Chp.09 | The Overly-Excited Lee Ji Won

The house was huge.

Na-Na was giving me a tour of the place. I felt like some kind of tourist, browsing from rooms after rooms of expensive furniture, priceless paintings and exquisite sculptures.

I learned more about this Park Jung Sang character when we came across his trophy room. My face when I entered. ---> 

“He doesn’t like anyone coming in here, but since you’re his girlfriend, I don’t think he minds,” Na-Na said, surveying the room with her eyes.

I’m not his girlfriend. And if he knew that I was in this room, he’d have my head for it, I wanted to say.

PingPongBoy exceeded in all sports. He played just about every sport there was. A picture hanging on the far wall caught my eye. I went to take a closer look at it. “Who’s the girl?” I inquired, taking notice of the long hair fragile looking young girl who displayed a proud looking smile upon her face as she held onto a large trophy about half her size.

Na-Na giggled, covering . “That’s Jung Sang two years ago when he mastered a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.”

I stiffened, blinking twice with my heart quickening in a faster pace. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. My face at that point. ---> “He was a she?”

“No. He just had really long hair. He liked his long hair. Most of the time, he left it down to cover his face. He hates showing his face.”

I exhaled in relief. Wouldn’t it be bad if PingPongBoy turned out to be a girl? Tee Hee that would be bad. Imagine Lee Ji Won falling in love with a he/she ---

Damn. What the hell am I thinking?

“Why does he hate his face so much?” I asked, thinking that this face of his wasn’t so bad.

“Someone once told him he was ugly. It was someone he liked. A girl. A stupid mean girl.”

( Gulp ) Have I ever called him ugly?

( Thinks back )

“Yah! Just because you’re ugly doesn’t mean you can call other guys gay for being prettier than you are!”

( Damn )

How sad. Park Jung Sang probably gotten his heart broken by some girl who told him he was ugly. I was starting to understand why he hated girls so much. “And from then on, he turned himself into the ugly duckling?”

Na-Na looked at me inquiringly. “Do you really think he’s ugly? I mean, you’re his girlfriend. Why are you really with him then?”

“I’m…I’m…” I paused to think about it. “I’m…erm…I’m…”

“You’re not really his girlfriend. You’re his fake girlfriend. He probably forced you into this. Just like in them stories. Why does the guy always have to do the forcing?” Na-Na said, acting as if she was in deep contemplation. “It’s okay. I understand the position you’re in, Ji Won. It’s not your fault.”

Tears started to form in Na-Na’s eyes.

The guilt was eating me up. Why did the little girl have such an effect on me? “Look. Even if we’re not together, maybe it might work out between us. Park Jung Sang doesn’t seem that bad…”

I thought back to the way he beat the guys up and realized that he was that bad. What are you getting yourself into, Lee Ji Won?

I reached down and her hair back from her face, wiping at her tear-stained cheeks. “Listen Na-Na. So long as I’m babysitting you, I won’t leave your side or your uncle’s side.”

She smiled, throwing her arms around my neck. “Ji Won, you’re the coolest. Please stay with him. And whatever you do, don’t ever call him ugly.”

Too late.


---


When we came across the indoor pool, I felt the excitement coursing through me. My mouth hung opened at the sight of the 12 x 24 feet rectangle pool that was just begging for me to jump into.

“This is the pool that Jung Sang used to practice his swimming lessons in until he started to hate it,” Na-Na said, staring off into the pool.

“Why would he hate it?” I asked, moving closer to it, itching to jump in.

“Says it’s too small.”

“Doesn’t look small to me,” I said, unable to take my eyes off of it.

“You want to swim?” Na-Na asked, taking hold of my arm.

“Nah, I shouldn’t. I mean---look at me. Still in school uniform,” I forced myself to say.

“Don’t worry about that. I jump in all the time, whether I’m dressed in my uniform or my sleeping clothes or regular clothes. Whenever I feel like it, I just jump in.”

My gosh. She made it sound easier than it was. “Really? And they let you?”

“It’s my pool now. They can’t say anything. So, you wanna do it? Unless you’re afraid to get your uniform wet. We could find you something to wear.”

I wanted to jump up in excitement. My left leg twitched in reaction.(It happens whenever I get too excited)

Na-Na waited for an answer.

“It’s not that…it’s just…”

I was really going to enjoy this babysitting job. “Fine, let’s do it!”

With that, I tossed my bag down, threw off my blazer, pinched my nose, running towards the edge of the pool and jumping into the cold water, sending a huge splash of water over the edge.

Na-Na followed right after me.

I screamed with giddy excitement. “Na-Na, look at me. I can swim backwards!”

Wham! The back of my head met with the edge of the pool.

“Ji Won, you okay?” Na-Na asked, trying to hold in her laughter.

I rubbed the back of my head while cursing under my breath.

Na-Na was doing backstrokes like an expert, making me feel like an amateur. “Look at me, Ji Won. Jung Sang taught me to do this!”

“Good. Very good,” I said, swimming towards her. “Tell me something else, Na-Na. How come PingPongBoy---oops, I meant Jung Sang takes so many sports and martial arts? And why does he likes Ping-Pong the most?”

Na-Na stopped swimming and answered, “He can’t stay still. He has a problem keeping in one place, that’s why he’s always doing all those sports. It’s to keep him busy. Ping-Pong requires good reflexes and strength. Jung Sang always tells me that it’s the only sport that he doesn’t have to get violent on. He gets really upset easily and he always loses his temper on those other sports, but with Ping-Pong, he’s different. You get to see the more calmer side to him.”

So that’s the reason why he liked Ping-Pong? Because it relaxes him? How come it seems like that was all he was committed to? “He really has a problem then? He can’t keep still?”

“Yups,” Na-Na answered as she began to do more backstrokes.

How scary. I bet he has Border Personality Disorder(BPD).

“That’s why he decided to go help your brother.”

“What?”

Na-Na turned to face me. “That’s why he went to help Jin Hyung.”

I should have known that he didn’t do it out of pity. He did it because he couldn't keep still. I bobbed my head in understanding.

“That’s also the reason why he hates school so much.”

I was learning more and more about PingPongBoy because his niece couldn’t stop talking about him.

“Really? I thought he was just too dumb for school.”

Na-Na blinked. “What?”

I pretended to laugh. “Ha ha ha. I was joking.”

Na-Na smiled. “I’m gonna go to the deep end.”

The cheerful tune of my ringer went off. I made a face, hoping it wasn’t my mother calling me again. I swam to the edge and pulled myself up, walking over to pick up my phone. “Hello?”

“Your brother took off. He managed to escape,” came the flat voice belonging to Jung Sang.

I didn’t know whether I should be happy. It would have been better if Jung Sang told me that they killed him already. Alright, I admit, I was a little worried, but that was it. Jin Hyung always gets himself into trouble. I hope he learned a lesson from it.

“How’s Na-Na?”

Na-Na was screaming in the background. “Look at me, Ji Won. I’m floating in the deep-end!!”

He burst over the phone. “IS SHE SWIMMING?!!”

I had to pull the phone from my ear, shouting back at him. “Yah! Lower your voice. My ears hurt and YES WE’RE SWIMMING!!”

“GET HER OUT OF THERE NOW! SHE ISN’T ALLOWED IN THE POOL. SHE’S GONNA GET SICK. YOU’RE DEAD WHEN I GET THERE!”

I stiffened and forced a laugh. “Hehehe, I was just kidding. We’re not swimming. We’re playing…uh…we’re just playing together.”

“JI WON! I DID IT. I HELD MY BREATH FOR 60 SECS UNDER WATER!!” Na-Na screamed out.

Great.

“WHAT THE IS THAT, HUH?!”

“We’re in the bathroom alright!” I yelled out loud so that Na-Na could hear me.

Na-Na quickly got out of the pool, hurrying towards me with a fearful look on her face.

“I’M ALMOST THERE. IF I FIND OUT YOU’RE AT THE POOL, YOU’RE DEAD, GOT THAT?!!”

I cringed, pulling Na-Na along with me, rushing past the foreign housemaid who was carrying a tray of refreshments our way.

“I’M AT THE DOOR!!” he yelled over the phone.

I hung up on him, trying to hurry Na-Na along, all the while panicking. “Bathroom. Where’s the bathroom?!” I asked, frantically searching for a bathroom.

“Over there!” Na-Na pointed out, pulling away from my grasp.

I stopped to look at her. “Na-Na, you have to come.”

“Why would I? Aren’t you going to take a dump?”

Geez. What was wrong with the kid? I shook my head. “No, no, no. It’s not like that. We have to get in there before your uncle gets back. He knows we were at the pool!”

I was dragging her along with me.

“We can’t use the one downstairs. It doesn’t have a shower or a bathtub.”

I stopped. “Then the one upstairs?”

She bobbed her head in response.

I took her arm and we both fled upstairs, hearing Jung Sang’s voice calling out from somewhere in the house. “LEE JI WON. IF I FIND OUT YOU’RE AT THE POOL, YOU’RE DEAD, Y’HEAR ME? I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!!”

Stupid bastard. I've gone deaf because of you!!

Na-Na was pulling into one of the rooms, I slipped along the way because of my wet socks and Na-Na had to help me up. Once I was up again, we both skidded into the bathroom. I quickly shut the door behind me and leaned back against it, gasping for air.

Na-Na wasn’t beside me, instead, she was lying flat on her face.

“Oh my gosh. Na-Na! I’m so sorry!” I said, rushing over to her.

She rolled over and groaned. “I think I bumped my head real hard. I’m dizzy.”

She was right. There was a huge swelling on her forehead. I blew at it, thinking I could magically make it go away. I realized I had two problems to worry about now.

Problem #1: PingPongBoy was gonna kill me for letting Na-Na in the pool.
Problem #2: Na-Na's head was swelling up.

“I’m so sorry," I apologized.

“Lee Ji Won!”

I looked up at the door, hearing his footsteps drawing closer.

I helped Na-Na to sit up and hurried to turn on the water in the bathtub. “Come, Na-Na. You gotta get in. We gotta make it look like you’re learning to bathe properly.”

“But I can bathe properly,” she argued.

“Still…just come. I'm upset that you lied to me, Na-Na,” I said, growing frustrated.

Na-Na slowly climbed into the bathtub and I followed after her. We sat facing each other and I yelped when I realized how hot the water was. I quickly reached out to turn on the cold water.

Just then the door swung inward with an impact.

Park Jung Sang stood there appearing like some psychotic maniac, eyeing us with an angry expression.

“YAH! WHAT THE ARE YOU DOING HERE? CAN’T YOU SEE THAT I’M TEACHING YOUR NIECE HOW TO BATHE PROPERLY!!”

He looked at me, entirely unconvinced. “ARE YOU A EN IDIOT?! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU COULD FOOL ME?”

I stood up fully to face him, stepping out of the bathtub, feeling the goose bumps starting to form on my body. I shivered. “I went for a swim. Na-Na had nothing to do with it.”

He tried to look past me to Na-Na. I moved to block his view of her, afraid that he might see the swelling on her head.

"Move," he commanded.

"No."

He shoved me anyway.

“Na-Na, is that true?” The moment he saw the bruise, he turned back to me. "What did you do to her?!"

I jumped at his tone.

"We were racing to the bathroom and then Na-Na wasn't looking so she kind of...ran into the door," I muttered.

"Is that true, Na-Na?"

Na-Na nodded.

He flickered his gaze back to me. “Just wait until tomorrow. If Na-Na gets sick, then I know.”

I folded my arms across my chest and let out a, “Pssh…”

Then I was propelled out of the room, Jung Sang reached out to shut the door behind him.

He shoved me backward. “You’re fired.”

“What?”

“You’re putting my niece at risk. That makes you a bad babysitter, so you’re fired. Get out.”

I shoved him back. “Yah! If I knew she wasn’t allowed, I wouldn’t have allowed her in!”

He shoved me again. “You know nothing. Brainless Barbie has no brain to think. What the hell was my father thinking of hiring you?”

I pushed him back with both arms. “Are you calling me dumb?!”

We both fell to the floor with me landing on top of him. We stared into each other’s face. The way his hair fell into his eyes. Those eyes were something else. They weren't just cold. They were alluring. And I think it was that moment that I knew Park Jung Sang looked at me in whole a new way.

“Lee Ji Won…” he spoke softly.

“Hmm?”

Or so I thought…

“Get. The. . Off. Me,” he said, shoving me off roughly.

“Park Jung Sang? What are you doing rolling around with this young woman? Who is she? Your new girlfriend?” came the deep male voice from the door.

We both looked up to find a middle-aged man, dressed in a business suit, leaning against the doorframe.

“Father,” Jung Sang mumbled.