“Should I go with him?” So Eun asked herself as she lay lazily on the bed. She rolled over on to her stomach, and grabbed the little stuff teddy bear she was given when she was five. She had loved the stuff animal, it was the first gift her father ever gave her, and was also the last. He had died the month after he had given her the stuff animal. She hugged it tight, as she thought of the memories she had had with her father, though there wasn’t much, she still treasured them. What would happen if I left mother and Hye Sun? Would they be able to manage? She asked herself. In the end, she decided to push it aside, and think about the matter later, like she usually would do.
“Is it asking too much for a person to leave their family, to a foreign place with her boyfriend?” Kim Bum asked Jae Joong. They were in the apartment So Eun had stayed not very long ago. Though now it seemed empty and a bit lonelier. They were playing video games, and pool.
“Who are you talking about?” Jae Joong asked as he hit the last ball into the hole at the far end of the table.
“So Eun, I asked her if she wanted to leave Seoul, but she rejected.”
“Well, So Eun really cares about her family. It’s her life, and she would die protecting her family.” Jae Joong laughed.
“I know… I just…” He wanted to say he wanted to protect her from her sister, just in case they would use her again, but he knew if he told Jae Joong, he would surely laugh at him.
“Well, don’t worry about it too much, it’s not that she wants to reject you, it’s just because she doesn’t want to leave her mother and sister.” Kim Bum looked down at the floor, and then looked up again. He took the T.V. remote on the little glass coffee table, and the T.V. After finding that nothing exciting was on, he turned off the T.V. He took out his phone, and dialed So Eun’s number.
“Hello?” She said when she finally answered the phone.
“So Eun…” He started. He wanted to ask her if she changed her mind, but he decided that it would be better to just let her tell him herself when she was ready. “It’s nothing; I just wanted to tell you… I love you.” After those words, he hung up.
So Eun didn’t know what to do, she knew Kim Bum must have a reason for wanting her to leave with him, she just didn’t know what her mother would say to this, and what Hye Sun would do. She decided that there was no harm asking. She found her mother at the dining table, and sat down in the chair beside her.
“Mother,” She said. “What would you say if I were to leave Seoul with a friend of mine?”
“What do you mean?” Her mother asked as she looked up from the newspaper she was reading. “Leave? Why? What’s wrong with Seoul?”
“Nothing’s wrong, it’s just…”
“Who are you going to go with?”
“Kim Bum…” She replied, “He’s my… boyfriend.”
“You have a boyfriend? Kim Bum? That name sounds familiar…” It was silent for a moment, while her mother thought of where she had heard the name, and at last she remembered. “Kim Bum! Oh! Isn’t that the rich boy?”
“Mother, he’s…” She was going to say he wasn’t rich, but now that she had thought about it, he was rich.
“Oh! If it’s Kim Bum, then it’s all good, you can go as long as you’d like, I’m sure that he’d take very good care of you.” So Eun was thrilled, though she was still a bit worried about her mother.
“Mother, are you going to be okay?”
“I’m going to be fine, don’t worry about me, I have Hye Sun. Now go pack, and tell your boyfriend of yours to get you a plane ticket!”
“Thanks Mom!” So Eun screamed as she kissed her mother on the cheek. She decided to call Kim Bum to tell him the good news.
“Oppa!” She said when he answered.
“So Eun?”
“I’ve got something to tell you… Come to the park near my home.” Kim Bum agreed, hung up, and grabbed his jacket in the closet.
“Where are you going?” Jae Joong asked, surprised.
“So Eun said she has something to tell me, I’m going to meet her. Bye.” He put on his jacket, and left. It was long before Kim Bum arrived at the park. He found So Eun on a swing, struggling to swing. She tried pushing herself backward, and then forward, but it failed. When he arrived, he pushed the swing for her, so that she actually swung, and took the swing beside her.
“What did you want to tell me?” He asked.
“I… That think you said the other day, I will leave Seoul with you.”
“You will?” He asked in shock. He thought she would never agree to it, since she already rejected her once. She nodded.
“I’ve thought about it, there’s got to be a reason why you want to take me away, and my mother said she’d be fine. Maybe I’ll have to come back once in a while to take a look at her, but I’ll go.” He stopped her swing, and hugged her tightly.
“Thanks.”
“Why are you thanking me? You’re the one paying for my plane ticket and the place that I’m going to live in…and—“
“Food?” He asked with a little laugh.
“Be Quiet!” She shouted as she broke the hug. “The only reason why I need you to pay for everything is because…” She stopped, “Because I’m too poor…” She said hesitantly. Her eyes became teary, she had wanted to become equal with Kim Bum, but she knew, if she left Seoul with him, she would have no money at all to pay for the expenses.
“It’s okay, I have too much money to spare anyways, and it wouldn’t hurt to feed another.” He joked, “I was planning to feed you and care for you for the rest of my life anyways.” So Eun hugged him, and he kissed her on the forehead.
“I love you.” He said as he hugged her more tightly.
“I love you too.” She answered, and gently placed her lips on his.