Chapter 4

 

I Need You

 

“I need you like the flower needs the rain 
You know I need you, guess I'll start it all again 
You know I need you like the winter needs the spring 
You know I need you, I need you”

 

-America

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chaerin’s Note

Jingyo oppa is leaving today.  Appa said that he’ll go to Europe to study further so he could be a better butler for me.  I don’t want him to leave.  He is already a good butler.   I feel like crying but I promised oppa I won’t so I’m trying really hard not to.   Before he left he said he’d come back for me…

 

Chae-roo

 

 

 

 

 

#

 

 

 

 

 

Mornings are always my favorite especially when the sun’s warm rays greet me as I wake up.   I kicked off the thick covers of my blanket to stretch about although the cold that greeted me once I got out of my cocoon made me shiver.   I then immediately cross my room to step on my sofa and lessen the blast of the air-condition.   I confess, I love putting the air-condition on full blast and then diving under the thick covers to wrap myself exactly like a caterpillar in a cocoon.    

 

Rubbing my face, I noticed that I still need to unpack all my stuff.   We had just gotten back from our vacation home in Japan and I must say that I’m already missing the holidays.

 

I still had a lot to do so I started going to the bathroom to take a bath, put on my comfy sweat pants and clean.   I’ve only started opening one of my large suitcases when someone knocked on my door.   Nana Hye Mi came in and greeted me with the words she always says every morning.

 

“Breakfast is ready, Ms. Chaerin.  Today’s menu would be your favorite pancakes drizzled with chocolate and topped with strawberries.   Your hot cup of milk chocolate with marshmallow toppings is also waiting for you downstairs,” she said before immediately telling me that she’d do the unpacking herself.   I found no need for her to do that so I politely declined it.  

 

Everybody at home knows that I love cleaning and organizing stuff so they are used to me telling them not to touch my stuff anymore.  However, nana Hye Mi still keeps offering her help every now and then.  She is my most stubborn but funniest nana.   I tell her some of my problems and she listens well.   However, she is very biased when it comes to me, my enemies are her enemies and the things she does to make sure that those certain people pay for their sins are just… unmentionable.   So, if you plan to be like that idiot classmate of mine, Seungri who keeps teasing me then beware of some bad luck coming your way.   Apparently, he feels that something is watching him when he is alone and weird things just happen to him lately.

 

I wonder what nana Hye Mi does in her room with all the candles she keeps buying and the small strange looking dolls…

 

“I’ll be down in a minute,” I reply as she bows a little before going.

 

I’ve realized that I need to clean up my closet and it’s probably going to take me the whole day since I have a… really big closet.   I finish my breakfast quick so I could do some major planning on what to start arranging first.   I walk in my closet, yeah I can walk and even run in it, filled with all kinds of dresses but I rarely wear the ones that require a skirt and a pair of heels.   Well, that’s because I’m a shirt and jeans girl.   A lot of people say that I don’t look like the daughter of a prominent family but I really don’t care, comfortable is my style.    

 

I scan the whole place before I start piling up the ones that I don’t need in a box.   I’m sending those to charity.  My uncle has lots of charities and I help him manage those whenever I have free time.   

 

I can’t wait to see those cute little children again.

 

I was busy sorting stuff when I came across a box lying at the bottom section of my closet.   I open it to decide on whether to throw it away or not when I stop at the sight of one of the contents, butterfly wings, a present from a very special person during my eighth birthday.

 

My butterfly wings.

 

I take it out carefully, looking meaningfully at it before scanning more of the contents when another object makes me stop.   It was a picture taken years ago when I was nine.  I touch the picture carefully, my fingers stopping at the smiling seventeen year old boy kneeling behind me, his arms hugging me from behind.  

 

Jingyo oppa.

 

It’s been five years since oppa left.  I was eleven years old back then.   The last I heard of him was that he was working for appa in France.  He used to call and send letters but then it lessened after a year or two until it just stopped.   Appa said that Jingyo oppa is busy assisting the vice-president of the company, my uncle.   

 

My 16^th birthday is coming in a few weeks and I wish… that he’d be here.   The last birthday I had with him took place in an amusement park.   Appa had the whole park closed and that’s when Jingyo oppa took me to the Ferris wheel.   I remember being so scared of heights at that time, actually I still am but it was worse back then.   I have never rode the ferris wheel before but oppa held my hand the whole time, asking me to trust him, that it was very pretty up there and I just had to see it on my special day.

 

I trusted him and I didn’t regret it.

 

I took the picture, intending to put it in a frame and place it at my bedside table.  

 

I really miss him.

 

 

 

 

#

 

 

 

 

“What are you planning for your birthday, Chaerin-ah?” my bestfriend Bom asks me before filling with popcorn, freshly made by nana Hye Mi herself.   We are currently hanging out at our house’s movie theatre since tonight is our scheduled movie night.   I was curling up on my own sofa and enjoying my popcorn when that question caught me off-guard.

 

I’ve actually been avoiding this.

 

“Buy a cake… eat it… sing the remix version of the birthday song… and then go to sleep,” I answered listlessly before sipping my mango shake.    I did try avoiding Bom’s questioning gaze but it just made me so uncomfortable.

 

“What? It’s just my birthday,” I burst out while she just shook her head with a sigh.

 

“Hey, we might not be one of the popular kids in school but it doesn’t mean that we should limit ourselves to staying at home doing boring things during a person’s most special day of the year” she said, putting much exaggeration on those last seven words that I could see her chubby cheeks shake with intensity. 

 

Hehe.   That always gets me.

 

“What’s so funny?” she asks, her angry eyes burning me alive.

 

Bommie hasn’t really changed much ever since we first met.   Even though her family owns the number one bakery in the country, she’s still the cute chubby girl back in 2^nd grade who brightens up at the mention of food and above all she’s the one person I can confide anything to besides Dara.      

 

“Nothing and wow, thanks for reminding me of my non-existent social status,” I lazily said before lying on my stomach and browsing the DVDs in front of me.  

 

It was true what she said though, we weren’t popular.   In a sea filled with children who grew up with legit golden platters at home, I and Bom were the ones whom you’d easily brand as unnoticeable.   However, I do find it amusing to see their shocked faces whenever I start introducing myself, like it was so unbelievable for someone who shies away from social parties or who’d rather choose a pair of sneakers than heels to be the only daughter of the wealthiest man in Asia.

 

What reason do I need to spend hours in the bathroom putting make-up on my face anyway?

 

I’d rather spend hours getting a bubble bath.  I love bubbles! Bubbly bubble bubble bubble bath!

 

I just don’t get other girls.   Why dress up like it’s the last day of planet earth or go through such suffering just to wear those killer shoes?   No.  I’d rather live in a place filled with germs than go walking around with a pair of Louboutins.   And I hate germs, like I-could-die-if-I-come-in-contact-with-it kind of hate.     Apparently, Bom shares the same sentiments like I do but I think to her it’s more of being very self-conscious of her figure.   I do tell her that she’s pretty, which is true, but she only snorts and laughs like no tomorrow that I’d fear she’d fart afterwards. 

 

Oh dear Lord, teach me how to sterilize the air.

 

“Fine, don’t plan anything.  I’m calling Dara to plan for you,” Bom threatens me out of the blue that I almost choke on my popcorn. 

 

“What?! Bommie!” I whine, throwing a pillow at her which doesn’t stop her at all from dialling a number from her phone.  

 

If there was one person who could turn a rock into a pink crystal it would be, Dara, a.k.a. Ssantokki.   Unlike me and Bom, the infamously pretty-faced Dara is in every way, popular, from her family name to her fashion sense, name it and Dara gets a high rank.   She was crowned queen of campus last year and is now very dedicated in organizing every school affair.   If you see the pink flag up in an event then you know she organized it.  However, Dara unlike all popular girls, prefer to stay in our small company.   She shares our love for food and fun at home rather than go party with the people she says, are too fake.   The only reason she isn’t with us right now is because she is out with Youngbae scouting for possible places to hold the upcoming Love Night, a Valentine’s day event.

 

“Stop! Okay I’ll think of something!” I screamed in desperation as Bom looks back at me with a triumphant smile on her face.  

 

There was just no way that I would have a glittery party filled with bedazzling and glimmering pink stuff that Dara adds in everything.   She does tend to exaggerate.

 

“Good! Now, what are we watching tonight?” She says quickly, forgetting about her phone and refilling her popcorn bowl. 

 

Well, that was fast.

 

“I don’t know, how about we watch this?”  I say, holding up a comedy movie but the look on her face tells me that we’re not going to watch something funny tonight. 

 

“But we watched something like this last week,” she protested, browsing the DVDs and much to my horror she pick what looks to be a movie I would never watch by myself.  

 

“Let’s watch this,” she suggests excitedly.   “It’s about 4 people dealing with the paranormal plus the one of the lead actors is my favorite.  You know, the one with a very deep voice.  He even dyed his hair blue for this!”

 

“No! I-I mean, look, this other one is better.  It’ll make you laugh and there is the sun shining brightly in happy land where the flowers bloom— Bommie!!” I yell out as she makes her way, in terrifying speed, to place the disc in the player.  I looked at her in irritation while trying to pick myself up from the carpeted floor where I kind of crawled at in my effort to stop her.

 

In short, I spent the whole movie in a screaming competition with nana Hye Mi while Bom looks like she is watching the Disney channel.   I’m weak when it comes to horror, although, I must admit the lead actor with blonde hair looks handsome… he reminds me of somebody actually… someone I miss.

 

 

 

 

Chaerin Note

I can’t sleep and I can’t turn off the lights.  Hugging Ppo-Ppo isn’t working either. I swear, I’m never watching that movie ever again.   Supernatural? Pfft…. Wait, I think I hear something just now…  Oh myyy gahhhhd!  Happy thoughts please come to me...   Jingyo oppa, where are you?  I need you…   

Chae-roo

 

 

 

 

#

 

 

 

 

Boring  

 

That word sums up my whole day as I trudge down the small path walk from the campus’ library.  Today is the day I turn 16 but like my birthday last year and even the one before that I felt nothing special about it.   I guess I just didn’t find throwing a party so exciting anymore.  To me, all of it is just the same.   Plus, I don’t really want to socialize with people whom I haven’t even met.   However, my mother still insisted that she invite our relatives and close friends, business associates included, for brunch so, I still had to face the inevitable.   Bom, Dara and Youngbae were all there and that somehow, comforted me a bit.  

 

In the end, I got to stand in front of more or less fifty people, wearing a pair of heels, Louboutins to be exact while I blow my five layered cake at one of the most luxurious hotels in Seoul, putting one big fake smile.

 

It’s not like before.  I used to really smile back then.

 

It’s a Saturday today yet I wanted to go to school and do some extra research for our Monday report.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a nerd.  I just care about my grades and submitting things on time without the stress.   There are Saturday classes going on campus right now that’s why there are students around, mostly the seniors, although not as many during weekdays.   

 

So, you can’t believe my surprise when I see a crowd of girls gathering around outside.    It seems like they are ogling on some celebrity or one of the popular soccer players in campus, not that I care.   Those pretty boys aren’t really my type.

 

I adjust my bag before I head down the flight of stairs.  These books are just heavy.   I’ve sent a message to my driver, Jang gun ahjusshi that I was already done and that he can already pick me up yet I don’t see the car from up here due to the bodies of people clustered down the steps.   I continue heading down and the crowd seems to become quite a hindrance now. 

 

Maybe I should call the police or the traffic supervisor ahjusshi.

 

“He’s so handsome!  Is he an uljjang?” a girl who I recognize as a student from one of my classes whispered to her giggling friend. 

 

“Why is he here?  I hope he’s not waiting for his girlfriend cause that would be a shame.  He really looks like that good-looking YG rapper,” another girl gushed while pulling and pushing her companion like she was a rag doll.  

 

I tried to squeeze my way as I finally reached down the steps.   I definitely can’t find my car or my driver this way so I make a call on my phone and as soon as the call went through I quickly answered.

 

“Jang gun ahjusshi! I’m stuck by the steps.   Some end-of-the-world commotion is going on.  I’m currently in the battle field--” I complain before getting pushed by some overly excited fan girl.   I really feel like I’m in a war zone, a soldier in the front line who is about to sing that Katy Perry song at the top of my lungs. 

 

This is the part of me that you’ll never ever take away from me…

 

“Ow!” I protest, getting shoved to the side but nobody seems to care with all that is going on.

 

The sweat, the heat and the billions of germs is getting me exhausted.  Germs! I think I’m about to die.  This is it.  Goodbye beautiful world.  Omma, appa, I love you!  Please don’t sell my teddy bear collection once I’m gone.

 

The crowd parts and I feel like the dear Lord has finally come to get me, lifting off the heavy weight which is my bag… wait… someone is taking my bag!   Just this person wait, I’m ready to give this thief a taste of my Taekwondo skills.   I’ve never encountered a criminal before and to be honest it did scare me a lot.   But then instead of doing all that I thought of doing, I froze, looking back at a familiar pair of warm eyes.   The same pair of eyes that always watched over me back then.   The eyes that belong to—

 

“J-Jingyo?” I stutter, straightening up as we stood there face to face with my phone still stuck to my ear.

 

I couldn’t be wrong.   It is him.   His hair has now been styled, sticking up at the center of his head, dyed in a lighter brown shade.   His features had now grown sharper more… manly.  He wore a stylish suit that made him look like one of those Calvin Klein models in the magazine.  

 

Just then I suddenly realize how the crowd was looking around us.   And then it immediately hits me, Jingyo oppa was who these girls are stalking just now and the reason why I couldn’t see my car was because it was being blocked by all of them, the spot where oppa was waiting at.   I could feel the jealous stares and the whispered questions about who I was but that wasn’t important because right now… Jingyo oppa… 

 

I could see that he was also holding a phone and it almost made me jump when he talked, what with his husky voice also resonating on my phone.   He must have taken Jang gun ahjusshi’s phone which meant that he was the one I was talking to all along.

 

“There you are, princess.  I was worried that you might have gotten hurt,” his mouth curves in to a smile and I just forgot what I was doing here.   Even his voice has changed, even deeper than before.

 

“Are you too grown-up now to give oppa a hug?” he asked, his face looking closely at mine, searching for an answer or probably searching for signs of life in planet Chaerin.   I blinked a few times until it all came to me like a big bang.

 

“Jingyo!” I flung myself at him, hugging him tight.   I could literally hear the disappointed groans coming from the girls around me as they start to leave.  

 

“Eww. What does he see in her?”

 

“She looks like his sister…maybe she is his sister… there is still hope,”

 

“Nooooo! Why is she hugging him?? He is mine!”

 

I didn’t get to mind those comments at all since I was trying so hard to choke back my own tears.   I missed oppa a lot and I’ve never been so happy to see him again.   He was the one person I would always rely on and being without him has made me feel like I’ve lost an arm.     

 

I didn’t know how long I have hugged him but all I did know was how great it felt especially when he hugged me just as tight.

 

“Are you crying, princess?” his worried tone came.

 

“No…” I say but then the wavering tone of my voice obviously made me a big liar.  I was already sniffling by the time that I’ve hesitantly let go of him. 

 

“I missed you too,” he smiled, bursting in to a light chuckle as soon as he sees my teary eyes.   When I did look up at him I mustered my coldest glare.

 

“Who told you to stay in Europe for so long?  You are a bad oppa!  I should fire you!” I exclaim, hitting him in the shoulder with my fist, my head looking down since more of my tears haven’t saved me from embarrassment.

 

He has muscles now too.  Hitting him was like hitting something  really solid.

 

“I’m sorry, Chae-roo.  I really want to go back as soon as I can but work isn’t letting me.  Oppa is here now.   I promised myself not to miss your birthday this year and I will serve you from this day onwards for as long as I can,” he sincerely said with those glimmering eyes and that husky voice.  His hand went up to the side of my face to gently my cheek and somehow, I felt all warm and fuzzy.

 

What?  

 

“Please don’t cry.  What do you want oppa to do for you?”  he asked and I could sense the panic in his voice.

 

“Will you wear that bear costume you wore during my eighth birthday?” I asked, wiping away my tears and narrowing my eyes at him.   I could see him take a deep breath, fixing his tie before answering me with a determined ‘yes’.

 

Hehe.  Oppa looks like he has gone pale like before.  He looked too funny that I burst out in a fit of giggles.

 

“I was just kidding oppa.  I forgive you,” I say before he leads me to the car, letting out what looks like a relieved sigh and opening the door for me.   He told me that he would drive for me today since he is going to take me somewhere.   It was his surprise for me since it was my birthday and I just can’t wait to know what it is.

 

 

 

 

 

Chaerin’s Note

Jingyo took me to a butterfly garden today!  It was so beautiful that I just didn’t know where to look at first.  I can’t believe that he is finally here.  Oppa just made my 16^th birthday very special.   Thank you God.  Thank you for bringing oppa back.  And… I have a confession to make.  I’ve never told anyone about this… Jingyo oppa looks really cool and very handsome when he drives but I’m not going to tell him that cause’ his head might grow as big as the size of planet Earth if he hears this.

 

Chae-roo

 

P.S. Oppa is taking me somewhere nice for breakfast tomorrow.  What… should I wear? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A.N.:

Well well well.. somebody is happy.

 

5 years apart and reunited at last. 24 year old Jingyo bear and 16 year old Chae-roo will be starting a new chapter in their lives.

 

My laptop is finally resurrected and now the fun continues.

 

Have a happy monday (asian time)  to the 101 happy pretty people reading this now.

 

Here's Chapter 4 in exchange for all your lovely comments and subscriptions.