Seunghyun~~ The girl is driving me crazy

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I woke up feeling all sore especially the muscles on my back and . No wonder, I groaned. I slept on the hardwood floor. I looked around as I tried to work out the kinks on my neck and did some leg stretching. Park is still sleeping soundly, curled up on the small couch.

I don’t remember when or how we slept amidst the entire ruckus that the storm was bringing. There’s a cold draft of wind coming in from somewhere into the house and its freaking cold. I hope that the worst has passed. Coming up on my knees, preparing to get up, I heard Park mumbling in her sleep.

I couldn’t hear clearly at first so I knelt closer to hear what she’s saying. She was mumbling incoherent words but I clearly heard one clearly and it was the name of Jiyong. I shook my head and sighed. Love is a . I pity the poor girl. I, too, was broken like her once. Fully standing up, I went to my room and fetched a blanket to cover her. I recalled her words last night. She said we’re broken. Am I still? I guess I am. When I think of Min Ah, there’s always a pain deep inside of me that my heart remembers.

Dispelling the feelings of melancholy this early morning, I decided to take a bath and look for breakfast. It’s already half past eight in the morning. I called Jjangme and he told me that breakfast has been served at the community hall since eight. I briefly contemplated if I should wake up Park but decided not to. I’ll just ask Jjangme to save her some food.

I came back to the house after three hours because I was held up by the magazine crew as we reviewed all the shots. Thank God that the hall has a power generator because electricity was cut due to the storm. I also grabbed the opportunity to get my iPhone charged and although the signal was spotty because of the storm, a lot of people were on queue to get their phone batteries charged as well.

I was hearing some sounds coming from inside the house and I was surprised to see Park in the middle of the living room watching the TV when I went in.

She turned, hearing me come in and broke into a wide smile followed by a loud welcome. “Chinggu!”

I groaned, my left palm on my forehead. Oh,no. Not again.

I marched to where she’s sitting which is in the middle of the small living room, hugging the tin kettle to herself. Her complexion looks red from the alcohol and I wonder if she’s turning into an alcoholic. Why was I stuck with an alcoholic manager who can’t even hold her liquor?

This is not good. Not good at all.

There was a time when I also turned to alcohol to numb the pain but thank God I was able to wean away from it with the help of the constant nagging of my mother and sister.

Right now, this girl needs some serious intervention.

“Give me that” I sternly ordered, my hand outstretched.

Her brows furrowed and hugged the kettle tighter.

“Give me!” I reached for it but she doubled over as if absorbing the thing into her thin body. “Yah!”

She gave a good fight but of course, she never stood a chance against me. She ended up lying on the floor and almost snarled at me like a kid whose candy was stolen.

I held up the kettle triumphantly and smirked at her. Only … What the?!  The kettle was empty! Why fight me off over an empty kettle?!

I bit off the words I wanted to say and closed my eyes. Let it go, Seunghyun. The girl seriously needs help.

“Why are you drunk so early in the morning? I only left you for a few hours and I come back with you in this state. I mean are you planning to drown yourself in alcohol? Is this how you plan to spend the rest of your life?” O-kay … my voice came out harsher than I originally intended.

She gave me an injured look. “It was not my fault” she sniffed. “Ahrabujji came this morning to check the house and brought some eggs. He then mentioned that he’s been longing to drink makgeolli since last night so I told him that we borrowed some and he said it was okay. So then I cooked some ramen for the two of us and again, he mentioned that he wanted to drink but his daughter won’t let him have any so I took pity on him so I offered to be his drinking companion. You should have seen him,” she beamed, pausing after saying all those words like one long sentence. “His face lit up like a Christmas tree! And see? He even the generator! What luck that the house we’re stayin’ on have a generator, right? And look,” she crawled on all fours and gathered the DVDs scattered on the floor. “His wife was a drama addict like me so he said that I can keep them all. He was really sad talking about his dead wife. He said that she was the only woman that he loved all his life. Can you believe that they were married for 60 years when she died 2 years ago? Nobody stays married or in love that long anymore …” she trailed off and got a sad, faraway look on her face.

“What about Jjangme? I told him to check on you” I said changing the subject.

Her eyebrows rose. “You didn’t see him? He just left together with ahrabujji … you must have missed each other …” She then laughed, “Jjangme is funny when he’s drunk. Did you know that he do perfect imitations of Psy Oppa?” Park started laughing like crazy. “You should have seen him …” she cackled.

I feel the beginning of a headache at the back of my head. I let out a long drawn sigh and slumped heavily on the sofa and began massaging my temple. I let her fit of laughter pass and kept my silence.

After a while, she finally stopped and put a disc into the player and sat cross legged in front of the television. “Did you know that this was the first drama I got hooked on?” She said without taking her eyes away from the TV when the opening scene came on.

With nothing to do, I stayed to watch. I remember this drama. It’s what made So Ji Sub famous. I would never admit it but I, too, used to watch this together with my Mom and noona back in high school. Hey, it’s not like I had a choice. It’s either that or no TV at all. I even grew up without having my own computer. My mother was too afraid that I’ll be tempted to check out the inappropriate contents available on the internet she said. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I am also kinda technology challenged. Maybe that’s the reason why I never attempted to open or join any social media. Anyway, back to the drama.

Park has gone silent. She was really immersed in watching. At the end credits of the first episode, I heard a series of quiet sniffles. I was lying on the couch by this time; half of my feet are dangling on the armrest because it’s too short. I surreptitiously glanced over at Park and she was hunched over and hugging her knees to her chest.

“Ya, are you crying?”

“Huh? I’m not!” she denied right away although I managed to get a glimpse of the glistening tears on her face.

“What is it about now?” I tried to sound very patient.

“Nothing, okay?”

I let it go at that and by the end of the second episode; it was unmistakably obvious that she was crying no matter how she tried to deny it.

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