CHAPTER 2: Unspoken Words

          “I love you and I just realized this recently,” JooHyun said as she shyly fiddled with her hair. Dal-Hyang stared deeply in her eyes and smiled. He went closer and kissed her lips gently. The sweetness of his lips that she craved so much was finally on the tips of her senses.

          It was a kiss that she so tiredly denied to accept so many times. If only she gave in and let her guard down long ago. His scent… his breath… his lips…

They are finally…

          “JooHyun…”

Wait… just a little more.

          “JooHyun…”

I love you, Dal-Hyang…

I…

          “YAH SEO JOO-HYUN!”

          “O-oh!?” JooHyun snapped out of her imaginations as HaYeon thumped her head. She bit her lip in embarrassment and sighed. “What is it, Unnie?”

          “The kids are coming in. You better keep your head straight. I did not request Principal Sooman to hire you just to see you getting all kissy-kissy on thin air.”

          “Take it easy, Haengoo-yah,” Stephanie, the American-Korean vocal teacher assistant under HaYeon, chuckled. “Let her be just this once. JooHyun’s just a bit in-love.”

          “A bit? That is an understatement,” HaYeon scoffed. “Did you see how passionately she was making that stupid duck face? Did you see how stupid it looks from the front?”

          “Calm down,” Stephanie laughed. “It doesn’t matter as long as the kids didn’t see her. What matters is… who’s the lucky guy, JooHyun? I’ve known you since college and I didn’t think you’d ever have an interest in romance at all.”

          “L-lucky guy?” JooHyun stuttered. At the thought of Dal-Hyang, she blushed. She couldn’t really blurt out his name. It just felt so weird to be talking about her feelings.

          “Wow, you’re turning extremely red. You must be really into the guy… whoever he is,” HaYeon smirked.

          “Oh? Is it Dal-Hyang?” Stephanie teased, making JooHyun even redder. “It’s Dal-Hyang, isn’t it?”

          “That guy playing in Xiah Dragons bar?” HaYeon wondered. “You mean Park Dal-Hyang?”

          “I-I didn’t even say anything,” JooHyun bit her lip. She shyly fiddled with her long brown hair and brushed her bangs to the side. It was an attempt to mask her obvious, fluttering emotions, which obviously did not work. Those two women read her expressions easily like an open book.

          After a few giggles and teasing, the children came in and greeted their respectable teachers. Class started and the sound of happy children echoed through the room while they learned about music.

          JooHyun wished she was sent to another department of children. Working with HaYeon and Stephanie was a bit distracting for her. They both about Dal-Hyang most of the time with little jokes and puns throughout the lessons. Of-course, no kid really understood their inside jokes.

          Oh well… At least teaching the kids will take her mind off of things.

          After the lessons, HaYeon treated Stephanie for some lunch, and Yoona, JooHyun’s college best-friend, came to pick JooHyun up. Usually, they’d eat lunch in Yoona’s boyfriend’s home and then go to Dal-Hyang’s house to wake him up for his night-shift gig as a musician at a bar. After that, she’d volunteer in the orphanage and hospital to sing and play piano to lift up the poor souls. It’s a normal routine for JooHyun’s life. Every day the same thing—that’s what she’s used to. So when something happens rather different for a day, it can change a lot of aspects in her life.

          Recently was her birthday and so was Dal-hyang’s. Their close birthdays caused them to occasionally have parties at the closest weekend with all of their friends. People usually mistake them as a couple since they always do this every year, but they always deny it. “We’re just friends,” they constantly say, and that was the truth for a good run in time, but now, when they decided not to throw a party since most of their friends were busy, they went on a date instead—only the two of them. Together. And it sure made them question where they both stood in this relationship.

          Walking by the park near Han River, getting seafood at a food tent, drinking a bit of soju late at night… all those somehow triggered something in JooHyun’s heart. The peaceful and relaxing conversations, the laughter they shared as they drank alcohol—it’s been a while since they’ve hung out like that. It’s also been a while since they’ve spoken about their feelings.

          She doesn’t really get why she feels so different being with him after that. All they really talked about was how they felt about their jobs. They also just discussed their own inside jokes from long ago when they were once in a relationship. Somehow, after that, she just sees him as a completely different man—a man she has fallen for. It’s easy to blame it on the soju, but she’s been sober for three days now. She can’t possibly still have alcohol in her system by this time.

          I shall tell him about this tonight…

          Tonight, she’s planning on surprising him by showing up on his gig. On his break, which is about midnight, she’ll take him out for a little walk and admit her feelings. She was ready for either rejection or acceptance. The only thing that mattered to her was telling him her feelings. It just seemed so hard to bottle things up inside for too long.

***

          “Jieun-ah!” Yoona shouted through the living room as she lazily hung her bag on the dining table chair.

          Yoona’s boyfriend’s sister came into view from her room and greeted the two women. Her messed up hair and unreadable expression painted as if she didn’t really like their presence, but deep inside her, she was happy to see them. Yoona and JooHyun gave her a warm hug as she stood there awkwardly as always.

          “Did you prepare the food?” Yoona asked. Jieun’s eyes just darted to the ceiling and sighed. Then she marched to her room and shut the door. Oh, what an apathetic girl.

          “Can you at least tell me where your brother is?” Yoona shouted.

          There was no answer to be heard. There was, however, a note that slipped right under Jieun’s door. On the note was very neatly written:

None of my business.

          “She’s an odd one,” JooHyun scratched her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever hear her voice in this lifetime.”

          “She has a beautiful voice,” Yoona said casually. “I’ve heard her hum some songs a few times.”

        “Really?” JooHyun’s head tilted, finding it impossible to pry open Jieun’s mouth. “It must be some rare occasion of sorts if she does start singing. You must be special to be able to hear her speak.”

          “Hahaha, I guess,” Yoona scratched her head. “She’s just a very sensitive kid. It may not look like it, but she has been through some serious problems.”

          “Like what?” JooHyun asked.

          “I can’t reveal that. She trusts me with her secrets,” Yoona smiled. “Now you go and sit down. I’ll prepare some food.”

          When Yoona finished preparing the food, she knocked and came in Jieun’s room to give her some lunch. As expected in Jieun’s room, scattered metal parts, bolts, and wheels where everywhere. Jieun sat on her desk while looking through a magnifying glass, trying to assemble some kind of device. There was also an old record player playing some old-sounding music. This is what she does pretty much every single day. She sits here in hopes of finishing a secret project.

          “Food’s ready,” Yoona patted Jieun’s head and laid the tray on Jieun’s bed. “You better eat. It’s not good for you to go on without some nutrition.”

          Jieun silently eyed Yoona and the food. As if without interest, she went back to her own business, carefully putting pieces together on her desk.

          “Jieun-ah,” Yoona pouted. “C’mon, you can’t go on like this. Eat. I’ll assure you the teleportation device will work, but you need some energy.”

          “You don’t believe me still, don’t you?” Jieun suddenly spoke. The tone of her voice sounded very heartless and low. “You still think I’m being delusional, don’t you?”

          Yoona heard the hostility in her voice, making her quickly soften. She sat on Jieun’s bed and sighed. Looking at her dongsaeng straight in the eye very compassionately, she said, “Jieun-ah, I don’t think you’re crazy. If there’s anyone in the world that would believe your story, it’d be me. Believe me when I say I have faith in you to make a teleportation device to another world. You’re not crazy for desperately wanting one and neither am I for having faith in you.”

          “You don’t need to sugar coat your words to make me feel good. I know you don’t believe me. What makes you different from all the others? You’re lying. You’re lying and I’m crazy,” Jieun coldly replied.

          “Lie? I’m not lying. Someday, I’ll be able to tell you why I believe you… and you’re definitely not crazy.” Yoona then remembered JooHyun was waiting for her at the dining table. “But for now, gain some energy and don’t lose faith in that device.

          “What’s the use,” she huffed and laid her back on the chair. “Why am I being so childish? This is never going to work.”

          “Don’t be like that,” Yoona pouted. “Believe me, it’ll work ‘cause I know what you’ve been through is real. I know more than you think I do.”

          When Yoona stood up and was about to leave, Jieun said, “You want to know why I want to go there so badly—to Wonderland?”

          “You already told me. You want to take back something and prove to everyone that Wonderland is real.”

          “I want to go back there not to bring back evidence… I just… I just want to see him again. He was trapped there and now no one believes that he once existed in this world. It’s like… it’s like they just forgot about him.”

          “Him?”

          “Hyun-woo… my best friend.”