Monday, 06 August 2007

• *Chapter Eighteen* Blinding Memories Are Making My Heart Ache Part I

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  < Part 1 >

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The building owner had told them to move out. The building was too old and worn out, so he was going to demolish it and rebuild it. He said he had no intention of building them an attic room, so he was telling them to get out. This is what her mother, eyes swollen, told her when she'd come home from work the night before. And there was a bigger shock awaiting her. He'd asked her mother, who was in despair from the building owner's announement, to move in with him. That he had spare rooms, and to consider it free room and board. “He” was Mr. Ku, the butcher. He'd probably been waiting to say it for a long time so he'd blurted it out just like that. This was from En Se. “Waiting to say it for a long time?” she'd asked. In reply, her sister had called her dense.

  
  

  “So you're saying ahjussi like Mom? Even though he's six years younger than she is?” she'd asked, incredulous, and En Se had said,

  
  

  “God, you're so tacky. What does age have to do with anything? And you call yourself a person of the 21^st century? Anyway, in my view, this offer is nothing short of a marriage proposal. I guess he felt it was kind of strange to ask her to marry him, so for now he's just asking her to move in with him. Ahjussi's parents passed away and he's living by himself, right? I heard the supermarket lady say that he lives in a two-story western style house, and it's pretty nice. We can't dream of paying rent in a place like that, so it's for the best, I suppose. It doesn't seem like Mom's totally against the idea, either.”

  
  

  “Not totally against the idea?”

  
  

  “Can't you tell by the way she accepted the scarf? No matter how much Mom likes brand name stuff, she's got enough self-respect not to accept gifts from a man she doesn't like at all.”

  
  

  En Chan was dumbstruck. Even after looking at her mother and peeping at Mr. Ku, she couldn't see anything different. They were the people she thought she knew. When had they begun to have feelings for each other?

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  “Ouch! Hot!” En Chan drew her hand back and jumped. She'd been distracted, and finally, she had caused an accident.

  
  

  “What happened? Did you burn yourself? You should've been more careful.”

  
  

  She'd poured the coffee not into cup but onto her hand. The back of her hand swelled and turned red in an instant.

  
  

  “Shouldn't you go to a hospital?”

  
  

  “Hey, don't just stand there. Come here.”

  
  

  Having caused this accident on such a busy morning inconvenienced everyone. En Chan ran to receive the ice pack that Mr. Hong was holding out.

  
  

  “I'll take care of it.”

  
  

  She took the ice pack and ran to the bathroom. She turned the sink faucet on and immersed her hand into the water. The back of her hand stung. En Chan took a deep breath and looked in the mirror.

  
  

  “Let's wake up, Ko En Chan.”

  
  

  There were a few reasons why she wasn't herself these days. The sajang acting like a depressed person the past few days was one of them. No matter how many times she asked him, he wouldn't say anything, so she was about to go crazy from worrying about it. But the biggest reason why she'd caused this kind of accident this morning was, no question, her family situtation. To be honest, they had no other choice. If they didn't move in with Mr. Ku, she'd have to receive the baton from Ha Rim and sleep on the floor of the store.

  
  

  When her burned hand began to lose feeling, Han Kyul appeared in the mirror.

  
  

  “Give me your hand.”

  
  

  He was standing there in a black shirt and black pants with a black apron around him, holding a white medicine box in his hands.

  
  

  “Leave it there. It's busy outside.”

  
  

  Han Kyul wordlessly turned En Chan around. Her hand was still red, but the swelling had gone down some. He looked at it and then wiped off the water and opened the box. He didn't say a single word. En Chan blew out her bangs and said,

  
  

  “Man, this is so awkward that I can't stand it. Can't you tell me what's go—“

  
  

  “Stand it.”

  
  

  En Chan shut her mouth.

  
  

  “Damn...”

  
  

  Han Kyul didn't even look at her while he took out the gauze. He cut a piece about the size of the back of her hand and carefully taped it on. En Chan, who'd been steadily gazing at him, noticed that the corners of his lips were slightly turned up.

  
  

  “Why are you smiling?”

  
  

  “......”

  
  

  “I saw it. You just smiled.”

  
  

  “All right, all done. It's not too bad, so you'll probably only have to keep this on for today. Or you can watch its progress and go to the hospital in the afternoon.”

  
  

  En Chan looked at the cleanly wrapped hand and nodded her head.

  
  

  “Mmm. Wrapped very HanKyulistically.”

  
  

  “So I guess now my name also correlates to thankfulness, huh?”

  
  

  “Oh, thank you. Hey, do you have liability insurance? I'm thinking about suing you for about $100,000.”

  
  

  “Don't talk nonsense and go sweep the front of the store. Don't go around serving people with that hand.”

  
  

  With that, the sajang left. Something was definitely there, but it seemed he didn't want to talk about it. But to think this would go on for several days....

  
  

  “As if he's the only one. I don't feel like telling you anything today, either.”

  
  

  It was the tragedy of an employee that she had to continue smiling, even when her family was on the brink of becoming homeless.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The magazines were delivered in the afternoon.

  
  

  “Wow, this is cool! Sajangnim, come look at this. These photos are awesome.”

  
  

  “Why is the group picture so small? You can't even see our faces.”

  
  

  “Hey, these pictures make our shop look pretty good, huh?”

  
  

  “Yea, right? Especially the picture of the entrance here, it looks really pretty.”

  
  

  “Oh, it's even a two-page spread. Sajangnim, when did they take so many pictures? Let's take a look at it.”

  
  

  Everyone crowded around the magazine. En Chan was refilling the cups of the customers sitting by the window.

  
  

  “Will you be needing anything else?”

  
  

  “No, thank you.”

  
  

  En Chan smiled and was backing away when she suddenly looked outside the window. Two big men were loitering around the store.

  
  

  “What are flunkies doing around here in broad daylight?” she mumbled. The phone rang.

  
  

  “Hello, this is Coffee Prince, home of delicious coffee.”

  
  

  [Is the sajangnim there? This is the National Economy newspaper calling.]

  
  

  “Oh, yes, please hold.”

  
  

  She'd turned the phone over to Han Kyul when Ha Rim called her over with his eyes.

  
  

  “What?”

  
  

  “Did you know about this?”

  
  

  In a low voice, Ha Rim read a section of the article in the magazine.

  
  

  “Coffee Prince's owner, Choi Han Kyul, is twenty-nine—twenty-nine? They made him a year older here. Look here. Grandson of Dong Yi Group's president Kuk Ji Hwa, youngest son of Dong Yi Construction's president Choi Myung Ro, graduated from Washington University with a major in management. In a word, a handsome and sophisticated third-generation plutocrat with a sharp intellect to boot. Dong Yi Group president's grandson? My God, my heart's pounding. I can't read anymore, my heart's going to give out.”

  
  

  “What the hell are you talking about? Give it here.”

  
  

  En Chan couldn't understand what was going on so she took the magazine and read it herself. No matter how many times she read it, it said the same thing. Dong Yi Group.... third-generation plutocrat.... Reading it repeatedly, she felt like a gong had fallen on her head. Her head rang.

  
  

  “I thought he looked too rich. I said so, didn't I? From the top of his head to the tip of his toes, all covered in brand names. I told you that I'm sleeping at the Dong Yi Hotel villa these days, right? I felt bad because I thought he was spending a lot of money on me, but according to this, that place is basically home to him, right? Man, we should probably stay on sajangnim's good side, huh? So we can get the scraps that fall from that table.”

  
  

  “For a punk who's been run out of his home, you're pretty energetic, aren't you? I really can't understand you,” criticized Nak Kyun.

  
  

  
  

  Ha Rim's father hadn't contacted him in the end. He could say he walked out on his own two feet, but it was the same as being kicked out. So Ha Rim had been coming to work from the sajang's S11 hotel room ever since a few days ago. He said he was planning to get an underground single room somewhere.

  
  

  “Wow... I can't believe I've met a plutocrat.”

  
  

  “We worried that he might have some debts from investing too much in the store... but I guess we didn't have to, huh?”

  
  

  Even Sun Ki made a incredulous face.

  
  

  “Yea... Guess so.”

  
  

  En Chan remained in shock until Han Kyul's voice made her raise her head and turn around. Han Kyul was on the phone, his face full of displeasure.

  
  

  “Listen here. I said I don't want to. I don't need to explain to you why I don't want to. I just don't. I'm hanging up now.”

  
  

  Han Kyul been polite enough in his reckoning. He roughly smashed the receiver down and then came to snatch the magazine from En Chan's hands. He whipped his gaze around at everyone and made a scary expression.

  
  

  “These freakin' idiots!” he said angrily before throwing the magazine into the trashcan. His eyes met En Chan, who'd been watching him. En Chan was still in a state of shock. She was looking at Han Kyul as if he was a stranger. Han Kyul seemed as if he was about to say something when the phone rang again. Han Kyul gruffly picked up the receiver.

  
  

  “Hello, this is Coffee Prince.”

  
  

  [Hello, could I speak to Choi Han Kyul, please?]

  
  

  “May I ask who this is?”

  
  

  [Oh, hello, this is the Economics Weekly magazine.]

  
  

  “He's not here.”

  
  

  With that, he hung up the phone. All the employees stood around awkwardly, watching him. They crowded around each other and watched him as if he was a wild animal on display. Han Kyul scowled and let out a deep sigh.

  
  

  “What're you all staring at? Go back to work.”

  
  

  After that, the phone didn't stop ringing. Eventually, Han Kyul ripped the cord out from the wall. This time, everyone's cell phones began to ring. Everyone and their relatives began to call them like mad. After suppressing his anger, Han Kyul finally exploded.

  
  

  “Goddamn magazine fuckers! How could they fucking do this?!”

  
  

  While Han Kyul phoned the magazine people and laid it out on them, En Chan sat dumbly in the employee room. Han Kyul was screaming so loudly that all the customers were beginning to be frightened.

  
  

  “This is different from what you asked at the interview! You interviewed me as the owner of Coffee Prince, who said you could talk about my private life in here? What did you say? Are you fucking insane? How am I a public figure? You better recall every issue when I tell you to. If I see even one copy, I'm going to sue you! And what? Twenty-nine? I'm going to sue you for defamatory statements!”

  
  

  Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, what was the difference..... she was thinking dumbly when Mr. Hong came in.

  
  

  “What are you doing here?”

  
  

  En Chan simply sat there expressionless like a statue. He came to her side.

  
  

  “What's wrong? Shock too big for you?”

  
  

  “Is he really a plutocrat?”

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • 9:12 AM
  • 1433 Views
  • 10 eProps
  • 8 Comments