CHAPTER II

Everything was unpacked, and yet Hwang Yeji felt like there was a lot more to unpack. Both physical and emotional, but she was too exhausted for that.
 

Emotionally and physically.
 

Sprawled across her cozy, just made bed, Yeji stretched like a lazy cat and pondered how to use her last day of vacation. She figured unpacking would take the whole day, up until dinner and beyond, and she also figured she would shut down immediately after finishing, collapsing into bed without even taking a proper shower or even washing her face. And yet, she was exhausted but not sleepy, bored but not desperately so, hungry but not seeking the cooling pizza slices that belonged to her down in the kitchen (that her father had called her three times for, possibly looking to eat the bits she leaves behind). A fleeting thought had her contemplating her balcony’s locked door, glancing at the tantalizing idea of being a bad girl for once and escaping without her father knowing.
 

But why? Why not ask him for permission to stroll through town to get acquaintanced with its corners, its streets, the hot spots and the new faces that she would have to get to know eventually anyways?
 

Well, it was a bit late and the streets were cold, in contrast to the hot afternoon -- which had Yeji and her father sweating like crazy on the long ride to her new home -- and danger could seep through the cracks of the older, beaten paths. The darkness of the more unfavorable zones could, as always, breed the biggest nightmares. Or so Yeji once said to her diary, now buried in the corner of her drawers. The streets and the people were not going anywhere, Yeji could explore them during daylight when the next Saturday comes, besides the next day was the first day of School. In a new school no less. Also, in her Senior year.

Well, last year for those who do not know.

Believe me, I have problems grasping that as well--.

A brand new girl, starting a brand new school, with a different syllabus from France (she assumed at least) and with no friends to lead the way. Frightening and nerve-wracking for sure!

But Yeji was a smart, warm girl; hard to hate and even harder to only love halfway. Though, extremes did occur with her, as it always does. Her tender nature combined so effortlessly with her charming smile and her captivating eyes won people over each time and made the others suspicious or at least wary. They know that such looks and charm could kill and to be wary was only natural -- and Yeji had understood this in her time overseas when the long-time residents showed distrust for such a pure nature in a world tainted with the unpredictable. However, her fine manners and her soft spokenness eventually showed itself to be genuine.

Her heart’s size was tantamount to her achievements and history. However, being new in this town those stories were just something to tell friends rather than her legacy. None of the townsfolk were there when, back in her temporary home, Yeji bravely dove head on to save as many children as possible during a fire in a kindergarten. None of them would have heard the news of Yeji fully recovering from her burns and none of them were there when she was interviewed for the local news station. A poised, graceful, cheerful and selfless young woman with a heart glazed with golden dust. Aside from that, she was a superb dancer, former spelling bee champion, a good chess player, a gifted writer and aspiring painter.

But that last one has become a bit hard to go back to.

The especially painted landscapes hanging on the living room wall retained the glory of the old days, the beautiful childhood that was slowly passing, sitting above the trophy and medal shelf -- carefully positioned and nicely cleaned, with all due respect. The signature of the artist in the painting once a firm, bold signature that turned shaky with the years, until it was fully gone.

Hwang Narae.

After waking up from that brief trance, Hwang Yeji looked at the clock hanging in her wall and counted. She had been day-dreaming and thinking for some extraordinary ten minutes, but not enough to make the remaining time any faster or her appetite grow any fonder of the now-cold pizza. The young girl sat up, looking around her room for any excuse to tidy up the already tidied and clean place. Until the window caught her attention, only slightly open but the curtains all pushed open. The beautiful sunset was gone, leaving behind a purple glow that smoothly introduced the beauty of the dark night sky, but Yeji preferred the sunset in its early stages. With shuffling feet and a lethargic, imprecise hand, she began to close the window and lock it, barely looking outside until a stone hit the wall with a pathetic little ‘Tick!’ that frightened the Jesus out of Yeji.

Only then noticing something that should’ve been very obvious, had she bothered to actually look to her surroundings.

Her window -- at least this one -- was directly in front of the next door neighbor’s bedroom window. On the second floor and with a sizeable distance, but within reach for the smart who figured a way to make a bridge. Or for the insane that somehow dared to parkour from one window to the other. Right there, in that window was a happy young girl. Big ears with big grin and a dashingly unique, youthful face that looked like it would stay youthful for years. Upon closer inspection (not too frightened anymore), Yeji noted that the girl was gesturing for her to open the window, and her eager smile alone was telling why.

Yeji finally opened the window and shyly poked her head out, tentatively even.

“You’re the new neighbor?!” Chaeryeong shouted from the top of her lungs, leaning out the window more now with her whole torso out in display.

Yeji, a bit afraid to upset the other neighbors, didn’t shout but rather spoke a bit loud. “Yes, me and my father--.”

“Huh?!” Chaeryeong said, leaning her ear closer as if that was gonna help catch the lost words. “I can’t hear you.”

One thing Yeji knew right of the bat was that this girl had powerful lungs and an equally powerful voice to accompany it. “Yes! I moved in!” Yeji said as loudly as she could, still very worried about upsetting the neighborhood, especially when she heard a distant dog barking and some general ruckus.

“Ah, you know what?! I’ll go there! Can I visit?! Isn’t it a bad time?” Chaeryeong shouted somehow even louder.

Yeji, just to avoid shouting, shook her head a bit.

“Awesome!”

Then Chaeryeong shut her window, drew the curtains and all Yeji could see was the shadow of a very happy girl just zooming out of room.

It was only then that Yeji realized that she just practically invited a stranger into her house. That was one thing, but she completely disregarded the peace and quiet of her father, who may not be fond of any visitors, especially because there hadn’t been any.

Yeji skedaddled out of her room and down the stairs as fast as possible, attempting to warn her dad before she realized that he had just opened the door, greeting that (loud) energetic voice with his soft, polite voice.

A bit late, isn’t it?

The man, tall and portly, with a dash of gray hair and soulful eyes, looked back at Yeji with confusion. The shape of his eyes was vaguely like hers, if you squint really hard, and she knew that the look on his eyes was completely confusion and a slight bit of worry. Of course, she gave him an apologetic grin and a shrug of her shoulders. Not only did Yeji accept to this so out of nowhere, but quite frankly didn’t know the girl’s name either, let alone if she really lived next door to them.

The brown haired girl looked at the two of them and their silent communication before she smiled and spoke. “I’m the next door neighbor’s daughter, Lee Chaeryeong,” she said with enthusiasm, trying to be as polite as possible and holding herself together. “My--I have a sister, I think she came already to leave a batch of my special cookies?”

“Cookies?” Yeji asked, still completely lost.

Mr. Hwang, however, suddenly understood when he looked at the girl well. That face resembled someone and he knew who it was. “Oh, yes! She came in a hurry and left the cookies.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Chaeryeong bowed her head a bit. “She’s been a bit of a busy bee these days. My parents, too.”

“It’s alright, no need to worry. I loved those cookies.”

“Ah, thank you! It’s my grandma’s recipe, you can never go wrong with them.”

In the background was the still lost, still confused Yeji who only then bothered to side step into the kitchen to notice the reason why her father had been so adamant telling Yeji to eat earlier. The pizza box was closed in the counter but next to it was a tall glass of milk and a plate full of cookies, ready for the youngest Hwang to devour. She felt a little bad for not responding to his dinner call now, but -- just like him -- she sported black attire from bottom to top. He must’ve understood the lack of appetite.

Yeji finally stepped back into the conversation with a soft smile. “I didn’t know there were cookies.”

Mr. Hwang laughed a little, scratching his head. “I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

He’s trying, isn’t he?

Yeji held herself back.with a soft smile and patted him in the back. “I hope you don’t mind if she comes in?”

And Chaeryeong was bouncing in her spot with delight at the idea.

How could he say no to such an adorable, friendly girl?

“Of course, just make sure she doesn’t get back home late. It’s a far walk,” he said with a playful tone.

Some things don’t change, thought Yeji while giving him a look, which made him smile a bit more. It’s been a while seeing that smile. Chaeryeong took a while to understand the joke, but she smiled anyways, especially because for Chaeryeong this meant she was going to get to know her new friend.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to it.”

Both of the girls nodded and he left the scene, not without nearly bumping against the corner of the table and igniting a few more laughs. Adorably clumsy and a big tall man that somehow has never gotten used to the length of his limbs.

“That’s your father, right?”

Yeji looked back at Chaeryeong that was still politely standing outside, even thought she looked like she was ready to explode with energy. “Yeah,” Yeji giggled, opening the door more and signalling the girl to come in, which she did, doing the little skips on the way. “I know, I didn’t inherit his height.”

“That’s not bad, being really tall must be tough,” Chaeryeong said, looking up and about with marvel. The house was finally used, decorated and she finally knew how it looked inside. “This house had been on safe for a while, it’s about time I had a new neighbor!”

With the front door locked and two tall glasses of milk by the coffee table next to the plate overflowing with cookies, the two girls got to know each other. And of course, even Chaeryeong couldn’t help but to grab one of the cookies herself.

“Somehow, these cookies got better from my home to yours,” Chaeryeong said with full.

Yeji, despite the indecent display, couldn’t help but to smile at the enthusiasm, swallowing her second cookie. “They’re really lovely, thank you.”

Chaeryeong waved her hand once, smiling from ear to ear. “No need to thank me, I was excited for a new neighbor.”

“It’s been a while since you had a new neighbor, I reckon?” Yeji tried, her voice still soft and tentative.

“Well, it’s been a while since I had someone my age live near me.”

Well, that explained a few things.

“Your sister is older or younger?” Yeji asked out of curiosity, with no real thought put into it.

“Older, she’s in college now,” Chaeryeong shrugged, instinctively going to grab another cookie. With a gesture towards Yeji, she asked if she could really grab another one.

With a smile Yeji just waved for her to do so.

The conversation moved on swiftly and Yeji learned things from Chaeryeong, implicitly and explicitly. Explicitly spoken, Lee Chaeryeong, has an older sister and busy parents. Implicitly, Chaeryeong was a lonely girl that could use the company. It was evident by the mere excitement of finding someone to speak to, the cheer friendliness and curiosity to know more about Yeji was somehow telling.

Moreover, she was quite talkative!

In the span of probably twenty minutes and ten cookies, Yeji found out a few things without really prying about it. First, she thought that the neighbor across Yeji’s new house was a pompous man with a vanity made of glass. Secondly, the neighborhood was full of families that were wealthy and well off. A lot of people were leaning closer to the older spectrum, their children too young for Chaeryeong to play with (though, she did babysit them sometimes), and chatting with those people was really boring. Thirdly, her father was a busy Chef and her mother was a business woman like Yeji’s father. In that aspect, Yeji understood Chaeryeong. Fourthly Chaeryeong was a cheerleader. Yeah, you saw that right, all that energy did not go to waste! However, during Summer time, with no real outlet for that energy, someone like Yeji was the person to see her full dynamism in its golden glory.

And usually, Yeji would be that energetic, but…

“And you?”

Yeji, who was just about to sip her glass of milk, paused to ask. “What?”

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Yeji asked rather innocently.

Chaeryeong gave her a look with a small smile. “Tell me about you! I made the entire conversation about me.”

Yeji shrugged, not very enthusiastic about sharing about herself, not knowing what to say even. What was there to tell? Would it make her look self-centered? She absolutely did not want that, so it kept her stuck on not knowing what to say. It has always been a problem for her. Yeji didn’t know how to proudly express who she was, especially now.

And it seemed that Chaeryeong (whose excitement hasn’t died down) caught on immediately. “Tell me, what do you do?”

With confused eyes, Yeji glanced at Chaeryeong. Just to avoid the awkward silence, she said whatever came to mind. “I--I, well. I’m very artistic, I suppose?”

“Really? Do you dance?”

Now, the shyness crawled and grabbed at Yeji’s ankles, threatening to overtake her. “Kinda?”

“Aw, that’s so cool! You could be a part of cheerleading,” Chaeryeong said.

And somehow, Yeji felt it was a double-entendre. Was it really for her apparent skills? Or was it just to have a new friend?

“I highly doubt it,” Yeji smiled politely, shaking her head. “I don’t feel too cheerful for now.”

Chaeryeong looked at her strangely, tilting her head. However, smartly, she opted not to ask why. This kid was excited, but she knew some tact, which relieved Yeji a bit.

Though Yeji did wonder if she would have to tell her eventually, or if Chaeryeong would go for the rest of senior year without asking.

Instead, Chaeryeong went in for the sixth cookie. “Either way, I can always vouch for you if you want. Or if you want to get in the basketball team, too. Or the wrestling team. Or the football team--.”

“Do I look like I can do wrestling?” Yeji interrupted while suddenly laughing.

That made Chaeryeong smile. “Hey, it’s High School! Everything can happen.”

Yeah, that’s true. It was High School! A new school at that, in which everything could happen. The prospect suddenly seemed to glow with opportunities, the new chapter of her history book blooming with beautiful words before her eyes as she thought to herself the opening words of this chapter of her life.

“After death came my life, as I know it now, as I knew it then, as I will know it.
My golden heart recovered from the blows of life and it began to beat again in my senior year. Where everything would change.”

And Hwang Yeji didn’t know the truthness in those unspoken words at the moment.