만나서 반갑습니다
Maybe Next Time
Dongwoon barely pierced through the thick crowd of fans swarming at the entrance of Ninoy Aquino International Airport as he and the other BEAST members arrived from Korea for their Beautiful concert tour in the Philippines.
It was pouring quite hard that day -- the kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth that it has no time to flow down the spout. Much to the staff’s dismay, it had been a bit complicated to clear the way for the Korean idols. And with the rain causing traffic for the service to arrive, the delay took longer than they imagined.
They kept a small distance from the fans who were screaming and waving signboards at them whilst the guards made human barrier to prevent such horrible ruckus to even grow bigger. In fact, it amazed the members of how big their fan base had become in the Philippines. But that wasn’t really what bothered Dongwoon all the while.
How many years has it been since he first step foot in on this little country called the Philippines? How long has it been since the day he met a very significant and unforgettable friend? Well, maybe it has been so long that he lost count.
Again, for the second time he had visited the country for promotional purposes, he has yet been hopeful – close to desperation – of seeing her again.
She had been shopping with her Mom that time, swirling and turning on every corner of the grocery store like it was a big strange maze to her. Yet that ended quite soon when her mom called her by the counter to pay.
Like how he arrived just moments ago, it was raining cats and dogs. Dongwoon seemed mesmerized by the rainfall, trickling just at the palm of his hands as he reached out and stood there under the awning. She was coincidentally just by the door waiting for a ride back home.
It seemed like everyone under the covered walk kept still, at awe as the heavens wash away the dirt and dust of this world – well that was Dongwoon’s point of view at least.
The serene silence was interrupted by a man wearing casual clothes and faded jeans, with ends a little smothered with mud and clearly soaked in rain. He shouted, “Taho! Taho!” which made Dongwoon turn his head.
She, however, approached the older man and smiled as she spoke sweetly at him. “Manong, pabili nga po ng isa.” (Ahjussi, I’ll buy one.) Which then the man quickly responded by opening the two large aluminum buckets that was purposely connected by a thick stick where he would carry on his shoulders as he chanted “Taho! Taho!” once more.
Dongwoon gave her a weird look, which then made the girl smile at him. Because he was the shy boy that he was back then, he shifted his eyes and dropped his gaze on the ground. They were roughly the same age, he presumed. Her frail figure and height said it so. Though besides that, she had a fair brown skin and a hint of Chinese blood accented on her slightly chinky eyes. He couldn’t forget how she looked like back then.
He heard her mumbled at the older man, “Manong, isa pa nga po.” (Ahjussi, another one please.) and paid for another Taho (soybean). With both hands shakingly holding two cups of Taho, she approached Dongwoon and shamelessly offered him one which he then answered with a timid look in his eyes.
“Gusto mo?” (You want?) She asked with a gentle and calm voice. Of course, Dongwoon didn’t understand her language. He was Korean, after all. But he guess it didn’t really show much from his Arabic features and the girl might have thought that he was also one from the area. Dongwoon just motioned his hands in the air and gestured to say no.
“Pipe ka ba?” (Are you mute?) The girl innocently tilted her head and pursed her lips while looking curiously at Dongwoon. Maybe looking a bit too guilty.
Again, Dongwoon did not understand so he did what he can and said, “Korean. . .” while pointing at his face which then later made the girl giggle.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t look Korean. No offense,” she said fluently in English this time, making him understand most of what she said. “Here you go. Taho. . . it’s uhm. . .” she struggled to find another word for Taho in way that Dongwoon would understand. “Ah, it’s soybean with brown sugar syrup and pearls.”
For the second time, the girl offered the cup to Dongwoon and this time, he didn’t need to be told twice to grab it.
“Go on,” she said. “You’ll love it.” Dongwoon looked down at the cup filled with what he knew was, tofu with brown syrup mixed and little tiny jelly like balls the girl referred to as pearl and then decided to gulp the hot Taho.
“Ah!” He whimpered as the taho burned his poor little tongue.
“Hey, take it easy. It’s kind of hot so you need to take it sip by sip like this.” She blew a few times as if it would cool the cup of soybean and took a small drink from it. She then gave a thumb up at the satisfaction she had when the hot taho streamed down her cold and shivering body.
Dongwoon then nodded and did the same then later enjoyed the small cup of the taste of mixed bland texture of the soy and sweetness that made it even more warm and yummy.
He eyed the girl and unconsciously felt the blush that tinted his skin with pink. The girl could just giggle at every timid bits of Dongwoon.
“I’m Maria by the way,” she said while both hands wrapped around the plastic cup. “What’s your name?”
With even little English in him, he knew what it meant and replied, “Son Dongwoon.” The Korean accent was inevitable, though.
“Such an exotic name,” she complimented. Maria was full of words, almost as if she had travelled the world with Dongwoon as she told him stories of her favorite place, the park nearby and all the random stuffs like favorite color, food etcetera. . . etcetera.
Then they both realized that the rain’s about to stop soon and so was their quick yet far from deep friendship.
“Dongwoon,” she spoke softly. “What’s ‘It’s nice to meet you’ in Korean?”
“Mannaseo Bangabsuemnida,” his voice trailing off. It was then he noticed how much weak and unhealthy looking the girl was, as if she had a serious disease or something but he figured it must have been nothing.
“That’s kind of long,” she said with a laugh lingering underneath her words.
And before they could even exchange smiles, Maria’s mom caught her hand and gently pulled her. “Hali ka na. Nandito na ang tatay mo.” (Let’s go. You’re father’s here already.) But Maria pulled back and gave Dongwoon a one last look.
“Mangaseo Bandapsuniga,” she said, of course in wrong pronunciation and everything yet Dongwoon knew what she meant. Yet all he can do was look at her retreating back as she went inside a white Toyota car. That was the last memory he had of her and obviously not something deep and nostalgic.
Dongwoon must have been giving to much thought about how or when he’ll be able to see Maria again. Though the chances was as thin as blades trying to wound his confidence, he knew there could be at least a one in a million possibility. At least.
--
The concert went smoothly and everyone was tired. They had a small after party in a well known exclusive restaurant which was the one who first approached them and invited them for a midnight dinner. Dongwoon kept glancing from side to side, making Yoseob ask in curiosity. “Are you okay? You’ve been very uneasy since this morning.”
“It’s nothing. I just feel like I’m missing something,” he said nonchalantly.
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, never mind that. Excuse me. I’ll just go to the bathroom.” He didn’t take that long after carefully washing his hand and staring blankly at his tired reflection.
The restaurant was made sure to be vacant for the staff of Beautiful Show and of course, the BEAST members themselves. It was fairly known that if they hadn’t done that, it would be chaos all over. Although, Dongwoon wished it were like that. Maybe she’d be somewhere in the crowd, he usually thinks.
At the end of the day, the sponsoring restaurant gave each member a wonderful small box with different colors. Dongwoon’s was purple and somehow it reminded him of Maria again. Purple is after all, Maria’s favorite color, he thought.
They had almost fallen asleep inside the van, where a few hardworking fans still swarmed even at the restaurant parking lot. That’s how famous they are, they all concluded without being bigheaded – just realistic.
--
As they all freshened up for sleep, the five boys rowdily opened the gifts fans had given them. Dongwoon was yet again, disappointed but even though it seemed like that, he still tried to carefully look over all the presents. He loved his fans and that was very evident.
He read most of the letters and kept the gifts in one big storage box for easier baggage carrying. Then the purple box came into view. Something bout the box that made him whimsical.
Dongwoon stripped the purple wrapper and was greeted by a lovely cupcake inside. There was another small box though which he for sure didn’t find in the other members’ boxes. He opened it at found a silver necklace with a small note underneath.
And what followed made his soul shake, his heartbeat fast and his hands trembling with mixed emotions.
See, I finally got it, Dongwoon. Maybe next time I can finally tell you 만나서 반갑습니다 :)
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