Chp.04| Take a deep breath


“Yah! Couldn’t you be more normal and hold me by my arm, you bastard. Don’t treat me like a in’ dog!!” I screamed at him as we descended down the steps towards the subway station.

After school, PingPongBoy had waited for me outside of my class and told me I had to go somewhere with him. He didn’t explain why. I didn’t bother asking him because it was a waste of my breath. Besides, I didn’t want him to feel annoyed because I get annoyed easily too.

And at that moment, I was really annoyed at how he was treating me. So I b*tched. B*tching for me wasn’t a waste of breath.

He released the collar of my shirt and shoved me forward. “Quit your b*tchin’ for once. My ears are starting to hurt,” he snickered at me.

People that we past eyed us with strangely. They were probably thinking, ‘What is she doing with him?! He’s not even good-looking!’

I stopped to turn around and glared venomously at him. “Look. I won’t let you push me around. Shove me again and I’ll throw you on the tracks so the train can run you over!”

He shoved me on the shoulder. “Yah! What you gonna do? Go ahead. Take my arm, throw me on the tracks!”

I grimaced at the tone he was using with me. Also I was growing accustomed to his annoying habit of speaking into my face. I shrieked and pushed his face away. “in’ bastard. Go eat sh*t!”

“What did you just say?!!” he burst, stepping toward me. “Apologize right now!”

“No!” I retorted stubbornly, turning my back on him, thinking of how much I wanted to beat his head in.

He forced me to spin around. “Am I invisible to you? Why are you turning the other way?”

I took a deep breath, clenched my hands together and screamed at the top of my lungs. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”

It appeared as if everyone had stopped what they were doing and turned their full attention onto us.

PingPongBoy just stood there with a bored expression on his face.

I looked around helplessly, realizing that I attracted more than just the regular average people on the streets. Six guys came out of nowhere and began to close in on us. One of them was holding onto a steel bat.

Gang members, perhaps?

Sh*t Ji Won, you’re so damn smart.

“Hey sweetie, need some help?” one of them asked from behind me. “Is the punk bothering you?”

I turned around to answer him. “No. Actually we were just practicing for our drama class…”

One of them interjected, “Really? Were you pretending to be scared because to me it looked more like you were angry and frustrated. Sort of psychotic if you ask me.”

Take a deep breath, Ji Won. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.

Next thing I knew, I was shoved aside by PingPongBoy. “I am bothering her. What’s it to you, ?” he said, stepping up to them.

I just realized that PingPongBoy might be the dumbest person on the planet. Who in their right mind would want to provoke some gang members?

The answer was right in front of my eyes.

“She looks pretty tasty. You think we could share?” the guy asked PingPongBoy.

Damn. They were all bastards.

“Take whatever you have to offer and shove it up your own before I do it for you,” Jung Sang said matter-of-factly.

The guy and his buddies began to laugh.

People began to gather around us in curiosity.

“You think you could take us all down?”

“I don’t think it. I know it, you nostril-flaring er.”

Gosh. I really don’t know where PingPongBoy came up with his insults. But they were quite funny, if you ask me.

“Whatever assh*le. You’re gonna die!”

They all began to attack him at once. PingPongBoy went at them the same time jumping up and throwing a roundhouse kick, striking all of them in the face. “I take martial arts,” he said as he landed. Then he easily snatched the bat off the leader. “I play baseball,” he said, swinging his bat fully against the leader’s head, causing the guy to collapse to the ground.

The audience ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ at the scene.

He then tackled the guy closest to him, pinning him down in an instant. “I take wrestling.” Adding a blow to the guy’s face, he said, “And boxing.”

Another guy went to grab him from behind, attempting to choke him while another guy rushed to hurt him from the front.

I didn’t want to feel useless so I hurried to pick up the bat and swung it at the guy’s back. A crack was heard.

Uh oh. Lee Ji Won. You broke some guy’s back. Hold up. He wasn’t just some guy. He was a guy who wanted to hurt me.

I looked to PingPongBoy who already threw the guy over his shoulder, saying, “I also take Judo.”

The guy that was lying flat on his back, looked up at him and said, “What the else do you play?”

Jung Sang smiled for the first time since I met him. It was a smile of victory. “Soccer.”

The guy whimpered and fell unconscious before Jung Sang could kick him.

Jung Sang kicked him anyway, causing the guy to squeal awake.

I’ve never met anyone so violent until now.

He looked up at me with his hardcore face. “Hand it over now,” he demanded, speaking of the bat in my hand.

“No!”

He hurried to grab it off me and I moved it back in a quick motion, unaware that I had struck another one of them in the nut.

The guy howled, I dropped the bat and it landed on his foot. He howled again, hopping on his other foot.

In a matter of seconds, I was being dragged away by Jung Sang, and rushed through the opened doors of the subway train. He was close behind me, keeping a hand on my shoulder to guide me through the crowd of people. All the seats were occupied and the train was full of passengers. I was left standing next to some fat guy who kept peering down my uniform as if I had my shirt wide opened. I shifted around to face PingPongBoy.

We were inches apart so I was forced to stare into his face for the very first time.

The hair that seemed to obscure his face was a bit too long and messy. I noticed the well-defined cheekbones, the quirk of his mouth, the sharpness nose, and the mysterious eyes that gave away nothing. But most of all, I realized my mistake. I had overlooked him.

If you were to look at him at first glance, you wouldn’t bother to look again. He had that kind of face where you had to stare at for a long time to realize that he was indeed attractive. It was as if he put on a disguise to trick everyone to thinking he was unattractive, until they were able to peel it all away to discover something more to him.

Perhaps that was the reason why I didn’t take any notice of him before? Because he had managed to ‘uglify’ himself in both ways. Appearance wise and personality wise.

I’ve seen the change in him after he saved me. I noticed the difference. And from that moment on, I knew PingPongBoy would continue to invade my mind.

When he caught me looking at him, he rolled his eyes to the side and said, “Quit staring. It’s rude.”

“Yah! You’re the rude one!” I argued, hoping that he wouldn’t notice that I was flustering like an idiot. “By the way, mind telling me where we’re going?”

“No.”

“Fine.”

The train slowed down all of a sudden and the lights began to flicker. “Wahhh! I don’t want to die!” I said, feeling my heart racing out of control.

“You’re not gonna die, you dummy. There’s probably a glitch in the control system.”

When the lights went out completely, I panicked and tugged at his tie. “What if there wasn’t, huh? We’re all gonna die!!”

“CAN SOMEONE SHUT HER THE UP?!!” a voiced called out.

PingPongBoy covered my mouth with his hand. I bit hard on it, causing him to let go.

“Sh*t!” he swore, shaking his hand in pain.

“Umma!!! Appa!!! I’m so sorry that I have to die this way!!” I cried out in fear.

“ARGH!! SHUT HER UP!!!”

I yelled back out of sheer anger and pure annoyance. “YAH! WHY DON’T YOU SHUT THE UP! I GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC AND I’M AFRAID OF THE DARK. DON’T TELL ME TO SHUT THE UP. WHY DON’T YOU TRY BEING IN MY POSITION STUCK BETWEEN SOME FAT SMELLY ERT AND SOME LOSER WHO HAS PMS!”

“hello kitty! IF I FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE, YOU’RE GONNA DIE!!”

I turned my head just enough so I could scan my eyes in the darkness. “No. You’re gonna die if I find out who you are---“

The light came back on and I was left standing there with PingPongBoy, unable to finish what I wanted to say because I was busted.

The loser who yelled at me, pointed a finger in my direction. “You’re caught.”

I buried my face into PingPongBoy’s chest. He smelled pretty nice. I wondered if he wore cologne. “Damn.”

“Why are you hiding your face? You were all tough just a minute ago. Go ahead,” he urged, disengaging himself from me.

I clung to him and turned my face to smile at the guy. “I’m sorry.”

The guy inclined his head and then turned away.

So he wasn’t that bad. I had thought he would have jumped me.

I found myself still holding onto Jung Sang’s uniform. “I never knew someone like you is capable of an apology. I mean---I saved your back there and you didn’t even show a hint of appreciation. I should have let them have their way with you.”

I let him go and said, “Whatever.”

He agreed, “Yeah. Whatever.”