Chapter 10

Siwon is completely drunk. He puts his forehead on the table, Min Ho and Son Jii are unsure if he’s still awake. Son Jii takes a look again at Siwon, she is now less bewildered. “Hyung, are you that nervous about your marriage?”, Min Ho asks Siwon who’s half-awake. Siwon doesn’t answer right away so that Min Ho pokes his shoulder. Suddenly, he makes a sound that’s similar to a cry.

“I don’t know, Min Ho ya~. I’ll be someone’s husband”, Siwon cries, not moving from his position. “That’s why I never want to get married”, Min Ho answers, jokingly but also stating his opinion. The moment Son Jii hears it, she learns another thing about Min Ho. “Will I be okay?”, Siwon mumbles in his words, he finally looks up with his messy hair covering his eyes. “You’re gonna be okay”, Min Ho reassures him and then eats the last piece of bossam. Siwon face plants himself again to the table. 

“We have to carry this one home”, Min Ho says to Son Jii while pointing to the wasted Siwon. Son Jii is not even sure if she can carry herself home, she is a bit tipsy herself. 

-

The three of them finally took a taxi home. It’ll take too long for them to wait for the next night bus. The taxi dropped them to the front of the Choi’s resident, Son Jii only need to walk a bit further to reach hers. Just like the rest of that night, Min Ho has to carry Siwon on his back. Siwon completely passed out. “Good night”, Min Ho says as they parted ways. “Good night”, Son Jii replies and continues to walk to her house. 

She can hear the gate of the Choi’s resident closes up. There are only a few steps left until she reaches her door, but she decided not to enter yet. Son Jii takes a seat on the bricks in front of her house. Her heart thumps fast as if the alcohol effect just hits her. Her head spins but she knows she’s still in control. As she looks up, a clear sky with stars is drawn before her eyes. The night breeze brushes against the hair strands that are coming loose from her ponytail and makes her uncovered back shudders. She feels at so much peace but overfilled at the thought. 

It’s only less than two weeks before she left for the Netherlands again. It’s hard to guess whether she’s happy to be back or not. Son Jii has no idea what she really wanted to do in life. Even if she does, she is second guessing every decision that she has made especially those decisions that are against his parent’s will. Has she been doing enough for herself? Wouldn’t that make her selfish? Is she being a disobedient child?

All kinds of thoughts come running to her mind, enough to make her stay at her current state. Her eyes stare blankly at the surface of the road. She recognizes every shape of the gravel from the asphalt. The more she thinks, the more she is drawn to the texture. Son Jii doesn’t realize that her head is drawn closer bit by bit to the asphalt. 

The sound of a gate opening wakes her daydream. She looks up to Choi’s resident and sees Min Ho coming out from the door. He quickly notices Son Jii, who is weirdly sitting on the side of the street by herself. Looking from afar, they exchange looks for a while, each wondering what the other one is doing. Son Jii is not looking her best, but neither is Min Ho. His white shirt is coming out from its tuck and his perfectly set hair had been ruined while carrying someone drunk. 

“Do you want to join me for a walk?”, Min Ho asks from the distance. I don’t want to go inside either. Son Jii stays at her place for a second before she gets up and joins Min Ho to his steps. As Son Jii walks side by side with Min Ho, she asks, “Where are we going?”. “To the main street”, he answers shortly. Son Jii then stops asking questions and decided to just follow where Min Ho is taking them. 

It took them around 10 minutes before they begin hearing the sound of passing cars and honks. The city never sleeps after all. The street and building lights are blinding for Son Jii’s eyes. She keeps her head down to avoid worsening her spinning vision. Suddenly, Min Ho makes an abrupt stop. Son Jii looks up and they are already by the large pedestrian with park benches and embracing trees above them. “Wait here”, Min Ho asks Son Jii to sit on the bench. Son Jii nods and follows the order quickly. Min Ho passes across the street to a 24/7 convenience store. He purchases something for both of them. Sometimes, he would look across the street to make sure that Son Jii is still at her place. 

Five minutes later, he comes back with two lemon drinks in his hands. He gives one of them to Son Jii, “Help you to sober up”. Son Jii, without thinking, grabs the drink from Min Ho’s hand, opens the can, and suffice her thirst. She has been feeling worse and the acidity of the drink does wake her up a bit. “I guess you don’t drink that often”, Min Ho commented and takes a sip himself. “No, not really”, Son Jii answers. 

“Here, your hand”, Min Ho suddenly asks Son Jii to put out her hand. Son Jii is flustered but follows what he told her anyway. As she puts out her hand, Min Ho puts it on his palm and begins pressing the part between her thumb and index finger with his other hand. Son Jii is a bit surprised by the sudden action. It is needless to say that Min Ho’s sudden touch sobers her up more than the lemonade. “This helps you feeling less nauseous”, he says while still gives a little massage to her palm. Son Jii stares at Min Ho and wonders how could this guy has this warmth. It is new for her. Her heart keeps thumping but she isn’t sure if it’s because of the Min Ho or of makgeolli. 

“Thank you”, Son Jii finally lets out a sound. She pulls her hand as Min Ho finishes his ‘therapy’. “Do you drink often?”, Son Jii poses a question. Min Ho nods and says, “Every now and then. I enjoy wine the best. I own a restaurant, after all. I have to know”, he shrugs. “Is it the one in Busan?”, Son Jii asks, remembering what Mr. Choi Min Soo has mentioned. Min Ho nods. 

“You?”, Min Ho turns to Son Jii. “Me?”. “Yes, what do you enjoy then?”, he continues asking. Being looked directly in the eyes stops Son Jii’s mind to work for a few seconds, “I—I enjoy… desserts?”. It sounds super uncool after Son Jii said it, but too late. Min Ho chuckles and continues asking, “Yeah? What kind?”. “I think I will like anything with chocolate”, Son Jii says, really giving it a thought. Min Ho then nods. 

“Do you do this often every time you drink?”, Son Jii takes her turn to ask. “You mean walking at this hour? Not really. I just want to give the city a final look”, he answers. Son Jii seems confused about what he means. Min Ho notices that and thus, says further, “I’m coming back to Busan tomorrow”. Son Jii’s heart sinks, a bit. She knows she is not close with this person, but the idea of being able to get to know Min Ho better if they have more days together makes her wonder. 

Son Jii realizes she needs to respond, “Really? Okay, that’s great. What time are you going to go?”. Min Ho looks at his watch and answers, “In 5 or 6 hours?”. That means he is leaving around 8 or 9 in the morning. “Let’s go home now then”, Son Jii suddenly gets up enthusiastically from her seat. She is hoping what Min Ho will follow her right away just like how she always blindly follow what he said. Instead, he looks baffled. “Let’s go”, Son Jii says again and using her hand to sign him to get up. 

“Why?”, Min Ho asks while getting up slowly from the seat, still unsure what to do. “You need to have enough sleep”, Son Jii answers and leads the way home. She crosses the street and doesn’t look back to check if Min Ho is following. She is sure if she looks stern, he will follow her. The strategy works and Min Ho is trailing behind her. He casually follows Son Jii from behind, finding her funny in a way. But he doesn’t complain. 

After some moments in a quiet and quick walk, they are back in their neighbourhood again. Son Jii stops in front of the Choi’s resident gate, letting Min Ho walks past her and enter the house. Min Ho stops by the gate too and looks at Son Jii, waiting for her to say something especially after leading the both of them quickly back home. As she notices he is starring and looking for an answer, Son Jii quickly says, “Well, good night…--No, good morning..--But good night. You know what I mean”, and takes more steps towards her house. Min Ho smiles at her act, “Good morning then”, he answers back and enters the gate. Son Jii turns her back again to say to Min Ho, “Well—have a safe trip later”. Min Ho answers with a smile and gives Son Jii a goodbye hand. 

And so they depart. 

---

 

The next morning, Son Jii’s head feels so heavy. She doesn’t expect to have such a bad hangover after only a couple of drinks. The clock shows 10.00 in the morning. Her phone has been buzzing with messages when she was still asleep. Most of them are messages from Ah Roo, updating how ‘amazing’ her life has been. Son Jii then peeks outside from her window, she stands up to look at the Choi’s resident house. The black jeep has gone, assuming it’s Min Ho’s. She resents that she doesn’t even have his number.

Thinking about what she should do on the day, she opens her to-do list and goes over her holiday assignments. Her thesis is coming up in a few months and she needs to begin researching a few topics. Just in time, her phone buzzes again from a newly created group chat, its title says “Korea Exchange Program”. Inside the group, the university staff texts about a mentoring program; 

Good morning students! It’s only less than two weeks from your departure. To help you navigate things easier, I’ve paired a couple of exchange students with the existing Wildwoods students, the so-called mentors. Some of the mentors are currently in Korea and some of them aren’t. Every group can arrange an offline or online meeting, whatever you like. This is to help you adjust to your needs in the Netherlands faster. 

Here is the group division: 

Mentor: Lee Sa Rang

Students: Gye Min Ha & Jun Ji Hyuk 

 

Mentor: Lee Ah Roo 

Students: Go Yoon Jung & Woo Man Sik

 

Mentor: Park Son Jii

Students: Park Bogum & Oh Luna

 

And the list goes on until the 10th exchange student…..

 

Park Son Jii laughs after seeing her best friend’s name being mentioned. Pffttt how can she agree to do this kind of stuff!?. Not even a minute later, Ah Roo calls Son Jii. 

“Yaaa~ why is your name up there?”, Son Jii instantly said as she picks up the phone. “Huft, that’s not why I joined! You told me there’s this Park Bogum guy, but then he is in one group with you!”, Ah Roo grumbles, it is hilarious for Son Jii. “I know you won’t join this kind of stuff unless there’s something else!”, Son Jii exclaims and laughs. Ah Roo keeps grumbling. 

“Too late, you can’t quit now”, Son Jii adds the fuel to the fire. Her phone buzzes again from a message. She pulls away from the phone and looks at her screen. A message to her pops up;

Park Bogum: Should we meet today?

Son Jii brings her phone again to her ear. “Ah Roo, do you know what?”, “What?”, “Bogum just asked our group to meet”, Son Jii continues with a maniac laugh. Ah Roo squeals at once. “That’s cheating! Can you video call me when you guys meet? I want to see his face!”, Ah Roo said. Son Jii keeps laughing at her friend and Ah Roo keeps asking. “Yes, okay, okay. Chill, mate”, Son Jii said to her. A few moments later they ended the call. 

Son Jii runs her fingers to her phone screen to reply to Bogum. Where should we meet??? She gives is a moment of thought and begins typing, 

Son Jii: Sure! I have to research my thesis today, so probably somewhere near the Starfield Library? I will ask Luna too. 

Bogum: Sounds good. I already asked her ^^ 

Son Jii: Okay, thanks. See you around 3 maybe? 

Bogum: Okay. 

---- 

 

Her watch shows it is noon. Meaning that she still has a few more hours before meeting Bogum and Luna. Son Jii scans her fingers to the books on the shelves. The library is rather crowded. Not something she initially wanted, but it would still work for her. It is touristic after all, she should have known. She collects a couple of books and stacks them on her arm. 

One, two, three books. It feels like it would never be enough. She could have a tower of books on her arm if she doesn’t stop herself. It is always tricky to start a thesis especially when she has no idea what to write yet. What am I doing? She sighs and decides to stop looking for more books as the books that she is holding are getting heavier. 

As she turns around to look for a table, someone behind her scoops the book away from her arm. Son Jii is startled and quickly looks back to find Bogum who’s cheekily smiling at her. “Ah, you surprised me. What are you doing?”, she asked. Bogum shrugs his shoulder with one arm holding Son Jii’s tower of books and the other hand holding a book of his choice. “I decided to come early. This is always a nice place. I also need to study”, Bogum answers. “In the summer? What are you? A nerd?”, Son Jii replies jokingly. 

“It’s not only students from overseas who have assignments during the break”, Bogum replies and gives Son Jii a merong. It feels like the two of them have gotten closer quicker than expected. It sometimes feels like they share the same soul. “Anyway, here”, Bogum passes the book that he’s been holding to Son Jii. Son Jii picks the book and reads the title, ‘How to start with your thesis in psychology’. 

“I saw you’ve been scanning around for a while. Instead of jumping into the millions of topics, there is,”, Bogum’s eyes point at Son Jii’s tower, “why don’t you start with something more obvious?”, then he points at the book of his choice. The title absolutely gives away obvious and answers what Son Jii needs. Why didn’t I think of it before?

Together, they head to a nearby empty table. Researching and studying…for Son Jii, it is her thesis, but for Bogum, it might be the person sitting across him.