Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea 11:30am, March 29, 2011

 

Keeping in mind the advice of the unusual but amusingly beautiful stranger she met at the airport, Angela decided to take the limousine bus since she wasn’t in any rush to leave, considering that she has no idea where she’s really headed to.     Oh shocks! I didn’t know it was this cold here right now! Angela tells herself as she got down the bus that took to her stop. Apparently, the cardigan she is wearing is not much of a help in providing her warmth. With shivering hands, she grabs her luggage and strides along the concrete walkway of Gangnam.   As she turns her head from left to right, she seems impressed at the things that her eyes have laid upon on.  Various clothing stores, restaurants, food stalls and bars were interconnected everywhere! Though Angela may not understand the signs that were written on the stores, she doesn’t really mind. For her, as long as there’s a lot of place to shop at, she’ll do fine. All of the worst case scenarios that she thought of earlier seemed to have evaporated.   The only thing that she didn’t like was the constant bumping of every Korean that were walking around her, may it be behind her, by her side, or opposite her direction.   Jeez. How rude! Don’t they even know how to say sorry? And why do they always seem to be in a rush? Tch. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head in dismay.   As she continues walking though, there is still something going on in her mind. She was trying to understand why their attitudes are like that.   Back in the Philippines, there are also a lot of Koreans living there and she noticed how they would also constantly get bumped but the foreigners won’t even send their apologies. She ranted to Kei about this and was half-hoping that she’d agree with her, but being the Korean lover that her best pal is, Angela just sighed to her defeat. She remembers Kei explaining to her about the culture of the Koreans and she keeps on insisting that they are not as bad as Angela thinks they are.   She suddenly remembers the stranger at the airport. Well, he did say sorry to me. Angela recalls and she beams satisfyingly in a discreet manner. She wouldn’t want other people to think she’s crazy.   She smiles even more as she remembers every detail of his physical feature. Another thought suddenly occurs to her.  One of Angela’s special “abilities” is that she has a good photographic memory. The image of the boy is still fresh on her mind, his flawless milky white skin, the way his eyes would crinkle and the deep dimples planted on both sides of his cheeks whenever he’d smile. She looks around the other Koreans around her and her mind flashes back to the image of the boy in her head.    He doesn’t look like one of them. Angela says at the back of her mind, one eyebrow was raised as she ponders on it further but it didn’t take long for her to give the thought up.   Extremely tired from all the walking that she has been doing, Angela spots a bench in one corner and sits down on it. She breathes out a long weary sigh as she hugs herself, desperate for more warmth, especially now that her body is starting to feel some discomfort.  She feels multiple, rapid beats throbbing inside her head. She reaches up to her temples and starts massaging it gently, trying to ease the pain. She closes her eyes and tries to clear her mind off of other things.   The pain in her head hasn’t completely vanished yet another feeling of discomfort is developing. There is an itchy feeling inside her nose and with no further warning; she lets out a loud sneeze, her hands now covering both her nose and mouth. A few heads turns towards her direction but Angela pays no mind to them and the passers-by eventually ignores her as they also have other businesses to be mindful about.   She slumps back on the bench, feeling defeated. Her nose is sore due to her constant sneezing, which results her eyes to become a little watery as well.  She rummages the insides of her shoulder bag to look for some facial tissue. As she does so, a Korean man who seems to be in his mid-30’s, who happens to have been observing her from a distance for quite awhile already, suddenly sits down beside her and this startles Angela.   “Annyeong haseyo!” The man says casually with a wide smile as if they are good old friends.   Angela nods her head and gives him a meek smile. She may not be aware of the Korean culture and all but she at least knows how their greetings go. She just doesn’t feel comfortable in pronouncing it.   “So, it’s your first time here in Korea?”   “Yes.”   The man fishes out his box of cigarette inside his jeans’ pocket. He offers Angela a stick but she instantly shook her head sideways.   “I don’t smoke.”   “Okay then. Suit yourself.” He gets one cigarette stick and lights it up.   If there was one thing that Angela hated so much, it would have to be smoking. She didn’t like sitting with people who smoke nor random strangers coming up to her and sitting beside her comfortably.   Though there was already a space in between them, she deliberately moves a little further.    Just for safety measures, she thinks.   “Don’t be afraid. I won’t do you any harm.” The man reassures her, as if he has read what she was thinking. He moves closer to her again and before Angela could even protest, she lets out a faint gasp as she feels a pointy object lightly poke her on the stomach.   “As long as you give me what I want.” The creepy stranger adds as he puffs smoke on her face, causing her to cough and look away. The man then holds her arm tightly and pulls her in closer, the sharp object, which turns out to be a small knife that looks so deadly, ready to be plunged in deeply into her.   “What is it that you want? Just please don’t hurt me!” She pleads with teary eyes and the man just snickers at her in return.   “Good girl.” He softly whispers to her as he runs a finger down her flawless face, which made Angela flinch but the man holds her jaw tightly to make her face him.   “What’s your name?”   Angela doesn’t speak at first, afraid to give any personal information about her considering how dangerous the man she is facing right now; but the man threatens her yet again with the knife, causing her to give in to his demand.   “A—Angela.”   He scoffs and says, “Well, you must be a really good girl. So, don’t give me a hard time, okay?”   “What do you want?” A loud pounding can be heard inside the walls of Angela’s chest.   “Hand me over your bag.”   Angela obeys and hands him over her leather shoulder bag containing all of her valuables in it, anxious that the man might not think twice about killing her if she doesn’t oblige. She was actually expecting the man to run away already with her bag but instead, she sees him digging inside like a mad person, until he gets a hold of her red leathered wallet. He opens it and seems to be satisfied with its content, a thick bundle of Won bills to which his eyes are glued to, not really paying much attention to the credit cards and the ATM card inserted on the sides.   The assailant decides to take the whole wallet itself and seemingly satisfied with what’s on his hand, he s the shoulder bag back to its speechless owner.   “Don’t even try and report this to the police.” He sternly warns her before briskly walking away.   Angela is left frozen on her seat, unable to utter a word, not even able to call for help right away. Instead, she blankly stares at her opened bag, trying to take in the fact that she has just been robbed…on her first day in Seoul, with a body that’s starting to feel weak and still no place to stay at.   I’m doomed, she says at the back of her mind as she slumps her face on both of her palms.  

 

SIWON

 

Super Junior’s Dorm 6:30pm, March 29, 2011

 

“Ah! Home sweet home!” Yesung  hyung runs toward the couch as soon as we got inside the dorm, and as soon as he reaches it, he throws his body in it, ready to drift away in dreamland.

 

“AHHHH!” I hear him groan loudly in pain as both Eunhyuk and Donghae deliberately sat down on hyung’s back, making him a human couch.

 

“You two! Get your big butts off of my back!” He demands from them but the two playful brats look at each other and I see devious smiles forming on their lips. That could only mean one thing.

 

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight as Donghae and Eunhyuk  alternately bounced themselves up and down like kids jumping on a trampoline on Yesung hyung’s back and poor old hyung can’t do anything but let out shrieks of pain.

 

“My poor back! SIWON-SSHI! HELP MEEEE!” He calls out to me in despair; and no matter how I find myself enjoying the scene, I had to do something before these two “kids” can cause severe damage on Yesung hyung’s back. We’re going to be in so much trouble then.

 

“Ya! You two need to get off hyung’s back now before it snaps off. You know how his backbone is likened to as that of a twig. It can easily break off.”

 

“I heard that!” Yesung hyung yells out loud in between grunts, as he struggles.

 

Eunhyuk and Donghae just laughed their heads off and finally got off of him and walked towards the kitchen right away before hyung goes after them.

 

“Just wait, you two!”  Yesung hyung curses under his breath as he sits upright and I couldn’t refrain my giggles from coming out.

 

“And you there, pretty boy. If I remembered it correctly, I asked you to help me out, not throw some kind of insult at me.”

 

“Mianhaeyo, hyung. The important thing is I got those two to get off of your back, isn't it?”

 

“Whatever.” Yesung hyung scoffs at me as he gets up from the couch and starts walking with one hand on his back.

 

“Ddangkomma!” I hear call out loud as he turns his back at me and I just snigger at him.

 

How I miss these priceless moments at the dorm!

 

Instead of going back to Kyuhyun’s apartment after our SPAO photoshoot, we decided to drop by the group’s dorm to unwind and relax with the other members. Besides,