Authors: Ong Xiong
“I do, but are
you sure you want to try them?”
“I wouldn’t have
asked you to be my guide if I didn’t,” she replied, a note of irritation
evident in her tone. “You know, you are not a very good tour guide.”
“Not a good tour
guide?” he asked, sounding offended. “Daft girl, I showed you some of the most
popular shopping centers and tourist attractions. This is the most popular
place for all the local kids to gather.”
Sue considered
what he said as they made their way to a booth despite preferring something
other than McKs. The familiar red arches reminded her of home, but she was not
in the mood for McKs. She missed her mom’s home cooked meals and eating at McKs
when she was cold and tired was not what she wanted.
“I’m sorry. I
should have been more specific about what I wanted to experience. Thank you for
being my guide today. I’m grateful,” she said after they sat down. “Luckily, I
get another day.”
“You’re disappointed?”
She hesitated
before answering him. “Well, yes, I am to be honest. I’ve already seen the
tourist spots and all the shopping malls. And you are forgetting that I am not
a local kid. Even if I am, I doubt I’ll want to hang around McKs of all places.
Like I said, I still have another—”
Jae’s attention
shifted to something else and Sue followed his gaze. She saw a couple of
beautiful girls; they looked about her own age, walking into the restaurant
followed by a couple of guys.
“Friends?” Sue
asked, returning to look at him.
“No.”
“Girlfriends?”
“If you’re not
hungry, let’s leave.”
“Why?” she asked,
but he didn’t answer her right away. His attention was still on the group that
had walked in. The newcomers hadn’t notice them yet. “Ex-girlfriend then?”
“No.” He stood
up.
“Want me to
disappear?” she asked, getting up from her seat.
“No.” He took
hold of her right wrist. “Blimey! Too late,” he groaned.
“That bad, huh?”
Sue glanced at the group again. “Want me to save you?” She grinned
mischievously, turning back to look at him.
His brows
narrowed.
“
Oppa
!”
One of the girls cried out before Jae could answer Sue. The pretty and tall
girl with the miniskirt approached Jae and started talking Korean, ignoring Sue
completely. Jae said the girl wasn’t his ex-girlfriend so what was their
relationship? His girlfriend?
Oppa
?
Sue listened to
the one sided conversation—the usual: how are you, I miss you, who’s the short
girl, come join us.
The girl grabbed
onto Jae’s arm and attempted to pull him toward her table. Jae was still
holding onto Sue’s wrist when the girl took hold of his other arm. If the girl
noticed, she didn’t show any determent. Sue couldn’t catch the rest of what
they were saying but she caught the annoyance in Jae’s expression and decided
to rescue him. He was still her tour guide and she needed to get back to
campus. She didn’t know where she was and it would be easier to return to
campus with his help. Plus, she didn’t like that the girl had called her the
“short girl.” Though it was true, she didn’t appreciate being reminded of her
vertical disadvantage.
“
Oppa
,”
Sue said in a whiny voice to match the girl’s as she grabbed onto his other
arm. “Where do you think you are going?” she asked teasingly and batted her
eyes at him.
Ooh, this is fun
! No wonder girls like to do this. Jae shot
her a warning look but she ignored it. Armed with newfound courage and a desire
to have some fun on a gloomy day, she continued. “
Oppa
, aren’t you going
to introduce me?” she batted her eyes again. “I’m Sue and you are?” she asked
in her sweetest, girlish voice to the girl.
The girl looked
stunned as if seeing Sue for the first time. She studied Sue up and down with
disgust then said something in Korean before answering Sue with a thick drawl.
“My name Hye Won.”
“Nice to meet
you, Hye Won,” Sue said, grinning as she extended her right hand in greeting.
When Hye Won continued to glare at her, making no move to extend her own hand
in greeting, Sue took it upon herself to take Hye Won’s right hand into hers.
Forcing Hye Won to release her hold on Jae’s right arm, Sue shook her hand
vigorously with the brightest smile she could force. Then Sue took hold of her
shoulders, drawing Hye Won to her. She kissed her cheeks in greetings. Adding
to the girl’s surprise, Sue pulled her into a tight hug.
“Oh my, you are
adorable!” Sue shrieked with merriment, treating the girl as if she was a young
child. “You must be Jae’s sister!” Sue said with exhilaration.
Hye Won lost her
hold on Jae and Sue moved in between them. Sue turned and circled her arms
around Jae’s waist then tilted her chin to look at him. “
Oppa
, why
didn’t you tell me your sister was so adorable?” Her neck began to hurt and her
forced smile began to hurt her face. She couldn’t tell what Jae was feeling and
she held onto her amused expression while Hye Won gawked with discontentment.
Hye Won’s
expression became more appalled and more ferocious. She turned red with rage as
Sue continued to hold onto Jae. She reminded Sue of a toddler about to throw a
temper tantrum because she didn’t get what she wanted. She began to speak in
rapid Korean, which cued her girlfriend to advance toward them. The two guys
observed with interest but did not advance.
Sue continued to
smile, pretending ignorance. “
Oppa
, we really must leave. It was very
nice to meet you.” Sue grabbed onto Hye Won’s hands again and shook them. Sue
firmly took hold of Jae’s arm before Hye Won could regain her composure and
forcefully led Jae out of the restaurant. Sue was still smiling, talking to Jae
animatedly about the importance of being a good tour guide.
“What the bloody
hell!” Jae bellowed once they were outside. Hye Won and her entourage didn’t
follow them. Thank goodness, Sue thought.
“I just saved
you, so be thankful. The screaming one, was she your sister or girlfriend?”
“Neither.”
“You could be
more specific, you know. Your short answers are becoming quite annoying,” she
said.
“She’s a
neighbor, neither sister nor girlfriend. Does that answer your question?”
“It’ll do,” Sue
answered. “Now, please give me directions to Seoul University. If I hurry, I’ll
get to the café before it closes,” she added, more to herself.
“Seoul
University? That’s where you’re studying?”
“Indeed. Now,
which way do I go?”
“The evening’s
still early, you’re going home already? After all that acting—you’re leaving me
without a date?”
“
Oppa
, you
have two girls waiting for you at McKs,” Sue said, her voice filled with sweet,
mocking sympathy. “I’m sure if you hurry, you’ll have dates in less than five
minutes,” she continued, treating him like a little boy, he noticed. She patted
his arm and continued, “If that doesn’t work, do whatever you do for
entertainment. Frankly, I’m tired, wet, and hungry and all I want right now is
a nice hot meal, other than McKs.”
“You’re angry.”
“I’m not angry.”
“You hate McKs
that much?”
Sue was already
walking away from the restaurant zipping her jacket. “In Seoul, yes!” she
snapped without breaking her stride.
Jae thought about
just letting her go but she was heading in the wrong direction. He ran his fingers
through his hair, took a deep breath then ran to catch up with her. Which way
did she go? He saw her rounding the corner but she wasn’t where she should be.
“Stop!” He heard her shout. He ran toward her voice. He saw her running, waving
her hands, shouting, “Stop!” He immediately looked toward the direction she was
running to.
She was running
toward a man and a dog. He saw what the man had in his hand, saw the man raise
the whip and watched as the man released the whip at the dog. Except Sue was
shielding the dog. He heard the whip crack and waited to hear a scream, but the
heart wrenching scream never came.
Sue was still
holding onto the dog when Jae reached her. The man stood where he was,
dumbfounded by her actions. He apologized profusely, trying to explain to Jae
that she just jumped out of nowhere. Jae wasn’t paying attention to what the
man was saying. He was already picking Sue up and carrying her away.
Jae didn’t
realize the extent of her injury until he laid her down on a mat in his small
apartment and discovered blood on his shirt. He was going to take her back to
the university but didn’t know exactly where she lived. She was unconscious by
the time he got her away from that alley and brought her to his place. It was
closer than the hospital.
The whip had torn
through her clothing, causing a long thin welt from the top of her left
shoulder to her elbow, breaking some of her skin. She jerked awake when he
tried to pry the fabrics from her body. She said something about the dog she
tried to save and calmed down when he assured her the dog was all right.
“Can you take
your jacket off?” Jae asked.
“I can try,” she
murmured as she took hold of her jacket and proceeded to take it off. She
winced in pain and stopped several times to take deep breaths. He thought about
just cutting the darn jacket off, but she was so persistent, he gave up the
idea. While she took her jacket off, he gathered bandages, ointments and some
pain reliever.
Jae handed the
pain reliever to Sue with a glass of water. She stared at his open palm. “It’s
just pain medication—to assist with your injury,” Jae explained seeing the
reluctance in her expression.
“Thank you,” she
replied, taking the pills from him.
“It’s going to
hurt.”
“I know.”
Jae made sure she
was ready before he pried her bloody T-shirt sleeve from her skin and cleaned
the area with alcohol. Her arm burned and she twitched but remained still as
Jae cleaned her wound.
“Where are you
from?” Jae asked.
“St. Paul,
Minnesota,” Sue answered.
“The states?
You’re American?”
“Yes.”
“And?” he
prodded.
“And there’s not
much to tell.”
“If I were to
visit Minnesota, what would you recommend?”
“Fishing.
Minnesota is known as the land of ten-thousand lakes, after all. In the summer
time, when the weather decides to grace us with warm, not-so-humid weather, I
love to go fishing on the lake. I’m not very good, but with some corn and a
hook, I can catch a few Sunnies by the pier.”
“Where do you
recommend I go fishing?”
“Lake Carlos of
course. I love it there. I go every summer during our annual church camping
trip. It’s very beautiful up there,” Sue said, feeling homesick. “At night,
after ten, when it’s quiet time and campers are either in their tents or in
their campers, I love to sit on the pier and watch the water or lie on the
grass and look at the stars. My cousin Angela often teases me that there’s
nothing to see besides water, but I like it.”
“Why?” he asked
applying ointment to the open areas on her arm. “Why do you like watching the
water?”
“It’s calming.
It’s the only time of day where no one’s rushing to do something or going
somewhere. No one’s yelling; that’s the best part,” she said, her voice dreamily
trailing off. “The stars… You can see them so much better there than in the
city, and I could spend hours just looking, watching the universe sparkling.”
She smiled pensively. “And I love the sounds of the night. I could hear the
loons somewhere in the distance. One time, I tried to search for one.”
“What is a loon?”
“The state bird.
I have a hard time describing it. It is like a duck or a goose, black head,
black and white back. I love the sound of the loons and the crickets at night,
did I mention that? Especially at Lake Carlos.”
“Does it get cold
in Minnesota?”
“Oh, yes. And it
snows. Some winters more than others but expect it.”
“What do you
recommend if I visit and it is cold and snowing?” Jae asked, watching her.
“Ice fishing,”
she answered, smiling. “Although, you know, I never have the patience to sit in
the cold, fishing. I just don’t find joy in that. My feet get cold and my butt
gets numb from the cold and sitting…”
“But you
recommend it—for me?”
Sue turned her
gaze to him, still smiling. “Yes. Absolutely.”
“Why?”
“You might like
it.” She shrugged and that slight movement of her shoulders sent sharp,
stabbing pain through her arm. She winced and remained as still as she could
afterwards. “I personally don’t enjoy it but that doesn’t mean you won’t,” she
answered simply. “And if that doesn’t suit you, there’s always the Mall of
America and…McKs.”
Jae chuckled,
bandaging her arm. “You don’t like shopping malls?”
“Not in South
Korea,” she answered, wincing at the movement of her arm.
“I’ll keep that
in mind.” He finished the bandaging and sat next to her. “Do you have
siblings?”
“Oh yes. Five of
them.” She grinned broadly at him. “I have three brothers and two sisters.”
“You must be the
pretty one,” he said softly.
Sue laughed. “I
wish. My younger sister, Mai Yia, is the pretty one. My older sister, Mai Yee,
is the tall one. At five-five, she’s taller than most Hmong girls.”
“Then which one
are you?” Jae found himself asking as his eyes lingered at her lips, watching
them move as she spoke, watching them curve upward as she smiled, and watching
them pout as she pondered.
“Me?” she asked
in surprise.
Jae nodded.
“Are you sure you
want to know?”
Jae smiled and
said, “Yeh.”
“Are you sure?”
she asked again.
“Very.”
“Just double
checking. Well, let’s see. Nerdy? Geeky? When I was in grade school, I got
glasses. I’m blinder than a bat, by the way. Can’t see further than a foot away
without my glasses. Anyways, I was blessed with crooked teeth so in the
beginning of junior high, I received braces. By high school, I still had
braces. My glasses were an inch thick and while my peers blossomed, I, well, am
still waiting for that growth spurt to start spurting.” She grinned. “As you
can bear witness, I haven’t grown an inch taller than when I was fifteen.”