On My Way To You - 9

Seunghyun~~ The girl is driving me crazy

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I woke up feeling all sore especially the muscles on my back and butt. No wonder, I groaned. I slept on the hardwood floor. I looked around as I tried to work out the kinks on my neck and did some leg stretching. Park is still sleeping soundly, curled up on the small couch.

I don’t remember when or how we slept amidst the entire ruckus that the storm was bringing. There’s a cold draft of wind coming in from somewhere into the house and its freaking cold. I hope that the worst has passed. Coming up on my knees, preparing to get up, I heard Park mumbling in her sleep.

I couldn’t hear clearly at first so I knelt closer to hear what she’s saying. She was mumbling incoherent words but I clearly heard one clearly and it was the name of Jiyong. I shook my head and sighed. Love is a bitch. I pity the poor girl. I, too, was broken like her once. Fully standing up, I went to my room and fetched a blanket to cover her. I recalled her words last night. She said we’re broken. Am I still? I guess I am. When I think of Min Ah, there’s always a pain deep inside of me that my heart remembers.

Dispelling the feelings of melancholy this early morning, I decided to take a bath and look for breakfast. It’s already half past eight in the morning. I called Jjangme and he told me that breakfast has been served at the community hall since eight. I briefly contemplated if I should wake up Park but decided not to. I’ll just ask Jjangme to save her some food.

I came back to the house after three hours because I was held up by the magazine crew as we reviewed all the shots. Thank God that the hall has a power generator because electricity was cut due to the storm. I also grabbed the opportunity to get my iPhone charged and although the signal was spotty because of the storm, a lot of people were on queue to get their phone batteries charged as well.

I was hearing some sounds coming from inside the house and I was surprised to see Park in the middle of the living room watching the TV when I went in.

She turned, hearing me come in and broke into a wide smile followed by a loud welcome. “Chinggu!”

I groaned, my left palm on my forehead. Oh,no. Not again.

I marched to where she’s sitting which is in the middle of the small living room, hugging the tin kettle to herself. Her complexion looks red from the alcohol and I wonder if she’s turning into an alcoholic. Why was I stuck with an alcoholic manager who can’t even hold her liquor?

This is not good. Not good at all.

There was a time when I also turned to alcohol to numb the pain but thank God I was able to wean away from it with the help of the constant nagging of my mother and sister.

Right now, this girl needs some serious intervention.

“Give me that” I sternly ordered, my hand outstretched.

Her brows furrowed and hugged the kettle tighter.

“Give me!” I reached for it but she doubled over as if absorbing the thing into her thin body. “Yah!”

She gave a good fight but of course, she never stood a chance against me. She ended up lying on the floor and almost snarled at me like a kid whose candy was stolen.

I held up the kettle triumphantly and smirked at her. Only … What the?!  The kettle was empty! Why fight me off over an empty kettle?!

I bit off the words I wanted to say and closed my eyes. Let it go, Seunghyun. The girl seriously needs help.

“Why are you drunk so early in the morning? I only left you for a few hours and I come back with you in this state. I mean are you planning to drown yourself in alcohol? Is this how you plan to spend the rest of your life?” O-kay … my voice came out harsher than I originally intended.

She gave me an injured look. “It was not my fault” she sniffed. “Ahrabujji came this morning to check the house and brought some eggs. He then mentioned that he’s been longing to drink makgeolli since last night so I told him that we borrowed some and he said it was okay. So then I cooked some ramen for the two of us and again, he mentioned that he wanted to drink but his daughter won’t let him have any so I took pity on him so I offered to be his drinking companion. You should have seen him,” she beamed, pausing after saying all those words like one long sentence. “His face lit up like a Christmas tree! And see? He even turned on the generator! What luck that the house we’re stayin’ on have a generator, right? And look,” she crawled on all fours and gathered the DVDs scattered on the floor. “His wife was a drama addict like me so he said that I can keep them all. He was really sad talking about his dead wife. He said that she was the only woman that he loved all his life. Can you believe that they were married for 60 years when she died 2 years ago? Nobody stays married or in love that long anymore …” she trailed off and got a sad, faraway look on her face.

“What about Jjangme? I told him to check on you” I said changing the subject.

Her eyebrows rose. “You didn’t see him? He just left together with ahrabujji … you must have missed each other …” She then laughed, “Jjangme is funny when he’s drunk. Did you know that he do perfect imitations of Psy Oppa?” Park started laughing like crazy. “You should have seen him …” she cackled.

I feel the beginning of a headache at the back of my head. I let out a long drawn sigh and slumped heavily on the sofa and began massaging my temple. I let her fit of laughter pass and kept my silence.

After a while, she finally stopped and put a disc into the player and sat cross legged in front of the television. “Did you know that this was the first drama I got hooked on?” She said without taking her eyes away from the TV when the opening scene came on.

With nothing to do, I stayed to watch. I remember this drama. It’s what made So Ji Sub famous. I would never admit it but I, too, used to watch this together with my Mom and noona back in high school. Hey, it’s not like I had a choice. It’s either that or no TV at all. I even grew up without having my own computer. My mother was too afraid that I’ll be tempted to check out the inappropriate contents available on the internet she said. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I am also kinda technology challenged. Maybe that’s the reason why I never attempted to open or join any social media. Anyway, back to the drama.

Park has gone silent. She was really immersed in watching. At the end credits of the first episode, I heard a series of quiet sniffles. I was lying on the couch by this time; half of my feet are dangling on the armrest because it’s too short. I surreptitiously glanced over at Park and she was hunched over and hugging her knees to her chest.

“Ya, are you crying?”

“Huh? I’m not!” she denied right away although I managed to get a glimpse of the glistening tears on her face.

“What is it about now?” I tried to sound very patient.

“Nothing, okay?”

I let it go at that and by the end of the second episode; it was unmistakably obvious that she was crying no matter how she tried to deny it.

“Park, can you try not to cry even for just a day please?”

“I told you, I-I’m not” again she denied with a sniff.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m trying to watch here …”

She hugged her knees tighter.

“Do you like this drama that much?” I asked.

She answered but in mumbles.

“What did you say? I can’t understand you.”

She lifts her head and looks at me. “I said I just realized how Im Soo-jung and I are so similar.”

I laughed. “Are you delusional? How are you similar? She’s a goddess and you’re …”

She cut her eyes at me and lifts her upper lip in a sneer. “That’s not what I meant …hmp!”

“And what, pray tell, do you mean?” Teasing her is fun than watching TV.

“I mean, that her character is also a stylist in the drama and she was in love with a famous singer who was also her best friend but he was in love with a famous female celebrity. I just realized how close to my real life the story is …”

“You mean you think you’re Soo-jung here and Jiyong is Yoon, is that it?” Her expression said it all that I was spot on my deductions. “If CL is Min-joo, then who is So Ji Sub?”

“You know what?” she said irritated, “never mind.” She turned her back on me and focused her attention fully on the drama.

With nothing better to do, I stayed and watched as well and couldn’t help but notice when Park surreptitiously tries to wipe away her tears during the tear jerker parts now and again. She really is a cry baby. I was tempted to tease her about it but she tries so hard to not be obvious with her crying, so I resisted.

After a while, she asked if I’ve ever been to Australia. I told her I’ve never been. “Why?”

“Let’s go to Australia!” she said excitedly.

“Why?” I asked again although I’m pretty sure what her answer will be.

“I might meet my So Ji Sub there!” she answered, all smiles with her hands clasped in front of her.

I let out a chortle. “Yah! You’re delusional. ‘You still drunk? Do you even hear what you’re saying?”

She looked at me unkindly and rolled her eyes with an audible sniff. Yeah, she got that rolling of the eyes to a perfect-T.

“Do you even remember what happened to his character? You do realize that they both died in the end, right?”

“I know.” Park said in a small voice. “When I first watched this, I couldn’t understand the ending … I mean, why did she have to die too, you know? … I thought it was a stupid ending … but now, I think I can somehow understand why she decided to die …” Park said in a quivery voice. “What’s the use of living if your heart died with the one you love?” She hugged her knees closer to herself again.

“I hope you’re not thinking of doing anything stupid” I cautioned. To lighten the subject a bit, I added with a laugh, “At least, not during my watch…”

She answered with a mirthless laugh, looking at me. “Don’t worry … I was too much of a coward when I tried-“ she cut off her sentence suddenly with her eyes going wide, as if catching herself revealing too much.

I sat straight up and focused on her but she turned her face away and cleared her throat. “I-I’ll check what I can do about lunch” she said, scampering away leaving me to think about what she accidentally revealed.

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Lunch or more of early dinner was uneventful and Park was quiet all through our meal. I continued watching I’m Sorry, I Love You and Park excused herself after taking a shower that she’ll sleep early.

I, too, tried sleeping after showering but I couldn’t for the life of me make myself sleep. I went back to the living room and continued watching the freaking drama and I still couldn’t feel any drowsiness. I tried fiddling my phone and looked for signal around the house to no avail. I don’t know how long we’ll be stuck in this island. I heard from the locals that the storm may pass by morning but we still have the waves to worry about so we may not leave that easily. I sighed. I turned the TV back on and switched it to the news. The reception was very poor so I turned it back off and lay on the sofa with my right arm over my eyes, willing them to sleep but I was more awake than ever.

I decided to raid the fridge when the light flickered. I stopped but decided to ignore it and was crouched searching for other fruits aside from apples when it flickered again. I then decided that I wasn’t really hungry and hurried to my room. I’ll try to make myself sleep again and my sudden change of mind has nothing to do with the howling wind and noises outside or the flickering lights.

Another half an hour may have passed but I was still widely awake. All of a sudden, the light in the bedroom flickered continuously. I sat up in bed and turned on the flashlight on my phone just in time when darkness enveloped the whole house.

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Dara ~~ The diva is a scaredy-cat

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Something woke me from my deep slumber. I tried to make myself go back to sleep without opening my eyes but a nagging feeling forces me awake. I hesitantly opened one eye first then the other slowly, glancing around until I looked towards the right side of my bed and I immediately jolted wide awake and almost fell down. I would have screamed out loud in fright had it not been for my heart jumping to my throat rendering me voiceless from shock. Sitting absolutely still at the foot of my bed is freaking Choi Seunghyun!

“What the hell?!” I screamed after a few seconds when I recovered my sense of speech. “Are you trying to scare me to death?!” I sat on my bed still clutching my rapidly beating heart. If my stares are daggers, Choi would be dead bleeding by now.

“I’m sorry” said Choi in a contrite and small voice. “We lost electricity and this is the only candle left that I could find.” Lifting the almost stump of a candle on a saucer in a pitiful state.

My heartbeat has considerably slowed down by now and I was able to take a closer look at Choi. He was pale and wide-eyed and looked very much like a little child who’s either about to cry or scare the hell out of you. My brows furrowed, still a little bit pissed at him for giving me a fright. “You almost gave me a heart attack!” I accused. “You reminded me of that kid from The Grudge!” God, I hate that movie. It frightened me to death and kept me awake for how many days after watching it.

He looked away and stared at the inch long candle and the steady flame. “I’m sorry”, he mumbled.

I was silent for a long time, my mind blank. I remained sitting on my bed clutching my blanket and watched Choi watching the dwindling candle. When the flame started flickering, signalling that it’s almost about to go out, my brain started working again. The generator must have run out of fuel and I’m pretty certain that there are no more candles hidden in the house. With a sigh, I asked him, “What do you want to do? It’s two o’clock in the morning …” I took a glance at my phone. “Do you want to join the others in the community hall? They might have some candles there …”

He shrugged his shoulders and sat slumped. I sighed. I can hear the rain outside. It had stopped when I went to bed.

Rolling my eyes heavenward, I sat up straighter and let out another sigh. “Do you want to sleep here?”

His eyes swivelled at me with a hopeful look.

Ugh, Great!

I moved to the left side of the bed dejectedly. “Just for tonight,” I said.

He needed no urging. Choi immediately dove under my covers and plumped his pillow and lay down.

“Don’t think of doing anything funny.” I warned.

“Don’t worry” he answered, lying sideways with his back turned on me. “You’re not my type. I might as well say the same to you” said the cocky bastard as he tried getting comfortable on my bed and began pulling the entire blanket to him selfishly. “I know you’ve been imagining what my body looks like … you might get tempted.”

“On second thought, I think you would be more comfortable sleeping on the floor, Choi.”

He stayed still. Then, he stretched out the blanket and offered me half of it. “Goodnight” he said in a conciliatory tone, settling on his side.

He was already snoring before my back hit the bed again.

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A/N:

I am feeling mighty generous because I really enjoyed the AONManila concert! It was the B.E.S.T.!!!

A big THANK YOU to those who took time to give their feedback. I had fun reading your comments! I’m sorry if I’m not the kind of author who replies to each and every comment but I do read them all.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I name my Chapters according to the POV of the character. This time, I decided to publish both Seunghyun’s and Dara’s in one go because I felt like the chapter is not long enough. As I go along, I will also be presenting the POV’s of the other characters.

Song for the day is the OST from I’m Sorry, I Love You – Snow Flower by Park Hyo Shin. If you’re not familiar with that K-Drama, it’s a really sad makjang and this video will give you an idea about what it is => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee8n4q8t99A

If you have comments, suggestions or violent reactions, feel free to state your case below.

*bisous*

~mzbookworm4life