Credits: xRiChan@soompi

17 | The Great Escape

WHEN UMMA MET JIWOON EARLIER IN THE DAY

Umma: JiWoon, please help me! SooJin is lost in the woods with MinWoo!

JiWoon:Huh? Why should she be lost? I’m sure she knows her way around the forest. She’s been there since small.

Umma: (In exasperation) Don’t you remember that the trails have changed recently? Her father is sure that she’ll be lost. He’s just too tired to find them.

JiWoon: Why should I help her? She must be happy to be alone with her fiancé in the forest. I’m sorry that I won’t be able to help you.

Umma: Aish! How dare you act like this?! Don’t you remember how much you have made her cry in the past?! Can’t you at least be concerned about her safety?

JiWoon: Why should I be concerned? She already has a fiancé. It is his job to be concerned about her now, not me.

Umma: Yah! You rotten boy! I will tell your mother if you refuse to help me!!

JiWoon: Okay, fine! I’ll look for the lovebirds, okay?!

Umma: Thank you so much. (Smiling) Aigoo, I don’t want MinWoo to be scared. It must be hard to get lost in the forest for a rich city guy like him, poor boy! I like MinWoo. Even though they’re not really engaged, I really think of him as my son-in-law.

JiWoon:Did you just say that they’re not really engaged???

Umma: (Slaps mouth with eyes opened wide in horror) Omo! Just pretend that you didn’t hear anything.

**********************************

I need to get away. If not, everything would be ruined. There must be something that I could do to prevent the big mess awaiting us.

Quick oh genius mind, think of something!

I briefly glanced at Aunt Mina who was seated beside me. She had a look of anxiety displaying all over her face.

This is not good, SooJin. NOT GOOD!

I could feel MinWoo’s eyes looking at me from the rearview mirror. I bit my lip, looking at him with my eyes opened wide—my way of telepathically telling him how sorry I was for blowing our cover and how much I wanted to make it right.

“MinWoo-ah, drive faster,” Aunt Mina urged from beside me, “I’m worried for the baby.”

“NO! SLOWER!” I didn’t even realize that I was yelling. It must be due to the nerves accumulating inside of me. I couldn’t even sit still during the whole time that we were in MinWoo’s car.

I could feel Aunt Mina’s eyes on me. Even Haraboji who sat next to MinWoo looked back at me.

I let out a nervous chuckle. “I mean, uh, please drive slower, because, uh, because—we need to go back! I forgot to bring my underwear!”

I cringed when I realized what I had just said.

Aunt Mina gave me a look. “SooJin! We can always bring you your underwear later. You don’t need to worry about such trivial thing! What matters the most is your baby,” she said.

I bit my lip.

“Go faster, MinWoo-ah. I don’t want anything to happen to the baby,” Aunt Mina urged.

MinWoo nodded. Ever since the EunJae incident, he had been so quiet, like his mind was somewhere else; like he didn’t really want to be there driving the car to the hospital. I knew that if I didn’t stop him just now with my fake stomach ache, he wouldn’t even be there driving the car with us.

Just the thought of that made my heart twinge.

Is this how it is going to be from now on?

Do I have to fight for his affection with a girl from his past, someone who had made his heart so broken that he had turned into the cold, emotionless guy? Someone who had seemed so lonely when I had first met him.

Truth be told, as much as I hated for him to go back to EunJae, I was already contemplating on whether the scene of me faking a stomach ache was actually God’s way of paving the way for the truth to be uncovered and later on, for MinWoo to be with his heart’s desire.

To hell with that!

I’m not going to sit around moping over this. There was still enough time for me to prevent from having our cover blown. As far as I am concerned, I was not going to let MinWoo go back to that EunJae without a fight. My gut feeling was telling me that Haraboji had truly loved MinWoo; that he wasn’t as bad as MinWoo had perceived him to be. There must be some dark secrets regarding that EunJae, something so twisted that left Haraboji without any choice but to chase her away. There must be a reason why EunJae had left MinWoo without a word and I was sure that the reason wasn’t what MinWoo had thought it to be. I just have a bad feeling about this EunJae girl. I mean, come on! She even told me that MinWoo didn’t love me when she didn’t even know me. The nerve of that girl! I will make her learn not to mess with Kim SooJin.

All I need right now is the perfect plan.

“Faster MinWoo-ah!” Aunt Mina pestered again.

“Don’t go any faster! Speeding can get us all killed” I said dramatically, “Besides, hey, look at me! My stomach isn’t hurting anymore. We can go home now.”

Haraboji and Aunt Mina turned to look at me.

“No, we need to get you a thorough medical check up. We don’t want anything bad to happen to the baby,” Haraboji insisted. Aunt Mina nodded in agreement.

Aish, I really was going out of my mind already. They really insisted on me going to the hospital. I need to liaise with MinWoo and discuss about our next move.

Time for Plan A.

“Hey, isn’t that a shooting star?! Quick, make a wish!” I yelled excitedly, pointing towards an invisible shooting star in my attempt to distract them. Of course there was not even a star in the skyline, I just made it all up.

“Omo, shooting star? Where?” Aunt Mina asked as she turned to look out of the window. Obviously she was easily distracted.

“Close your eyes, Aunt Mina!” I instructed quickly before she even had the chance to catch my bluff, “You too Haraboji! We need to pray for the bun. In my village, it is widely believed that a shooting star God will grant your every wish if you pray to it when you see one.”

It’s amazing how I could even think of a lie in this moment of desperation. I must be a genius!

“I’m sorry SooJin, but I don’t really believe in—” Haraboji started to say but I cut him off.

“Close your eyes, Haraboji! You need to pray or it will bring bad luck to the bun!” I yelled.

“Omo!” Aunt Mina gasped, “Appa, just close your eyes! We don’t want anything bad to happen!”

“But I don’t—”

“Shh...” I said, “I could sense that the shooting star is getting mad because someone isn’t praying. Oh, my poor baby!”

“Appa!” Aunt Mina yelled.

I could hear Haraboji grunting before he closed his eyes. Beside me, Aunt Mina was already closing her eyes, clutching her hands together as she mumbled incoherently, probably chanting some prayers for the baby’s well being.

Once I had made sure that both of them were really praying with their eyes closed, I waved my hand to catch MinWoo’s attention. He looked at me through the rearview mirror.

“Are you insane?!”he mouthed.

“We need to follow Plan A,” I mouthed back.

MinWoo looked confused. “There’s a Plan A? What’s Plan A?” he mouthed.

“Drive very slowly,” I said, making a gesture like I was holding the steering wheel,“In 2 minutes, ring me up but you don’t need to talk. Let me do all the talking,” I said, waving my cellphone.

MinWoo nodded, indicating that he understood the plan.

“SooJin, I have finished praying. Can I open my eyes now?” Aunt Mina asked all of a sudden.

“NO!” I yelled, “Keep on praying, Aunt Mina! Remember, this is not about you. This is about the baby!”

Aunt Mina gasped and nodded her head enthusiastically, her eyes remained tightly shut. In a way, I felt sorry for her because I know how much she cared about me and the non-existent baby but somehow, I was desperate to do this so that I could plan on how to escape from the mess heading my way.

“Haraboji! You need to pray more convincingly. If not, the shooting star God will come after the baby. Oh, my poor baby!” I exclaimed dramatically.

“Shooting star God?!” he scoffed, “Fine,” Haraboji heaved a sigh and began to mumble incoherently with his eyes closed.

I could see MinWoo’s body shaking with laughter. I don’t know how he could find the humor in all this when our necks were on the line. It was like he had forgotten that just a few minutes ago, he was busy in his role as the sulky I’m-a-heartbroken-handsome-guy-whose-ex-has-come-back-so-I-must-act-like-I’m-going-to-die-tomorrow.

“What’s Plan B?” he mouthed.

“Keep on driving!” I mouthed back. The nerve of this guy. He didn’t even think of a plan and now he wants to know my next move. Couldn’t he help me think of a plan?!

I decided that it was enough time that I had tortured my two future relatives so I said, “Omo! The shooting star is gone. You two can open your eyes now.”

Aunt Mina immediately opened her eyes and smiled at me. “Is the baby going to be fine?” she asked anxiously, “I prayed with my whole heart just now. Do you feel better?”

I could hear Haraboji mumbling incoherently to himself. I think he really hated all the superstitious stuff. What else do you expect from a poker-faced old man anyways?

I patted my stomach and said, “Absolutely great! I can’t wait to see the doctor!” I crossed my finger and hoped that it didn’t come true. I looked at MinWoo and could see that he was secretly taking out his cellphone. He was going to go on with the plan.

“Oh, thank God!” Aunt Mina sighed of relief.

Before long, I heard my cellphone rang. I breathed deeply and picked it up. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could feel Aunt Mina’s eyes looking at me curiously.

Time to show your acting skills, SooJin!

“Hello?—What? Appa is sick?—He can’t even get out of bed?!” I shrieked dramatically into the cellphone, to the nonexistent caller.

Aunt Mina gasped. She leaned closer towards me and touched my elbow. “Why? What’s wrong with your father, SooJin?”

This is the moment when I showed my acting skills to the fullest extent.

“Aunt Minaaaaa~” I wailed like a hungry baby, “My father—he’s sickkk~~ Huwaaaaa~” I made some loud sobbing sounds. I couldn’t make the tears to come so I had to look out the window to pretend that I was tearing up. Then, I said to the phone, “I’m coming. Wait for me!” I hung up and continued to ‘sob’ by myself.

“Omo!” Aunt Mina started to tear up, “I hope he’s alright.”

“MinWoo, drive the fastest you can to SooJin’s village,” Haraboji instructed in his deep, stern voice. I was still pretending to sob, wiping the imaginary tears from my eyes.

MinWoo stole a quick glance at me through the rearview mirror before turning on the steering wheels, making an abrupt U-turn at the traffic light. I almost hit my head to the window due to the sudden turn but I didn’t care. I was secretly smiling to myself that the plan was already working. Beside me, Aunt Mina was chanting prayers for my father’s health.

If our cover is blown, the person who I would be most sorry at would be Aunt Mina. She had always treated me with so much love and respect but here I am, deceiving her with one lie after another. I did feel bad seeing her so sad about my father but this is something that I need to do. I was not ready to own up to our lies; not yet. Not when EunJae is here and is poised to take MinWoo back to her side.

Whatever happens, I won’t let her win without a fight.

I won’t let her hurt MinWoo for the second time.

Suddenly, my cellphone vibrated to indicate an incoming text message. I looked that there was a text message from MinWoo. I frowned. How could he even be texting me a message when he was driving so fast like a Formula 1 driver? How could he be so reckless?!

I figured that it was not the correct time to be criticizing his driving skills and promptly continued on to read his text message.

What are we going to do once we reach your home?

I didn’t even think about that. All I know was that, I needed to avoid going to the hospital. I guess, I wasn’t thinking it all thoroughly when I made the plan. I bit my lips. Admitting that I don’t know will lead to MinWoo being panicked and I didn’t want to die young by letting him drive in panic. Hence, I quickly typed in. Don’t worry. We’ll go with Plan B.

The only problem is; I don’t even have a plan B.

*****************

I was usually the easiest person to fall asleep in a car, or a bus, or a horse carriage—anything that moves for that matter. However, in this particular journey, I was so nervous and anxious that I didn’t even sleep a wink. My heart was thumping loudly as I began to feel the anxiety rushing over me. All kinds of horrible thoughts began to occupy my mind.

How do I explain myself once we reach the house and see that Appa is perfectly healthy? How can I explain about the phone call? I can’t be telling them that it was the work of a ghost now, can I? What if Aunt Mina insisted to bring me to a doctor to check the ‘baby’ once she see that Appa is alright?

God, I can’t even think of an idea to go through with this horrible plan. Somehow, the idea of bribing the doctor to say that I am pregnant sounded more alluring than going back to my hometown. What was I even thinking?

I stole a glimpse at MinWoo and saw that he w