Chapter 14 

September 14, 2015. Evening.

Bomi P.O.V

I find myself at my keyboard, with the keys pressed against my face. Great! It’ll take a while for the key marks to come off my face!

Stupid Bbom!

I had fallen asleep while doing emails.

Stupid indeed!

I look at the clock. It is now 8:22 pm. Time for dinner.

I take out a can of soup from the kitchen cabinet. I pour the contents into the pot and heat it up. Today we’re having beef with vegetable soup. After dinner, I think back to high school. That kiss on the hospital bed was my first kiss and I’m sure it was Chorong’s too. The kiss obviously changed everything in our relationship. With that kiss, we revealed our true feelings for each other. The incident on the subway platform changed my life. I couldn’t write notes with my right hand. So it meant recording the class lessons on tape and typing out the notes on the computer. Homework also had to be typed out.

Word got out in school somehow.

An article appeared in the Spectator, the school newspaper. When I walked into homeroom for the first time since the incident, the class erupted in cheer and applause.

I was taken aback by the attention, to be honest.

They even had a ‘Welcome Back, Bbom’ on the chalkboard. Some kids in school started calling me a ‘hero’ for standing up to the homeless man and fighting back. When I finally talked to the coach, he was very sympathetic. But the fact was that I couldn’t play basketball for a few months and he needed the spot. So I was off the team that year.

But you know what? What I said at the hospital was true.

Chorong is more important to me than basketball.

If you ask me 100 times if I would make the tradeoff, you will get the same answer from me every time. Chorong is the most important person in my life. Everything else is secondary.

*******

Like in any relationship, mine with Chorong had its ups and downs. We fought over the silliest things but making up was always sweet afterwards. Chorong wanted to go to the senior prom. But with monthly payments still due for my hospital bill, I just couldn’t afford it. The year before though, for her Sweet 16 birthday, I gave her a necklace. It was a pendant with a ‘K.O. Bbom’ engraved in the back. I think Chorong really liked it because she wore it ever since.

When it came time to apply for colleges, I stuck with the CUNYs. My grades are good enough for a full scholarship and I didn’t want to saddle my mom with college loans. Chorong had it quite easy. Her dad, Mr. Park had been saving for her college expenses. She could afford to attend any college she got accepted into. But in the end, Chorong chose to attend NYU. She wanted to be with me and stayed in the city for her dad. I guess she wanted to keep her promise to watch over daddy.

As for me, I decided to attend Baruch. It’s close to NYU and we could commute together and continue dating. When my mom died after my junior year in college, Chorong didn’t want to leave me alone by myself. She convinced Mr. Park to rent an apartment near Union Square. It’s a walkable distance to NYU and Baruch. She headed downtown and I headed uptown for classes and we started living together.

Mr. Park obviously had some reservations about the arrangement but Chorong really wanted to do this, and Mr. Park knew I had protected her daughter in high school. So Chorong was in good hands.

Life after high school was rather stale and boring. Our goal in college was to learn, get good grades and get a job. Our goal after college was to make money, get married and live out our dream. This was ‘the plan’ for our lives together and things were going accordingly. Until three days ago…

*******

Al