Chp.37| Truth behind the stranger

It was one o’clock in the afternoonwhen I woke up feeling like ten thousand bricks had fallen on my head. I don’t exactly recall what happened to me last night. All I knew was that I had gotten drunk, puked a couple of times and met some stranger at the subway station. To be honest, I don’t remember what I blabbed about, but the stranger was willing enough to listen and I think that was all that mattered. But like every sane person, I had to question his act of kindness. There was something odd about the way he was hiding under his hood. It was like he was afraid to reveal his true identity. I would say that he was almost like an enigma.

I rolled over and mumbled, “Will you ever get to see him again?”

“You found yourself a new guy already?” came the voice from somewhere in my room.

I quickly lifted my head to notice Yoon Tae standing there, holding onto a glass of something.

I hate it when he does that. “What are you doing in here?” I asked, burying my face into the pillow.

“Here. Drink it. It’ll help.”

I raised my head to find that Yoon Tae had shoved the glass near my face. The liquid was green in color. I felt the bile rising from my throat the moment the smell hit me. It was a foul smell, like raw eggs and old socks. I nearly hurled when I said, “You trying to kill me?”

“I cut class to come and see how you were doing. So at least you can do is your show appreciation by drinking this,” he scolded.

“You’d find any reason to skip class, Yoon Tae. And put that thing away before I puke on you.”

“Fine,” he said, placing the glass away and moving to sit beside me on the bed.

“Teacher must be pissed that I’m not at school,” I muttered miserably, turning my back on my cousin.

“That’s the least of your problems.”

“Then what’s the real problem?” I questioned without looking at him. There were enough problems in my life; I really didn’t need anymore to multiply it.

“It’s about your boyfriend.”

“He’s my ex-boyfriend,” I corrected him, feeling that same tug at the edge of my heart whenever it came to Jung Sang.

“Yeah, well your ex-boyfriend is no longer attending our school. Teachers at school said he left---just like that. He won’t be returning.”

I quickly sat up and looked at my cousin in question. “What?”

“Park Jung Sang is gone.”

I shook my head and began to panic, refusing to allow the truth to sink in. “No. He can’t be---no.” Unwilling for Yoon Tae to finish explaining, I threw my legs over the side of the bed and rushed down the stairs towards the telephone. I dialed Jung Sang’s number and waited for an answer only to discover that the number was no longer in service.

Yoon Tae came up to stand behind me. “It’s no use. I tried that too.”

“Then I’m gonna get change and go to his apartment.”

“I was there too. No one is home.”

I looked at my cousin in helplessness. “What am I going to do?”

“Go to his parents house. Go see Na-Na.”

I nodded. “Yeah. We still have Na-Na.”

---

“They’re both gone. I’m sorry,” Mr. Park explained as I stood there across from him remaining motionless.

Mr. Park who was gazing out the window, turned back to face me. “Jung Sang begged me not to tell you. It was the only way Na-Na would agree to go.”

Park Jung Sang left with Na-Na. They were gone out of the country. I finally understood why he did what he did. It wasn’t because of his insecurity with out relationship, or his lack of protecting me; it was more than that. He had a real reason. It was because of Ahn Na-Na. Na-Na had refused to leave the country to go and live with her real family. Jung Sang had to find a way to break up our relationship in order to get her to leave.

Now let me tell you a little more about Ahn Na-Na’s history with the Park family and why she grew an attachment towards Jung Sang. Ahn Na-Na’s father was a close friend of Mr. Park. He was also Jung Sang’s ping-pong instructor. The man had fallen in love with a woman from a low class family and married her without his parents consent. They both had a child and named her Ahn Na-Na. Na-Na was only five when she met Park Jung Sang. He had impressed the five-year-old girl with his ability to play ping-pong. And soon after, Na-Na wanted to be around Jung Sang more often, so she insisted that Jung Sang become her instructor. They became so close that Na-Na started to call Jung Sang her uncle and Jung Sang started to treat her like a niece. Tragedy struck when Na-Na had lost her parents in a car accident two years ago. She was left under Mr. Park’s care until her real family decided to take her away outside of the country. Na-Na came back to visit the Park family as often as she could because she enjoyed their company more. Within the last year, her family had allowed her to get her education in Seoul and she was to remain under the Park’s household, but the decision was altered when the school board decided that Na-Na education in Seoul should be discontinued due to the fact that she was more advanced than the other students in her class. When it came down to it, Na-Na had to go back. For the past two weeks, she had refused to leave and insisted that she stayed in Seoul. She wanted to be a normal child with a normal education like all the other students. She didn’t like being different, especially when she was without parents. Mr. Park had told me that she was had cried all night when she heard of the news. Jung Sang who was also upset, could only find one solution. He was convinced that if he broke up with me, Na-Na would also learn to let go.

I guess it worked.

They were both gone.

That was the end of it people. There was no more babysitting, no more ping-pong, no more Na-Na and no more Park Jung Sang.

There was only lonesome Lee Ji Won who was back to where she started. Well, not exactly back to where she started because her heart was never broken to begin with.


---

Two to three weeks later…

“I can’t believe he left like that. That bastard doesn’t deserve a girl like you anyway,” Kim Soo Jin blatantly stated while sitting across from me, sipping on her ice-cold soda through a straw.

I had to shift her attention elsewhere. I didn’t feel like discussing my past relationship with Park Jung Sang, whose name still haunted me and was going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

Two weeks had gone by after our breakup and nothing changed, except for my need to get out more and do something spontaneous just so that I could get over him. As for this breakup promise, I found myself keeping my side of the bargain regardless of all the guys that asked me out ever since they heard that I was single again. Why was I doing it? Maybe because I was still holding on.

“Yah! Did you lose weight?” I asked Soo Jin out of randomness.

“Really? Does it look like it?” She smiled, pulling away from her straw. “I should get the pox more often.”

There was definitely something different about Soo Jin. It looked as if she had gotten prettier. “You’re looking better. There’s a glow about you.”

She moved in closer, placing a soft hand over mine. My gosh. Soo Jin’s hands were soft too! “I have a secret.”

I bet it was some beauty secret. “What?”

“Lee Ji Hoon. He called me out two nights ago,” she said excitedly.

“Lee Ji Hoon?! The handsome waiter boy?!” I blurted in surprise.

“Right.”

This was wrong. Kim Soo Jin wasn’t capable of attracting a guy like Lee Ji Hoon who’s way over her league.

“I found out last night that he’s into chubby girls!” she boasted, twirling a tendril of her hair with her finger.

“He told you that?” I asked incredulously.

She placed over her straw and the color in her cheeks deepened. “No, of course not. I figured that on my own.”

I felt the need to argue with her. I wanted to tell her that I saw him first. But my childish antics weren’t going to get me anywhere. I figured it only the aftereffects of my breakup. “Ah, so that’s why you’re looking so good.”

She nodded. “That and the fact that I have makeup on. Of course, I can’t say the same for you.”

I offered her a compliment, and in return she offered me an insult. What kind of friend was she? “What?”

“Yeah. You look like---like someone who’s on the brink of becoming suicidal.”

If only you knew. “I think I’m becoming a regular drunk.”

“You meant alcoholic.”

“I am not an alcoholic!” I argued. “Why would I kill myself over one guy?”

“Well for one thing, you’re holding onto a bottle of soju. And secondly, we’re inside a bar, trying to appear older than we actually are, and thirdly if you don’t lower that bottle, people are going to start suspecting us and we’ll get our asses kicked out of here.”

I looked to my hand to see that it was raised in the air with the bottle clutched between my fingers. Growing embarrassed, I placed the bottle back down and sunk lower in my seat. Yes, people. Lee Ji Won is corrupted. I nearly forgot that I was seated inside a bar. Too add on to that, I was playing dress up, not because I wanted to feel attractive and have the guys give me googley eyes, but simply because I wanted to feel more confident that I was capable of having that sort of effect on the guys even after my breakup. Hell, I don’t know if I make any sense.

Soo Jin’s phone started to vibrate against the table. She picked it up, looked at the number beamed happily before answering it. “Oppa, is that you?”

I bet that was her loverboy Lee Ji Hoon.

Fully aware that I was staring at her, she turned her head away and said, “I can’t talk to you right now. Let me excuse myself first.” She looked back at me and said, “I’m gonna go to the washroom.”

I nodded, feeling like I’ve been cheated. There was Kim Soo Jin answering her boyfriend’s call while I sat, staring glumly with envious. I watched her leave before I plopped my head down and whined, “Ji Won, are you jealous of your own friend?”

A hand touched my shoulder, drawing me out of my pathetic state. I looked up to see Kim Tae Woo staring down at me with a smile on his face. He was wearing a sleek jacket over some printed fashionable shirt and a pair of expensive shades to cover his eyes. He also wore black denims with a wallet chain dangling from it. His hair was gelled and styled nicely and he smelled really good. To be more specific, he resembled some catalogue model. I bet he had no problem getting inside the bar. “You feelin’ okay?”

I didn’t like how he was smiling at me. Again, I always get the feeling that he was mocking me. I shook my head in response.

He sat down across from me and pointed. “You have dark smudges around your eyes.”

“I think I know that,” I lied, not wanting him to think that I was oblivious.

“Very unappealing, if you ask me.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you.”

“I just thought you wanted to hear it.”

“I don’t.”

“Well, I thought you did.”

I figured he didn’t approach me to argue, so I asked, “What are you doing here?”

“What does a person do when they come into a bar?”

“Are you trying to make me feel stupid?”

“Are you trying to get me to feel like I’m making you feel stupid?”

“I know. You’re trying to confuse me. It’s not working so stop it.”

He chuckled amusingly. “And what’s your reason tonight?”

“Reason for what?”

“To drink.”

“I just felt like it. Yourself?”

“No reason. Just to drink.” He looked around as if he was idly checking the whole place out. “Although, I didn’t expect to see you here too.”

“I go out too you know,” I said, reaching for the bottle to pour into my shot glass when he seized the bottle from my grasp. “You’ve had enough. I’ll drink the rest,” he said before downing the rest of the bottle.

“Yah, I paid for that!”

“I’ll pay you back,” he said, placing the bottle down and then entwined this fingers together as if he was prepared to offer me some kind of proposition. “Look, I understand that you’re only suffering from a breakup and that---“

“Shut up. Don’t bring it up.”

He raised his hand as if he surrendered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to step on your toes.”

I glared. “If you’re here to talk about my breakup with that stupid person, then you might as well walk away now.”

He sat back against his chair and then settled both his legs comfortably on the table. There he goes again, looking cool even when he’s not trying to be. “I came because Jung Sang had asked me to watch over you while he’s away. That’s all.”

Did that mean Jung Sang had resolved the issue he had with Tae Woo? I really couldn’t understand their relationship. One day they were ready to rip each other apart and the next, they were back to being friends again. “Why would he ask you to take care of me?”

“Should he just ask a stranger then?”

“I am asking you a question.”

“You’re not asking the right kind of questions.”

“You’re making me angry, Tae Woo.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Ji Won.”

I thought about the time that I was drunk and about the stranger in the subway station. Perhaps he was no stranger at all? Perhaps he was Kim Tae Woo who was sent out by Jung Sang to watch over me. “You were there that night, right?”

Confusion crossed his face. “What night?”

“The night I was drunk. Don’t act like you don’t’ know what I’m talking about.”

He shook his head slightly. “I’ve no clue what you’re talking about.”

Maybe it wasn’t him. I was just jumping to conclusions. “So you’re like Jung Sang’s watch dog then?”

He quickly removed his legs from the table and stood up, leaning over me with anger in his eyes. “Are you trying to insult me?”

“I’m not trying. I am insulting you.” I stood up, grabbed my bag and matched his stance, bringing my face inches to his. “I don’t need you to watch over me.”

He smirked and I realized that he was staring at my mouth. “Don’t tempt me,” he warned.

I wasn’t going to tempt him anymore than that. I knew he would have probably kissed me. I felt vulnerable and decided to leave it like it was. Everything about the whole situation was wrong.

---

The next thing I knew, Kim Tae Woo was seated next to me on the bench inside the subway station.

Tae Woo yawned and leaned back. “What makes you think he’s going to show up today?”

“If he does show up, I’m gonna ask him out.”

“So you like this guy? Is this your way of getting over someone?” He snorted derisively, “You don’t even know him.”

“Shut up. You stay out of this.”

He chuckled. “Don’t you find this all a little ridiculous? I was asked by my best friend to watch over his ex-girlfriend, so that she doesn’t do anything stupid. Not only that but she’s waiting for some deformed-cloaked stranger to appear so that she would ask him out while she’s being watched by her ex-boyfriend’s best friend who’s supposed to be stopping her but he chooses not to because he understands what she’s going through.”

I turned my head to look at him, realizing he had become too drunk to realize what he was rambling about. “I must be really incoherent because I didn’t get that. What makes you think he’s deformed?”

“Not incoherent, just incompetent,” he corrected me. “What makes me think he’s deformed? Because no guy would hide themselves like that unless he’s really ugly.”

“Well maybe you should start hiding your face because you’re starting to look really ugly to me.”

“You’re just drunk. You’re starting to hallucinate.”

“And you’re not?”

“Are you two okay?” A male’s voice asked.

I spun around to see ten guys standing there, carrying bats and other weapons in their hands. They resembled those punks that you find hanging around in alleyways when they got nothing better to do.

Kim Tae woo stood up and placed himself in front of me. “Yes, we’re okay.”

The leader of them, a guy with a blond Mohawk, smiled revealing his gold tooth. “Don’t you think it’s a little too late for you two high school kids to hang out around here?”

“And don’t you think it’s a little too late to dress up for Halloween?” Tae Woo questioned in return.

They way he said that, reminded me of the time Jung Sang had confronted the other guys. “Take whatever you have to offer and shove it up your own before I do it for you.”

I tapped his shoulder and leaned in to whisper. “I don’t think you should get smart with them.”

“For a person who’s about to get his kicked, you’ve got quite a mouth on you.” His gaze shifted onto me. “Who’s the chick? She’s hot.”

“You’re lame,” Tae Woo told him bluntly. “That line was used in so many movies before. Come up with a better line, blondie.”

“How bout I say nothing at all and just get straight to the kicking?”

“How bout you just shut the up and just do it?!” Tae Woo said, charging towards them. He didn't get very close when the leader was suddenly knocked forward from a surprise attack from behind. The person who attacked him was wearing the same jacket that I recognized from before. It was the stranger!

Lee Ji Won! Your dream man has returned.

He was already fighting the other guys when Tae Woo joined him. It was just like in the movies, the fight seemed almost choreographed. In a matter of moments, they both had them all down. The stranger was the first to speak, after brushing the dirt from his jacket. “When I asked you to watch over her, I didn’t ask you to join her with her stupidity.”

Only one person was capable of making such a rude remark. He turned to me and threw his hood back. The guy behind the hood was in fact Park Jung Sang. He looked slightly different from how he used to look like. He had gotten hotter. I bet he got his hair cut.

He was smirking at this point. “So what now? Are you going to ask me out?”