Monday, 06 August 2007

• *Chapter Twenty* Loving You Part I

  
  

  
  

  
  

  < Part 1 >

  
  
  

  Five months later.

  
  

  En Chan didn't wholeheartedly approve of her mother's remarriage. She simply couldn't imagine that Mr. Ku would be her father. Her late father had been strong and kind and dependable, like a father should. But Mr. Ku seemed more like a friend than a father. Not knowing what to do, she asked Mr. Ku,

  
  

  “If you had to choose between my mom and being awarded the amateur literature award, which would you choose?”

  
  

  “How could you even ask something like that? Of course I'd choose your mother.”

  
  

  “Then you're giving up the award?”

  
  

  “Poems, I can write and show your mother. I can be satisfied with that.”

  
  

  “So you're saying you'd choose my mother over the award, right?”

  
  

  “Right.”

  
  

  “Wasn't winning that contest the goal of your life for the past twenty years?”

  
  

  “Man, you really don't approve of me, do ya, kid?”

  
  

  “When did I say I didn't like you?”

  
  

  “Are you saying you like me then?”

  
  

  “Tsk. Shoo....”

  
  

  The progress of En Chan's operation was good. The hemorrhaging had been external, so she was able to recover much more quickly than first expected. Even so, staying in the hospital had been torture. It had been more so because her mind had been ill at ease.

  
  

  Her mom and Mr. Ku were married in a small ceremony held at a nearby wedding hall. It was her mother's second wedding, but it was Mr. Ku's first. Her mother, wearing a wedding gown, looked quite beautiful for someone reaching the age of fifty. A nervous Mr. Ku sweated all throughout the ceremony. Only a few close relatives, the Coffee Prince crew, and the market vendors came to the wedding.

  
  

  “My heart would tremble at your sweet sweet voice—“

  
  

  En Chan sang the wedding song with En Se. It was her mother's good fortune to be able to wed a bachelor as a widow with two daughters of marriageable age. Not to mention it was her mother who had needed convincing. It'd been five months since their family had moved into Mr. Ku's house after nearly being thrown out into the streets. While En Chan was undergoing post-op rehabilitation, Mr. Ku had been earnestly seeking her mother's love.

  
  

  The two of them flew off to Jeju Island for their honeymoon. En Chan had already been on the verge of tears in thoughts of her father when her mother burst out crying first, and so she hadn't had a choice but to comfort her. En Chan reassured herself that although in some ways her mother's remarriage was upsetting, there would also be more good things waiting in the future. It would help them financially, and it would lighten the burden on her to act as the head of the family, and they would now be able to discuss En Se and her mom's futures. She didn't know if she would ever be able to bring herself to call Mr. Ku “Father,” but she got a feeling that she would come to rely on him. That was the way it had to be, and that was the way she hoped it would be.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  A few days later, En Chan returned to the coffee house after having greeted her mother and her new stepfather, who'd returned for their honeymoon.

  
  

  “I'm sure there's a lot you have to take care of, I told you to take the day off.”

  
  

  “There's nothing to take care of.”

  
  

  After the magazine article, the cafe saw even more customers. There were even people who'd stopped by deliberately just to taste the coffee, so there were days when none of them got a moment's rest. After the damages had been repaired, Coffee Prince had reopened under Mr. Hong's management. Nak Kyun had gone back to school and was only working evenings part-time, and Ha Rim was now living in a basement single and was studying quite diligently to get back into college. Sun Ki, who'd gone missing for months, began coming out to Coffee Prince last month. While En Chan was in the hospital, Han Kyul had said his farewells to the Coffee Prince crew and had gone into Dong Yi Group headquarters.

  
  

  “Ahjussi, you gonna eat that?”

  
  

  “Oh, yea, here. Take it.”

  
  

  En Chan polished off all the leftovers, as she did everyday. These days, she never felt satisfied, no matter how much she ate. When she wasn't eating, she didn't feel hungry, but once she began, she couldn't stop. She may have to get an x-ray taken, to make sure her stomach wasn't harboring a beggar's ghost.

  
  

  “Nuna.”

  
  

  “Hmm?”

  
  

  “En Se asked me to go with her to the audition tomorrow....” Sun Ki trailed off. Nobody knew how Sun Ki had been able to come back to Coffee Prince. All they knew was that Han Kyul was somehow connected to it because all Sun Ki would say was that the sajang had been helped him.

  
  

  “You're off tomorrow, aren't you?”

  
  

  En Chan knew why Sun Ki was hesitating. As a man with a past, he was asking her permission to hang out with En Se. She'd been dense to the feelings between her mother and Mr. Ku, but she'd had at least an inkling of the attraction between En Se and Sun Ki. She didn't know it when En Se was simply loitering around the cafe, but once Sun Ki returned to the store, she'd drop in constantly and hang around Sun Ki.

  
  

  “If you go with her, I'd feel better about it. She pretends to be strong on the outside, but she's actually a pretty fragile kid. You have no idea how nervous she gets before an audition. Take care of her for me, yea?”

  
  

  “Nuna.....”

  
  

  “Don't shrink like that every time you see me. I'm ok now. And it's not even like you did it to me or anything. You know, for a guy, you really don't get over things, huh? Forget about it, kid.”

  
  

  En Chan pat Sun Ki and on the back and went into the lounge to get ready to take off for the night.

  
  

  “H-hey!”

  
  

  Nak Kyun and Ha Rim, who'd been changing, jumped in surprise.

  
  

  “Nuna! What's the matter with you! Try knocking first, yea?”

  
  

  “Ya, I've seen all there is to see. What's with the sudden shyness, huh?”

  
  

  En Chan slapped the bare backs of both boys and took out her clothes from the cabinet.

  
  

  “It isn't the same anymore. You look like a girl now. Your hair's longer and you've lost weight.”

  
  

  “Yea, you've really lost a lot of weight these days, nuna. But you eat so freakin' much! Where does that all go? Or do you secretly....” Nak Kyun made a retching sound.

  
  

  “Ya, what am I, crazy? Why in the world would I throw up something as precious as food?”

  
  

  “Or do you go jogging marathon-style at night under the moon?”

  
  

  “You're the one who looks like he needs to exercise. There's nothing to see.”

  
  

  En Chan tapped Ha Rim's side and came out of the lounge. When she came out from changing in the bathroom, the punk from the land of the crows was waiting for her.

  
  

  “Nuna, ma'am, I'm here to pick you up.”

  
  

  “Man, you're one annoying kid.”

  
  

  Even so, En Chan took the helmet the punk held out.

  
  

  “Ahjussi, I'm heading out.”

  
  

  “All right. Good work. See you tomorrow.”

  
  

  En Chan had recently found out that the name of the punk from the land of crows was Hwang Min Yeop. Min Yeop was planning on entering the army once he graduated high school. He said until the day he enlisted, he would take responsibility for her when she came to and went from work. At first she tried to dissuade him, but the kid had a stubborn streak, and there was nothing she could do. It looked like he was unnecessarily burdened by some kind of guilt, but she figured, he'd had it coming, so she'd let it be.

  
  

  En Chan got onto the back of Min Yeop's motorcycle.

  
  

  If I can accept Min Yeop's apologetic mind, couldn't he forgive me as well....

  
  

  Everyone else believed that En Chan was doing fine. To others' views, she did, indeed, look fine. She ate well, she smiled often, and was energetic, like she'd been before. But actually, En Chan had been suffering from insomnia for the past five months. Until the day she left the hospital, En Chan waited for him. He'd been cold and cruel on the phone and wouldn't even pick up her calls anymore, and she'd heard that he was furious in feelings of betrayal, but she'd believed that he would eventually come to see her. But he did not. He couldn't be seen in the coffee house or room S11. He couldn't be found anywhere, as if he'd never existed in this world.

  
  
  
  
  

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