Chapter 4

Interlude II - Chunji

Chanhee had grown way too fond of his practice sessions with L.Joe. L.Joe was the one who usually chose the songs to practice because he was still not good enough to play every song, by his standards. Chanhee, on the other hand, thought he was amazing. He tuned his playing so well to Chanhee’s voice that their performance was almost flawless. Since he did not have to bother at all about the accompaniment, Chanhee’s singing was even more emotional and lovely.

“When are the preliminaries for the regional competition?” asked L.Joe when they finished one evening.

They had begun walking home together. Chanhee’s home was in his way, L.Joe had said.

“Next week – from Wednesday to Friday,” replied Chanhee, not as unsettled at the thought of it as he would have been once. He felt that he would definitely be able to perform much better than he ever had in a contest.

“Do you want to have some real practice before that?” L.Joe asked.

Chanhee looked at him quizzically.

“There’s this bar I play at sometimes. I can arrange for you to perform for a night.”

Chanhee’s eyes widened. “A bar?”

“It’s a quiet place,” said L.Joe, shaking his head. “It just has some oldies hanging out and drinking by themselves. They won’t really bother you. It will be really good practice. Plus, you’ll get paid. Never say no to easy money, huh?”

It was a wild idea for Chanhee even though L.Joe tried his best to make it sound as if it wasn’t a big deal. But Chanhee realised he was offering him a rare chance.

“Well, if you are going to be playing...” began Chanhee.

L.Joe smiled and punched his arm. “That’s the spirit! How does tonight sound?”

Bewildered, Chanhee asked, “Right now?”

L.Joe glanced at his watch. “Well, my shift begins in about two hours. I work there till two. That will be quite a practice session for you.”

Chanhee shook his head. “What do I tell my parents?”

L.Joe rolled his eyes. “How about I ask your mom to let you stay over at my place tonight?”

“And your mom will be okay with it right?”

“She works the night shift at the hospital. She’s a nurse. I don’t really need to tell her,” said L.Joe casually. Chanhee didn’t ask him anything more. He knew L.Joe hated talking about his family. He lived with his mom and had never mentioned anything about his dad.

It turned out to be the craziest night Chanhee ever had till then.

His mother was visibly distressed at letting her son spend the night with an obviously dubious student with blonde hair and earrings. But the suddenness of the request wrested consent from her. Chanhee wondered if she was as intimidated by L.Joe as he had been when he had first met him.

They headed to L.Joe’s house after that because the latter said he was sure that Chanhee did not have anything appropriate to wear for stage. That was the time when Chanhee learnt that L.Joe lived nowhere near his place. In fact, he had to walk about a mile in the opposite direction. But Chanhee did not bring up the fact. You just didn’t talk to L.Joe about such things.

L.Joe fished out a pair of deep red jeans and his most stylish black leather jacket. Chunji vehemently refused to put on the fluorescent pink t-shirt that only L.Joe could own and attempt to wear in public. He kept his white shirt from the school uniform.

“Chic enough,” commented L.Joe. “Are you sure you don’t want me to dye your hair? We have time.”

“No!”

“Ah, let me do something with your hair! It’s so goody-two-shoes. What should I do? I’ll mess it up a little.”

Chanhee felt his confidence surge up as he looked at his image in the mirror. It wasn’t him. It was someone else – a fashionable, handsome guy who looked way cooler than anything Chanhee had ever expected.

L.Joe stood next to him with his arm around Chunji’s waist. He had put on electric blue skinny jeans with a black shirt and blood red jacket. “Ah, you look better than me. I’m so jealous!”

Chanhee coloured a little. “Well, let’s go.”

“Wait here,” L.Joe said when they came downstairs from his apartment. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He ran down the street and disappeared around the first corner.

“What now?” Chanhee wondered, feeling a little uncomfortable standing there in his flashy clothes.

The last thing Chanhee had expected was for L.Joe to come up riding a bike.

“Get on!” L.Joe yelled at him over the noise of the engine, pushing a helmet at him.

“You can’t ride that! It’s illegal! You are sixteen!”

“Seventeen! Get on already!”

“This is bad! This is really bad!” said Chanhee to himself as he got on the bike.

“Hold on tight, okay!”

Chanhee’s face grew white as L.Joe sped through the streets. This was so illegal! He wrapped his arms tightly around L.Joe’s waist and held on for his life. At this point, he didn’t mind getting caught by the police. As long as I’m alive, he thought, as L.Joe made a particularly dangerous turn. As long as I come out of this alive, anything!

Chanhee stumbled on to the pavement as soon as they came to a halt. A few people threw strange glances at him as he sat down there, holding his stomach.

“I’m going to be sick!”

“You are going to be awesome. Just stay there, I have to park this.”

Before Chanhee could reply, L.Joe had driven off.

“I’m beginning to regret this.”

He wasn’t really sick and slowly got over the shock of the ride. L.Joe had brought them to Itaewon*. Chanhee knew about it but he had never been to this part of the city at this time of night.

He got up and looked about him. He had never been out clubbing like some other students he knew. It wasn’t as scary as he had imagined it would be. Even the gay couples that passed him seemed – well, normal enough. A group of girls standing a little down the street had suddenly focussed their attention on him.

“This won’t be a quiet bar with oldies,” he said to L.Joe as soon as the latter returned, wearing an impish grin.

“Na, na, na, na, na,” sang L.Joe, winking.

Chanhee was suddenly angry with him. “Take me back. I want to go back.”