Chapter 4

Our feet are dangling as we sit on the view deck of the red lighthouse, enjoying the gentle breeze, waiting for the sunset. Seunghyun finished his sandwich in three bites and is now munching on a bag of chips while I am still halfway through my hotdog. Well, it’s because I’ve been yapping and telling him stories about school and the students and the different activities that he can look out for. I admit I talk too much when I’m nervous. And with just the two of us here, he makes me feel nervous but in a good way. 

I tell him about my friends and who’s who at school and the terror teachers. I also tell him stories on how I met my bestfriend, Bom, back in 5th grade during Science class when we were the only girls who volunteered to dissect a frog. We became partners in crime since then and are now famously known as the Park sisters. I recounted stories of our exploits and how much Bom has helped me learn to socialize since she’s a people person while I used to be timid. Bom is also really talented. She can sing and has a voice that I know would sell a million records. She has plans to go to Berkeley after high school to pursue her dream of winning the Grammy’s and be the most famous South Korean singer. 

“Sounds like a character” Seunghyun remarks. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Oh, you’ll like her” I say. “She’s the best! But you’d better stir clear and far away when she’s in Bominator mode.”

“Bominator?”

I nod. “She’s scary when she gets mad. That’s why we call her The Bominator.” 

We laughed.

“Hey, I noticed that I’m the only one talking here. How about you tell me something about yourself?”

He looks far out into the ocean and sighs. “I don’t have much to tell. My life is not really interesting as the rumours.”

“I find everything interesting …” I say, trying to wheedle something out of him. When he stayed silent, I say with a grin, “How about you start by confirming if your father is a Yakuza?” 

He looks at me and grins as well. “Sorry to disappoint but he’s not. He’s just a regular guy who works for a broadcasting station in Japan. But don’t tell anyone that, okay? I think I like it better if they think he’s a member of the Yakuza.” he says jokingly.

“What about your Mom?” I inquire.

“Mom is in America with her new husband. He’s half-American half-Korean and they had a baby just a year ago. Her name’s Samantha. She’s the cutest thing” he gushes. “Wanna see?”

I nod and he pulls out a picture from his wallet and shows it to me. I see a carefree looking Seunghyun holding a baby clad in the cutest pink gown. Both of them are looking at the camera, smiling widely. “She looks adorable!”

“She does, doesn’t she?” he says and I can tell that he adores his little sister. “I call her gummybears because of her gummy smile.” He looks at the picture when I handed it back before he kept it back in his wallet.

“You look like you miss her …”

“I do” he agrees.

“So what brought you here, then? Here in our little island?”

I see him hesitate. “I just have some … things to take care of” he finally says and I can tell that he doesn’t want to say anything more. 

That was fine with me. I already learned a lot about him from the few sentences he said and I can wait for him to open up on his personal life when he’s ready. I then went on to lighter subjects and asked him about his Ducati. Now, motorcycles is a subject that he loves and he let me know that he already found a part time job at Yang’s Garage where he got his bike fixed. I tell him that the Yangs are good people and that I’m glad he found a job. He then teasingly asked me what I do outside of school aside from saving and giving horse rides to strangers. 

“Well, if you must know, I do volunteer work at the marine sanctuary.” I say proudly. “We take care of sick or injured sea animals. My Mom works for Aqua Planet as a marine biologist and I plan to follow her footsteps so I am training as early as now.”

“That sounds interesting”

“It is. Next week, we are going on a dive and count dolphins.” I say excitedly.

Seunghyun looks at me incredulously. “Count dolphins?”

“Yes. Did you know that there are only 166 bottle nosed dolphins left in Jeju? We try to monitor their health and population as much as we can since we lose some mostly to accidents when the dolphins swim too closely to fishing boats.” I recall sadly. I try to dispel the gloomy atmosphere so I say, “Actually, when I say we, I’m not really part of the team. I just tag along since most of the guys have worked with my parents so they let me hang out with them.”

“I’ve never seen a dolphin before” Seunhyun says.

“Really? Well, aren’t you glad we became friends then?” I smile at him. “One of these days, I’ll take you to the sanctuary and the oceanarium so you can meet my marine friends.”

“I’d like that.” He says in his deep voice, looking straight at me.

Gosh! This guy! My heart is getting a work out by just staring at his eyes. I look away and opened my potato chips. I try to change the subject. “