was none other than Richie Tozier, my honeybee.
-
Note
(1) “saranghae” (사랑해) means “I love you”
(2a) “yagiya” (야기야) is actually a mispronunciation of “jagiya” (2b; 자기야), which means “partner” or “boyfriend/girlfriend.”
(3) “yeobo” (여보) means similar to jagiya, but is used by married couples.
(4) “annyeong” (안녕) means “goodbye” (it can also mean “hello”).