In the Devil’s wrath

Immersed in memories of screaming and tears and hollow pains, Ji’s eyes were drier than ever before in almost painful control.

This house was witness to his defiance and his continued anger.

His father had ritually drilled in his mind that there was no course for him except the path that he had also taken that when Ji discovered his love for Science more than the Arts and Humanities, his father had thrown out the chemistry set that Seungri had given to him for his birthday.

That was the first time he had ever been angry with his father and nothing much had changed since then.

He couldn’t comprehend it then and he still couldn’t comprehend now why his Father was so close-minded about him venturing into what he really wanted.

Their family – his mother, aunts, uncles, cousins – had all been very supportive of him, even praising him for his brilliant mind, but it was never what his father wanted. His grandmother had told him that his father’s stubbornness was the product of a mistake she had made before but he guessed now that he would never know what that mistake was.

No one talked about it. No one told him of it. And he didn’t really want to ask because he didn’t want to know.

He heard the floor boards creak on his right and felt his eyes widen at the sight of another person inside the house, most especially Dara.

“Ow!” she exclaimed, standing only a few meters away from him, the wind lifting her hair that wasn’t up in bands today and blowing it around her face, her expression uncertain.

“Sorry” her voice faltered and it was obvious that she was supposed to do something but couldn’t decide now whether to do it or not “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

He wished she hadn’t, because he was in no mood for company and this sudden desperate need for isolation that the house had awakened in him fuelled his temper “Then why did you?”

Dara flinched at his directness as he didn’t look anywhere near like this before but she didn’t retreat. “You were supposed to be at Teddy-oppa and Mai-unnie’s lunch. We assumed you’d forgotten.”

“I needed some space.”

“I understand.”

“Really?” Since when had any of these islanders understood him?

“I think I do” she answered.

He could feel the blood throbbing in his veins and wanted to lash out at her but controlled himself “What are you doing here Dara?”

That was the first time he had addressed her anything other than Nurse Park and he saw her becoming more anxious by it. “When you didn’t show up, everyone thought that I should bring you lunch.”

It was then that he noticed the basket by her feet. He could see a bowl of sliced apples and whipped chocolate cream and another bowl piled high with Bom’s specialty – honey cured chicken s. And white and blue checkered napkins.

A picnic.

“Dara, if you have any sense, you’ll leave right now” he warned her.

Her eyes flew to his – worry mixed with fear. She looked different, softer and not at all rigid, with her hair down and her eyes not covered by those glasses but he still didn’t feel very sociable.

“I’ve been feeling pretty angry even before you came” he told her harshly “I know you all mean well but I don’t wish to take a trip down memory lane with any witnesses.”

“I shouldn’t have come” Dara answered, flushed and flustered. She lifted the basket from her feet, walked towards him and without looking at his eyes, put the basket in his hands. “Bom said that she prepared everything she knew you liked so you better eat up. If you’re not hungry now, you can eat it later.” Her tone didn’t hold any of her usual tone of disapproval that she often used with him and if he didn’t know any better, he would have even said it was apologetic and sincerely concerned.

Without waiting for him to reply, she turned and walked quickly away from him, her long red skirt swirling around her body, outlining the soft curve of her hips.

He’d frightened her.

Ji watched her for a moment and then looked down at the basket and swore long and fluently. The day was not turning out as he’d planned. He lifted his gaze from the apples and stared after her retreating figure with a mixture of exasperation and anger.

He didn’t care that he’d frightened her – for real this time.

He really didn’t care.

It wasn’t as if he’d invited her here. He hadn’t asked her to go to him.

Caught in an internal battle, he opened his mouth to speak, changed his mind and closed it again, then growled with frustration and called out to her “You brought too many apples.”

She stopped and turned – slowly. “Yes I did.”

“Well I wouldn’t be able to eat all of that!”

“Then leave it” she answered.

Realizing that she wasn’t going to walk to him, Ji strolled towards her and was struck up close how really different and how lovelier she looked. “You don’t have your glasses on.”

She lifted a hand to her cheeks and shrugged self-consciously. “Contact lenses. I don’t usually wear them at work. I’m not really a morning person and I’m often not that awake enough to risk putting a finger in my eye.” She looked over his shoulders and saw the basket “I can take some of the apple slices if they offend you so much.”

“Or you can stay here and eat them.”

Her eyes narrowed “I didn’t think you were looking for company.”

“If all of those apples aren’t eaten, Bom’s going to be angry.”

She lifted her lips to a semi-smile – the kind of smile that he’d never actually seen on her whenever they encountered one another in the clinic. “I thought you didn’t care about other people’s feelings Dr. Kwon.”

“I don’t but if I upset her, Seunghyun’s going to give me a blackeye. And then the locals will think I’ve seduced someone’s wife or daughter. And I’m already in enough trouble as it is.”

She laughed as he intended and something in him began to disappear. He’d never actually seen her laugh this way because they were always fighting with one another. “I thought you thrive on trouble.”

“That’s just habit. I’ve never known anything else.”

Her laughter faded and she stared up at him. “This is personal for you. I shouldn’t have come up here. And you don’t want to talk about something like this.”

He gave a twisted smile “Let’s just say that if I do talk about it, you’re not going to like half of the language I’ll be using.”

“Use whatever language you please. I’m not as shockable as you seem to think I am.”

“It would all be too easy to shock you Dara” he answered and took her hand to lead her up to the house’s gazebo garden that overlooked the sea, wondering why he stopped her from walking away and why he had taken her hand now.