CHAPTER 3
Emerging From the Past
Cha Eun Sang is barely functional on her nineteenth hour of traveling. Despite Kim Tan's gallant efforts of originally booking a non-stop flight from New York, the trip felt significantly longer now that she's coming home to no one. She waits patiently at Customs as she contemplates her next move.
Much to her surprise, the line moves quickly and is ushered to baggage claim within half an hour of the flight's arrival. For once, she feels like something right is happening for a change.
Her phone vibrates against her hip as she meanders toward the baggage area. "Ne?"
"Did you arrive safely?" Choi Young Do asks.
"Uh-huh," Eun Sang responds, stifling a yawn. "You're still up?"
"I'm calling in-flight. I caught an eighteen hundred flight from JFK. I should be in Seoul by midnight," he says. "Don't forget, Myung Soo should be there to pick you up."
"Ne, Choi Young Do-ssi," Cha Eun Sang replies, placating him.
"Are you getting punchy with me?" he teases. He smiles knowing she's in better spirits. "Geu neo."
She chuckles before pocketing her phone. Despite her world being rocked, she feels uncharacteristically at peace.
At peace.
Suddenly, she stops on her tracks. Guilt courses through her body for responding to Choi Young Do like nothing happened to them.
Shouldn't she be grieving? Mourning? After all, it's been a day since her fiancee passed away. Panic strikes her in the middle of the walkway, forcing people behind her to go around her. For a moment, she forgets her bearings.
"Oomph!" a male figure collides with her, propelling her forward.
Much to her surprise, an arm circles her waist, preventing her from falling. She gasps, embarrassed for the commotion she created.
"Quenchanna?" the man asks as he helps her gain her composure. "Mian."
Bewildered, Eun Sang says, "Oh." As she distances herself, she, in return, apologizes for the mishap. "Mianadha."
He pauses and stares at her for more than a beat. "Have we met before?"
Cha Eun Sang stares back at him. His features were familiar, yet, different.
"You're Cha Eun Sang!" he says as he snapped his fingers. "It's me, Moon Jun Yeong. We were in Jeguk High."
"Omo!" Upon recognition, Cha Eun Sang replies. "Yah, it's nice seeing you again. How are you doing?"
"Well," he responds. "Wow, you've not changed at all."
"I would like to think I've matured a bit," she says, blushing. "You're… different. Did you get taller?"
"I did! Mind you, I got older, too," he chuckles.
The Moon Jun Yeong she knew then was barely taller than her. He wore thick-rimmed glasses and ill-fitting clothes. The man in front of her was far from that. Gone were the Jeguk High uniform and glasses. In its stead are contact lenses that made his brown eyes stand out and a well-fitted dark blue suit and crimson red tie. The shoes are impeccable and stylish. The few inches he gained on his scrawny frame made him more conspicuous especially to the women who stared at him while they talked. With him preventing her fall, she admits she felt the well-defined muscles hidden beneath the suit. With an updated haircut, he was far from the man-child she met the first few days in Jeguk High. The former social care student seems to have risen from his past to be a successful adult.
"Are you headed to baggage claim? Kaja."
Let's Go...
"Where did you fly from?" he asks, spying for his gear. He sees his bag and grabs it as it passes by.
"Ah, uhm… New York," she replies as she looks for her bag. "Ah, there's my suitcase."
She tries to grab the suitcase handle but Moon Jun Yeong gets to it first. He unloads her baggage effortlessly on to the floor before slinging his duffel over his shoulder.
"Do you want me to handle your luggage?" he offers before leaving the baggage claim area. She shakes her head no.
In silence, they walk out together amongst the throngs of people.
"Do you have a ride? We can share a cab downtown," he offers.
Before she could reply, she hears her name being broadcasted from the pick-up curb.
"Yah, Cha Eun Sang!" Jo Myung Soo yells, exaggerating his wave for her to see him.
She waves back to acknowledge him before facing Moon Jun Yeong. "Thanks for the offer, but someone's here to pick me up."
"Quenchanna," he says, chuckling nervously. "Are you going to be in Seoul for a while?"
She nods yes.
"How about we have coffee sometime?" he asks, handing her his card. "Give me a call."
She takes the card and gives it a glance. "Sure! It was nice seeing you again."
Myung Soo critically eyes Moon Jun Yeong. Jun Yeong straightens himself before nodding toward Myung Soo's direction. He then enters the cab that pulled up in front of him.
"Made a friend?" Myung Soo asks, jerking his head toward Jun Yeong's direction.
"Reacquainted," she says as she opens the car door. "Remember Moon Jun Yeong? That's him."
"Daebak," Myung Soo replies in disbelief as he sat in the car and donned his seatbelt. "Social care Moon Jun Yeong?"
"Yah," Eun Sang chides him.
"Sorry. Bad habit?" Myung Soo apologizes with an aegyo.
Eun Sang scrunches her nose as her way of accepting Myung Soo's apology. He knows she could never be angry with him.
As they pull away from the curb, Myung Soo asks, "I know you're tired but I know you must be hungry. What do you want to eat?"
"Food? I don't care. Your choice," she replies after contemplating for a moment or two.
"Call," he says, heading toward Seoul. "Kalbi it is. My treat."
Choi Young Do feels like he has been running a marathon since Kim Tan's death. He barely slept a wink the night before and the fourteen hour flight did not help with his disposition. He is exhausted but he has to cross off a few more things from his list before calling it a night.
"Are you going to see your father?" Secretary Park asks, chasing after the President.
"Ani," he responds, taking long, purposeful strides toward the Customs and Security VVIP section. He hands over his passport and declaration form. The Customs agent takes the documents, scans it quickly and welcomes him back to the country.
Young Do nods and moves on without giving thought to his secretary who is stuck at the Customs gate.
"Are you headed to the penthouse?" Secretary Park asks the moment he catches up with the President. He gazes anxiously at the accumulating queue at baggage claim.
"Aniyo," he replies as he heads toward curbside pick-up.
"Sajangniym, what do you want me to tell your father?" he asks, exasperated with the young man. "Don't you want to pick up your luggage?"
Young Do stares at the old man and shows him his carry-on luggage. "I've got my stuff in here."
Secretary Park sighs audibly.
"It's way past midnight. He knows better than to wait up for me since he's never expected that of me since my teens," he replies. "Tell abeoji the conference went well. I behaved and I didn't embarrass him."
The secretary pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Ah," Young Do says as he snaps his fingers. "Tell him I'll visit him by the weekend."
"Aish!" the secretary curses.
"You can have the car. I'll take a cab," Young Do says, escaping from the Secretary.
Before Secretary Park can interject, Young Do exits the terminal and jumps into a cab, instructing the driver to take him to Zeus Hotel downtown.
What am I doing? Young Do asks himself as he stares at the city lights. What's my plan? Was there supposed to be one?
"Quenchanna," he reassures himself under his breath. "You're just worried about a friend. That's all."
Was it?
He didn't realize how much he missed Cha Eun Sang until yesterday, the first time he's seen her since high school.
During his senior year at Jeguk High, when he told himself he was better off without her, he decided to take cram school at Gangnam rather than be stuck at Jeguk High where he would make excuses to accidentally bump into her.
Seeing less and less of her helped him survive his first love. It was unrequited to start out with, so he felt it was his issue to deal with in the first place.
University occupied the void she left. The few times he thought of her was when he saw Kim Tan in campus. It was uncomfortable at first seeing him around. But then, they shared classes.
Eventually, they started hanging out again. They fell back into their routine like nothing happened between them. In eight years, he mended his broken friendship with Kim Tan. They became so close Kim Tan even saw him off to military training.
But as they made their peace with each other, both knew there was one subject that was off-limits. Cha Eun Sang never existed between them.
However, that did not mean she never came up as a topic of conversation. At least, not between him and Tan. His small circle of friends made sure he was aware of her.
"I heard she got sent to the States by Kim Tan's dad!" Lee Bo Na announced casually over drinks.
"They're getting married in the fall," Rachel texted him when he was on military holiday.
Whether they say those things to him intentionally or otherwise, he pretended the news didn't affect him.
But it was inevitable he'd see her; Myung Soo made sure of that. He had photos of her with Kim Tan plastered all over the studio. A few candid shots of her and some of their acquaintances peppered the wall. At times, Myung Soo will tell him the story behind the shots. He'd nod and laugh at the appropriate moments but he'd try to shove the story out of his mind.
He will never admit to Myung Soo he'd come into his studio once in a while to stare at the photos and play his own version of What If?.
"We are here!"
The cab halts in front of the hotel and the bellhop opens the cab door for him.
Young Do acknowledges the bellhop with a greeting before handing the cab fare to the driver. He is back to familiar territory; the Zeus Hotel lobby.
He looks at the bowed heads before returning their greeting. Hurriedly, he takes the elevator to the top floor. As soon as he steps out on the carpeted hallway, he stops.
1200. Cha Eun Sang's door.
He doesn't know why he asked the receptionist to have her reside in the VVIP room across from the one he occupies when he pulls all-nighters. Was he testing her? Was he testing himself?
He runs his fingers through his short hair. Blame it on fatigue, he tells himself as he tries to calm his shallow breathing.
Reassuring himself didn't do anything for his sweaty palms or his ego.
Making a fist, his fingers were ready to rap on the door.
What was he going to say?
Slowly, he lowers his arm. He looks at the face of his watch telling him it was closing in on two o'clock. If she wasn't exhausted from her flight, she has to be asleep because she has to get her body clock functioning in the right time zone.
Feeling anxious and unsettled, he turns on his heel and crashes his room instead.
Cha Eun Sang is not the kind of person who believes in the power of prayer. Everything she accomplished was through sheer will. Having a deaf mother, a deceased father, and an absentee unni, she has to rely on her skills to stay alive.
But as she sits on a luxurious bed in the Zeus Hotel VVIP section, she is grateful for friends in high places.
Choi Young Do thought of everything. Despite berating her, she knew he was right.
"Are you stupid? You think you have a place to stay at the Kim household just because your mother is there?" he remarked. "That place will be a madhouse. Stay at the hotel downtown. I won't take 'no' as an answer."
She stares at the note Young Do left at the front desk. He's planning on being her personal chauffeur while she is in residence in the hotel.
"Andwe… Aniyo… Andwe," she says to her reflection. She must find a way to get back on her feet without depending on anyone, especially Choi Young Do.
She balls up the note and tosses it in the trash bin. Her eyes look up to the bedside clock. It's almost two in the morning. She wishes sleep would claim her. Instead, her conversation with Myung Soo plays in her head.
"I told everyone you'll keep in touch with the group the moment you get yourself settled," Myung Soo relays to her over their meal. "Everyone understands you need your space... Just don't forget that we're here for you."
She nods in agreement.
"Chan Young said he'll get in touch with you the moment he knows something," he added. "Just be patient, okay? Remember, he was our friend too."
Friendship. It was one thing she thought she never had with the Jeguk High clique until she came back. With the exception of Chan Young, she referred to the group as Tan's friends. Now that he's gone, she never realized they've adopted her in their circle whether she wanted to be part of it or not.
It wasn't until that conversation with Myung Soo did she realize how much she has taken for granted.
It wasn't until she was dropped off at the hotel that afternoon did she realize how lonely she was.
She dialed her mother to let her know she arrived in the country safely.
"Do you need me to come over and help at the Kim residence?" she asked.
She hears the double tap which means no.
After hanging up, her mother sends her a text.
Madame might be kicked out of the house now that Kim Tan is gone.
A gasp escapes Cha Eun Sang's lips. While she worries about her fate with Kim Tan, she didn't even consider the consequences Han Ki-ae suffers now that her only son is gone.
Kim Tan's demise definitely turned everyone's world upside down. She realizes that her midsummer night's dream came and left in a snap. The only things left lingering are the memories.
Eun Sang's body passes out from exhaustion and grief, forcing her to nap dreamlessly on the couch. She slumbered like the dead only to be awake in the dark hours of Seoul.
She stretches her arms over her head and takes a deep breath. The only thing left for her to do is to study the cards she is dealt with and make a move. Armed with a note pad and pen, she jots down her plans.
"Lists!" she says to herself, making sure her days were void of self-pity and loathing.
She scribbles "funeral" on the top of the list. Writing the word down made her feel like she was taking her own life.
"Nah bbeun nom," Cha Eun Sang curses under her breath. "You're a bad person, Kim Tan. You didn't keep your promise."
She recollects the last time she held his hand. He was sending her back to the states after the Christmas break.
"Just think, this time next year, you don't have to get on a plane to the U.S.," Tan said, giving her hand a squeeze. "Instead, you'll be tucked right next to me."
"How presumptuous of you!" she remembered saying to him as she slapped his arm playfully. "Maybe I'd be bored with you and start dating another guy."
He hissed. "How dare you! I told you, as long as you're with me, you're not allowed to think of any other guy."
She stared at him in disbelief.
"You're mine," he said, his voice became softer. "You promised to be mine."
Eun Sang wipes the tears rolling down her face. She lifts her left hand and stares at the couple ring she wore.
"I kept my promise. Nah bbeun, Kim Tan. Nah bbeun."