Chapter Twenty-One:

‘Tokyo really isn’t that far from here,’ Mina attempted to console Sejeong and myself. Another trip to the airport and another goodbye. And even if there is sadness residing inside me now, I need to smile and be happy for Mina. It’s her dream that she’s living and that’s a wonderful thing. How many of us are able to actually chase the dreams that we have? Not all of us get that opportunity in life and I’m happy for her.

‘You’ll see plenty of me, don’t you worry,’ Sejeong smiled, ‘I’m going to make sure that I book in Tokyo trips next month.’

‘Of course I will, somehow I can never seem to run away from you,’ Mina laughed in reply. When you’ve met someone that you just know that you want to keep in your life forever, there’s this bond that forms – a connection that tells you even if there is miles of water separating you, you still will be okay and that your friendship won’t die.

‘And you,’ Mina said, pointing at me as Sejeong pounced onto her with a hug, ‘I promise I’ll be back for your birth. There’s no way I’m missing this little one.’ And after letting go of Sejeong, it was my turn for a hug.

‘Gate for flight JQ230 for Tokyo will be closing in 15minutes. All remaining passengers please make your way to your gate now.’

The overhead speaker said, indicating that we were to wrap our small farewell meeting.

‘That’s me. I love you guys so much,’ she said with a big breath, tugged on her luggage and smiled as she went to go to start living her dream.

I’ve never been a parson with an extremely large friendship circle but the people within my circle do mean a lot to me. This circle directly around me though is slowly shrinking away

‘Hey, where are you?’

The sweet yet masculine voice on the other side of the phone line asked almost as soon as I answered my phone. Truthfully, I didn’t want to answer the phone. Not that I’m avoiding him or anything, it’s just that I don’t have much to say right now.

‘I’m at the airport right now, why?’

With nowhere to head off to in a hurry, I stayed at the airport for another half an hour before this call. Home is quiet without Daehwi there, work is a headache right now and there really isn’t anywhere else I could possibly be. Sejeong has to pack and get ready for a flight tonight and that just leaves me by myself.

I don’t mind being alone though. It’s interesting. Have you ever just sat somewhere and watched the people walk by you? Watch them live their lives and wonder what they are doing or where they are going? They say that curiosity killed the cat, but luckily for me I’m not a cat.

‘What are you doing there? Do you need a lift home?’ He asked.

‘No, it’s okay Minhyun. I drove here. What’s going on?’

Truthfully, we haven’t had much of an insightful conversation in the past couple weeks. It’s been the casual chit chat of ‘how are you feeling?’ or ‘if you need anything, let me know.’

I guess chit-chat is good right? No talking or even an argument would be bad. Being polite is good. Being polite to each other is the basics. And that’s how we should be interacting with each other – with a sense of politeness. Something that Soomin needs to display. I get a sense that she doesn’t like me at all, but the feeling is mutual. A sense of unease is felt with her around.

‘Can we talk, as in face to face? I need some advice’ he asked. Something about his voice sounded off though, maybe like he’s tired or something? I’m not too sure, but just not right.

‘Where are you? I’ll come to you.’

He then described a place all too familiar to me. A place familiar to him as well. But why did he go back there?

45 minutes. It took me 45 minutes to leave the airport and arrive at the park near our old high school. And there I found him with a black hoodie on swinging softly on the swing. His head down, eyes most likely staring at his shoes. A cold winter day, a park that’s been deserted for a while now and two people who once loved the area.

‘Hey,’ I softly said as I approached the swing set. ‘It’s cold out here, where’s your jacket?’ I said, well maybe nagged slightly as I pulled out a small hand warmer from my pocket and handed it to him.

‘Just thinking,’

He paused and he accepted the hand warmer and I sat on the seat of the swing besides his own one.
‘What does it feel like to know that you’ve disappointed your parents?’
His tone though, it wasn’t acquisitive though, it also wasn’t demeaning or degrading either.

‘That’s what you want to talk about?’

I asked as I began to rock the swing to match his pace.

The once lively painted play equipment all have faded and the paints have chipped off certain things. The once bright yellow slide is nothing more than dull plastic placed on an angle. The climbing frame that was once a bright fire truck red is now nothing more than a structure of metals all connected to each other. These items were once different – even if the skeleton and body are the same, the aura is different – they’ve changed.

He didn’t say another word but nodded to answer the question.

‘They look at you differently, like you’ve broken the most important thing in their world and it can just never be fixed,’ I answered truthfully.

Disappointment to your parent? I’m a live example right here. It’s like my entire life has gone against their wishes and their perfect story line – the constant outlier in their world has been me. The one that refused to follow along with their fairy-tale. The one that constantly went against what they wanted. The one that constantly disappointed was I.

‘But the thing is, you survive right? Your parents and you, are you guys okay