Ren

I think I’ve memorized the direction as I navigate my way towards the bathroom. I end up getting lost. I wonder through the 1^st floor, opening every door, hoping to find the restroom. *How many rooms do these people have?* every door that I open reveals  a marvelously decorated study or bedroom. I opened the 2^nd to last door on my right to find a little girl sitting at a white baby grand piano. She was wearing blue skinny jeans, a pink beanie, oversized nerd glass, and a blouse with a boyfriend jacket thrown over it. They surely know how to dress this child. The room was glowing with happiness as I stood in the door way watching the young girl play a piece on the piano. The piece that she was playing sounded awfully familiar.  I stood there, trying to remember where I’ve heard it before when I heard someone speak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-4wUfZD6oc

“Excuse me Unni,  do I know you?” She asked, sliding off the chair. I slowly came back to my senses, realizing that she was speaking to me.

“Ummm….. Sorry if I disturbed you” I say, bowing slightly.

“No you weren’t disturbing me” She says, walking towards me.

“I’m MinKi. Nice to meet you!” I say, extending out my hand.

“Oh I’m Yuki. I’ve heard of you before. Uncle Poodle didn’t tell me of how pretty Unni actually looks” She says, shaking my hand.

“What is the piano piece that you were playing right now?” I ask, wanting to know.

“I was playing Yiruma ‘River flows in you’. Do you know?” She asked. Oh so that’s the song that Mr.Yi always played in the past.

“Yeah but I never knew the title or the composer” I say. Wonder who this little girl is.

“Do you know where the restroom is?” I ask.

“Yeah, follow me” She says, grabbing my hand. She squeezed my hand as she led me to the restroom. She opened the door and told me that she would wait for me outside. I quickly used the restroom, remembering to wash my hands. When I got out, she was sitting cross-legged with her back against the wall. She slowly got up and begun walking back towards the direction we came from. We ended back to the same place where I got lost. Except this time we ended up in kitchen.

“Oh I was wondering what took you SO long” BaekHo says, getting up from the chair he was sitting on.

“Uncle Poodle” Yuki shrieked, running in the open arms of BaekHo. OH! So Uncle Poodle is BaekHo.

"What happened to your face?" Yuki asks, touching BaekHo's cheek.

"Uncle fell and he got hurt very badly"BaekHo responds.

"Oh I hope you get all better" She says.

"Thank you,Yuki"

“Uncle, you didn’t tell me how pretty MinKi Unni looked” Yuki says.

“Oh! So you’ve already met MinKi” He says, looking at me. I stand there awkwardly not knowing whether if I should go help his brother or not.

“Dinner’s ready”

I and BaekHo helped his brother send the food to the dining room with Yuki following closely behind. I sat down with BaekHo sitting next to me. Yuki sat right next to SaeRyun. We started eating, right after I had said my thank you.

“Unni, how do you know uncle?” Yuki asked, dropping her fork.

“Your uncle is a friend I met in school” I respond trying to put it in a kid-friendly term.

“Uncle, your friend is very pretty. You chose a really person to be your friend” Yuki says, with a winsome smile.

“Thank you, Yuki” I say, smiling back.

“MinKi Unni, can you be my older sister?” Yuki asked, with a mouth full of food.

“Yuki, finish chewing first” SaeRyun says wiping his daughter’s mouth. Yuki quickly swallowed before asking again.

“Can you be my older sister, Unni” She asked, again.

“Sure” I say, smiling. I seriously love this child because she doesn’t really care about how I look even though I look a bit like a boy but not so much.

“MinKi, do you have any siblings?” SaeRyun asks, dropping his fork.

“No I’m the only child of my mother” I answer, also dropping my fork. I’m done eating. I take a sip of my water and sit there.

“Where’s your dad?” He asked, relaxing more.

“My dad left the picture about 4 years ago when I was 13” I said, looking down at my lap.

“Oh” He sighed

“Ok, what type of job does your mother do?” he asked.

“My works at the행운을빌어요(Good Luck Seafood Market) as a fish seller” I say.

“Do you get free fish?” Yuki asked.

“No, my mom sells it to put food on the table” I answer her.

“OH! Okay” She exclaims with opened wide. We sit in silence as Yuki finishes eating her food. I offer to help BaekHo and SaeRyun clean up but they decline. I end up following Yuki to the room where the piano is. She tries to teach me the keys but I end up messing them up.

“Unni” Yuki says, stopping. She looks up at me and smiles.

“Yeah Yuki” I answer, looking down at her.

“I love you” She says, hugging me. She pecks me on the cheeks and turns away.

“Yuki, how do you know that you love Unni when you just met her?”

“I just do”

“Thank you, Yuki” I said, hugging her.

“Umm….Are you guys done with the love fest or whatever it is you were doing?” I heard BaekHo ask.

“Because it’s getting late and I don’t think your mother will appreciate you coming home late” He says.

“Yuki, Unni has to go but I’ll see you later” I say, getting up. She holds my hand and tries to pull me down.

“When will Unni come back?” She asked her voice on the verge of tears.

“I don’t know” I say, looking back at BaekHo.

“Unni will be back tomorrow” BaekHo declares, with a grin on his face.

“Okay, bye Unni. See you tomorrow!” Yuki says with a big smile on her face. She lets me go and walks with us out to the living room.

“MinKi, it was nice meeting you” I hear SaeRyun say. I turn around to face him.

“Hope to seeing you soon, MinKi” He says. I nod and wave goodbye because BaekHo is pulling me away.

“Me too”

We walk out of the house towards a garage, just feets away from the house.

“Do you drive?” I ask him as we get closer.

“Yeah” He says, walking ahead of me. He takes out a small black remote and pushes a button. The garage door springs alive, opening. It reveals a black shiny car.

“You have a really nice car” I compliment him, walking towards the passage door.

“What model is it?” I ask.

“It’s a Hyundai equus limo” He says, opening the driver’s door. We get in and he starts the car.

“My friends don’t like it because they say that it belongs to an older person”

“Oh, I like it” I buckle my seatbelt while he pulls away, driving slowly towards the road. We sit in silence as he drives on the streets of Seoul.

“Where do you live?” He asks, putting down the windows. I tell him my address while he makes a mental note of it. He drives around, looking for my street. He stops in front of our apartment building when we finally get there.

“Ahmmmm….. Thanks for inviting me over to your house. I really enjoyed the food” I say, unbuckling my seat belt.

“Yeah…..” He says. An awkward silence falls in between as we sit there, staring at each. I turn to look at the window.

“I have to go now” I say, opening the car door.

“I’ll come too” He says, quickly unbuckling his seatbelt. He gets out of the car.

“You don’t have to” I say, walking away. He says nothing and follows me to the apartment. I take out my key about to open the door when it suddenly opens up for me. Standing there is Mr.Yi.

“BaekHo…..Ren…..” He asks, looking at us.

“Ren” I hear my mother call out. She appears at the door, looking at BaekHo.

“Ren, who’s this?” She asks.

“He’s a friend of  mine"

“Oh” My mother says.

“You and BaekHo…..are friends?” Mr.Yi asks.

“Yeah we are” BaekHo answers.

He quickly looks at his phone.

“I have to go now. I’ll talk to you later” He says, bowing to my mother and Mr. Yi. I stand there, watching him walk away. I open the door wider and run to my room. I change into blue shorts, a loose white tee and tied my hair in a messy bun. I make my way to the living room to find mom and Mr.Yi sitting there, whispering.

“What are you guys talking about?” I ask, wondering. I sit in the chair across them and wait for them to look up.

“I was just telling your mother about BaekHo” Mr. Yi answers.

“BaekHo seems like a very kind young man” Mother says, smiling.

“You’ll have to bring him home sometime so that I can properly get introduced to him” She continues.

“Okay” I answer.

“So how was dinner?” Mr. Yi asks.

“Well dinner was fine. I got to meet his older brother and his niece. He’s currently living with his older brother because his parents are travelling” I answer.

“Oh how nice” He says. He looks at his watch and gets up.

“I have to go now. It’s getting late” He says, walking towards the door. I give him a hug like I always have been doing since the 7^th grade. He opens the door and walks out. Mother closes the door and stares at me.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“You’ve never told me about your other friends. That’s all” She says, walking away.

“Good night, mom” I say hugging her. I gently place a kiss on her cheek and walk away, towards my bedroom.