Cheundong

Lee Changsun is just one person that I will never understand. That was why, when he showed up at my trailer with a girl dripping blood all over my carpet in tow, I didn’t even question him. I knew that he was involved in some bad things, and I didn’t want any part of it.

He wasn’t always like this. Back when his parents were still alive and we had been neighbors, I knew him well. He read like an open book back then. Even through high school, when he was being raised by some more than questionable people, we were still close. It wasn’t until after when we’d drifted apart.

Well, drifted wasn’t the right word for what happened. Joon didn’t want me anywhere near his occupation, fearing that I would get hurt, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near his occupation, because I thought it was just downright wrong. We avoided each other like the plague even though we loved each other like brothers.

As I looked through the shelves of the nearest convenience store, searching for gauze, I couldn’t help wonder what had happened this time. Joon looked like he had been in a fight, and the girl had lost a lot of blood from a bullet wound in the arm. Was she another mafia member? Why had Joon come to my place of all places?

I was gone for no more than an hour, but when I got back to the trailer, Lee Joon was nowhere to be found. I sat down on the bed next to the sleeping girl, and wondered helplessly what to do. What had he gotten me into?

Turning to the bedside table, I saw the picture that I kept of us from gradation, as well as the note that was stuck over our faces.

Cheundong,

Please take care of her while I’m gone

Joon.

There was nothing else I could do. It wasn’t as if I could, or ever would, throw an injured girl out onto the street. I took the washcloth from the girl’s forehead, and re-wetted it with cold water. As I went to put it back on her head, I got a good look at her face for the first time.

She was the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen. I felt my heart beat faster as I set the cloth down gently and ran a finger down her cheek. Even as her brows furrowed from an unpleasant dream, her appearance was breathtaking, with milky white skin and dark, silky hair.

I decided to just let her sleep that night, and instead, found refuge on the sofa with a few extra blankets. That night, I dreamed of bullets, high speed motorcycle chases, and Joon’s hyungs coming after me for god knows what reason.

The girl didn’t start stirring until almost noon. I saw her long eyelashes flutter as she stifled a yawn, blinking sleepily.

I took a seat next to her, and took the cloth off her head. “How are you feeling?” I asked, trying to not scare her.

“I’m…all-right,” she replied, giving me a long look. She tried to bring her arm up, and winced, eyes closed in pain for a long moment. When she opened them again, she had fought back the pain. “Who-...where am I?”

“My name is Park Sanghyun, and this is my place.” I explained. “Lee Joon brought you here last night. Let me take a look at your arm.”

I carefully unwrapped the bloody bandages, and checked out her wound. The injury itself wasn’t too bad and she had just lost a lot of blood the night before.

She winced again, fighting to put on a brave face.

“Your place?” She paused as I reached for clean gauze and started to re-bandage her arm. “Kamsahamnida.”

“What is going on?” I asked, finally leaning back. “Joon didn’t really say. He just left this note and left.”

I handed her the sticky note, and the girl read it. A weird, strained look came over her face, and then she sighed.  

“I don’t even know what going on,” she admitted, a tone of desperate clear in her voice. “I just got shot and I don’t even understand why. But then, Joon was always like that.”

“Is he….your....”

“My ex-boyfriend.” The girl fixed her dark eyes on me with a solemn gaze.

Of course, someone as beautiful as she would have dated someone as handsome as Joon. Still, that doesn’t explain why she had come in with a bullet in her arm.

“And are you…part of the….?” I didn’t know how to ask it. How exactly do you go around asking someone if they were part of the Korean mafia and killed for a living?

“My name is Ahn Ailee,” she interrupted, “and I’m just an architect.”

  --------------------------------------------------------------

 Over the next week, Ailee got progressively better. Her movement was still limited in her right arm, and I fed her most her food, something she was mortified and horribly embarrassed about.

“It’s no big deal,” I told her, holding warm soup to her lips.

She glared at it, as if the chicken had done her a personal wrong, but then opened and ate it.

“This ,” she stated, swallowing. I couldn’t help it. A grin slipped onto my face as I put down the bowl and reached for the bread. “No, I’m serious,” she repeated. “This blows.”

However, when she caught my eye, her fake pout turned into a giggle, and then a laugh. The next thing I knew, we were both doubled over in laughter for no reason.

By the end of the first week, she could move her arm, and was glad of it. She could finally start doing things for herself, and it made her feel better.

For the past week, I had also been sleeping on my van. I only had one bed, and I didn’t want to freak Ailee out by being in the same room. As a man and a woman who have only been friends for a week, it would have been inappropriate of me to stay with her in the same room.

She woke me up one night during the second week when I was in the van, after I thought she had gone to sleep.

“What are you doing out here, Cheundong?” she asked, propping her left elbow onto the window with a puzzled smile.

She had started using my nickname almost immediately after I had told her about it, and it felt right coming out of .  

I adjusted my blanket, and smiled back at her. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable,   so I’ve been sleep out here,” I told her.

“This looks even more uncomfortable.” Ailee yanked open the door and dragged me out with her good arm. “Come one, let’s go back in.”

“Aniyo, it’s-”

But it was no use. Her left arm was surprisingly strong, and truthfully, I didn’t fight all that hard.

“You can still take the bed,” I said immediately, settling down on the couch.

“Fine, as long as you stay in here.” Ailee climbed back under her blankets, and I looked around for extra pillows and blankets.

I made myself comfortable on the couch, and our eyes met in the dim room.

Instead of being weird or awkward, it was a comfortable feeling. She smiled at me, eyes drowsy and gentle.

“Lights?” I asked, teaching for the switch.

She nodded, and I turned them off. Ailee disappeared into the darkness, and only her shadow remained. I settled onto my back, and gazed at the dark ceiling, wondering if I would even be able to sleep with Ailee in the same room. I could hear her breathing evening out as sleep approached.

Then she spoke, voice so soft that I barely heard her. “Thank you, Cheundong. Thank you for taking care of me.”

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After living with Ailee for 4 weeks, life fell into a comfortable pattern. I got used to waking up to her face, and falling asleep to the sounds of her breathing. Her arm had more or less healed, and she was okay as long as she didn’t do any heavy lifting.

She was also possibly the most interesting person I had ever met. Even though we were the same age, I felt like she knew so much more than me about the world. She told me about her mother, who was obsessed with setting her up on blind dates with entrepreneurs and lawyers. She told me about her work, and all the beautiful buildings and parks she has designed. She told me about Joon, and their rather complicated history.

To be honest, I didn’t known when Joon was coming back. I wasn’t even sure that I wanted Joon to come back. When he returned, he would take Ailee from me, and then everything would change. I didn’t want to be alone anymore.

After Ailee accidentally let it slip that her birthday was approaching, I became obsessed with finding her a present. It had to be something perfect, something worthy of her beauty. 

I decided on a glass figuring of a delicate butterfly, and I handed it to her nervously, waiting for her verdict.

Her eyes glowed at she looked at it, and I knew that I had made the right choice.

“Cheundongie, it’s beautiful,” she breathed.

Just like you, I wanted to add. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

To my surprise, she put the figurine aside on the table, and reached forward to take my hand. I looked at our intertwined fingers, shocked.

“Thank you,” she whispered, softly. Carefully, she leaned towards me, and placed a soft on my cheek. Then, she blushed prettily, and put her head on my shoulder.

My head was buzzing. Ailee just kissed me. The girl that I was head over heels in love with had just kissed me. I couldn’t help but smile.

We were just enjoying cups of warm hot chocolate when everything fell apart. The door opened, and Joon stalked in, dressed head to toe in black. His dark eyes raked over us, and locked onto our intertwined fingers. I saw his glare as his mind worked out the scene in front of him.

“Ailee, let’s go,” he snarled, reaching out for her.

Joon was back to claim Ailee. I watched helplessly as he pulled her to her feet. He was going to take her away from me.

To my surprise, and relief, Ailee tugged her arm out of Lee Joon’s grasp.

“Ani, what are you…”

Joon turned back, incredulous. He took her hand again, and pulled her up and towards the door. This time, Ailee’s other hands reached for me, and I stood up as well. It was obviously noon that, but some miracle, she had chosen me over Joon and wanted to stay with me. I followed them out into the junk yard, yelling at Joon to stop. 

In all the years that I had known Lee Joon, we had never gotten into a fight. We disagreed, sure, but we never fought. Until now. I could see in his eyes that Ailee meant the world to him, but to me, she was my universe. I couldn’t let him take that away from me.

“Stop! Stop!”

I could hear voice in the background, sobbing as Joon and I threw punch after punch. And then Lee Joon pulled out his gun, and I froze.

I never thought it would come to this. I never would have thought that one day, my best friend would have his gun pointed at my head with murder and pure hatred in his eyes.

What is stopping me from killing you, huh?” he roared, fury pouring from his voice. “Tell me, Park Sanghyun, What?!”

I had no answer. If I was in his place, I would probably be asking the same thing.

“No, NO!” Ailee had rushed up in front of me, tears now streaming openly down her face. “Joon, what are you doing? Stop, stop it. Don’t do it.” She was shielding me against the bullet that was sure to come at any moment.

“No, Ailee, move,” I muttered, pushing at her, but she would not budge.

Joon looked at us with the weirdest expression in his eyes, one that I had never seen before on his face. Then his eyes narrowed, and I knew that he had made up his mind. His look of finally told me that I was officially dead meat.

I never saw the bullet. All I knew was that a loud bang sliced the air, and something flew very fast around my face a few inches from my ear. I closed my eyes, hoping for a painless, quick death. Nothing happened.

“No, No!” Ailee’s anguished cry forced my eyes open. She was staring in open mouth horror at Joon, who was on his knees, blood gushing from a bullet wound on his neck.

“What-no, no...Joon!” I rushed forward, and caught him just as his knees gave out from under him. I knew with one look that it was too late, and that Joon knew what he was doing when he shot that bullet. There was no way to save his life, and I think Ailee could tell too. She was holding one of Joon’s clammy hands, crying so hard that she couldn’t even talk.

“Why-why,” she gasped, hand over . “It can’ be…this can’t be happening.”

But it was. Lee Joon was dying in front of our eyes.

“Cheun-Cheundong,” Joon muttered voice low and raspy.

I could only look at him in dismay.

“Cheundong, here.” Slowly and painfully, Joon reached into his inside pocket and handed me something, ing it at me. “For….you,” he slurred, voice barely audible. “Take…go to Japan.”

I took the paper from his hands and looked down as Joon turned to Ailee. Two plane tickets for Tokyo International Airport, departing in just three days.

“Ailee,” I heard him say as I fought back my own tears.

“No, no….” she hiccupped, still at the denial stage. “Don’t go, Joonie. Don’t…don’t leave me. Why did you-why?”

“Ailee,” he repeated, ignoring her questions and incoherent sentences. “Remember…I love you.”

[A/N]: This chapter died during the AFF blackout. *le sigh. I will try to get the last one up again.