CHAPTER 3: Simple

“Jju ya, what was actually happened? Im Nayoung, who is she?”

Nayoung who wanted to go to the bathroom, stopped for a moment as she overheard the conversation between Jonghyun and his mom. Knowing that she wasn’t supposed to listen to it, Nayoung continued walking to the bathroom.

Nayoung spent more time inside the bathroom to think about what she had listened. She was nervous, had Jonghyun tell his mom the truth? What would happen if Jonghyun’s mom know the truth? What the entire family would do if they know that Jonghyun iss actually helping a stranger?

Nayoung even thought of running away. But then she realized, it would even make it worse. And moreover, she didn’t want to get away from Jonghyun. She couldn’t lie to herself that she felt safe near him.

Nayoung couldn’t sleep, her mind was replaying what happened at the birthday party of Mrs. Kim. She could actually sense that Kim family was somewhat have suspicion on her.

She remembered that after finished singing, Mrs. Kim started to speak, "Thank you for this party. It shouldn’t be celebrated like this. At this age, it feels weird if I celebrated it by singing, moreover we do this in front of Jonghyun’s friend” Mrs. Kim said as she smiled to Nayoung. “Nayoung ssi, are you deliberately coming here to celebrate my birthday?"

Nayoung was confused and remained silent, so Jonghyun needed to take over the conversation. “Yee eomma.. I told her that today is mom’s birthday.. Then she wanted to come..” Jonghyun took a glance to Nayoung and continued. “Moreover, this time, her parents are still abroad.. So, I invited her.. Is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay..” Mrs. Kim answered firmly. “I even feel really glad that she comes..” She ended it with smile.

Nayoung smiled lightly to repay her kindness. But then the question wasn’t stop, “Nayoung ssi, what is your parents’ job?” Jonghyun’s aunt asked Nayoung.

This time, Dojae replied quickly as he stole a glance to Nayoung. “Her parents are doing business, auntie.. That’s why they went broad..”

The questions won’t stop if Kim Brothers didn’t tried to divert the attention. Nayoung could only look down and remain silent.

Do I burden them?

-00 –

Morning came, and soon there comes a sound of the door opened. Jonghyun’s grandma went inside Nayoung’s room.

“Get up! A young lady should wake up early. “ Grandma gave a command while shaking Nayoung’s body.

Nayoung moved lazily. She slept late at night, and moreover her body was really tense, so she felt the need to lay down longer.

But Grandma insisted to wake her up. “Come on, don’t be lazy!” She told Nayoung while forcing her to stand up. “This is your towel, take a bath quickly..”

Is this how they treat me after knowing what actually happened? Nayoung asked that question as she went inside the bathroom.

After taking a bath and getting dressed, Grandma invited Nayoung to go to the factory with her. At that time, Nayoung didn’t know what factory means, but then when she took her to the other side of the house, she could see a few people working. From the atmosphere, it seemed Kim family had a traditional soju factory.

"Come here young lady, help that ahjumma to clean the rice." Grandma asked Nayoung to do such thing. "Boyoung, please teach her."

Nayoung then approached a woman whom grandma asked to help her. She kneeled next to Boyoung and looked at how she washed the rice. Nayoung tried to copy her, but failed. She supposed to rinse it, but instead dispossed the rice.

It made Grandma ranted, “Yaaa, why can’t you do it? What can you do, young lady??”

Nayoung could only hide her face, feeling embarrased.

“Well, maybe you don’t fit in this section, let’s go somewhere else.” Grandma said it while dragging Nayoung softly to other section.

Nayoung have given another job. This time was mixing the hard-steamed rice with yeast. “Try doing this..”

Nayoung complied. She mixed the hard-steamed rice and yeast with her hands. As she mixed the rice and yeast, she found out that she enjoyed it. The feeling when she pressed the mixture, made her like giving her energy into it. And somehow it made her smiling.

That was the time she heard Mrs. Kim’s voice. “Nayoung ssi..” She walked closer and looked surprised to see Nayoung doing the chore. She turned to Grandma and asked, “Eommoni, why do you bring her here?”

“As a young girl, she must be active..” Grandma replied firmly.

“Yee, I understand.. But she doesn’t have breakfast yet, eommoni.. Let her to have breakfast first, okay?”

Grandma sighed and nodded.

Mrs. Kim walked closer to Nayoung and said, “Let’s go, Nayoung ssi..”

Along the way going back to the house, Mrs. Kim apologized over what Grandma did to her. Nayoung didn’t feel bothered at all, somehow she felt energized. She told Mrs. Kim that she even happy that Grandma took her to the factory. Mrs. Kim felt relieve with Nayoung’s answer. Silently, Nayoung observed Mrs. Kim, whether she already knew the truth about her or not. But from the way she treat her, Nayoung didn’t feel like she changed no matter she already knew the truth or not. And it warmed her heart.

They are all too kind. Nayoung said in her mind.

Arriving in the dining room, the family have gathered just like yesterday.

"Have a seat, Nayoung ssi" Mrs. Kim said.

Then Nayoung sat next to her, across Kim brothers.

The breakfast menu was porridge with chunks of beef on it. When Nayoung on her half eating, Kim brothers made some noises.

"Who’s quick who get it" Dojae sneered to Jonghyun after successfully got the last chunk of beef on the plate.

"Yaaa, as an older brother, you should have relented." Jonghyun complaint.

"For this, I won’t budge" Dojae said while putting the chunk on his bowl. But when he would take leeks, Jonghyun took that chunk from his brother’s bowl. Hap! And it went straight to his mouth

"Yaaa, Jju yaa!" Dojae screamed but then chuckled.

Their mom who saw her sons’ behaviour commented, “What are you two doing? Don’t you feel shame, there’s guest here?”

“It’s okay mom. This is what we called a family.” Dojae said it while looking at Nayoung. Then he took the leeks and put it into her bowl. “Eat this...”

Nayoung looked surprise by his action, she looked at him and said softly. “But, I don’t really like leeks..”

Dojae looked back in disbelief. “Yaaa, leeks is delicious. How could you don’t like it?” He said it while moving that leeks from her bowl into his.

Nayoung could only grin and it made everyone laughing.

-00-

After finished eating, Mrs Kim called Dojae and said, “Jae ya, take Nayoung ssi to walk around here..”

“Me??” Dojae asked in surprise, but then he nodded. “Ah, o-okay...”

Nayoung actually felt uncomfortable to be accompanied by Dojae. If she could choose, she must have chosen Jonghyun. But like having telepathy, Jonghyun appeared and took control “Leave it to me, Hyung.. I will take her to walk around here.”

“Okay , then.. But don’t walk too far, Jju...” his mom responded.

“Okay mom, don’t worry..” He replied his mom and turned to Nayoung. “Come on..”

Nayoung bowed to Mrs. Kim and Dojae, then followed Jonghyun to get outside the house.

Along the way, Nayoung observed the surroundings. The village hutted smell of damp wood and exemplified a modest lifestyle. Trees towered over the entire village, their broad, green leaves providing shade from radiant sun. Birds chirped to their families and the villagers diligently worked to gather vegetable. Some of them greeted back as Jonghyun politely greeted them.

Aaah, so this is how it feels to live in the countryside.. So peaceful.. Nayoung thought as they walked through a barley field. Jonghyun led the way and sometimes turned his head to Nayoung and smiled. Nayoung always liked it when seeing him smile.

And then they reached the bank of the river and Jonghyun invited her to sit next to him.

“How do you feel living here? Peaceful, isn’t it?” Jonghyun asked Nayoung.

She nodded.

"Since childhood, I used to come here. It was usually after dad scolding me or after I got quarrel with Hyung. But sometimes I came here only because I want to come here.." Jonghyun smiled.

Nayoung smiled back at him but then looked down at the river. “You’re lucky.. You have a perfect family..”

Jonghyun tilted his head to see Nayoung and said, “Let’s just say it’s your family too..”

Nayoung looked at him in the eye and asked. “Do you really want to share your family with me? I mean, why did you help me? You don’t even know me..”

Jonghyun was back to his position and said, “At that time.. When I see you hung on the edge of the roof.. I just thought ‘That girl must stay alive’.. So I went up to the roof, approached you, and tried to persuade you to undo your intention.” He stole glance to Nayoung and continued. “And I thought that you just feel lonely.. So I want to accompany you to live this life, like meeting a new friend.. Yeah, I think it’s just like that..”

“New friend?” Nayoung looked down.

Jonghyun asked softly. “Do you have brother or sister?”

"No, I’m their only child, luckily. I don’t want them to suffer like me."

"Mmm, so you really want to keep your suffer by yourself. It shouldn’t be like that. You should share it with others. Do you have any friend or.. "

"I have no friends.” Nayoung cut Jonghyun’s words. “I mean, they know me, I know them. But no one is near, which I could share my problem with. I spend my school time for studying. I run away from the problems with studying. I want to be smart. I want to get into the top university, in a major that my Dad wanted. That’s all I did for my parents. I hope it could make them unite again, as they proud of me.”

Nayoung chuckled bitterly. “But you know, once I was accepted at SNU, my Dad was in the UK. When I called, he said, 'Congratulations Nayoung, it's a good achievement. But now I have business to do, I call you later, okay.' I waited for his call, but he didn’t call me. Maybe he forgot. Maybe he didn’t care. And that was also happened to my mom. She was busy living her life in New York.”  

Nayoung was silent for a while before continuing, “That's the worst time of all. I've tried my best to make them proud. But even that is not able to make them cared. Since then, I've stopped caring about my Dad, my Mom, with my studies, even with my life. My life is filled with screaming, sobbing, and disappointment. That's what made me want to end it. "

Jonghyun stared at Nayoung softly as he started to ask, "May I know, what makes you froze on the roof? I mean, you could just jump. Why do you hang on there? "

"That's because .." Nayoung paused, then continued, "it's because I'm thinking, what will happen after I die. Would it be better when I die? Would my Mom and Dad stop fighting after I die? Would I be happy in heaven? Well, would I fInd myself in heaven or just hell? Those questions came up when I was there.”

Nayoung turned to Jonghyun, as she said, “Then you came. Somehow, be able to answer all of my questions. It would be better if I stay alive. At least I had to fight for my own happiness." Nayoung took a deep breath, looking far to the other side of the river.

Suddenly she was distracted by the sound of the stone thrown to the water. She turned to Jonghyun and found him throwing stone into the river.

"Try it..” Jonghyun said it while giving a small stone to Nayoung. "I think this river will soon change into ice, so use this opportunity… Throw it as far as you can." He said it while throwing his stone.

Nayoung followed him. She threw the stone into the river and it landed on the half of the river.

"Well, you're a good thrower. This, try again. " Jonghyun said while providing some stones to Nayoung.

Nayoung accepted it then throwing it again. This time, the stone was even reached nearly across the river. Nayoung never imagined that this simple activity could make her happy.

She didn’t realize that Jonghyun stared at her while smiling. Beautiful. After experiencing a great suffering, she even smiles just by throwing stones. If I could, I would give her tons of stone in order to make her smiling like that.

[Scene where Jonghyun smiling as he staring at Nayoung]

#bgm: Like Overflowing with Kindness - Daesung of Bigbang

A/N: I want to take it slow, I hope you're still with me. Please leave comments. Thank you