Of Hens and Cats

Ji need not have worried about Dara being unable to go down to the gazebo at the bottom. The path was steep and stony but she didn’t falter, confident and sure-footed despite her sandals.

“Of course, she’s a local” he thought to himself and easily imagined her playing on these cliffs and exploring Jeju’s rocky shores as a girl.

As they reached the sand, she slipped off her shoes and stooped to pick them up. “It’s pretty here… really sheltered.”

“Haven’t you been here before?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Honestly?” she hesitated “This beach is part of your property and we were too afraid of your father. Even Chaerin.”

Ji gave a bitter laugh “Sweet man, my father” He sat down on the sand, laid the basket beside him and looked up at her with a frown “Did you bring something you could sit on?”

She smiled as though he was asking her something weird and sat without preamble.

“The sand is going to ruin your skirt” he commented.

“You care about that?” she asked, teasing him lightly.

He frowned, fighting off a smile, and thought to himself how she often keeps surprising him. She always had a way… a way with him.

Dara didn’t flinch with his frown this time but instead handed him the chicken that Bom prepared. “This is absolutely delicious and Bom had to fight her way to make sure people didn’t eat everything. And I just remembered, I saw Ching Sa in the market this morning and she says Hojo is doing well.”

“I know. I saw him in surgery yesterday” he answered and bit into the chicken as flavors exploded in his palate “Wow you’re right! This is good.”

Dara smiled at his almost-childish comment and suddenly remembered. “Seunghyun told me you wanted to fix his boat. That might take a while. I have a boat I can let you borrow if you want to sail while you’re still fixing his.”

Ji raised an eyebrow “Why Nurse Park, are you making a pass at me?”

Red poured into Dara’s cheeks “Of course not!”

“But you’re offering to lend me your boat?”

“I think I’m retracting the offer” she answered.

Ji laughed. “I didn’t know you sailed.”

Dara took out the jug of lemonade from the basket and handed it over to Ji “I bet there are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”

“It seems so” he agreed “When did you begin sailing?”

“I began in high school. Grandpa knew I was awfully shy and didn’t really like being surrounded with too many people. He suggested I learn sailing and so… I did.”

Her quiet response didn’t require any answer from him and so they continued to eat in silence. Ji found himself glancing at her occasionally and noticing things about the way she looked. Like the fact that her skin is so porcelain like and that her eyes were incredibly beautiful.“You should ditch the glasses” he said softly and she blinked awkwardly.

“Oh” was all she was able to say in response and pretended to concentrate in taking out the apples and chocolate whipped cream.

Ji was suddenly reminded of a baby kitten he found abandoned when he’d been a child. It had been so soft and vulnerable that he had been afraid to touch it in case he harmed it. Dara had that vulnerability now and he smiled in his mind at the things that she was. Young Bae and everybody else called her a mother hen but he thinks that she should be described as a cat instead. She had that ferocity and independence only cats have and she had the very same charm and softness.

“Dara.”

“Yes?”

“I was supposed to clear out the house” he told her – randomly, not meaning to but felt like telling her was the right thing to do.

“There’s no worse job in the world” she answered sincerely “After Grandpa died, it was only at the time I came back here that I was able to visit the house again. And mine were happy memories…”

Ji sighed and closed his eyes… anger had ruled his memories and he didn’t remember much happiness in the house he grew up in… it was a wrong decision to go back.

“You’ll be ok” Dara told him and surprised him when she reached out to pat him on the shoulder “Eventually… you will be.”