Chapter 13

The hours passed and one by one they regained consciousness. They left and each went his own way.  Burning got up and mounted his motorcycle as he looked up to the heavens. He then rode off home.

                The sun was high in the sky now, and so the beams of light hit Burning’s eyes continuously as he drove home. Traffic was not too congested, which in turn allowed Burning to make it home quicker than usual. Burning finally reached home after the thirty minute drive. He parked his motorcycle outside his apartment as he was accustomed to, and afterwards headed for the stairs. Burning steadily climbed up the stairs as he clutched his gut on account of the pain he felt.

                Burning reached deep inside his pocket, pulling out his keys, and unlocked the door. He twisted the doorknob and shouted, “Yonghwa, I’m home!”

 He was used to doing so (whenever he came home and Yonghwa was at home), and so it came to him as a shock when he heard no response (Yonghwa would always jokingly respond, “Welcome home, Darling! Would you like dinner? A bath? Or me? Teeheeheeheehee”).

 “That’s odd.” he thought.

After he had closed the door behind him, he made his way to the living room and said “Yonghwa, where are you? You better not be messing with my games again!”

 Only silence answered his call… Then the memories of the past night flooded his mind, and he remembered.

Burning threw himself upon his bed, muttering “Oh yeah… We all fought last night”. He clenched onto his pillow for dear life and began to shed tears of hurt and solitude. He remained in that pitiful state for the rest of the day.

                Nightfall came and he went in to take a shower, after which he began to look intensely at his reflection on the mirror.

 “Look at my eye… Wow, I never thought it could look like this… So big and purple, oh but it hurts so much when I touch it…” His eyes then looked to the shower drain and saw how it had clogged up again.

 “Whoah that looks disgusting! So much blood, dirt, hair, and what is that? Fece… Better not finish that word…” said Burning.

“BUT, I don’t want to call a plumber. They’ll probably charge me a fortune to fix it… Ehh, I’ll just call Yonghwa to fix it, he don’t mind getting down and dirty…. “

 He paused and remembered “Wait… He’s not here anymore…”

He let the problem be and went to his computer that he may distract himself. Many times did he try to turn it on, but his attempts were futile. His anger became hot as he recalled the various times Yonghwa pulled the cord on the computer in order to get his attention.

Those thoughts caused Burning to yell, “Yonghwa, I told you not to mess with my games… Or computer for this matter! The saves always corrupt when you do this! Look at it now, it’s broken!”

Burning cried in anguish, and whimpered, “Broken, just like us, huh? Like my heart…”

And he cried out “I told you! I told you!!! I TOLD YOU!!!!! I told you guys not to continue to talk about _________ and her feelings, but you guys just had to. Why? Why?? WHY??? WHY???? WHY?????”

He then threw himself upon his bed and wept bitterly… Soon enough, his neighbors began to pound the wall in discontent. Then, loud knocks would be heard banging on the door.

“Burning? Burning, Burning? Are you okay?” asked the voice that came from the other side of the door.

“No, I’m not obviously. NO, I’m not okay” shouted Burning in response.

“Open up! We have to talk!”

Burning threw on some clothing and finally went and answered the door. He saw who it was that awaited him immediately after his eyes looked up; it was _________.

“YOU? You of all people? What do you want?”

“We have to talk!” replied _________.

Notwithstanding, Burning immediately shut the door in her face.

“Talk?! All of this happened, and you want to talk?!” exclaimed Burning as he began to lean upon the door.

“Ughhh, please just open up and listen to what I have to say! Something weird is going on… C’mon talk to me!” responded _________.

“Yeah, I know! It’s because of you, stupid!” answered Burning in his anger.

“What do you mean?” questioned _________. And then she remembered of her talk with Yongwha during the night before the party.

“Arghhh, don’t tell me that idiot Yonghwa opened his big mouth and told all of you…” she murmured.

“Yes, he did! Now leave! Leave me alone…” sighed out Burning.

“I’m sorry, I’ll leave… I guess it is my fault at the root of it… For whatever it means to you, forgive me. I know it will not fix anything, but I’m sorry. I’ll leave… After this day, I’m afraid of not seeing all of you again… Goodbye…” said _______ chokingly. And she left Burning to himself as her eyes swelled up with tears.

Burning fell to his knees and sat by the door. He remained there a while crying until he fell asleep. When he awoke, he got himself ready for work as he was accustomed to. He looked at the hands of the clock and saw he would arrive late for work, so he rushed outside to his motorcycle.

“Hurry up, Yonghwa! We’re gonna’ be late!” he said in his haste. However, he noticed his mistake as he called to mind all that had happened. He then drove off alone on his motorcycle to work.

                When he arrived, he was shocked to see what welcomed him there.  Upon the door was a sign that described how the establishment was closed in its entirety. 

“It looks like Jungshin’s writing… Well, I guess it makes sense after the fire…” said Burning. Then he got out his keys to the gym as he remembered he had forgotten his last paycheck in a drawer within the gym. He tried to open the door, but his attempt was futile. He kept trying many times, but all attempts were without success.

“Stupid keys, why aren’t you working?” murmured Burning. Burning then began to push the door with great force, but quit after he realized the door would probably break from too much force. He gave up and threw the keys, the very keys that Junghsin once entrusted into his hand, to the ground.

Shortly after, one of the gym’s old members approached him and told him what Jungshin had told him, when he had spoken to him earlier that day:

“Old sonnyboy said he was closing down the gym fer good. Sum’ting bout it not making ’nuff money was the reason. And how he was going to sell the land... I’m surprised he didn’t tell you, sonny!”  

Burning remained in disbelief upon hearing this, even after the old man had left him. He went home, but as he reached the door, he decided to drop by ________’s and apologize. Then, as soon as he reached her door, he read the sign that hung there: “VACANT, Call for more info.”

“That woman! Even after all of this? She decides to leave?” said Burning as his anger grew hot. And he let out a deep sigh, and his anger subsided.

 “What am I talking about? It don’t matter no more…” said Burning in his breath.  He left for his room and called for Yonghwa, but there was no answer. He quickly realized his mistake and began to weep as he wondered where his friend could have gone.

“Some birthday party that was! Right, Yonghwa? I guess that’s two unforgettable birthdays for you! Maybe it’s my fault! I shoulda never reminded Jungshin how it would be your birthday in a couple of days…” said Burning in his distress.

And he cried, however, he soon remembered about Yonghwa’s old diary. He recalled how Yonghwa would write about everything that had happened there every day that went by. He looked for it all over the place and eventually found it behind his gaming computer. He flipped through the pages, looking for anything that might lead him to Yonghwa. He flipped to the last page. Burning read:

“If anyone is reading this, then it’s Burning. And it’s about time you opened this! I’m surprised you never wanted to peek! Anyways, after last night I don’t think we can remain friends any longer, so here I write to you this letter. I don’t think any of you will ever forgive me, or that I can even atone for the wrongs I committed yesterday (Saturday). However, I have to say it, even if it’s here in pen and paper: I’m sorry; please forgive me. If any of you ever feel guilty for the death of our friendship, stop, it was all my fault. If it helps at all, I forgive you all. I feel I will never stop loving you though; I can’t stop even if I wanted to.  I  long for the day in which we might all be friends once more. That’s just a dream though. But, I will hang onto it. And if it’s alright, I will also hang onto all those memories we made (especially the ones about that Friday last year, which I wrote of here in case you’re interested). At the very least, I hope all of you do the same as well. I’ll smile even though I’ll shed a few tears every time I remember all those laughs, those smiles, those moments of anger and arguing, even all those insults, and even the times we got in trouble as well. And about that sales lady yesterday, it was just Hongki (I think Hong Key is his new stage name). Anyways, I want to tell you that I will be leaving you all- I can no longer look at any of you without thinking of the harm I inflicted on all of you. Don’t worry though, I’ll be fine. Don’t look for me. I left for …

1. America
2. Japan
3. A walk down the street

We’ll see each other in a summer 10 years from now. I felt like something was coming to an end some days ago, and I was right, but I never thought it would be our friendship. Man, these summer winds feel colder than usual, don’t they? The morning winds cut my skin that day from the sheer coldness... My lips and heart are also dry and chapped...”

Where did Yonghwa go? You decide the ending…