CHAPTER 3: Hoy (hey/yah) Sasa! :)

What would you do if you just arrived in a foreign land in search for your long lost father, only to find out that you were scammed? You got nowhere to go, no place to stay, and little money left in your pocket..

Sa Ji/Sasa’s POV

Haaaaay. Ano’ng gagawin ko? (sigh.what am I going to do?) I thought to myself as I reach the 5^th bus stop, dragging my luggage with me. I don’t know where exactly I am, except that I am in Seoul.. and I am in deep .

I sat down at the bench as my mind flew back to my life in the Philippines…

~flashback~

I entered our small apartment, and quickly lay down on the couch, exhausted from the funeral. My Mama’s funeral.. tears were threatening to fall again. I closed my eyes and forced myself to not think about anything. But then again, my mind quickly flew back to Mama’s memories… and suddenly remembered our last conversation..

“Lee Chan Gi? Sino ‘to, Mama?(Who’s this, Mama?)”

“Sasa, siya ang.. Siya ang Papa mo(Sasa, he’s your.. he’s your Father). Find him, I’m sorry if I hid you from him.”

I looked at my Mom only to see pain in her eyes. “But.. I am not interested in meeting him. I don’t need him Mama. I only need you. ”

She weakly smiled at me, “then why did you learn your father’s language if you weren’t interested in meeting him?  Sasa. Find him. It is my last wish. You also owe him your life.”

I didn’t know Mama knew that I secretly studied Hangeul on my own.

I felt pain in my chest again… as I tried to stop the memory of our last conversation. And this time, I couldn’t stop the tears. I just cried until I drifted to sleep on our couch.

A few days later, my best friend came banging on our door, “Hoy Sasa (Hey Sasa)!! When will you start living your life again? Hey, I want my best friend back!”

I lazily got up from my bed and opened the door, still sleepy. “What do you-”

“Sasa?! What the heck? Kasapi ka na ba sa Tropang Bente Kwatro?(Are you now a member of Tropang Bente Kwatro?)” she said as she entered my apartment and touched my messy hair. For the first time, since my Mama’s death, I smiled thinking of Tropang Bente Kwatro, the group of bums in our street who are known for not taking a bath within twenty four hours.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” I asked her as we sat on our couch.

“Duh. To check on you of course!” She said as she was fishing something from her bag. She handed me a pamphlet as she explained, “Here, you need to find a new job—“

“FYI. I have a job?”

She sneered at me and mockingly said, “Hello? You’ve been in your apartment for days. You won’t even answer your phone! You probably have been fired already.”

I sighed. Actually I got fired two days ago. I just don’t want anyone to know. I took a deep breath and took the pamphlet from her. I opened it and something caught my eye.

Job opening in Korea…. I stared at it for a moment.

“Lord, is this a sign?” I thought out loud. Suddenly, rain started to pour outside and an ear shattering thunder crossed the sky.

My bestfriend nonchalantly said, “I guess God just answered you.”

~End of Flashback~

I bowed and rest my head on my hands and took a painful breath, “Did I misunderstand God’s answer?”

I was occupied in my own thoughts when I heard a loud voice shrieking in pain. I quickly turned my head towards the woman beside me---

“Arrgghhhhhhh!! ”

“M-mwo?! Musun ir issumnikka?!(W-what? What’s going on?)” I asked as I looked into her face full of agony. She gripped my shoulder tightly and shouted,

“M-my water just broke. Take me to the hospital! Aarrrrgghhhh… Now, please!” she yelled in between taking deep breaths.

I helped her up, getting panicky myself, I almost forgot about my luggage. I put her hand over my shoulder and held her waist by my left hand while my right hand struggled to hold onto my backpack and luggage. I quickly hailed a cab, the first one passed us by. She was still shouting and I knew her pain must have increased ten folds, so I tried to calm her down,

“Unnie, stay calm. Take a deep breath. Come on, inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.” I coolly said as I take deep breaths with her.

“a-arasso.. inhale.. hmmm… exhale… haaaaaaaaaaaaa….”

Finally a cab stopped in front of us and seeing the emergency of the moment, the driver immediately got out and helped me to get the pregnant woman safely in the back seat.

I put my luggage at the trunk and quickly went in and sat beside her, I talked to her and tried to calm her down. She was holding onto my arm so hard I thought my skin would be ripped off of me.

“P-palli.. palli! palli! G-get my cellphone in my purse and… and call my appa! Call him now!” she yelled at me.

She handed me her phone, almost throwing it to me. I scanned her phonebook and immediately called the number under the name “appa” I have to remain calm. Come on, Sasa, don’t lose your head now! Two lives are at stake here!

“Ahjussi,” I asked the driver. “What’s the nearest hospital here?” He looked at the woman beside me with concern and then at me, and told me where we were going.

“Yoboseo?!” I quickly answered as soon as I heard someone’s voice on the other line. I didn’t have time to introduce myself and just told him where I am bringing his daughter and why.

“Appa! Arghhh! *took a deep breath* Come quickly!” the woman yelled at the phone while I’m on it.

~a couple of hours later~

“Cham komapsumnida, Sa Ji-ssi. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known what happened to my daughter.” Mr. Ahn sincerely said as he handed me another cup of coffee. I took it and looked into his warm eyes, wondering if my father is like him. I bet it would be great if my father is just like Mr. Ahn. he is a kind, warm-hearted, and easy to talk to kind of person. No wonder his daughter doesn’t regret not having a dad for her baby, because her father would probably be the best grandfather.

I smiled, “Ahjussi, it’s fine. You’ve been thanking me for hours now. I’m happy that I helped Minha unnie.”

I stood up, bowed to Mr. Ahn, and told him that I’m leaving. I turned to pick up my luggage when he spoke,

“Where would you go? I thought you said you didn’t even have a room booked, right?”

I looked at him and forced a smile, “Ne. I guess I just have to find an inn somewhere..”

“Hmmm.. I have to get back to our shop for a while, do you mind staying with my daughter and grandson while I’m gone? Then, tomorrow we’ll help you get into an apartment near our house. How’s that?”

“Ahjussi, I don’t have much money for an apartment. I don’t even have a job yet.” I said as I tried to keep my tears from falling.

Mr. Ahn put lightly squeezed my shoulder, and kindly smiled, “Then stay with us for a while. And as for getting a job, I need someone who can help me in my shop since my daughter would be taking care of her little Yoogeun most of the time now. So, what do you think?”

“I.. I.. -- Kamsahamnida, ahjussi. Thank you so much!” I said as tears run down my cheeks. I bowed and thanked him again.

And I thought this was a horrible day… but God proved how wrong I was.

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*Sa Ji knows how to speak Korean but her accent is not perfect. She speaks two other languages, English and Filipino.

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Babycakes and Darling D.