CHAPTER ELEVEN

He pushed the door open and walked through the narrow entryway. The place smelled the way it did. The piercing scent was enough to drive him crazy not only that but the bleak silence. It used to be a happy place where he was once a father of a lively wide-eyed little girl. Her pigtailed hair fluttered as she would skip towards him with that word he would exchange for anything he has right now.

“Appa!”

The wind mocked him as he got to the living room where she would be sitting in front of the TV watching her favorite cartoon and her mom would be in that kitchen wearing the smile he fell in love with the first time she gave it to him. The house is the same, nothing is touched. Not a single thing got parted with it – only the people that used to house it.

He walked through her tiny bedroom as cold wind enveloped him. The pink bed rested silently feeling his melancholy, he sat and took her lollipop-shaped pillow and embraced it as if embracing that memory it has of his little girl. She is all grown up by now. No longer their little baby. His eyes started to tear and he fell on that little bed crying once again.

Why does he have to be there all the time? Why does he have to torture himself with those painful memories? He knows the answer; he is there because it is the closest place to look for them. He is getting old and his body is getting weaker as years passed. Her family may continue to hide them but he will also go on looking for them. For his little girl.

Standing, he walked and opened her closet. He still wonders why she did not get those personal things. All their clothes, accessories, toiletries were left in the house as if any moment they will go back. Maybe he should sit still by the living room and wait for them to come home. Just like those times he would be back from work and found the house all empty and any time they would be home from the mart or the park.

“Appa!!!”

“Aigooo... my little girl... Where have you been?”

“Piano hagwon...”

“Arasso, come sit on Appa's lap.”

“Appa, will you be here tomorrow?”

“Of course! I got a long vacation from work!”

“Chongmalyo?”

“Yes... why, what's tomorrow?”

“Hmp!”

“Hahahahaha! It's uri aegi's birthday!”

“Uh-huh... umma said I can invite my friends over for the party... I am eight tomorrow, Appa!”

“Aigoo! You are eight? Ottoke???”

“Waeyo?”

“Soon you will have a boyfriend and get married and leave Appa...”

“Aniyo! I don't want to have a boyfriend! You are my boyfriend Appa, okay?”

“Until when?”

“Until she found a better man than you...”

All of a sudden, she turned cold. All of a sudden he lost the woman's love. All of a sudden, she took off with his angel. All of a sudden they were out of his life and he doesn't know where to look.

What else can he do? She was right. 

He destroyed their family. If only she listened, then she will know the truth.

~~~

It's one of the days that nothing seemed to go right. He got a few problems at work because of some issues he got in between his co-workers. Although, he doesn't really want to meddle with their affairs he could not help it since he is part of the system. It was making it hard for him to focus on his assignments especially now that he has a lot of paperworks and projects to submit in school. 

Another thing that bothered him was a call from his aunt telling him that his father wasn't that well. He was trying to convince him for the nth time to come to Seoul since heart specialists are there but he was as stubborn as his mother. He looked at his watch again and muttered to himself, “She should be out by now... where is she?”

Just as he was about to walk closer to the gate, Yong Hwa saw her walking side-by-side Yoona and that guy whom he really could not remember the name. And, yeah, he was walking really close beside her-- the distance he never even dared to cross yet. 

Bad day huh?

He finally fixed a smile when she noticed him and her face lit up. It made him a little fine. 

Seo Hyun walked ahead of her company and stopped a few feet in front of him.

“Have you been waiting for long?”

“Oh no... I just arrived, hi...” he looked behind her shoulders as Yoona and that guy neared them.

“Hi! Oppa! I believe you met Jin Woon...” Yoona piped in with energy.

“Of course,” he grinned and extended his arm, “Hi... nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you too, hyung,” Jin Woon accepted his handshake.

“You two gotta date?” Yoona asked feeling the uneasiness of the two guys and her bestfriend's indifference towards it.

“Hmmm... I'm just going to ask her to go with me to buy something...”

“Oh, yeah... now I miss Khun Oppa...” she pouted.

“Ya... I'm still here, I'll just keep you company.”

The Jin Woon guy said in an obvious disappointed tone. He must really have that something with his girl. “Why, where is he?”

“Oh... basketball practice,” she pouted and Seo Hyun patted her friend's shoulder, “Oh well, I guess I have to stay with Stinky...”

“Stinky?” Yong Hwa pretended not to realize who it was.

“Oh! He is stinky!” Seo Hyun pointed a finger at Jinwoon as Yoona laughed out loud and Jin Woon glowered at them.

“And she is Skinny!” Yoona supplied.

“Ya! I'm not skinny anymore!”

“And, I'm not stinky!”

Yong Hwa laughed at the three. It seemed like they have known each other since childhood and suddenly envied them. They are her friends and he wanted to be part of them. If only he has known them back then.

“Arasso, arasso...” Yoona calmed her friends then turned to Yong Hwa, “You two better run off now before we decide to hang out with you.”

“Ohhh, that's bad!” Seo Hyun squealed playfully, “Oppa! Let's go...” 

“Wae? Wae?” He appeared confused as he looked at each of them.

“She'll make our lives miserable!” Seo Hyun retorted while half-dragging him.

“Ya! Seo Ju Hyun!”

“Ya... let's go...” it was Jin Woon who called out calmly.

“Seo Ju Hyun, what did you just say?”

Seo Hyun giggled as Yong Hwa tagged along going to where he parked his motorcycle.

“Come on, Sissy...”

“Ya! Don't call me that!”

“You started it!”

“Oh yeah! You're really gonna get it bad, Stinky!”

“Why sissy?” Yong Hwa asked as they jogged

“Because she was so boyish before that some kids at the park said that she was a boy trapped in a girl's body so she's a sissy. A boy acting like a girl.”

“Ahhh...” he laughed as they stopped by his motorbike. “Are they really like that?” Yong Hwa asked while securing her helmet. 

Yoona was busy chasing Jin Woon along those tree lines by the carpark.

“Yeah... they're kinda weird huh?” She smiled as he lifted her faceshield, “But you'll get used to them.”

“Maybe you should also meet my friends.” He said as he put on his own helmet.

“I would like that but wouldn't it be so embarrassing?”

“Why would it? They are cool too and almost the same age as you are so it won't be too awkward,” he retorted as he felt her hand on his shoulder while she saddled on to their ride.

“Where are we going again?”

“Let's go to the mall and, hmmmm... probably eat somewhere.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon together at the mall just walking around and even playing. Somehow, it made him feel all better and it seemed like his worries suddenly vanished in thin air. Yong Hwa watched as she scanned a rack of men's shirt.

He felt a shiver ran down his spine just looking at her that way. It must be really crazy for him but it was like he has fallen helplessly for her. The thought was really scary since sometimes it makes him think if she felt the same intensity that he does. What if he was the only one loving her that way? What if her love was not even half of how he feels for her?

“Oppa to earth?”

Yong Hwa shook his head and grinned. He has been looking at her but did not notice how perplexed she was with the way he was looking at her. Fine, he was ogling, “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of something.”

“What is it?” Seo Hyun smiled innocently.

She really has to stop that or else he might just offer her the world. “Just some thought,” he retorted nonchalantly, “So have you decided?”

“Not yet...” she went back scanning pieces by pieces, “they all seem nice, so I really can't decide.”

“Ya... just get anything...” Yong Hwa moved closer behind her that he could almost smell that flowery scent of her hair. What shampoo could she be using? “Anything as long as it's from you will surely become my favorite shirt.”

“Okay...” she nodded then took out a gray shirt printed with a guitar and a boombox, “I like this one...”

“Hmmmm... I like that one too...” he grinned as Seo Hyun continued scrutinizing it as if unsure of what she just said. She really looked cute that way and it made him want to pinch her cheeks that he couldn’t help but ask, “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” Her head tilted to the side with obvious confusion, here he goes again with those crazy lines of his.

“How do you make my bad days go away?” Yong Hwa smiled cheekily.

“Aish, chincha, Oppa!” Seo Hyun laughed softly as he controlled his own laugh, “Seriously, you had a bad day?”

“Just some stuff at work...” 

“I'm sorry to hear that,” she pouted then smiled as if she had some mischief up on her sleeves, “don't worry as long as Seo Ju Hyun