I Love Her

The early morning loud chatter and raucous laughter of students is hushed by an even louder roar of a motorbike. The students quickly scramble away to clear the path for the zooming black beast, which is closely followed by a red one racing just as fast and emitting equal amount of noise. When the two motorbikes park side by side and their ignitions are switched off, the silence hangs heavy in the still morning air only to be broken by the yelled bickering of the occupants of the two bikes.

“You lose, dino-face! Pay up!” shouts the rider of the black bike while still seated on his now-silent bike.

“No way, you fat-assed cheater! You made Gwiboonie distract me with her kissy faces,” the owner of the red bike screams back as he waits for his pillion rider to climb off.

Gwiboon pokes her tongue out and climbs off the back of victorious black bike. She steps nearer to her complaining boyfriend and presses her open lips to his. When the brief smooch looks to be turning into a hot face- kiss, she breaks away with a teasing laugh, “Jonghyunnie sweetheart, don’t complain. Jingles won the race fair and square. Now pay up and make Minnie kiss Jingles.”

The pillion of red bike nearly jumps off it and tries to scurry off. However, she is pulled back by a strong grip on her wrist. “Oh no, cherry lips, you agreed to kiss the winner when we started off from Gwiboon’s home,” Jinki winks at his tightly-gripped victim and puckers his lips.

Minjung closes her large eyes for a second and then opens them to send a pleading look at her friend. Her silent plea is met with laughter from Gwiboon who puts a hand on Minjung’s lower back and pushes her towards Jinki, “Remember what we talked about last night, Minnie. You need to socialize and make more friends. Kissing Jingles is the best way to establish yourself as a desirable butterfly.”

“I am happy being a wallflower,” Minjung mumbles. She knows her face is resembling a tomato in her embarrassment. For the sake of maintaining the ity of her lips, she tries to reason again with the amused trio, “Making me ride behind your boyfriend was bad enough, I never thought you will help Jinki win.” Her husky voice is barely audible.

Gwiboon leans to whisper in the taller girl’s ear, “Minnie, one taste of those plump lips and you will be addicted.” Jonghyun roars with laughter at her words. Gwiboon blows him a kiss and continues speaking to Minjung, “I swear Jinki is the best person to have your first kiss with.”

Minjung’s eyes open wider at her friend’s words and she takes another frightened look at Jinki, her eyes catching at the said plump lips. She shakes her head in a silent no as she watches Jinki pull her closer to where he stands straddling his bike. Her muscles paralyzed and brain frozen into inaction, Minjung’s fear turns to horror as Jinki puts his other hand at the back of her neck to pull her down, closer to his face. She stares at him with unblinking eyes.

Jinki gives her a reassuring smile and kisses her cheek. He grins and frees her from his hold. Minjung watches in silent, immobile fascination as Jinki traces his lips with his pink tongue tip and hums in pleasure. He murmurs only for her to hear, “I am not an ogre, my beautiful blushing redwood. Our first kiss will be only for the two of us to witness. I promise you, no one else will ever lay claim on your cherry lips. And you will give them up to me with a sweet smile, not a look of horror.”

Minjung gulps and closes her eyes, attempting to break the contact between them. Jinki nuzzles her cheek with his nose, at the spot his lips had recently tasted, and trails his nose to under her jaw. He inhales deeply and exhales softly. His hot breath against her skin brings Minjung back to life and she jumps away from him. She whirls around and without looking at them or any other student, she almost runs into the school building with her head down and her eyes glued to her feet.

Jinki looks at his best friend Jonghyun and his girl Gwiboon, to find them staring at him amusedly. He raises one brow in question at the couple and masks his face with nonchalance. He remains seated on his bike, wanting to savor his first close contact with Minjung. Jonghyun gets off his bike. Jinki absently notes the brief expression of resignation on his best friend’s face about his lack of height.

Gwiboon leans into her boyfriend and bends down a little to kiss him into smiling again, “Sweetheart, height is not the mark of a man. I won’t be taller than you, if you let me stop wearing heels and you begin wearing height insoles.”

Jonghyun nibbles her neck while shaking his head a little, “No way, baby. If you’ve got it, you might as well flaunt it. I really like the fact that my girlfriend is the tallest girl in school.”

Gwiboon bites his ear lobe before grinning, “But I no longer am. Minjung is even taller than me. That girl is all legs. I guess she is even taller than most boys in the school.”

Jonghyun lifts his face and laughs with her, “No doubt about it. She towers over this fat and I. But babe, how do you know our fat-assed bad boy’s lips are addicting? Have you been sampling them?”

Jinki makes a face at them and snorts, “As if I would want to kiss your fire-tongued girl. My lips are for the one I will love.”

Jonghyun kicks his best friend to protest the vilification of his girl, “What do you mean ‘will love’? You are in love. The ity of your lips and body has been in serious danger since the moment you laid eyes on our new student - Minjung. Don’t pretend experience when you have none, my boy. We are not part of the stupid girl brigade of this school who worship you as the school casanova, even when you have not shown interest in any girl till Minjung. Take our advice and make full use of every opportunity we put your way. Else, you will have guys confessing to you soon.”

“Jingles, you are such a dork,” Gwiboon joins her boyfriend in berating his best friend. “We gave you the perfect chance to kiss Minnie and make her see your feelings.” When Jinki glowers and opens his mouth to protest, she raises her hand to silence him, “Don’t interrupt me. Show your bad boy attitude to those who are scared by it. Save it for other students and teachers. It doesn’t impress us because we know why you do it, and it doesn’t help you win over Minnie. Another week and the school will be permanently over for all of us. Do you really think you can succeed with her in short seven days where you failed for the entire year?”

Jinki purses his lips and becomes thoughtful. Jonghyun is only momentarily conflicted about pitying his friend but he gives in to the little devil in him, “Jinki, I have lost count of the terrible ways you tried to win over Minjung. You put a cockroach in her bag to catch her attention on her first day of school. Then, you stuck chewing-gum in her long hair and she had to cut them short. You put itching powder down her back during class and she had to spend the entire day in school infirmary.”

When Jonghyun pauses for breath, Gwiboon takes over narrating the memories, unmindful of a frowning Jinki, “You stuck ‘I am a Wallflower’ note on her back and the tag has stuck to her through the year. You know she is shy and this is why she rarely speaks, still you called her ‘dumb’ in front of our entire class.”

Jinki murmurs, “I meant mute. But couldn’t remember the word.”

Gwiboon waves away his protest, “You dumb , you know she is second to only you in academics. It’s a puzzle to me, how you even manage your top grades when you hardly attend classes and never open a book at home. But I am digressing from the topic. Hmm, let me think what you did next to make Minjung’s life hell. You stole her lunches till she stopped bringing any. Then, like an overbearing bully, you made her give up her lunch money. Because of you sending her random notes in class, she ended up getting detention at least once a week. And what is this redwood nonsense now?”

Jinki murmurs again, “It is the tallest tree in the world and I happen to find redwood trees beautiful.”

Jonghyun laughs and Gwiboon shakes her head in amusement, “Jingles, why do you insist on acting like a kindergartener with his first crush? Why can’t you behave like a normal boy your age and woo her properly with flowers and gifts. Why not just tell her you like her?”

Jinki looks up from contemplating his nails. He looks at his two closest friends and then looks at the window of the class that Minjung is attending. He knows her class schedule better than his own. “Did it cross your mind that may be she is my first crush? Crush is too mild a word for what I feel. She is my first love. And I think, my only love. I know she is shy, why else would I ask you to befriend her Gwiboon, and share our lunch table and our school and after-school life? I have been trying to woo her the only way I know. Everything I did was to become her knight in shining armor.”

Jonghyun nods his head, getting a better understanding of his friend’s convoluted thinking. Jinki takes out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket and lights one. He takes a few puffs and exhales heart-shaped smoke. “Minjung!” Jinki whispers with a deep sigh and his gaze fixes on the window of her class. He feels happiness infuse his being with just breathing out her name. He does not face his friends as he begins to explain, “Didn’t I kill the cockroach for her? Her long hair were hiding her face and I need to see her face all the time, my chewing gum seemed the best option. I was punished by the teacher to work in the infirmary that day, and I used the itching powder to make her spend the day in the same room as me. The basketball captain was planning to ask her out, so I put the wallflower note on her. She is mine. She goes out with no one, but me.”

For once in her life, someone manages to rob Gwiboon’s power of speech. Jinki does not notice her open-mouthed shock and continues his explanation in a trance-like state, “When I called her dumb, I was feeling frustrated at the failure of my schemes and Minjung only looking at me mutely. She is the most intelligent girl I know.” Jinki ignores Jonghyun’s mumble of protest on his girl’s behalf. “I liked the food she brought. Her father’s cooking is the best. You remember my making her give up her lunch money but don’t remember the gourmet meals I had my chef pack and bring for all of us. If she buys her own lunch, how will she share those meals with us? And all those days of sending her notes, I got to see her during our shared detention. She has the most adorable habit of biting her lips to silence her frustration when the teacher gives her a detention slip. Her lips become redder making me want to run my thumb over them.”

“Jinki, why don’t you just give her chocolates and roses and tell her you like her? It is as simple as that. Why are you making it complicated?” Jonghyun’s suggestion has Gwiboon beaming at him in pride.

“I am not an insipid school boy, dino-face,” Jinki glares at his friend. “And, I love her. There is a big difference between liking and loving. I want her forever, not have a short, school-time fling with her. She deserves to be adored. I want to dedicate my life to keep her large eyes sparkling and her cherry lips smiling. I want to be the one and the only one in her shy heart.”

“Jingles, you are so smitten. Have you forgotten she is taller than you? My guess would be, as tall as your father,” Gwiboon levels her right hand two inches above her head. “And you are a tiny squirt, only five feet ten inches in height.”

“Five feet nine inches, babe. He is only an inch taller than me,” Jonghyun whines to correct her.

“Only in your dreams, sweetheart,” Gwiboon takes the sting out of her words by distracting him with a kiss.

“She is unique,” Jinki continues as if he wasn’t interrupted by his friends. He lights another cigarette to make more smoke hearts. “Can you imagine how tall our children will be? They will have her beautiful eyes and lips. Her slender physique, not my stockiness. She will be such a gentle mother. I want to have a posse of babies with her. No one else will do as mother of my kids, but her. I cannot think of anyone else beside me as I grow old.” He pauses in his uncharacteristic monolog and blushes pink when he realizes he has let his mouth run without control.

Gwiboon’s laughter makes Jinki focus on her instead of a windowpane. “You may want all you like, Jingles, but reality is a far cry from your dreams. She seems to be scared of you and your behavior towards her does not help at all. Give me one reason why a delicate girl like her should be with you?”

Jinki again raises a brow superciliously, “Because no one can cherish her like I do.”

“And does that make up for all the hell you raise in school on a regular basis?” Gwiboon snorts at him. “I think the only reason you are not yet expelled is because your father is the biggest donor every year and most students intern or work part-time in his company.”

Sudden burst of laughter from Jonghyun turns their focus on him. Once Jonghyun calms down, he explains, “I just remembered the time Jinki sent -laced brownies to the teachers’ room. I still have the recording of their antics. And we got a day off when the principal sent all the teachers home.” Jinki and Gwiboon begin to laugh at the memory. With his eyes dancing mischievously Jonghyun continues, “Or the time when you sneaked in to use school office stationary to print and distribute to all the students to bring their pets to school. The school was overrun with pets the next day.”

“Hey, I have one too,” Gwiboon adds her bit. “His best one was when he put the itching powder on the gym bleachers.”

“My personal favorite was making it snow during the summer when I got my home staff to add styrofoam bubbles in the school ventilation system. I wanted to see how wide eyed my redwood princess looks in the snow,” Jinki smiles as he reminisces about Minjung’s beauty in the fake snowfall.

Jonghyun smirks at Jinki’s far away expression, “My personal favorite is when you put the ‘out of order’ notice on all the school bathrooms. By the end of school day everyone was walking funny.”

Gwiboon giggles, “His cutest one was when he filled the school hallway with many piglets while everyone was busy in the auditorium on the first day. I wanted to adopt the little babies.”

Jonghyun raises himself up to kiss her lips and murmurs, “Wait a few years, babe. I will give you as many babies as your heart desires.”

Gwiboon pinches his nose to hide her embarrassment, “Who says I will have dino babies with you. I can’t wait for school to be over so I can be rid of you.”

“Don’t get sassy with me girl,” Jonghyun rubs his paining appendage on her neck. “The only body your beautiful hands will ever touch is mine. You better remember that I belong to you. You cannot leave me for anyone else.” He looks up at her with a forlorn expression in his eyes, “Are you telling me that my kitten is unhappy with her puppy? Am I so bad a boyfriend?”

“Aish! What am I going to do with my cry baby of a boyfriend?” Gwiboon quickly envelops Jonghyun in her arms and rubs noses with him.

Jinki looks away from the two and stares again at the window of Minjung’s class, his mind running at full speed to think of another plan to make Minjung his. He takes out his phone and makes a call, “Dad, can we invite a few more people for our holiday at Uncle Hae’s resort to celebrate my graduation?” He listens to his father’s response before continuing, “Yes, I know Gwiboon’s family is already invited. She wants to invite her new friend Minjung and her father also. I am sure Uncle Hae won’t mind.”

Jonghyun’s ears perk up at the mention of his father’s name. He stops kissing Gwiboon and listens to Jinki’s phone conversation. “No Dad, I don’t think Minjung’s father will be interested in your annual kick-boxing match with Uncle Siwon.”

Gwiboon interrupts the conversation to loudly yell, “Mom will kick Dad for the entire holiday, Uncle Yun. She didn’t speak to him for a month after he won the last match. She believes that as the younger of the two he should have shown more constraint and let you win.”

Jinki puts the phone on speaker for Gwiboon to hear his father’s response. He grins at how quickly their father-son conversation turns into a group discussion.

Jinki’s father snorts loudly, “But, Gwiboonie, he won it fairly. I have been practicing the entire year. There is no way he will win this time.”

Gwiboon giggles at the enthusiasm in his voice, “Uncle Yun, it’s not me you have to convince, but my mom. It was amusing to see my father whine continuously for an entire month.” Her eyes suddenly light up and she turns to Jonghyun, “Jonghyunnie, if you want me to have your babies, you have to defeat my father in kick-boxing.” While Yunho begins laughing his head off at Gwiboon’s condition, Jonghyun’s face loses all color.

Jinki comes to his friend’s rescue by playing the diplomat, “How about having a basketball match this year to include Minjung? We don’t want her to feel left out, do we?”

His father snorts in response, “How can we ever think of leaving ‘your’ Minjung out of anything?” Yunho emphasizes his knowledge of Jinki’s interest in Minjung, which Jinki pretends to ignore. “Son, you should be thinking of including her in your activities, not your parents’. We will invite her father to play basketball with us. I wonder if Eunha and Lady Hee will want to participate. They are getting old after all. And, leave Jonghyun out of our matches. Siwon will make mincemeat out of him, if he even hears the words Gwiboon and Jonghyun’s babies in the same sentence. And, Lady Hee will fight Siwon for who takes the first punch.”

“That’s the entire idea, Uncle Yun,” Gwiboon trills while her boyfriend still has to regain his lost color. He moans pathetically at the thought of going up against her father in anything.

Jinki intervenes again, “Uncle Siwon may go ballistic, but Aunt Hee will want to get them married there and then only. She still has not given up on having a baby sister for Gwiboon.”

“Ah, that!” Yunho’s voice loses some its happiness, “It’s unfortunate that they don’t have the large family they always dreamed of.” But he chuckles in the next instant, “Just imagine where you would be Jinki, if you had 24 younger siblings that I had originally planned? Your mother preferred to leave this world after just two, rather than bring any more of my kids on this earth. But no issues. You and Tae are equal to all of your non-existent brothers and sisters. What new mischief is percolating in your brain today?”

Jinki looks at the school window again and asks in a bored voice, “Can you send your secretary with a few bottles of ? I have a sudden hankering to add it to the cafeteria food today.” His father laughs.

Gwiboon gasps, “Jingles, no! Don’t do it. You will regret it all your life.”

“Gwiboonie is right, Jinki. Think of something else. The last person to add a stimulant to school food did not fare well,” Yunho’s voice becomes preoccupied with memories. “He was expelled, even though his parents were richer than us.

Jonghyun’s attention is diverted from thinking about Gwiboon’s father, “What did he do, Uncle Yun?”

“He added alcohol to the cafeteria food,” Yunho informs with a voice heavily laced in regret, “I lost my best friend to that prank.”

“He is right, Jingles. Don’t do it. can cause health problems or have unwanted side effects. And we have students who are not all that healthy,” Gwiboon puts her phone in front of Jinki to read what her quick cyber search has shown. “You are lucky, none of the teachers ended up in hospital after eating your pot-laced brownies. We’ll help you with Minjung during the holiday.

Jinki sighs and bids goodbye to his father, “Come on you two. I want to see her. I have already lost enough time today.”