Love is in the air.

Lovers are everywhere.

………And this is me.

Jeong Areum. A doctor. Thirty years old. Living on my own. Not as beautiful as my name, just average or a couple notches up (depending on my confidence). Have straight black hair that goes down to my waist. Fair skinned. Brown eyes. Straight healthy teeth (wore braces for years). 5’5 in height. A bit underweight for my age. And, I cannot leave this out, SINGLE.

Yep! I am single. And when most of humanity thinks that a woman, successful and stable, is likely to be settled, here I am, alone, trying to get by every day while being surrounded by lovers, left and right.

 I actually don’t know what happened. I just woke up one day without no one to love. It didn’t bother me at first but as years go by, I felt the need to find someone, my ONE GREAT LOVE.

Today, as usual, I spent morning till early evening at the children’s pediatric hospital. Got a thirty minutes break that I’m lucky to have and ate a bowl of oatmeal with banana and strawberries instead of a decent lunch for it’s easier and faster to chow down.

Tonight, I’m going to meet with my best friend, forgetting about rest completely.

“You’re already here!” I welcomed him with an embrace. “Looking so….” I scanned him from head to foot, “so….” He chuckled, “What?” I giggled, “Normal”.

If there is one person I know who is so experimental and eccentric, it’s him, and seeing him in a black Vneck shirt with its sleeves cutout, khaki cargo shorts and slippers, is so refreshing. His hair is also colored and styled according to human standards.

There’s no need for me to tell him to feel at home for my apartment is his home as well. Ever since I moved here about six years ago, he’s a regular visitor. As a matter of fact, his realtor is the one who helped me find the unit.

I live in a comfortable box on the seventh floor in one of the well-known residential buildings in the city. It’s a one bedroom, two baths, a corner kitchen with an island counter that serves as my dining table. The living room is your ordinary love seat, coffee table, side table, book shelf, mounted television-kind every common houses have. I’m too busy to re-decorate, so my place looks exactly how it is when I moved in.

“Nice!” my best friend just saw the new book I’m reading and is laughing at it, “Seriously?” he scanned it playfully, “Pediatric and Neonatal Dosage Handbook”

I rolled my eyes and snatched it from him. “I am a Doctor, continuous learning is badly needed” I explained but he just laughed harder.

“I know! But, don’t you want to breathe for a while or feel loved even just by a book?” he asked.

I hissed, “Harry Potter? Twilight? Hunger Games? Fifty Shades of Grey?”

“The Notebook” he played around.

I pushed him lightly, “I’ve read it a million times already. The last time, I almost ripped it page by page because I’m so bitter”

He laughed so hard and I glared at him. With his hands raised in surrender, “Fine! Got it!”

Having a guy best friend is not as leisurely as you think. Like his species, he teases way more than a girl can tolerate.

And just like that, the teasing about my latest read ended. He sat comfortably on the couch, hugging my big Tweety stuffed toy (a prize he won in a game at the theme park).

“Have you eaten already?” he asked after a while.

I shook my head, “Not yet. Truth is, I haven’t eaten normal food since this morning”, then I snapped my fingers, “actually, for two days already”

As the closest person to me, he’s not surprised by it anymore.

“Where are you going?” I asked when he stood up.

He looked at me straight in the eyes and sighed, “Gonna whip some human food for a not so human woman”

Touching. What can I say? He really knows how to take care of people. Thing is, I’m no other person. I’m his best friend, and if this gesture asks for a favor in return, I’m going to slit his neck.

Transferring to the couch to lie down and rest till he calls out for dinner, I asked, “What made you call for a BFF night out?”

The living room and kitchen are only divided by the counter island. I didn’t make a big deal out of the compacted area because it doesn’t really matter. As long as it has divisions and is cozy, it’s all cool.

I’ve been watching him for a minute now and he still hasn’t figured out what food to make.

While looking through the pantry, “Nothing much. I just want to spend the last night before going back to the studio for a new album without thinking too much and just having fun”

“So, it’s final” I said and he looked at me, “G-dragon’s coming back to the biz”

He nodded, grabbed three packs of ramen, eggs in the fridge and the last slices of cheese. “Yes. I still don’t know when, but I’m preparing for it”

You now know who my best friend is (unless you’re living in a cave). He’s Kwon Jiyong. Known by the world as G-dragon, but to me he’s just Jiyong. We met when we were ten years old. I’m attending an all-girls school that is just in front of the restaurant his parents own in Itaewon. I’m a regular customer there, for my late Mother and Father doesn’t pick me up until after work. The Kwons let me stay in their restaurant until my parents arrive. Kwon Appa and Omma are so nice to me, they give me free meals, not taking the money my parents give them as payment.

Jiyong is already so popular back then. He’s attending a COED school with almost half the girls’ population having a crush on him. Some are even older than him. In all fairness, it didn’t go to his head. He’s aware of it but didn’t even try making a move on them, or maybe he’s just too young to deal with it.

Anyway, we got close when he asked me if I know how to solve a Math problem. He looked so desperate while holding an answer sheet and pen. And because I’m no snob, I helped him with it, solving a ten problem worksheet in fifteen minutes. He was so amazed, he made me do the rest of his assignments that day. After that, until we finished high school, we do our assignments together, at the table close to the big window. Of course it’s not just school work that got us closer, I remember going to the mall and to the arcade with him every Friday. He kicks my in every game and brag about it till the next day. What’s nice of him is he always treat me for a snack and give the toys from the crate game to me (he’s so good at it).

When he finally made it to the entertainment industry, he didn’t me leave me out. Amidst the fame, no matter how many people he meet, and as his name becomes a staple, whenever he’s in front of me, he’s just Jiyong, the person who will stay by my side through thick and thin. The person I leaned on when my parents passed away caused by a plane crash. He was there even when a day is not enough to do everything that’s needed to be done. His family took care of me when I stupidly put my life on a screeching holt, if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t bounce back. During my college years, he convinced me to try my luck at universities outside of the country and landed at the University of Melbourne. I took up Pediatrics (my Omma’s dream for me is to become a Doctor of any specialty).

Five years in a different country is really challenging because not only am I living alone without any familiar faces around, I’m also grieving for my parents’ lost. On my graduation, I bagged the highest award given to a student. Jiyong was so happy, he went to Australia just to see me being awarded.

While I was working for residency at the hospital I’m working at until now, he asked if there’s still something I want to achieve and I unblinkingly told him that I want to specialize once more, that I’m saving hard for it. It didn’t take long till I received applications to universities that I couldn’t remember inquiring. Turns out, he was the one who worked it out.

                “What does these applications mean?” I asked while holding them.

                He chuckled. “Tell me, what do you usually do to those?”

                I sighed and rolled my eyes, “Fill them up”

                “Correct!” he said cheerfully, “what are you waiting for? Fill those up and mail them back after”

                I read each one and sighed once again.

                “What now?” he asked.

                “Jiyong, you know that I don’t have funds for this” I told him frankly, and he sighed heavily, “That’s why I’m sending you”

                It made me froze in shock. “But….”

                He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “Look, I know you don’t want me to do this, but you’re just too intelligent to waste. Yes, you are now living                     your dream but I can see in your eyes that you still want more. If you’re worrying about the money, don’t, because as I’ve said I’m the one sending you                   back to school. I’ve got it all in hand. After all, I’m earning so much for myself. Think of it this way….” he paused, “You’re doing it for me, since I really                     want to finish my studies”

              I didn’t protest anymore after that.

His money didn’t go to waste. After a year and a half of juggling work and studying, I became a Pediatric Neurology Specialist, and because I still got my eyes to another form, I studied once again. This time, with my own money, and earned a specialization in Neonatology.

Now, after eight years of studying, I am already the Head Doctor of the Pediatrics Department in one of the best hospitals in South Korea.

“It’s done! C’mon! Let’s eat now!” he called out and I scrambled to my feet.

“Nice human food” I said sarcastically, making him smirk.

While serving me a bowl of his special ramen, “Instant noodles is the last thing on my mind but because you don’t even have some Kimchi or meat and condiments, I was left with no choice, so….” he stirred the soup for me using his chopsticks, “don’t complain and just eat. I put eggs and cheese in there” he looked and smiled at me, “to somewhat make it special”

To Jiyong, especially when it comes to food, he really wants to at least one dish to be made “special”. It doesn’t matter what’s in it, it just have to have extra something.

None of us talked during meal, for we’re too hungry for that. After emptying our bowls, I pulled out our favorite wine and chatted over it.

“What the!” he exclaimed. He’s in front of my laptop. What in the world did he see?

The moment he burst out laughing I know that something is up.

“Seriously? An account to an online dating website?” he asked, looking at me as if I’m the most pathetic creature he has seen.

Shoot me. Burn me. Hang me. Kill me.

I forgot to cancel the window and now, I’m up for endless teasing.

Still looking at it, “Hi! I’m Areum Jeong! Witty, outgoing, playful, understanding, and loving!” his perfect imitation of how I speak is both freaky and annoying.

“Can you…” I shut the screen down “stop”

He laughed again and stared at me, “Why so desperate?”

At this moment, I want to bang his head on the marble counter.

“FYI, I’m not desperate” I defended myself. “I only tried out of curiosity”

Once again, he laughed, “That’s not how I see it”

PLEASE! Why does he have to be so annoying?

I learned forward, “What do you see then?”

Lying to him is like lying to myself. He knows just by the sound of my voice and actions if I am. That’s why, I don’t hide secrets from him and vice versa (Yes, I know all of them).

“You badly want to be in a relationship more than ever before. All you tell me is about finding your “One Great Love”, that you want to get into it before it’s too late”

BINGO!

I snapped my fingers, “DING DONG DENG!” I playfully said. He laughed loudly and I sighed heavily, “Jiyong, we’re on our thirties now. Maybe to you it’s no big deal, but to me it is. Almost all my good friends are married, have babies or are having babies, and here I am” I moved back and gave out a sad pout, “Single for eight  freakin’ years. I don’t even know if I can count my first and only relationship a romantic relationship”

His laughter can be heard in every corner of the apartment. “That bastard only used you to get by college. You stupidly do his school work without any complaints and deal with other matters that you’re not supposed to be involved in. You almost agreed on receiving initiation from a fraternity in replace of him because he’s such a ” he reminded me.

All I can do is sigh with my blood still boiling in anger even if it’s been so many years already.

“And I gave him my ity!” I cried out.

talks can be really awkward between a man and a woman, but to us, it’s nothing. We are open to share what we wanted to share.  We don’t tell it in detail.

So this is what happened during my first time….

                “It’s already late here. Why did you call?” he just got home from their concert rehearsal, very tired and exhausted.

                Feeling sorry, “This won’t take a minute” I said, tears welling in my eyes.

               He sighed, “Talk”

              With my heart pounding in my throat, “Something happened between me and Blake”

             At this moment, his silence made me nervous.

             “WHAT?” he shouted, making me freeze in surprise.

             “It was so fast. I didn’t even get the chance to think!” I am in panic.

            Then all of a sudden, he laughed, “How will you be able to think when it’s Blake we’re talking about? You’re so into him. You drool for him”

           Jiyong isn’t any help. I cannot see him but I’m sure he’s laughing at me without sound.

          “You do know that there’s this wonder tool called , right?” he asked without a drop of awkwardness.

          “YAAAA!!!!” he yelled when I didn’t reply right away.

          I giggled. The reason why I wasn’t able to answer fast is because my heels got stuck on a drain while rushing back to my dorm. “Of course! He has it. Don’t           worry” I said then groaned, pulling my feet up as hard as I can.

         It somewhat alarmed him. “Are you getting some now? My goodness!” he is thinking way too much.

        I cracked up. He’s just so hilarious. “No!” then I laughed hysterically, “My heels got stuck on a drain. I was able to pluck it. Thing is, my left shoe is ed up        now”

      And the laughter continued, “Just like you!” he said.

Our supposed to be serious conversations always become a fun one. I don’t know why, but it has been like that ever since.

And that’s how my first experience wrapped up.

Nope! I’m not sharing his.

Kwon Jiyong’s teasing is endless! He still cannot get over the fact that I signed in an online dating website. He even convinced me to browse the site using my account.

“There’s something missing on your description” he said and I hurried behind him to look at it.

Bended towards him, looking over his shoulder, “What?” I asked and he turned to me, closing the gap between his face and mine.

“Genius” he said and I hissed.

“Why will I write that?” I asked and squeezed myself on the single couch he’s sitting on, with both my legs on his thighs.

He chuckled, “Because you are a genius and by that I mean a real one”

This guy must’ve lost his mind already. “Tell me…” I looked at him intently, “Since when did being a Genius or let’s make it simple, brainy, become a turn on?”

He pushed my forehead using his index finger playfully, “There’s nothing bad in being intelligent. You, a genius, included”

I shook my head, “There’s nothing appealing to it” I said and he still disagrees.

“Little Einstein, not everyone is given the gift of ultra-omega intelligence” he said comically, “How many are you around the world that has a one hundred forty IQ, very superior, GIFTED. Your intelligence is your top most asset, you know”

You read that right. I have a very superior IQ, counted as a genius. My parents guessed it when I started talking at eight months old (not straight, just a few phrases that got better faster than normal children). Curious about my fast progress, they brought me to the education board when I turned three. After some tests, they announced that South Korea has another genius, and that little girl is one of the most outstanding of them all.

Even when technology is not that advanced yet, the child genius made a mark in the country and its people. There was a documentary about me, a low grade type of reality show where the nation saw my “wonders”. I can read well and write by three years old. I memorize classic poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Horace, ad Aristophanes. Mastered the human anatomy at age six, and solved algebra, calculus, geometry and trigonometry problems by eight.

I was always on top of the whole school. Teachers are so fond of me even when I feel the opposite for I know what they teach perfectly and can sometimes explain lessons better than them. At home, I’m just a child. My parents didn’t push me to study. They hear me out and go by what I want. They let me play and have friends, not shoving books on my face like others do.

“Little Einstein” is Jiyong’s given nickname to me after I did his Science project about gravity. He even won an award for it, and let himself be my slave for one whole month as payment (he does all my chores in the house). I also asked him to join me at Ballet class that Kwon Omma excitedly agreed on.

“We emptied a bottle of wine” he said while holding it.

I just stared at the bottle then snapped up, “Aren’t you worried you’ll be alone once you grow older?” I rolled my eyes, “As if you won’t find a partner when there are thousands of women out there waiting for you, but did it ever come to mind that there’s a possibility nobody’s going to stick around?”

And there was silence.

“No” he speak out suddenly, “I’m not”

I just stared at him as he was staring back, “Why would I when I have you?” he asked.

                                                                                                                 ****