February 2010

“Want to watch a movie?”

 

“Huh? But it’s a school day tomorrow.”

 

“So? It’s only 9PM! If we start one now, then we could sleep at… Around 11PM.”

 

“That’s so late! And my mom doesn’t let me watch movies or TV on a school day.”

 

I pouted in response as Hyunjin laid beside me, in her yellow PJs and sleeping mask resting atop her head. She seemed ready to call it a day, and that wouldn’t do. This was our first sleepover in months, so we were supposed to stay up all night!

 

“You’re no fun,” I said, getting up and walking across the room to scan through her VCD collection below the little TV set. “Your mom let you have a TV in your room but you wouldn’t even let me use it.”

 

“My mom sleeps early because she has work tomorrow. My sister has school, too. You’ll wake them up!”

 

“You’re a heavy sleeper, Hyunjin, and I’m sure you got it from them,” I commented offhandedly as I ran my fingers through different titles… Lots of love movies, some animated ones… So many to choose from! “We’re having a slumber party, yet you’re being such a freaking party pooper.”

 

“Don’t say bad words,” she whisper-yelled, aware that her family were asleep in the rooms surrounding hers. “They’ll hear you.”

 

“They’re won’t hear us if the volume is low and we’re quiet,” I dismissed. I gave up looking for a specific movie since Hyunjin had a great collection anyway. I picked a random one and popped it in the CD player then I waited for the TV to boot. I ran back and jumped next to her on her bed, putting myself in a sitting position as I hugged one of her pillows.

 

“If mom walks in, I’ll kill you for real,” she said while sitting up anyway, grabbing the remote from under her bed and putting the volume down to a single digit.

 

The sound of the intro was loud enough for her pet dog to stir, who had its own bed sitting in the corner of her room. Awoken from its sleep, it walked over to her, and asked to be picked up, so she placed it on her lap. Her hand found its way to its head, petting it as it made itself comfortable.

 

“Your mom sleeps so early… My parents are still out on a date night,” I said as we let the opening scene play in the background, neither of us actually interested in the film. The nature sounds coming from the movie filled in the silence around us, especially loud since her neighborhood was really quiet at nighttime.

 

“A date night? Your parents still go on dates?” she asked as the characters in the animated movie started talking as well. “All my mom does is work.”

 

“Aw, don’t say that, I’m sure she has lots of fun, too,” I said. Then I suddenly remembered, “Hey, your mom isn’t married, right? Does that mean she can still get a boyfriend?”

 

“I think so…” she replied, then quickly adding, “But ew, I don’t want to know about my mom’s love life! She’s so old.”

 

“You’re so mean to your mom,” I said, laughing quietly with the movie completely forgotten at this point. “But whenever we go on road trips, when we visit the town my parents grew up in, mom would always point out, ‘Oh, this was the place your dad took me on a date on,’ as if she doesn’t tell me every time we pass by it.”

 

“That must be annoying, huh?” Hyunjin commented.

 

“No! I think it’s sweet,” I corrected her. “Sweet that they always remember. They must cherish those memories a lot if they do remember.”

 

“That’s gross,” she said with a smile. “You’re so corny.”

 

“I know!” I giggled, not even denying it. “When I get married, I want it to be perfect, like in the movies, with a grand wedding and all.”

 

I made a show of doing a fake lovestruck sigh, as Hyunjin responded with her own fake gagging noise.

 

“Or if not, I want to be like my parents, who love each other a lot,” I continued.

 

“You really are such a sap… Is there someone you’re crushing on? Tell me, now!”

 

“No! And please,” I glared at her. “If I did you’d be the first to know.”

 

“Oh, really now?” she teased, leaning right into my face and wiggling her eyebrows. She dug a finger at my ribs, and I jerked and almost screamed before remembering there were other people in the house.

 

“No way!”

 

Slightly annoyed, I hit Hyunjin with the pillow I was hugging and she fell back, trying to contain her laughter as I defended myself. Her dog moved up to lay on her chest.

 

“There aren’t even any boys in school. The only boys I know are my cousins, and then Jaemin!”

 

“You should have seen your face,” Hyunjin said, calming down and wiping at her eyes. Then, she seemed to ponder for a while before asking, “Hey, speaking of. Why didn’t your parents drop you off at Jaemin’s house instead? Doesn’t he live closer to you?”

 

“Aw, come on, Hyunjin. You didn’t miss me?”

 

“No, I’m just saying! You showed up at my doorstep right in the middle of dinner. My mom totally forgot to tell me you were coming.”

 

“This morning, my parents decided to go on a date night  since it’s their first good weekend in a while,” I explained. “And I thought it would be the perfect time for a sleepover again! I miss hanging out with you.”

 

“Huh?” she replied, confused. “We see each other in school every day…”

 

“No, I mean like this,” I gestured vaguely at the entire room. “Like a ladies’ night! With popcorn, music from your boombox, and a movie...”

 

With the lights off, we were only illuminated by the TV and Hyunjin’s pink galaxy lamp. The stars and moon pattern lit up the walls and the ceiling, and I was always jealous of her owning one. It looked really cool, and ever since I saw it, I started to have a fascination with the night sky.

 

“Please, you’re not even watching the movie,” Hyunjin said.

 

“I am,” I lied, then steered the conversation back on topic. “And Jaemin’s family has been reaaally busy lately.”

 

“With what?”

 

“I couldn’t visit their house a lot these days.”

 

“Why?”

 

“His sister is pregnant but…” I said, trying to explain, but I forgot the big words my mom called it. All I knew Jaemin’s sister was sick. “There’s problems. Apparently the baby is really hurting her.”

 

“Huh? How?” Hyunjin asked in bewilderment.

 

“It’s probably a disease. She’s been to the doctor so many times and I wanted to visit because I was worried, but they wouldn’t bring me along,” I continued.

 

“What?” she gasped, sitting up and laying her dog to sit beside her. “Now I really don’t want to get married and have kids!”

 

“But it happens to a lot of girls, and Jaemin’s sister will be fine in no time!” I reassured, telling her what my mom had said. “And the baby will be born this year.”

 

“When?”

 

“Around August, so it’s coming really soon,” again saying only what my mom told me.

 

Hyunjin just hummed in reponse, and we both shifted our attention to the TV, trying to catch up with what was going on in the film.

 

Then out of the blue, I blurted out, “When I’m pregnant and I get sick, too, you’ll be the doctor I go to.”

 

“What the…” Hyunjin said, holding herself from saying a bad word. “You’re so strange, you’re not even married yet.”

 

I only said it because I knew Hyunjin’s dream was to be a doctor, like she said every time we did our round of introductions on the first day of school. But it was too late, and I should have known she would use my words to tease me further. Her lips curled up into a smirk.

 

“Now I’m really convinced you have someone you like.”

 

“This again?” I sighed. “I really don’t!”

 

“If you’re thinking about it now, then surely you have a boy in mind that you want to marry!”

 

“You’re annoying…” I said, exasperated. And then I repeated myself, making it clear. “The only boy I know is Jaemin, and he’s a weirdo.”

 

“Eh, how so? I thought you were friends.”

 

“Yeah, and he’s so…” I trailed off, trying to think of a word to describe his behavior, but nothing came to mind. “One moment he’s always so close to me, breathing down my neck… And the next, he’s always pushing me and making fun of me, like he hates me. So weird!”

 

“Oh…” was all Hyunjin said, and we went silent for an awkward amount of time.

 

The movie in the background started to pick up on the plot, and the sound effects from the action scene filled up the room. I looked at her and she was playing with her dog’s ears, probably having second thoughts whether she should say what was on her mind or not. I was about to ask her what it was when she finally said it.

 

“You know… There’s a quote Haseul said to me before. ‘The more you hate, the more you like,’” she said slowly.

 

I tried to understand what Haseul — Hyunjin’s older sister — meant by that, but I couldn’t. “What? How can you like someone you hate? And hate someone you like?”

 

“Not hate-hate, but more like… He teases you a lot, right?”

 

“Ugh, tell me about it.”

 

“Boys are weird, so that means he likes you…”

 

“Oh…” I said, considering it for a while. But after giving it some thought, I disagreed. “He should do a better job of showing it then. I like him, too, but I don’t push him around and scream at him. Only a few times.”

 

“No,” Hyunjin said, straightening up and moving across the room to place her dog back on its doggy bed. “What I mean is…”

 

And she was cut off when she sat down on the bed, accidentally sitting on the remote control, the long press on the volume button rapidly increasing the volume on the TV. Then, a loud crash from the movie echoed around the room, no doubt audible to the entire house, maybe even all the way downstairs.

 

As if on cue, her dog started barking uncontrollably at the top of its little lungs, extremely startled and distressed by the loud noise.

 

“!” Hyunjin cursed.

 

In haste, I ran to the TV to pull the plug while Hyunjin tried to shush her dog, succeeding after a few seconds of holding it close to her chest.

 

And then everything was quiet.

 

We looked at each other, not even daring to move. I looked at her as if to say, ‘What now?’, and then at the door, hoping everyone on the other side of it was still asleep. We sat there for a what felt like minutes with our breaths held.

 

When we heard heavy footsteps coming from outside our door, we ran straight to the bed and dived under the covers. I peeked out and remembered to turn off the lamp just as the bedroom door started to open.