Chapter 48
A Bang In The Heart
One last kiss on the forehead. One last lingering kiss on the forehead was what he left me with before he left again for Japan. But I was okay, because I knew it wouldn't be too long. They were just finishing up GD&YB promotions and Jiyong was then going to France for Paris fashion week and a magazine photo shoot....which I was now reading online about.
I clicked on the article that headlined Jiyong at the airport and a picture of him waiting to leave.
<< This Sunday, Idol rapper and well known fashionista G-Dragon was spotted at Inchon airport headed to Paris for an upcoming photo shoot. This photo shoot is said to be made up of many of Korea and Japan's famous models and artists. Notable models and artists of this photo shoot campaign includes, Bigbang's G-Dragon, Lee Min Ki, Lee Seung Ho, Yoon Eun Hae, Keiko Kitagawa, Kazuya Kamenashi, Miko Kazuhara...>>
My face froze. Woah, Jiyong never told me about Miko going there with him. But why would he? He said she was just only a friend. Right?
Miko, the gorgeous and beautiful model with G-Dragon in the city of romance and love...what could ever go wrong?
"Hey Sua, what's the chance of a boy and a girl falling in love in Paris?" I asked Sua as she walked into the house. She was looking at her mail and taking off her shoes at the same time.
"What kind of question is that?" Sua laughed. "No hello?"
I sighed and waved, "Hi, now answer my question-"
"Hey you have mail...or I don't know, it doesn't have a name." Sua handed me a somewhat heavy Manila colored envelope. It was a little bulky and like she said, there was no name on it.
I looked at Sua and we both shrugged. Using my fingers, I opened the envelope with care but something fell out of it with a loud thud.
"Kyahh!!" Sua leaped up and I saw what it was. It was a long heavy kitchen knife, one used for slicing thick vegetables. The ragged edge was cunningly sharp and shiny. The knife had stuck itself directly on the ground at it's point. Luckily it didn't get any of us.
"What the hell?!" Sua yelled as she pulled the knife off from the ground.
This...isn't what I was hoping it isn't...is it? I frowned with concern and looked inside the envelope. Just as I suspected, no message or anything.
How long was thing while thing gonna last? Calling the police wouldn't help. I was going to need someone else to talk about this.
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"Again?" Youngbae looked up at me with worried eyes. I was hanging around in the cafeteria after our lesson and I finally worked up the courage to tell him. Seungri looked up from his phone with a curious face.
"You knew about it?" I asked.
Youngbae fidgeted with his hat and looked seriously at me. "Yeah, Jiyong told me about it...you told the police right?"
I nodded with my lips tight. Seungri pointed at me as if he just remembered something, "Ah Remi-ya, did you see that one picture they put up on our cafe blog?
"What picture?" I tilted my head out of confusion.
"Somebody took a picture of you and Jiyong-ie hyung walking in Shinsaibashi and it's floating around all over the Internet. Fans are trying to figure out who you are. And they know it's not Miko." Seungri said.
I raised my eyebrows and a sudden chill took over my body.
"Really?" I sighed and asked, "But...what would happen if they were to find out?"
Youngbae thought about it for a second then answered. "If they do find out...we might lose a bunch of fans. And Jiyong won't have too much of a problem with that but...you."
I felt a little squeeze at my chest. "Me?"
Seungri piped in, "Yeah... Paparazzi will hound you like a dog. And you'll get crazy publicity, which in your case...it's bad. With fans...I don't know how they'll react. None of us ever went out public about our relationships. We don't have too many sasaeng* fans but all I know is...you might get seriously hurt."
The cafeteria seemed to be completely silent now and something dropped inside me. Hurt? Would it really be that bad?
I must have looked terrified because Youngbae took hold of my hand and gave a warm squeeze. His friendly eyes were kind and calming, the look he gave me put a bit of comfort at my heart. "Don't worry Remi... Jiyong promised, and he never makes promises but he promised that he would never let you get hurt."
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*Saesaeng- obsessed fans. Look it up if you want to be horrified.
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I gave him a thankful smile and put my head down on the table as I sighed, trying not to think of anything.
"And I'll always have your back." Youngbae warmly said as he pat my back. I propped up my head so my chin was on the table.
"And I guess... I'll try to...have your back. But not too much." Seungri teasingly joked.
I gave him a slight growl but smiled. This moral support really helped ease my stress, whether it was intentional or not.
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I was just getting to sleep when my phone impatiently vibrated on my bed. I ran towards it in hopes of being Jiyong and to my luck it was.
Balancing the phone on my shoulder and trying to tie my hair at the same time, I answered it.
"Yeobohsayo*~" I sang happily into the phone.
"Remi-ya." Jiyong's voice was stern and serious. There was a strange feeling to his tone.
I frowned and grabbed my phone upright, "What's...wrong?"
"D-Did you see it?" He hesitantly spoke.
"See what?" I felt all of sudden nervous from this intense mood.
"They found your name. Apparently one of the students at your school recognized you in that one photo of you and me...holding hands."
My eyes furrowed in stress and my fingers gripped my phone tighter.
"W-What?" My hands uncomfortably shook and sweat began to form at the back of my neck.
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*yeobohsayo- greeting on phone
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Jiyong spoke hurriedly and with uncertainty, "Remi...D-Don't worry, if anything happens, just deny it. I'm going to talk about it with sajangnim. It's still considered to be a rumor so it's nothing too big. No cameras...yet."
"B-But-"
"Just deny it okay?" He stopped me short.
I sighed and took a deep breath, "Okay."
And so I denied it. The next few days at school, all the students gave me looks, both curious and some filled with hatred. I ignored it and continued with teaching the best that I could, feigning innocence. The hate mail ridiculously increased. Now from different types of envelopes and messages, but all of them, I just threw away by the bunch. In every article talking about the picture of him and me, Yg entertainment was said to have denied any rumors.
Nothing was too bad but every single day I felt a little bit nervous. A little jittery but nothing more.
And 2 weeks passed by just like that. Jiyong stopped calling and his texts gradually got shorter.
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"I'll take out the trash tonight!!" I yelled to Sua who was in the bathroom. Sua peeped her head out of the bathroom, her hands furiously brushing away at her teeth with her toothbrush.
"Buf ifs fraining out!" Sua's voice muffled through the bubbles.
"It's just a little rain, I'll be fine." I said as I pulled the trash out of the trash can and replaced it with a fresh liner.
"Ofay" Sua went back into the bathroom and I picked up all the bags of trash and headed outside.
Like Sua had said, it was raining. Crazy hard. The air was damp and the wind was bone chilling. The street lamp was an eery green color that gave me shivers all over my body. The rain drops sounded like gun pellets shooting at the gravel and pavement, bouncing off and hitting my ankles. There was a heaviness in the air that seemed to bring me down. I could see my breath float upwards as I let out a loud sigh.
Okay, it's just a few minutes out there. I can handle it.
Gathering all my will, I leaped out into the pounding rain, my hands tightly grabbing the garbage bags.
Holy crap it's so cold!! The moment I ran down the steps, thoughts of regret flooded my mind. Why did I do this? Why did I do this? I already knew that Korean rain seasons were the worst but yet I'm out here.
I ran out of our house steps and into the narrow alley by the street lamp. There were already piles of garbage leaning against there and it took me a while to figure out where to put it.
Aishh my clothes are all getting soaked! I fidgeted with my trash as I placed it on top of a few other bags. But then the bag lying underneath it ripped and about ten empty soju bottles spilled out like ants.
Ughhhh. I growled under my breath as my cold wet hair strands whipped my face like a rope.
Well I'm already soaked to the bone, might as well clean up the mess. I got on my knees and began to pick up the bottles.
The heavy rain pinned my arms down and I started to lose my strength. Why do I feel so dizzy?
There was something in the distance, my rain blurred eyes made it difficult to make out but there was definitely something or someone. Everything around me began to blur out and the deafening rain muted in my ear.
It was a light...a very bright light, almost blinding to the eye and it took the breath out of me. What was it?
At that moment, every thought inside of my head was released and I felt almost relieved. The light grew wider, almost as if it was trying to swallow me whole. My mind felt numb and dizzy as I continued to stare into the blurred whiteness. There was no rain now, just me and this sun like brightness coming to take me in.
Then darkness. The light inside of me shuttered off as the world seemed to go out, just like as switch.
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