Do You Love Me?
By Jo-Ryan Salazar
Pangya Island is an island that some say is located between Korea and Japan. It has neither been confirmed, nor denied by people of both countries, but they all agree that it does exist. Forming the shape of a crescent moon, Pangya Island became one of the most popular destinations for tourists around the world to enjoy a round of golf, with 18 different courses to choose from.
Some visitors choose for convention, and work on their hole-in-one skills on the Pink Wind course. Others elected to simulate the conditions of the deserts by going for a round on the Shining Sand course. Still, others elected to golf through traffic in Wiz City and a brave few went into the pits of hell in the Deep Inverno Course. So many courses, so little time for many. Those that were well to do tried them all, those who were day-trippers elected to just go for a rounds on the Pink Wind and Blue Lagoon courses.
For two people of a crew of 11 regulars on PangYa Island, they had seen it all and done it all. They were a boy and a girl, and their names were Nuri and Hana. Nuri never really wanted to be a golfer to begin with. His father was trained in the fine arts of karate and wushu, and her mother spent time with the Shaolin monks to perfect her self-defense skills. In his younger years, Nuri studied the techniques of people like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and patterned his fighting style to be like them.
But for Nuri, he also liked to fancy a gold swing every now and then. Over a year ago, as he was searching for a device that would allow him to fly for a much longer period of time, a fairy named Pippin came to him and invited him to come to PangYa Island to work on his swing and accuracy. Well, the accuracy was not an issue; on the contrary, his accuracy and control would make him a perfect understudy of a certain Tiger Woods. It was his power that would be the focus, the center of his training.
As time passed, Nuri was able to work on his swing's power and won a few trophies along the way. He decided that he would move here and start a new life on this island between Korea and Japan. It had everything he needed, the cost of living wasn't too extreme (as Pangya Island was its own country, Nuri had enough Pangs to make out a living), and he was able to move into his own house in the Libera region.
There was one problem with all that: another person elected to move in with him, and that was Hana. Nuri and Hana, in the beginning, were very shy and getting along with each other seemed awkward, but with time, there was a chemistry that started to get stronger and stronger and stronger.
Hana was one year younger than Nuri and came from a middle-class family in Korea. Her father was Korean and her mother was Japanese. Hana's mother wanted to call her Erika, but her father had the final say in the matter. At the age of 14, her parents told her to make her own rules and go out in the world, be someone you want to be and go find a passion that drive you. That's what they told her.
For Hana, it was being a fashion model. Like Nuri, Hana didn't want to be a part of the golfing scene. Her hair ribbon collection started out when she was five and she kept on collecting different types of ribbons, trying out different types of hairstyles, and she decided that she wanted to be a model, walk down the runways in Seoul and sport the latest in clothing from 8seconds, Lucky Chouette, Steve J. & Yoni P., Jain Song, Reike Nen, Style Nanda, PartspARTs and The Studio K.
But it was also the sport of golf that motivated Hana. A caddy named Quma invited Hana to PangYa Island because, like Nuri, she also knew how to control her golf balls, known in PangYa's dialect as comets. Also, like Nuri, she didn't have as much experience. Another caddie, a shopping bag named Papel, noticed and noted in a report to Tiki that Hana was consistent, focused, calm with her play and efficient with curving her shots.
There seemed to be a bit of a friendly rivalry between Nuri and Hana. While Kooh, a confidante of the two of them from the Bartos Region of the island and a modern-day pirate in her own right, also won titles, nowadays it came down to Nuri and Hana sizing each other up on the golf course.
Everyone noticed the rivalry brewing: Azer, a retired police officer from Japan; Cecilia, a mechanic, polyglot and academic from the States; Max, a two-sport athlete and motorcycle enthusiast from London who put his tennis career on hold to work on his golf swing; his fiancee Arin, a native of the Island from Wiz Wiz of college age, and a magician that claims over 10 years of gold and over a year of PangYa; Kaz, a member of the Rue Clan who has a dark aura to him but is easily misunderstood by those who don't know him well; Lucia, a world-famous pop idol that was a graduate of AKB48 before the troupe allowed her to go on a journey to play the game of golf; Nell, a young girl that is the personification of part of the Demon King's heart; and Spika, an alien researcher that often goes to the ice cream parlors on the island to eat bowl and bowls of Wizberry Snowflakes while collaborating with Cecilia on new IT solutions to improve the quality of life on the island. For Spika, it seemed that her original goal of returning to Zephyr with the magic energy had been abandoned in favor of going on golf rounds. But the bottom line was this: everyone knew that Hana and Nuri were beyond the going steady phase in their relationship, and no one had plans to be in their way.
They, however, were going to wait...and watch.
-OOO-
"I just can't seem to hold you off," Nuri said, walking down the beach of Blue Lagoon Hole No. 1 in his Line green outfits after they had finished their round. He lost for the third straight time. Nuri went -20 under par...Hana went -24. It was a close race, a bitter race, but a fun race, and a few albatrosses from Hana in the last three holes wrapped up the comeback. "You always seemed to get the edge over me. Every time. I think I have you right where I want you and bam! I get smacked upside the head with a bevy of albatrosses out of nowhere."
"I considered myself lucky in the end, Nuri," Hana replied as the two of them went off to the cabana to buy some snowflakes to beat the heat. SHe was wearing her checkered red two-piece, a lemon heart bangle and yellow hairbows, go with her ribbon strap beach sandals. "You want something. It's on me."
"It should be on me, Hana. I lost."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah..."
Hana shook her head from side to side. "No, no, no! Let me treat you, Nuri, come on!"
"Hey, wait!" Hana dragged Nuri over to the cabana and by the time they arrived, Nuri's eyes were spiraling out. "Hi, I'd like two big bowls of Wizberry Snowflakes and some punch!"
Max turned over to the two of them. "No problem."
She covered her mouth in surprise. "Max!? Why are you here?"
"I'm filling in for Dolfini, she went off to do other things, something like that."
"Oh my gosh..."
"Um, Hana, help?" Nuri was at the end of his rope, it seemed.
"Oh, get up you big baby, come on." Hana picked him up, and dusted him off.
"Thanks, mother," Nuri said, scratching the band of his soft dread tails.
"I'm not your mother..." Hana struck her "OK!" pose. "I'm your lover."
"You two are sure getting along very well, I take it?" Max said, preparing the bowls of snowflakes. "Me and Arin are also doing just fine. I've taught her how to work on her tennis swing. She's getting really good. May be the next Maria Sharapova, something like that. What do you think?"
"She is taking up tennis quite nicely, that's for sure," Nuri said.
"How about this?" Max brought out a small jar of Lucky Candy and a couple bars of Lucky Chocolate. "On me to go with your order, which is 2,000 Pang."
"Sounds like a deal-eh?"
"No problem!" Hana interrupted him, paying Max and handing Nuri her dessert and beverages.
"Enjoy your dessert and drinks, you two," Max said to the two of them, who went to a table to indulge before he played a little Michael Franti.
-OOO-
"This one goes out to you and yours, worldwide!
I say hey, I'll be gone today
But I'll be back all around the way
It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see, the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you (baby girl)
I love you, I love you, I love you
I've been a lot of places all around the way
I've seen a lot of joy and I've seen a lot of pain
But I don't want to write a love song for the world
I just want to write a song about a boy and a girl
Junkies on the corner always calling my name
And the kids on the corner playing ghetto games
When I saw you getting down, well, I hope it was you
And when I look into your eyes I knew it was true
I say hey, I'll be gone today
But I'll be back all around the way
It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see, the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you (baby girl)
I love you, I love you, I love you
Now I'm not a highly metaphysical man
But I know when the stars are aligned you can
Bump into a person in the middle of the road
Look into their eyes and you suddenly know
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
Dancing in the night in the middle of June
My momma told me don't lose you
'Cause the best luck I had was you
I say hey, I'll be gone today
But I'll be back all around the way
It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see, the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you (baby girl)
I love you, I love you, I love you
And I say, rocking in the dance hall, moving with you
I say, hey momma, hey momma, close to you
Rocking in the dance hall, moving with you
I say, hey poppa, hey poppa, close to you
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I say, hey momma, hey momma, close to you
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I say, hey momma, hey momma, hey momma, hey momma
Hey momma, hey momma, hey momma, hey momma
My momma told me don't lose you
'Cause the best luck I had was you
And I know one thing
That I love you
I say hey, I'll be gone today
But I'll be back all around the way
It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see, the less I know
I say hey, I'll be gone today
But I'll be back all around the way
It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see, the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you (baby girl)
I love you, I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I say, hey poppa, hey poppa
Hey momma, hey momma
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
Come on, hey poppa, hey poppa
I love you, I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you..."
-OOO-
"He's gonna make us fat with all this candy and chocolate," Nuri deadpanned to Hana as they devoured their snowflakes. Nuri took a big bite from the bar, causing him to blush.
"Hey, we'll just let Cadie cook up a potion that will allow us to drop some pounds ahead of our jog to Wiz City next week," she replied.
"Easy for you say right...Hana? HANA!?" He looked to his right. Hana was offering him a spoonful from her bowl.
"Say ahhh..."
He accepted. "Mmmmm...oishi..."
She giggled. "Wehihihihi..."
He ran his fingers through his hair, ripping through his bangs. "Come on, Hana, you already cosplayed as the Lovely My Goddess eight months ago. Give it a rest."
"Ehhh? But I liked cosplaying as Madoka in her ultimate form. I can even sound like her."
"And what's even worse during that time is that I ended up cosplaying as Homura Akemi. How many times do I have to tell you, crossplayed, for me at least, is awkward!"
"But you looked so cute in that Homura costume, Nuri. And remember, Madoka and Homura are lovers. It's true."
"I know that, Hana, but still, the point remains!"
Hana noticed Nuri was blushing. "Nuri?"
"Eh?"
"You're blushing."
"So...are you..." They both looked away and proceeded to work on finishing their dessert and drinks, clearly embarrassed.
-OOO-
Hana and Nuri continued to walk along the beach before lying down on the sands. Nuri looked at Hana's body, enchanted by her figure. So sculpted, so toned, so womanly. The curves, the skindentation, her freshly-shampooed hair and her ribbons...all the signs of a maiden in love.
Nuri felt his heart beat because he wanted to confess to her, but he couldn't do it. He felt that he would be growing up too soon, that he was too young to have these types of feelings, these types of sensations, these types of wants and burning desires.
But it was only a matter of time before the envitable happened and that the event of all events would happen to them. Something had to trigger it all.
Hana turned over to Nuri, her lips forming a sideways three. "Nuri...do you love me?"
That was the trigger. "Huh?"
"Do you love me, Nuri?"
And suddenly, he exprienced a flashback.
-OOO-
It was three months ago that Nuri had a one-on-one conversation with Quma about the matter. "Quma, what is love?" he asked on an evening at the Blue Moon course.
"You know, I have waited a long time for someone to ask that question," he said, watching the waves. "For me, love is a feeling that cannot be explained with inanimate objects. It is a feeling that comes from being with someone you can trust, someone you can share a future with, until death do you part. Do you have someone in mind?"
"it's Hana. It's her."
"Oh. I have noticed that you two have been going out together, talking to each other, living together and knowing more about what you like and don't like. Those are the seeds both of you have sown. Now it's growing into a garden, where your flowers are blooming like that of Wind Hill."
"But I can't get my feelings out to her. It's hard. I mean, I want to focus on finishing school, but now I am realizing that I want to have a family like my parents and Hana's parents."
"What do you want your children to grown up to be?"
"I want my son to be a karate star and my daughter to be a fashion designer."
"Not golfers?"
"There's more to it than golf. There are other careers out there, at least that's what I'm told."
"Well, I want to tell you that you can't have kids without having sex. But you can't have sex without falling in love. Sex without falling in love is rape."
"I would never do that to her, Quma! She is too pure to let something so cruel happen to her!"
"See? You are in love with her. Right?" Nuri was silent and nodded. "So what you should do is, when the time comes, just share your feelings and be comfortable with sharing the same feelings she has for you. It's only fair right? That is the power of love."
"Okay, I'll do it!"
-OOO-
"You didn't answer my question, Nuri," Hana said, coming closer. "Nuri...do you love me?"
"I do," he whispered. "And I will love you, adore you, and be with you until we die. I can never stop these feeling for you. You are my hole-in-one."
"You don't have to put it that way, though, but..."
"No buts, Hana. I just want to... I just... I..." Hana laid on the sand as the two of them kissed, holding hands. Nuri embraced her, feeling the curves and her soft skin and Hana did the same, her hands touching Nuri's sculpted back. Their legs were entwined as they shared a long, deep kiss that sealed their love for each other and caused tears to fall down Hana's cheeks.
"If the world were to end, always know that I will be here for you and you alone, my dearest Hana, my flower and my hope," Nuri said to her.
"And know that I am here for you too, my sweet Nuri, my little karate kid," Hana said. The two other continued to kiss and make love as the day slowly turned to night.
-OOO-
DO YOU LOVE ME?
THE END