Chp.19| Behind the silence

So there we were again,seated inside the ice-cream parlor, watching Na-Na eat her strawberry ice cream.

Jung Sang hasn’t spoken a word since we got there. He had his one elbow propped on the table, supporting his chin as he sat staring glumly at his niece.

“Na-Na, you can’t keep doing this,” I chided her.

Na-Na her lips, smiled and then asked, “Why not? There’s nothing wrong with eating ice cream.”

I looked at Jung Sang, expecting some kind of further explanation. However, he just sat there, arching his brows in question.

There was nothing wrong with her eating ice cream. It was the fact that she keeps running away. And as her babysitter, I had to say something. “No, there isn’t but you can’t keep---"

She cut me off. “I only eat ice cream because it makes me happy.”

Feeling hopeless, I leaned forward, propped my elbows on the table to rest my chin on it as I stared at Jung Sang who sat still as a rock. “It’s all your fault.”

He turned his face to look at me. “What? You expect some kind of apology?”

Talk about attitude. Must work on that too.

Na-Na cut in. “An explanation would be nice.”

I turned to look at her, unblinking. Sometimes I do forget that she was just a child.

Jung Sang leaned back and exhaled slowly, nearly cringing from the pain in his arm. I could tell that he was trying hard to conceal it. “Those bastards play underground ping-pong. It’s like street ping-pong. That’s why I was there.”

That peaked my interest. “What? There’s such a thing as street ping-pong? What do they do? Beat each other in the head with their ping-pong rackets?”

“It involves money and it’s much more risky. People places bets and so forth,” he explained. “I don’t involve myself in such things. But for,” he paused, lowering his eyes, “but for Seung Won, I agreed to step into his place.”

Choo Seung Won played street ping-pong? The gay guy played street ping-pong? And Park Jung Sang had agreed to help him?

“Who’s Seung Won?” Na-Na inquired.

“You don’t want to know,” I told her.

She made a face at me.

Jung Sang continued. “Seung Won gotten himself involved with those people and the fat punk has a reputation for being the King of underground ping-pong. He’s the only person Seung Won has never challenged, until now.”

“Seung Won’s that good?” I asked.

“He never told me that he did all of this, until last night.”

I braced myself for his further explanation.

“Yesterday, after the confrontation he had with you, they came after him because he had lost the first round the previous day before. And when you lose one round, you owe them something in return. It could be anything. Whatever they command, you have to give it to them because it’s apart of the rules.”

“Why couldn’t they just end the game in one day?”

“When you lose one round---the guy that loses decides whether or not he would follow through the rest of the game or continue it the next day. Usually the guy loses the first round, waits until the next day to contemplate over his next move. That is what Seung Won did.”

“And what did they ask of him when he lost the first round?”

“They wanted to break his one arm.”

My eyes automatically went to his bruised arm. “Don’t tell me---"

“I did.”

“Why?”

“I couldn’t watch him suffer because I knew he was no match for that lard face.”

I couldn’t believe that Jung Sang let them break his arm when they could’ve broken Seung Won’s arm instead. That made me angry and upset at the same time. He risked his arm for Seung Won. I think that was the most touching thing Jung Sang has ever done for anyone. I realized I didn’t get half as much, compared to Seung Won; that lucky bastard.

I was sniffling at this point, trying to force my tears back down and mumbling nonsense. “Why did you have to go and do that for?”

He scolded me. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you crying again?”

“So they broke your arm?! With what?!!” Na-Na asked, raising her voice in anger, making me jump.

Jung Sang hesitated to answer. “It was…nothing too…”

She shot him a venomous look. “What was it?!”

“A metal bat,” he answered quickly as if he was afraid of what she might do to him.

The ice cream cone that she was holding onto was suddenly crushed in between her palm, dripping and spilling onto the table, creating a mess all over.

Then she began to pound her fists against the table while stomping her feet against the floor. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THE TRUTH, PARK JUNG SANG?! WHY DIDN’T YOU LET ME KNOW!!!”

I realized that it was going to be like the band-aid incident. She was overreacting again. I had to do something quick. Remembering that ice cream made her happy, I stood up, shouting out, “ICE CREAM. MORE STRAWBERRRY ICE CREAM FOR NA-NA!!”

Everyone stopped to stare.

Jung Sang stood up to force me back down on my seat. “You dummy. What’s ice cream gonna do?!”

Na-Na was bawling her eyes out at that point.

I panicked, throwing both my arms around her, holding her close to my chest. “Na-Na, sweety. Calm down. It’s okay. Calm down. Remember, Jung Sang made them pay for what they did. Your uncle wiped them all out, remember?”

"Yeah, and they hurt my right arm. I'm left-handed remember? That's how I beat him. I'm gonna be okay. I'll go to see the doctor right after this."

How come I didn't know this? Jung Sang a lefty?

She calmed down a bit but she was still crying. Automatically, my hand went to her hair. Then I felt cold stickiness on my hand. It was from Na-Na’s ice cream.

I glared at her uncle who was scratched the back of his head in irritation and blurted out, “Na-Na. I’ll give you a piggyback ride?”

Gosh, could he be anymore comforting and stupid?

Na-Na turned her face to meet him with an infuriating expression. “Your arm is broken. How are you supposed to give me a piggyback ride?!”

He looked at me and said, “Ji Won will.”

My eyes widened instantaneously. “What?!”

Na-Na raised her head to look at me with her puppy dog eyes and tear-stained cheeks. It was the cutest pleading look I’ve ever seen on a kid and I gave in unwillingly. “Eh, I think I will,” I agreed reluctantly.

---

She was back to herself when we left the place. She laughed because she was on my back. My poor hair was sticky from the ice cream that had been all over Na-Na. At that point, I looked like a mess, from Seung Won’s imprint on my cheek to my scraped knees to my sticky hair and my tired drooping shoulders.

Na-Na was small but her weight held me down. I felt my legs feeling heavier and heavier with every step.

“Ji Won, you okay? You’re slow like a slug,” Jung Sang mocked.

“Well apparently, one of the horse’s legs is broken so Na-Na will have to stick with the slug,” I retorted bitterly.

Na-Na leaned in and gave my neck a squeeze. “I like slugs better than horses anyway.”

That remark didn’t make me feel any better.

I stopped to take a deep breath, feeling the beads of sweat beginning to trickle down my forehead, and my head spun momentarily. “My gosh, I’m sweating, Na-Na.” And I’m in’ tired, you crazy little brat!!! I wanted to scream out. There was only one person to blame for this.

That stupid PingPongBoy.

When I turned to look at Jung Sang, he was gone. Just like that. He had somehow magically vanished, leaving Na-Na on my back.

“Where do you think he went, Na-Na?”

“I don’t know. But let’s go home. C’mon, Ji Won. Three more blocks to go!!”


---

I waved Na-Na behind the gates and she blew me kisses in return. When I stood there, watching her, I came to a few new discoveries. That I liked her like a younger sister, and that Jung Sang might be lying about his uncle and niece relation because she was way too old to be his niece. I remember Mrs. Park mentioning that it was going to be her and her husband’s 20th year wedding anniversary. Then that would mean that Jung Sang’s older sister had to be 10 years old when she had Na-Na. And that of course, wasn’t the case. It was either Na-Na was adopted and been brainwashed into thinking that she was his niece or there was some other strange relation to them that was beyond my comprehension. The Park family was one big mystery.

When I turned to go, I saw Jung Sang standing ten feet away from me with his right arm in a cast. I’d expected him to say something along the lines of ’What you lookin’ at, dummy’ or ’Don’t stare’ but he just looked at me in silence as if he was sending a hidden message with his piercing eyes.

They say, it doesn’t happen in real life, but at that moment, I felt my heart skip a beat because of him.

He opened his mouth to speak. “Lee Ji Won…”

I found my mouth answering him in return. “Yes?”

“Move.”

I blinked twice. “What?”

“Move out of---"

Before he could finish his sentence, I felt something fall upon my head. It felt like a big fat raindrop. Thick and wet. I didn’t have to touch it to figure out what it was.

Bird droppings.

I squealed in disgust, stomping my one feet against the ground the way Na-Na had done. “I hate this!! I in’ hate this!!”

Jung Sang came up to me, looking serious while running his eyes up and down. For a moment, I thought he cared, or perhaps be a tad-bit concern.

But I was wrong again.

Immediately, he burst out laughing as he pointed at my head. “Hahaha, Ji Won. Do you wanna know the color of it?”

I couldn’t allow him to laugh at me that way so I forced myself to touch the bird dropping and wiped it against the side of his face, cutting off his laughter. How lovely. Green and white bird dropping. It looked like paint on his face.

“YAH!” he yelled in anger.

“It’s not so funny now, is it?” I said, tugging at the end of his shirt to wipe my hand on it.

“YAH!” he yelled again, thinking I was going to do something about it.

I pretended to laugh even if I didn’t find it funny. I only wanted to piss him off because I was pissed off myself. Turning to walk away slowly, I said, “Have a nice day, Jung Sang oppa. I’ll see you tomorrow. Remember wear the clothes we bought. Try not acting like the ugly stubborn horse that you are, okay?”

I smiled to myself like an idiot.

“YAH!” he called one last time.

What came out of his mouth next was something I had never expected, forcing me to stop walking. “I’m sorry that I laughed. And I’m sorry about what happened earlier.”

I was still smiling at this point; liking the fact that Park Jung Sang actually knew how to apologize for real.

“I’m sorry for everything. I know I'm a jerk. But that’s how I am. I choose to be rude whenever I feel like it. I have many flaws. Countless of them. But that makes me human, not some horse as you call it. You can choose to accept me or not. I don’t care.”

“You do care, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought it up,” I pointed out, turning back to face him, feeling my cheeks flushing.

I saw a hint of a smile and the dimples starting to form on his cheeks. If I didn’t know any better, Park Jung Sang was blushing too. It was weird, seeing him blush with bird plop stuck to the side of his face.

“I’m leaving. It’s gonna get dark soon,” I said, feeling giddy inside.

“One more thing before you go,” he said.

“What is it?”

He stuck his arm out. In a way, Jung Sang was still a child at heart. A child who enjoyed playing and fighting. “Sign my cast first.”

I walked up to him as he brought out a blue marker from his back pocket with his free arm. I took hold of his arm gently and began to write on it. When I was done, I gave him back the marker and raised my head to look him in the eyes, noticing that he was staring down at me in return. “Thanks,” he murmured, before reading what I wrote. He read it aloud, “Recover quickly, PingPongBoy, from KoreanPrincess.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I told him.

“Yeah. Come early though. I need…I need you to help me with my tie…and more importantly my shirt.”

Aigoo! His shirt? Does that mean I get to see PingPongBoy shirtless?

Hmm, we’ll just have to wait and see how the story continues.