The New Camera
Behind the Thick-Framed Glasses
✻ chapter fifteen:
the new camera
eun mi's pov
After Changbum tried to rid his face of a semi-permanent mustache, everyone ate the food I had prepared and Changjo told us what the plans were for today.
"We're going to the nearest shopping venue. But not to go on a shopping spree." He gave Sooyoung a look, who stuck her tongue out at him. "Each person will have a partner and they will have to complete their own mission."
"Sounds pretty interesting." Eunjung said. "How will we pick partners?"
"By drawing these slips of paper, of course." Changjo held up a small basket with paper in them. Each of us took a slip and opened them.
"Heart." Sooyoung said.
"Circle." Eunjung announced.
"Heart." Changbum waved the slip of paper in the air.
"Triangle." I said.
"Star." L.Joe put the paper back in the basket.
"Circle." Hyoyeon said.
"Triangle." Chan Doo gave me a wink.
"I got a star." Changjo said.
Sooyoung was with Changbum, Hyoyeon was with Eunjung, Changjo was with L.Joe, and I was with Chan Doo. I wanted to laugh. Changjo and L.Joe looked so awkward standing next to each other, probably because they woke up holding hands.
We headed off to the shopping venue and Changjo handed each person a card containing our 'missions'. Then we went our separate ways, agreeing to meet at the Sushi Bar at around noon.
"Where do you want to go?" Chan Doo asked me. "Let's have fun first, and then worry about the mission later."
I laughed. "You're such a procrastinator."
We walked around, browsing the shops and eating food samples. It was a really enjoyable time.
He saw something that perked his interest. "Look! A fortune teller!"
He ran off and I followed him. He was already paying the fortune-teller woman to tell him his fortune.
"Chan Doo, you know these are just superstitions, right?"
"Shhh, Eun Mi, she's going to do her magic."
Instead of a crystal ball, she had a bunch of tarot cards on the table. She shuffled and the cards and let Chan Doo pick one. He closed his eyes and smiled childishly, taking out a random card from the deck. He flipped it over, revealing the picture of pretty flowers weaved around the number eight.
"Ah, yes, this card..." The woman whispered, sounding very distant and far away. "You will have great success in life, but you will have to choose the right path before being rewarded."
Chan Doo grinned at me. "Hear that? I'm going to become a great dancer!"
In my mind, I wanted to laugh at him. I hear those kind of nonsense from the teachers at school. "Chan Doo, you didn't need to pay her to do this..."
The woman raised her eyebrows and gave me a look. She looked like she had come back down to earth. Weird.
"Young lady, how about I give you a palm-reading for free?"
"Me?" I didn't believe in these kind of things at all. "No thanks."
Chan Doo took my right arm and put it on the table. "Come on, Eun Mi! It's for free!"
I rolled my eyes. "Fine." The woman took her finger and traced my palm. I sighed, having no idea what the point of this was.
"You're having trouble, aren't you, young lady?"
"Huh? No, I'm doing fine."
She put her hand on her heart. "Here."
I withdrawed my arm back to my side. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You'll know what I mean soon." The woman gave me a toothy smile.
I looked away with my hair covering my face and turned around to leave. "Chan Doo, let's go."
"Eun Mi, why are you acting so weird?" He called after me.
"Don't believe in that stuff. It freaks me out." I fibbed. I looked around the busy streets full of people.
Either believing my words or just ignoring them he asked, "Hey, can we visit some shops or something?"
"Um, okay." I nodded and he pointed at some random shop across the street. "Let's to there!"
I followed behind him mindlessly, thinking about what the woman had said. She was talking about Changjo and L.Joe, wasn't she? How did she know?
I looked into the shop Chan Doo had pointed out. It was a skateboarding shop selling skateboards, expensive Vans, colorful shoelaces, and whatnot. But in the crowd of teenagers, Chan Doo wasn't there.
I pushed through everyone, trying to find the familiar kid with headphones wrapped around his neck. Unfortunately, everyone else in the shop had headphones too. I looked around desperately, calling out his name.
I ran out into the noisy streets. "Chan Doo?"
I panicked. I didn't have a phone, so how was I supposed to contact him?
"Chan Doo, where are you? Cha-"
A hand clapped over my mouth and pulled me over to a deserted alleyway. I struggled to get out of the person's grip but couldn't. So I bit the hand that was covering my mouth as hard as I could. The person released me and let out a moan of pain.
What the heck? The whole street was filled with bustling people. Did anyone just see that? Correction: did anyone even care? I looked up at the person who dragged me here, prepared to kick them in the place that hurt the most.
"Eun Mi, you have a really powerful bite."
I was taken aback at who it was. "L.Joe?"
He rubbed the spot where I had bit. "Aish, that really hurts."
"That's what you get." I scoffed. "Why did you do that?"
"I wanted to surprise you! And see if you could protect yourself if someone tried to kidnap you. You obviously can."
I rolled my eyes. "Why aren't you with Changjo?"
"We got separated somehow." He put his hand back to his side. "Where's Chan Doo?"
"He disappeared on me."
He smiled. "Let's be partners then and look for them."
"Alright." I nodded and looked at the hand I had bit. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He walked back into the street and I followed him. I saw he was holding a plastic bag.
"What's in that plastic bag?" I asked.
"Oh, a little present for you." He put his hand in the bag and pulled out a silver camera, the high-tech kind.
He had gotten a new camera, just for me. "L.Joe, is that really for me?"
"I felt bad that you lost your other camera because of me, so when I passed by a shop that sold cameras earlier, I had to get one for you." I was speechless. I didn't know L.Joe was so thoughtful.
He held the camera up. "Let me take a picture."
"Mwuh? No, I look horrible in pictures." I protested.
"Come on, Eun Mi! Do a pose for me." He pleaded. "Make two peace signs for me!"
I sighed, made peace signs with my hands, and put them near my head. As soon as L.Joe was done taking the picture, I reached for the camera so I could erase it. But he raised it above his head. The embarassing thing is that he was really short, but I was even shorter than him.
"Andwae! If you even try to think about deleting it, I'll post it on the internet for everyone to see!" He threatened me teasingly.
I pouted and crossed my arms. "Arraseo, you meanie."
He grinned in victory and took out his mission card. "I haven't completed my mission yet. Have you?"
I shook my head, took mine out, and read it. "It says to buy a pair of couple things for everyone."
"Mine says to take a selca with a group of foreigners." L.Joe said.
I scanned the current street we were at and spotted two blonde girls sitting at a cafe table. "Look, what about them?"
He saw where I was pointing to and went over to them. I followed behind him and heard him speak in English.
"Hello! Um, could I take a camera? A camera?" He said slowly. "No... picture? Could we take a picture together?"
I held out my brand-new camera as a reference and the two girls nodded. They positioned their faces next to L.Joe and I took the picture. I felt a bit jealous about how they were so close to him.
"Thank you." He said to them. "Thank you."
The two girls giggled and flashed him a smile. No way. Did they just flirt with him? I grabbed L.Joe's arm and pulled him away from the foreignors.
He got out of my grip easily, surprised at my reaction. "What's wrong?"
I blushed at what I had done. "N-nothing."
He smirked. "Are you jealous?"
"Andwae! Why would I be?" I denied. I felt myself turn rosy in the cheeks. Just great. I spotted a cute little store behind him. It was practically overflowing with pink cuteness. "Look, maybe that shop sells couple stuff."
I dragged him into the girly shop and browsed around for stuff to get for the dance members. L.Joe trailed behind me, obviously bored and uncomfortable about all the girlyness the shop had. I went to the cashier and paid for the surprise items, not letting L.Joe see what I had chosen.
The clerk chuckled at us and we blushed at what she said. "You sure bought a lot of stuff for yourselves. Do you plan on keeping them all?"
"A-aniyo! These aren't for us! They're for our friends!" I tried to explain.
She smiled and gave me the bag. "Arraseo. If you say so."
We exited the shop and I noticed that there were only girls with their reluctant boyfriends there. I can't believe the clerk thought we were... dating.
L.Joe and I awkwardly walked down a half-empty street. It was almost noon, so we were on our way to the Sushi Bar. I thought of a question L.Joe had promised to answer for me. "L.Joe, you still haven't told me why you challenged me to that bet."
He looked up at the sky, which was a pretty blue with very few clouds drifting by. "Do you remember what you did for Seohyun's birthday in first grade?"
"Um... what did I do?" I was puzzled about the random question he just asked me. "Oh wait, I sang for her didn't I..."
"Yeah. You sang in front of the whole class at lunch." He continued. "I was so amazed at your voice. And that was when you were young. I've always wanted to hear you sing again."
I blushed for the millionth time today. "I can't believe you still remember that. I thought I was good at singing back then because Seohyun told me that. Foolish, wasn't I?"
L.Joe stopped walking and looked at me. He brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Eun Mi, you should stop putting yourself down. Behind those thick-framed glasses you wear, there is something special. You just need to embrace it and let it out for everyone to see."
I turned even pinker as he turned around and kept walking. He just told me I was special. Did he really think that I was worth something?
"Oh!" L.Joe's mission card fell out of his coat pocket and the wind blew it away from him. It fluttered across the sidewalk and landed onto the road in front of the Sushi Bar we were heading too.
He ran to the middle road to pick it up just as a white van to the same road. The van wasn't slowing down and L.Joe was too busy trying to retrieve his mission card.
"L.Joe! Watch out!" I screamed.
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