Chapter 2                          

Stars

“Are you the baby-sitter?” he asked. I just nodded. Is this Yoobin’s cousin? I’m not used being scolded or being yelled by anyone especially in front of my face. So sometimes I cry of embarrassment or fearfulness. But I held back my tears. I escaped from his clutch and walked downstairs where I saw Yoobin at the table, holding her fork.

“Yoobin-ah, is she the baby-sitter?” the guy asked her. He was fully dressed when he followed me. Yoobin went to me and nodded his head.

“Next time, don’t accuse somebody if you’re not so sure.” He told me.

“How should I know?” I answered.

“It was obvious. I was getting dressed! That can’t be a burglar!” he said.

“Well… a burglar trying out someone’s clothes to steal.” I said. “There are burglars who are like that. We could never tell. It’s better to shout that to…”

“Shut it!” he yelled. “You’re forgiven, so shut up.” He added.

“I didn’t even say sorry yet.” I said.

“I don’t care!” I held my laughter. He went to the couch and the tv. He’s cute. If only he can smile.

Evening

“Yoobin-ah, let’s go to the bathroom and I’ll wash you myself.” I said and she nodded.

“Hey you, helper.” It was the guy again. I didn’t know his name yet. “Get me a glass of water.”

What?! Is he ordering me?! A glass of water? What the hell…

“Hey you! I have a name and I’m not a helper! I’m a baby-sitter and I don’t obey orders if you won’t say ‘please’.” I said to him.

“Okay,” he walked and towered over me. “Who are you?” I was mesmerized by his brown eyes, his perfect pair of lips and with his gentle voice. I blinked twice, realizing that he was waiting for me to speak.

“Uhm, I’m ____. And who are you?” I asked rudely.

“Donghae.” He simply said. Sea. It was the first thing that entered my mind. Suddenly, he walked towards me a bit. I realized that I was being pinned at the wall.

“Are you scared?” he asked me. Before I could answer, Yoobin pulled him away with an irritated face. Donghae looked at me once again. But this time, his stare was different. Something like, saying goodnight. I was really confused at his sudden change of mood. He went to his room.

“Whew. Thanks Yoobin!” I hugged her and she looked at me happily. “I’m glad I’m not alone. Not anymore.” She nodded agreeing.

One morning, I was cooking lunch for us. Ahjumma hadn’t called me after she left. Yoobin and I were at the kitchen, looking at cookbooks.

“Yoobin-ah, what would you like to eat?” I asked her. Her eyes were exploring every picture in the book. Then she pointed the one with lots of vegetables, beef and fried potatoes at the sides.

“Hmm, it looks like it’s easy to cook.” I said. “Sit over there at the couch and wait for me. araso?” she nodded and ran to the living room playing with her toys.

I started to cut the potatoes in shapes and fried them. I was so engrossed reading the cookbook that I forgot to flip the potatoes. It was burnt.

“What’s that?” Donghae was behind me sniffing like a dog. “Uggh!”

“It’s fried potatoes! Yoobin wants to eat them so I cooked it for our lunch.” I said happily.

“Nuh-uh. I’ll never eat those. Look! It’s burnt and would you please mind the fire?” he turned the fire down. “Shoo. I’ll cook it myself.” He put the frying pan on the sink and grabbed a new one. He cut new potatoes in shapes and fried them.

“This is how you do it. And to make the beef soft, boil them. Sprinkle some black pepper so it would taste nice…”

I stared at him. *sigh* How come he’s so gentle? His face, his lips… so perfect. I wasn’t listening to him anymore. Instead, I looked at him from the corner of my eyes.

“… see? It’s very easy. All you have to do is…” he faced me. “Ya, are you paying attention?”

“Huh? Yeah.” I scoffed.

“Hmm. You do it.” Then he left me, not knowing what to do next.

Night came. I put Yoobin to bed and I went upstairs where there was a small balcony. I could see the whole neighborhood. There were no stars above the sky. People believe that if you are in love, stars come out suddenly. They greet you happiness. How should I believe them? I’m not even in love and I never had.

“Get in. It’s getting dark.” I heard Donghae spoke behind me. I turned to look at him. I smiled. He went to join me.

“How disappointing. There’s no stars.” I said looking up. Donghae stared at me.

“Maybe because it will rain later.” He answered also looking up. I sighed.

“You want to see stars?” he asked. My lips began to spread in my face.

“Yeah.”

“Follow me.” he went inside.

“Waeyo?” I asked.

“Just follow me.” he grabbed my arm gently. In the ceiling, there was a small door. He opened it and climbed up with a ladder. He helped me up and we ended up at the roof.

“Wow.” I exclaimed as I hugged myself for it was windy. “You could see the whole town from up here.”

“Yeah. I come up here every time I visit this house.” Donghae said.

“So where are the stars?” I asked him. He went behind me. He held my face and turned it to my right. I saw the park.

“Uhm…” was all I could say.

“5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Lights on!” he said. The trees in the park lit up one by one. It looked like fireflies staying in the trees. Then, around the park, blue lights lit up. If you look from afar, it’s like staring at the sky up close. Suddenly, fireflies went flying around the place; playing with the lights. It was the most beautiful moment that ever happened. How did he know this? I was speechless and all I could do was smile and admire the view.

“What do you think?” he asked, breaking the silence between us. He let go of my head. “Every 9 in the evening, they light up the park. Then lovers go there and spend the night with each others’ company.”

“Really? How sweet. I wanna go there someday.” I said. *silence* “Donghae-ah, have you ever had a girl friend? Or do you have one right now?” I asked. It took him a long time to answer. But I was patient.

“Yes.” He said. I was silent again. I don’t know what to say next.

“Yes what?”

“Yes I had.” He said while looking away from the park. Hmm. Who could it be?

“What happened?” I asked. *another minute silence*

“She broke up with me last week.” He cleared his throat. Ehh? Is he about to cry? “Said our relationship doesn’t work well.” He sniffed.

“Is that what you also think?” I asked. He nodded.

“But I wasn’t convinced by her decision. We shouldn’t have broken up. She didn’t give me the chance to correct my mistakes.”

“What mistakes have you done?”

“She always thinks I don’t love her. But she was wrong. She didn’t trust me.” he stared at the park again but I was looking at him.

“If she’ll give you another chance, are you going back together again?” I asked. He shook his head.

“Donghae-ah,” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “It happens. Once you try something out, you would always think everything would be okay. Everything would be perfect. But when the time comes, you’ll realize that you’re wrong. You make mistakes at first. But if you try again, everything will go back to normal. You’ll know how to control it.” He looked at me.

“You mean… if I go back again, we’ll start over? Should I let her feel that I really love her?”

“Exactly!” I beamed at him. “Everyone deserves a second chance!” he smiled at me. “All you have to do is fill up everything you lacked.”

“Thank you ____.” He held my hand. I felt a surge of electricity came from the tip of my fingers where his hand was placed. I looked up the sky and I saw a few stars came out. Then a sound of soft thunder was heard. But why do stars came out suddenly?

He pressed my fingers gently.

“Ouch!” I exclaimed.

“What?” he asked. I looked at my index finger and it was bleeding.

“I cut my finger earlier while I was cutting vegetables.” I said. I sipped the blood until it was clean. “Yummy.”

“Uggh.” He exclaimed. He pulled out a band aid from his pocket and stuck it in my finger. “Much better. Don’t sip your blood again.” He said while smiling. Afterwards, he put my hand down, while his hand was holding mine. Waaah!! We’re holding hands!!

“I took my girlfriend in that park before.” He spoke while staring at our hands. “I held her hand and she was happy. When the lights lit up… did you know what she said?”

“ ‘Oppa!! It’s so beautiful!!!’ Did she said that?” I asked. He laughed out loud but he shook his head.

“Eh? So what did she say?”

“ ‘Cheap’ That’s what she said. It broke my heart.” He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Why did she say that? She’s even lucky you get to take her there!”

“Yeah. But when I showed you this, your smile was priceless.” He looked at me. “Thanks for making me feel better ____.” I smiled at him. My heart beat fast. I looked up and more stars appeared.

“Hey! Stars!!” I pointed.

“Hmm. I wonder if someone is in love right now.” He said while looking up. Omo. He knows it too?

“Waeyo?”

“Even though it would be raining, stars try their best to show up so that they would greet someone who is in love. I guess someone is in love right now. I wish him or her to be happy and to be able to show what they truly feel to the person they love.” He closed his eyes.

Is he talking about me? ‘Cause I think I’m in love right now. The fireflies in the park flew away; flying towards us. Then, they circled around us. Donghae found a small bottle and trapped three fireflies. He gave it to me. I smiled once more.

“Thanks.” I held the bottle to my eyes and I could see him staring at me through the glass. Suddenly, we heard Yoobin cried. We ran to her.

“Yoobin-ah, gwenchana?” I asked her. But she continued to cry as she hugged me. Then the lightning outside made us both shout.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared too.” Donghae said.

“I’m not. I’m just nervous.” I said.

“Wait for me here.” He went out but I held onto his shirt. “Don’t leave.” I said.

He looked at me and Yoobin who was very scared.

“Araso…” he closed the door and the windows. We couldn’t hear the lightning anymore.