Oppa, how are you?
Imperfect hearts(2 years later)
Choi Si-Won lays on the bed in his old room, staring blankly at the ceiling above him. Or at least he tries to. He has a small break between projects, part of which he guiltlessly uses for a few days' to visit his parents in their family home.
Of course, he truly enjoyes spending time with the members of the group (especially causing absurd situations among them and observing who would be nominated as their creator ("Mianhae, Heechul-hyeong!"). However, lately, everyone has been quite busy, and on top of that his clownish hyung, Kim Hee-Chul, is serving military duty.
The inauguration of the end of his studies is slowly approaching, and as a result, his schedule is going to be even tighter. Siwon grimaces, realizing he isn't even remember today's date.
He turns towards the nightstand and reaches for his phone, which he deliberately hid in the drawer the day before (he knows it was unprofessional, but after all, he is on vacation). He lookes at the display: February 10, 2012.
Scrolling through the list of missed calls and unread messages (most of which isn't even evoke the slightest emotion), he grins. He reacts like this to the short wishes sent today, shortly after midnight: 'Happy mini-birthday, Oppa!'.
"Lily-ya, I wonder where you're wandering now?"
He decides (hoping Lily is currently somewhere in the U.S.) to call her in the evening.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When he and Lily first met, Siwon was, as he proudly liked to emphasize, a freshly graduated elementary school student. He felt so grown-up and looked with pity on his younger classmates.
However, now, being in a big and unfamiliar museum, in a foreign city, and, oh horror, in a foreign country, all he dreams of is finding himself in his comfortable home. Unfortunately, his father thought that taking his son to an exhibition combined with a banquet in Taipei would be a valuable life experience for the junior. As a result, Dad, busy making and renewing business connections, completely has forgotten about Siwon, who is simply bored.
Earlier, adults surrounded him from all sides, from whose behavior he inferred that they were melting over his still persistent baby fat (and this suspicion annoyed him so much that he decided in his mind that no one would ever force him to learn Mandarin). As soon as he saw an opportunity, he moved out of everyone's line of sight and went to the large and cool lobby, where he decided to wait out the rest of the event.
Now, sitting on a deep sofa, he begins to wonder if he saw anything interesting earlier. Suddenly, a great picture of flower-covered mountains comes to his mind. Involuntarily, he starts to quote one of Kim Sowol's poems in his native language:
"On a mountain flowers open
each flower opens
regardless of fall spring and summer
each flower opens."
He wonders for a moment what the rest of the poem sounds like. Then comes a slightly phonetically distorted response:
"A mountain
is a mountain
where a flower is opening
that flowers alone over there
and a small bird cries on the mountain
in love with the flower
and on the mountain
lives."
He lookes around and sees a girl slightly younger than him. Although he recognises familiar Asian features in her face, they were somewhat mixed with others, as he suspected, American. However, what surprises him most are her large blue eyes surrounded by long dark brown lashes. The color of those irises is so intense that it is impossible to look away from them.
He smiles to himself. He has found something interesting. At least interesting enough to alleviate the boredom.
However, he quickly resign from his chaebol approach when he sees her smile: on the one hand bold, but at the same time not containing even a drop of falseness.
"Is that Kim So-Wol-ssi poem, right?" she asked in a melodious voice.
It was then, guided by instinct, that he decides to do everything to befriend her.
"Yes," he replies.
Then, as if inspired, they finish in unison:
"On a mountain flowers fall
each flower falls
regardless of fall spring and summer
each flower falls."
Not even a quarter of an hour passed, and they are already talking to each other as if they had been old neighbors spending every free moment together. Of course, it started with formalities. They introduced themselves to each other, and it turned out that Lily was two years younger than him.
"Call me oppa," he says, proudly adding, "I'm just going to start junior high."
"Then I don't have to," she replies, "because I am too."
"How so?" he is surprised.
The girl explains to him that in the USA, the country where she lives, junior high school lasts from 6th to 8th grade.
"But you should only go to 5th grade," he says, surprised.
"Maybe I should, but I'm already in 7th," she answers with undisguised pride and adds, "I was bored in class, so they moved me up two grades. But it's no big deal; in America, it happens quite often."
She blushes slightly, then says in a slightly quieter tone:
"My grandfather didn't agree to more. Even now he repeats that I shouldn't spend whole days just studying, but develop my interests."
The boy is really surprised. Where he came from, it was repeated that school should come first.
His reaction must have been really visible because the girl says with a smile:
"I know. For many people, my grandfather must seem... unusual. But he is really adorable. Although he is American himself, he makes sure I learn Korean because he says it's my... what was it? Oh yeah, heritage. He really loved my grandmother, and she was Korean..."
After a moment she reflects:
"Sorry for boring you."
"I don't mind it, it's interesting," Choi Si-Won replies cheerfully.
There is a moment of silence. They sit next to each other on the couch, and Lily seems to be thinking about something.
After a while, she lightly taps his arm, attracting the boy's attention. They both turn towards each other and the girl, tilting her head slightly, asks:
"In Korea, there's a term like chingu, right? If we're both going to 7th grade, then we're chingu, so I don't have to call you oppa, right?"
She really surprises him with this question. Without much thought, he flicks her forehead.
"Ow," she calls out, massaging the hit spot. "What was that for?"
"We weren't born in the same year, so the chingu rule doesn't apply to you," he stated, then added, "that's why call me oppa. Arraseo?"
"Roger!" she exclaims, saluting.
When they go together to the exhibition hall, where they are supposed to meet Siwon's father, it turns out that he has currently a conversation with Lily's grandfather. The young ones are not surprised at all when they learns that the older man was a shareholder in the boy's father's company. They both considered it the best twist of fate.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Despite the passage of years and the continents separating them, their friendship endures. Though the distance have kept them from meeting too often, other means persisted. At first, there were traditional letters, then electronic ones, and for some time now, messages on social messengers. Yet, there is more to it. Lily is also a fan of his group, and whenever Super Junior or at least the subgroup Super Junior-M embarks on a concert tour outside of South Korea, his friend, if her schedule permits, appears in the audience (and Siwon makes sure it is a front-row seat).
However, they had never met in Korea itself. She once explained to him that it was related to an agreement she made with her grandfather ("I must fulfill my part of the commitment first"). The young man felt he shouldn't pry into it.
As he had often experienced, with excellent connectivity, electronic messengers were reliable. Not even a minute passes when he hears the sound of an incoming call. Taking the opportunity to practice his linguistic skills, he immediately switches to English:
"Hello, Lily."
"Welcome, Siwon-oppa. Once again, happy mini-birthday to you!"
He can't suppress a chuckle. Ever since Lily have heard about the incident related to the registration of her friend's birth, she reminds him every year that she remembers about it.
"Thank you, 'Reminder'. You're better at this than the press."
"Well, to be more specific: 'Remembrall' cause I'm not a Mugol," Lily jokes (she belongs to the faithful readers of fantasy novels).
He decides to ask about something that intrigues him greatly.
"Do you have something 'in the works' now?"
"Yes, oppa. I'm finishing up my latest sculpture. So... do you need something?"
"Yes. One of my hyeongs has a birthday coming up, and it turns out he's a fan of your work."
"Really?" the young woman is surprised.
"Seriously. My father gave him one of your early works a few years ago, which he had auctioned off years ago."
"Which one?" comes the quick question.
"'Baekho'".
"Oppa! Why didn't you tell me all these years that it was your dad who auctioned off 'Baekho'? And, as if that weren't enough, I find out it changed ownership in the meantime!"
"Is that so important?"
"Of course, oppa! That sculpture ended up at auction by mistake, and only God knows how it happened. You have no idea how many nights I cried over that loss. I know it probably sounds funny, but I created it for myself. And when I found out where it went, it was already after the auction."
Siwon unconsciously loweres his head. He didn't intend to upset his friend. As he wonders what to say to her, he hears:
"Though on the other hand... maybe it turned out for the best. Sometimes I wonder if that event motivated me to visualize my subsequent ideas... But wait, oppa, we've strayed a bit from the topic. Would you like one of my sculptures, I assume, hmm... in a compact format?"
"Absolutely, Lily."
"I don't see any problem, and, in accordance with the recommendations of my previous manager, I'll give you the spiel now: 'the list of available works for purchase is available on the website of my studio, and, of course, for friends, I provide a discount code.'"
The artist was dumbfounded. The silence resulting from this is interrupted by the laughter of the young woman.
"Alright, alright, oppa. I won't be like that, after all, I remember all those concert tickets. Let me know what would interest you, oppa, and maybe I find something suitable in the inventory."
"And would you add autographs and dedications to the package? I'll send you all the information later today."
"No problem. But, oppa, I almost forgot to tell you something."
"Yes?"
"Actually, I need your help, oppa, let's say it's a favor for a previous favor. What do you say, oppa?"
"For what favor?"
"A gift," she clarified. "Sorry, but I come from a family of businessmen."
Choi Si-Won chuckles once again. Lily sure knew how to talk to him.
"I'm all ears."
"In May, I have a formal graduation ceremony, and right after that, I'm most likely moving to Seoul or near its area."
Unbelievable! Siwon is once again speechless during this conversation.
"Hello, oppa. Are you there?"
"Y-y-yes," he stammers. "Seriously?"
"Absolutely. I'm in the final stages of recruitment."
"Recruitment?"
"Yes, for a job."
"Where?"
"In Seoul."
"But where specifically?"
"At the American embassy. Basically, it will be an internship at first, but the plus in this situation is that it will be part-time, so I'll have a lot of free time. And here's a request for you, oppa: do you have any female in your circle, preferably an artist, who is looking for a roommate and would be willing to rent a small house with me? You know, Korea is practically a foreign country for me, even though my parents were half-Koreans, so you're probably the only person I can count on in this regard."
"You?" the man is surprised. "You need my help? But didn't you manage to make friends with Japanese people when you were on a year-long exchange?"
"Not really, make friends. Japan is not America, after all. Yes, I got along very well with them, but it's not suprising, cause I lived with many of those Japanese girls in the same dorm. Besides, we were also connected by university interest clubs. But in Korea, I'll enter a completely different stage: work!"
"Sculpting is also work," Choi Si-Won retorts, "and you've been handling it for many years."
"Oppa, don't insult my intelligence. Do you think I'm not aware of how much my grandfather helped me? And I'm already in a much better position than most people, not having to worry about finances. I am aware of all this and can assess my own strengths. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't ask you for help."
"Do you really trust me in this matter?"
"Absolutely. If you let me know within, let's say, two months, I'll be very grateful, oppa."
"As soon as I find out something, I'll let you know. You also keep me informed of further progress."
"Okay. And you, oppa, remember to specify what kind of sculpture it should be."
"Sculpture?" he is surprised.
"Yes, a gift," she reminds him.
"Oh wow, I forgot about that!"
"Two heads are better than one," Lily laughs.
He has to admit, it sounds really interesting: his favorite dongsaeng in Seoul. Who knows what interesting events her arrival will bring. And as for the roommate issue, he already has a certain idea that had a good chance of being realized. It is expressed in a short slogan: Byul-noona.
I've finished writing the official first chapter, and all that's left is to translate it into English. Expect its publication no later than Tuesday.
Big hugs to all of you.
MJokeR
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