“Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.”
-Oscar Wilde-

05| The Perfect Revenge
 

I was put in a very difficult situation.
I wish I could dodge this and run away but I couldn’t.
My feet were rooted to the ground.

Appa was eyeing me with a scrutinizing gaze and a slight frown on his forehead.
I knew, he was waiting for an answer and I just didn’t know how to explain it to him.
I dropped my gaze to the ground and fidgeted on my legs.

How do I explain something that I know isn’t going to make any sense?
Should I make up some weird stories?
Should I pretend to faint?
Or, should I lie?

*Gasp*

I should never lie to my father. NEVER.

I shook the thought away, scolding myself for even thinking about lying to him. He cleared his throat and I looked up. He was still scrutinizing me with his eyes. 
I gulped hard.

“Bommie, I’m asking you again,” he said with his arms folded across his chest, “what happened to your bike? And whose pink bike is this?”

I took a deep breath. 
Here goes nothing.

“Some people dismantled the old bike and give me this new one,” I said, forcing a grin while I patted the seat of the pink bike, hoping to sound indifferent rather than nervous.

“Some ‘people’,” he paused to make air-quotes, “gave it to you?” He raised his eyebrows, like he always does whenever he is sceptical of something. I nodded my head enthusiastically, to show that I really meant what I said. “Would you mind telling me who these people are?”

“Just some people, Appa,” I said, trying to dodge the question. I knew, sooner or later, I had to explain the reason why ‘these people’ decided to dismantle my bike in order to give me a new one. But how could I explain it to him when even I didn’t know the reason why? It would sound absolutely absurd if I told him that they just decided to give me that present out of the blue, without any thinkable reason.

Appa cleared his throat once again, breaking my train of thoughts. “So, why would these mysterious ‘some people’,” again he paused to make the air-quote, “give you a new bike? It’s not even your birthday. Did you win something?”

I shook my head. “No, Appa,” I muttered to myself, “I didn’t win anything. I might have lost my pride today, but I definitely haven’t won anything.” I realized that my voice was loud enough for him to hear. I mentally slapped my head and awkwardly forced a smile at Appa.

Appa was scratching his head. “What in the world are you saying, Bommie?” he asked, “You still haven’t answered my question. Who gave this bike to you and why? You didn’t steal it, did you?”

“NO!” I yelled defiantly with a look of disgust. If there is one thing that I would never, ever do in the world, it would be stealing. I can’t believe that my own father would even think that I would steal. “You know how I hate stealing, Appa! I told you some people gave it to me.”

Thus, the whole question and answer session began between me and Appa.

“But why?!”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, are they your teachers?”
“No. Why would they give me one? It’s not like I’m the top student.”
“Hmm.. that’s true. Then, are they your friends?”
“No. I wouldn’t call them my friends.”
“Then, who are they?!!!”

I took a deep breath. “This might sound crazy, Appa but please believe me,” I plead. Appa’s sceptical eyes began to soften and he nodded which was cue for me to continue, “There’s this group of popular guys in my school. They suddenly decided to dismantle my bike and give me this new one!” 

Appa had a look of shock on his face. “Bommie, don’t tell me that you have a boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend? NO WAY!!” I yelped. If I wasn’t so anxious, I would have laughed out loud. Thinking that he was my boyfriend was as ridiculous as thinking that I might marry Jay Z.

“Then, why is this person giving you a new bike?” he asked. He had folded his arms across his chest again, looking at me with that sceptical look in his eyes.

“I don’t know, Appa,” I said quietly, “Oh, may-maybe th-they like my corns?” I nodded enthusiastically, trying to convince him to believe me. But I think I failed. Judging by the way he was glaring at me, apparently he wasn’t amused. I needed to change the subject, quick. “Oh, isn’t it funny, Appa? I got a new bike. Like, Hallelujah! Like, it’s raining gold!! Ha ha ha.” I forced out an awkward laugh.

I knew, as soon as I uttered those words, that I sounded like someone with mental issues. I knew I didn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Apparently, Appa thought so too as his frown began to disappear and he was looking at me with a look full of concern. “Bommie, are you okay? Are you sick? Is it the period?” he kinda grimaced when he said it, like period is something contagious, “The hormonal imbalance is making you all weird? That’s why you’re acting strange.”

My Appa’s scarce knowledge of the menstrual period comes from a short article that he read in a magazine and he really believed everything that he read in there. I think, as I was growing into a teenager, he was trying very hard to understand me so that we could connect better since I was mother-less and all. However, he didn’t know that the period had always been my scapegoat, my excuse for throwing a tantrum or being lazy or to get out of trouble. 

I see that this could be the chance for me to dodge the queries regarding the pink bike.

“Yes, Appa. That should be the reason why I’m acting strange,” I said. I stole a quick glance at him. He was looking at me with concerned eyes. Appa was always the softie. “Ouch,” I yelped dramatically, holding onto my stomach like a woman in labor, “It hurts, Appa. It’s like dying. Oh... Ouch!! Ow-ow-ow! I need to go rest.”

With that, I practically ran all the way to my room, yelping of ‘pain’ while doing so. I closed the door and plopped myself on my bed. I stared at the ceiling and then suddenly it occurred to me that I had lied to Appa for the first time.

Oh my God!
What have I done?!!
First I lie then I might steal and then I might kill.

*Gasp*

Next thing you know, I might become a serial killer.

Oh my God!
I need to pray. 
I need to beg for mercy. I didn’t want to end up as a serial killer.

I knelt beside the bed, with my hands clasped together, and prayed. “Oh, God! Please don’t be mad at me. It was all Choi SeungHyun’s fault. If you want to be angry at anyone, it should be Choi SeungHyun. Please remember his name God. It’s Choi SeungHyun. He makes my life miserable. Nothing good has happened ever since I met him. Don’t blame me if I smell like cockroach, God. It’s his fault! Please, please, do something. You don’t need to kill him or do anything major like that. Just simple stuff, like set his pants on fire or make him lost in the forest will be enough. I’m counting on you God. You know I love you. Amen.”

There, I felt better after doing that.

I took out my diary and a pen. I lay on the bed on my stomach and skimmed through the diary until I came upon an empty page. I kept thinking about what he had done to me and felt the anger rising from inside me. Furious, I scribbled his name just so that I could stab his name a few times with the pen. In my mind, I pictured myself stabbing him and he was begging for my mercy.

“Ha ha ha. How do you like it, Choi SeungHyun?!! Ha ha ha,” I let out the most evil version of my laugh.

“Is it fun, stabbing this Choi SeungHyun?” Appa asked.

I nodded excitedly. “Oh, it’s so much fun. I wish I could do this in real life,” I said, snickering.

“I thought you have period pain?” he said.

“No, I was only lying to dodge th ---” I stopped in mid-sentence when I realized to whom I had been talking to. I turned my head. “Argh!!!!!” I screamed when I saw his glares.

I was so busily distracted by the excitement of stabbing Choi SeungHyun that I didn’t even realize that Appa was there in my room. Darn it, I should have locked the door.

“Park Bom!” Appa yelled and I instantly knew that I was in a big trouble. He only called my name in full when he was seriously angry with me. “How dare you lie to me?!!!!”

I gulped hard.

Umma, please help me.
I really think I’m going to die today.
And I haven’t even done anything wrong!

*************

I was busy setting up my stall. I stole a glance at the next stall, the stall which belongs to the Devil and co. To my relief, it wasn’t opened and the KingKas were nowhere in sight. I thanked God for his mercy. 

I hummed to myself as I prepared the corns. Yes, I was that happy for not having SeungHyun anywhere near me. I almost managed to put the whole pranks that he did behind me when I heard that annoying voice.

“You seem happy.”

My eyes widened when I heard that voice which had been haunting my day. I bit my lips, almost afraid to even look up. When I slowly lifted my eyes, my gaze met with his annoying smirk.

He was leaning back on the chair, drumming his fingers on the table. I momentarily prayed that he would fall on his back and seriously injured himself but he didn’t. 

“Why is it that each time you see me, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” he asked. 

I decided to ignore him, to pretend like he wasn’t there, like he was just a fly on the wall. People say that if you think really hard to ignore something, you will be able to make it vanish from your sight. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He was still in my field of vision. I concentrated on steaming my corns. Whatever happened, I wouldn’t let him ruin my night. He had already ruined my day so I wouldn’t give him the pleasure to ruin my night too. 

I had enough counselling slash nagging slash scolding from Appa. It was enough to make me cry and begged for forgiveness so that he would stop. Appa is one scary man when he’s angry. He still didn’t believe that someone gave me the bike without any valid reason but decided to believe me, seeing how pathetic I must have looked just now.

“Hellooo?? I’m right here! How can you ignore a customer? No wonder you don’t sell too well,” he said, waving his hands to catch my attention.

“You’re not a customer,” I grumbled angrily, loud enough for him to hear as I gave him the icy stare.

“Hey, she talks!!” SeungHyun cheered, drumming his palms on the table to make a ridiculous noise.

“Stop it! It’s noisy,” I said angrily, still glaring at him.

SeungHyun stopped drumming when he saw how furious I must have looked. “Are you still angry at me? But I’m nice. I even buy you a new bike. Is this how you treat your Santa Claus?” he said.

Santa Claus my foot! 

“Did I ever ask you to buy me a bike? Did I? Did I? Did it ever come out from my mouth? Have I ever said, ‘SeungHyun-shi, please buy me a new bike. I’m dying for a new bike’? Have it ever came out from my mouth? Have it?!!!” I yelled, exploding with anger.

To my annoyance, SeungHyun didn’t seem even the least perturbed by my outburst. Instead, he had his annoying grin on his face with the mischievous glint in his eyes. I knew he was going to say something stupid.

“Well, technically you just did,” he said, “You just said it, corn frog.”

“I did? When?” I thought to myself and realized that he meant what I said in my outburst just now, “Are you serious?!!!” I scoffed in disbelief, “That doesn’t even count! That was just hypothetically speaking.”

SeungHyun shrugged. “Well, you asked whether it has come out from your mouth,” he said, “and I was merely answering your question.”

Great, now he thinks he’s smart.

I knew it, from the moment that I heard his voice, that he just wanted to annoy the hell out of me and make my night miserable. I shouldn’t have talked to him. I shouldn’t give him the pleasure.

I took a raw corn and on impulse, without even thinking, I threw it directed to his head. I forgot that he was a star basketball player. He caught it perfectly in one hand and put the corn on the table. 

“Why did you do that?” he asked. He was looking at me disapprovingly with his big eyes which in turn succeeded in making me feel guilty, “Why did you try to kill me? I thought you’re better than that, corn girl,” he said, sounding hurt.

Okay, the trying to kill him part was so ridiculous but I still felt guilty nonetheless. “I’m sorry, SeungHyun-shi,” I said and gave him a slight polite bow. 

“I’ll let it go if you’re willing to take responsibility, corn girl,” he said, “I’m giving you a last chance.”

Here we go again with the stupid responsibility thing. 
Seriously, it was like déjà vu.

I balled up my fists. Somehow, hearing the word ‘responsibility’ really brought out all the anger in me. Hearing the word, I was instantly reminded by all the pranks that he had put me through, by all the jeers that my classmates had given me. 

“I WOULD NEVER TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. NEVER EVER!!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, hoping that it would scare him away.

Who am I kidding?
Of course he wasn’t the least perturbed by my yell.

To my annoyance, SeungHyun chuckled to himself. “Well, I see that you’re still adamant to fight me,” he said mockingly, his eyes dancing with amusement.

Was it that funny to him, to see me going out of my mind?

“GO AWAY!!!” I yelled, closing my eyes, “I DON’T WANT YOU HERE!! GO AWAY!!!!” I waved the corns in front of my face angrily, as if I could erase him from the world.

I heard someone cleared his throat and it didn’t sound like SeungHyun so I slowly opened my eyes and to my horror, my eyes met with the two pairs of strangers’ eyes. The owners of the eyes, a middle aged couple, were looking at me with uncertainty, like they were figuring whether I was insane.

Sh1t! 
I just realized that I had just yelled at my potential customers.

I gasped loudly. “I’m terribly sorry,” I apologized, bowing my head profusely. It felt like my neck was going to break from all the bowing that I did, “I didn’t mean to say that to you. I was only yelling to the, err, to the...” my eyes wandered everywhere for inspiration when I suddenly saw the mosquito flying, “MOSQUITO!” I yelled, albeit too excitedly. I tried to regain my composure and cleared my throat. “I mean, I was only yelling to the mosquito to go away. I didn’t mean to yell at you. Please, have a seat!” I said, trying to sound as bright as I could.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw SeungHyun’s eyes dancing with laughter and his body heaved up and down as he hid his laughter behind the back of his hand. 

“Oh yes, please sit down,” SeungHyun said all of a sudden as he stood up to lead the pair towards an empty table. I gave him a murderous glare but he pretended to be oblivious. “Don’t mind the strange corn girl,” he said, smiling charmingly at the customers, “She always uses strange methods to get rid of the mosquitoes. She doesn’t even know that such a thing as the mosquito repellent exists.”

He cocked his head to wink at me. Ooh, I would just love to poke his eyes with the corn. Unfortunately for me, since the customers were there, there was nothing that I could do to him. If I did something violent, I might scare them away so I decided to just bear with his insults for a while longer.

SeungHyun proceeded to take their orders. It was like he was an assistant whom I didn’t even hire. When I handed him the corns to serve to the customers, he grinned when he took it. I eyed him suspiciously. Something is definitely wrong here. Why would Choi SeungHyun help