The Way Back
One. Two. Three.
He smirked. “Go on a date with me.”
My heart spazzed a little. I didn’t know what to say. Was he kidding? I looked up at him, examining his expression. He looked over, noticing me staring at him. I turned away, blushing.
“Did I surprise you?” Kai said, relaxed.
“No…” I was still debating on what to say.
Kai stopped walking. He put both of his hands in his pockets and bent his head to my level, looking in my eyes.
“So?” He asked with a curious expression.
“Okay.” I said, slightly hesitant. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go on a date, it was just that… the only thing I knew about this boy was his first name. He could be a serial killer for all I know.
“If you’re worried about me being a serial killer, don’t be.” Kai said calmly as he started walking again. This time he had gone ahead of me, leaving me behind. I stood there, in shock, just staring at the back of him. Had he seriously just heard what I was thinking? Did I accidentally say it out loud?
“No…” I said quietly to myself as I ran and caught up with him. We walked for a few more minutes before reentering town. Crowds began to appear as we walked through the sidewalks leading back to Central Seoul. The sun was setting, meaning that everyone was out running errands or traveling home. A lot of people stared at me as Kai and I passed by, gaping at my wound. The blood had soaked through to the visible side of the cloth, making it pretty obvious. Kai ignored them, which gave me courage to ignore them as well, not caring what they would think of me. We neared the steps of the hotel as Kai stopped just outside of the doors.
“You have ten minutes. Meet me back here when you’re done.” He said simply.
I stared at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about. I hesitated, gasping a little when I realized what he meant. Ten minutes to get ready for the date? Today? Now?
He laughed at my late realization. I puffed air out of my mouth and turned to start walking inside, catching Kai off guard.
“Y-yah!” Kai caught me from behind, stopping me.
“Maybe I should help you clean that cut.” Kai said, pointing to my wound.
“Mmmm.” I nodded. Kai took my wrist and led me inside, up the stairs, and to my room. When we got inside, I went to the bathroom to get the first aid kit and came out to see Kai already sitting on the bed. As I walked over, he pat the area in front of him for me to sit on. I complied, sitting down and sweeping my hair to the left so that it wouldn’t get in the way. I tensed for a few seconds, prepared for any pain, but didn’t feel anything. I turned to Kai to see what was wrong and saw him in the same position, his face completely red.
He looked at me, hesitating.
“Y-you have to t-take your top off for me to g-get to it.”
I stared at him wondering if he was serious. I looked at my wound. It was hard to get to with a shirt. I couldn’t clean it myself and I didn’t want the cut to get infected…
I hesitated. “Turn around.” I told him. He did.
I quickly rolled up my blouse and pulled it off, putting it on my lap and sweeping my hair to the side again.
“Okay.” I said. I waited for Kai tell me when he was going to do it. But, he didn’t. Instead, he just went ahead and started cleaning it. I winced as he took off the makeshift bandage and applied pressure to it. After a few minutes of my constant complaining, he took the cloth away and wrapped it with a clean bandage.
Now that my wound was clean I was left with another problem: I couldn’t put my shirt back on. I couldn’t lift my arm to put through the holes. I didn’t move for a few seconds, trying to figure out what to do. There was no way I was going to ask for his help. … Was there? I fumbled with my shirt to make it look like I was doing something.
“Need help with that?” He smirked, laughing a little at my predicament.
I scowled at him for laughing at me, but looked down.
“Maybe… But don’t look.” I replied shyly.
“Lift up your arms.” He said simply, getting my top from my lap and slipping my arms through. The rest I could do myself. I turned to thank Kai only to see him on the verge of cracking up.
I gasped. “You looked!”
He started to laugh hard.
“I can’t believe this! I told you not to!” I shot at him, fully red, and fully embarrassed.
“No…” He tried to say through broken laughter.
“You did.” I attempted to say sternly.
He didn’t even respond.
I turned around and started walking to the bathroom, the only place in the room that was enclosed.
“Noo… I didn’t look.” Kai said through the last of his chuckles, noticing that I was walking away.
I didn’t respond. I was determined to throw a tantrum and throw it right.
“Laina… I was just kidding.” He dragged out the first and last words, emphasizing his playfulness, but I didn’t care. I knew that he had looked.
I heard him call my name once more before I walked into the bathroom, closing the door, and sliding right down it. With my back against the bathroom door, I lay against it stretching out my legs. It didn’t matter to me how long I was in here. I just wanted to be away from him. I carefully put my left leg out, letting my calves lengthen as I reached for my toes. I did the same for the other. I was starting to feel the effects of today. My whole body ached. I had a headache and I was sore in places that I didn’t even know existed in the human body. When I was done, I simply tilted my head back on the door and closed my eyes. I sat there, listening for any sign of Kai. All I heard was something shuffling. And after a second, it stopped. I shrugged it off. I just wanted to hear a door opening and closing. I let out a sigh. Even my lungs hurt. Note to self: don’t run more than 3 miles when you haven’t run since P.E. in High School. I laughed at myself, remembering the pathetic old me that would get 12 minutes on her miles. Ouch.
I wondered how long it had been since I got in here. I looked at my wrist, searching for a watch that I wasn’t wearing. I closed my eyes once more, replaying the events of today. Kai made no sense. At first he didn’t talk. Then he did. Then he didn’t. Then he did a lot. Not to mention him bringing me out into the boonies. And the animal. Or… whatever it was. And last of all, Kai collapsing and waking up minutes later with absolutely no sign of trauma. I know he wasn’t asleep. He was completely unconscious. How could someone just wake up from fainting like that? Especially with no sign that they had fainted? It didn’t make any sense.
My mind wandered off, daydreaming. After a while, my thoughts were interrupted. I heard this really weird sound.
“gurglegurle” I looked around, seeing if one of the pipes were draining.
“Gurglegurglegurgle” I looked down, realizing it was my own stomach. I thought back to the last meal I had. It was just that ball of mochi. Plus, that was a full day ago. Plus plus, all the running around today didn’t help. That’s probably why I was so sore.
“GURGLEFREAKINGGURGLE!” I looked down, wondering if that last growl had really come from me. Okay, okay. I hoped Kai had left. I didn’t want to deal with him yet. I stretched once more, not wanting to pull any muscles and stood up to go to the mirror and check my wound. The bleeding had stopped, which was good, but it still hurt. I was still worried that it would get infected too. Who knows what kind of disease that thing had. I went to the door, putting my hair behind my ear and my ear upon the door, listening for him. I didn’t hear anything, so I put my hand on the doorknob. When I started to open it, there was a weight on the other side of the door, catching me off guard. I put my foot at the end of the it to stop it from shooting open, and peeked around to see Kai falling inwards. I opened the door and caught Kai from falling, resting his head on my legs as I sat down. My heart softened as I noticed Kai’s stance. He had been on the other side of the door, mimicking my exact position. I sat there for a few moments with wandering eyes. I knew he hadn’t fainted this time, because his mouth hung open the slightest bit for him to breathe. He had fallen asleep waiting for me. An indescribable sensation ran through me as I replayed that thought in my head. He had fallen asleep waiting for me. He… for me….
I decided to check his temperature just incase, carefully placing my fingertips on his forehead. He flinched at the touch, but stayed asleep. His temperature was normal, so I moved my hand away. As he lay there, I couldn’t help but notice his features. The way his lips had a slight but natural pout. How his hair went every which way, looking good no matter what position it was in. His nose looked so cute, and his jaw line fit perfectly with the structure of his face. I quickly looked away, realizing that I had just spent the past five minutes staring at him. What the heck am I doing? Oh my gosh. You are such a creep Laina! I can’t believe I just stared at him for that long. Creep.
My thoughts were interrupted as I noticed a rush of bumps appear on Kai’s arms. He wasn’t wearing a jacket. I started to get up when I remembered that Kai was laying on me. I gently put my fingers under his head and, as carefully as possible, lifted his head off of my lap. I lay it back down on the floor and got up to get a pillow and a blanket. Once I sat down, I propped the bathroom door open (since it would hit him if I didn’t), and put his head on the pillow. He fidgeted a little as I did that, but soon lay still as I put the blanket on him. I tucked in all of the little corners and looked up when I was done, smiling at the little burrito wrap I had just made. I checked one more time to see if he was covered all around, and went to get my pajama’s to change. I guess I wasn’t going to be eating anything tonight either. I couldn’t go in the bathroom to change, so I ducked behind the other side of the bed and quickly changed. I got on the bed, and almost instantly fell asleep.
*************************************************************************************
I looked around this place I had gone to. It was the café from my hometown. I almost instantly smelled the coffee and pastries they had there. It filled the room with a sense of sweetness. As I was looking around, I stopped when I saw a familiar figure in front of me. My heart nearly dropped.
“Dad…” I said heartfelt, “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean ‘what am I doing here’? It’s a café, so I’m drinking coffee. Duh.” He laughed at his own sarcasm.
I rolled my eyes. That was my dad alright.
“How have you been? I missed you.” I told him.
“I’ve been good. How is Seoul? Is it like you‘ve always imagined it?” He asked as he took a bite of a frosted Danish.
I stared at him. I had never said that I wanted to go to Seoul. I’ve never even talked about traveling before.
“What do you mean? I never said I wanted to go to Seoul.” I replied, confused.
He looked at me and laughed. “Yes you did. That day you came to visit me in the hospital. You said that when I got healthy we would travel the world together, and Seoul was gonna be the first stop.” He took one last bite and rose his hand to get the check.
I gaped at him. What was he talking about? “Dad, I never said anything like that.” I laughed a little but was completely serious.
The waitress came and dropped off the bill. He spoke as he took out his wallet.
“Yes you did.” He folded his wallet open. “A father always knows his daughter.”
I stared in astonishment. He started taking out single bills as he placed them on the table.
“Let’s see… One. Two. Three. There ya go.” He said as he put the money under his empty plate. He started to get up and out of his chair.
“W-wait, dad. Where are you going?”
He didn’t respond.
As he got closer and closer to the door, I tried to run after him. I couldn’t. Someone or something was holding me down.
“Dad!” I shouted, but he didn’t hear. His hand touched the rim of the door, beginning to push it.
“Wait! Dad!” I tried as hard as I could to free myself from the trap, but my attempts were futile.
He walked outside as the door shut behind him.
“Dad! Don’t leave me!”
“DAD!!” I screamed as loud as I could, but no one but myself could hear it. Everyone else carried on with their life, reading the newspaper as they sipped their coffee, not noticing my existence. I screamed out in one last attempt to get him to come back…
**********************************************************************************
“DAD!!” I screamed out as I jolted up from the cushion I was on. Tears swelled up my eyes to the point where I couldn’t see. I sat there, replaying the last few seconds of the dream over and over in my head. I jumped as I felt something touch my back. I looked back to see Kai laying on the bed, his back resting against the backboard. I turned my head back, not wanting him to see me like this. As another tear fell, Kai brought his hand to my back and started rubbing my shoulders.
“It’ll be okay.” He whispered.
I didn’t respond.
Another drop fell.
“Shhh. You’ll be okay.” He rubbed my back as my breathing softened.
I didn’t respond.
Another tear fell through a sob.
Kai brought his arm up, putting it around me.
“Come here.” He said softly, taking me in his hold.
I didn’t resist, laying my head upon the cushion I had awoke from, sulking.
Comments