Chapter 11

"… Now it looks like I have to work with this guy," Ji Won finished in exasperation. It was only a few hours since meeting with Shin and as per usual, she was hanging out in a tent bar with her friend, Kyung Ho, and sister, Mi Na. "I just wish I never had to see him again."

"Is that so?" Mi Na asked, raising her left eyebrow. "Exactly how cute is he?"

She rolled her eyes. What did cute have to do with this? Hadn't she been listening to her? "I don't know," she said dismissively.

"You don't know if he's good-looking?" Kyung Ho asked, immediately picking up on her tone. From the way she'd gone on and on about him earlier, he'd suspected that something was up, but now, he was certain. Ji Won was one to speak her mind and if he'd been the least bit unattractive, she wouldn't have hesitated to mention it. And if she felt an attraction to a new man, he was more than pleased… as far as he wasn't another bubble gum. In fact, he had half a mind to do a background check on any man she chose to see in the future. He just could deal with seeing her in pain again. "How hard is it to tell if someone is attractive?" he pressed. "All you have to do is open your eyes and look...?"

She hissed and shook her head. "Whatever."

"Anyway, from all that you've told us, I think he's attracted to you. Don't you think so, Oppa?" Mi Na asked, looking to Kyung Ho for confirmation.

Ji Won scoffed. If there was one thing she knew, it was that Jo Jin Mo definitely wasn't interested in her. As far as she could tell, she'd bruised his humongous male ego by leaving him that last night so even if he'd liked her at one point, he certainly didn't any longer. But since they didn't know the full story, it only made sense that they'd come up with an illogical explanation.

"If you're attracted to him," Kyung Ho said, narrowing his eyes and looking directly at her, "go out with him. No one is saying you should start having babies but there's nothing wrong with putting yourself out there and getting your feet wet again."

Ji Won sighed. "What are you talking about?" she asked incredulously. "Where did that come from? You guys are getting the wrong idea here. I'm talking about some guy I have to work with and you're talking about dating him? Gosh," she said, folding her arms and turning away from them. Then she turned back and looked at them in disgust before turning back around and filling her glass with some more soju.

Mi Na laughed as she watched her sister fidget then cleared her throat. "Well," she said, sitting up, "the next time you see him, take a look at his face and find out if he's attractive. If he is, can you hook me up?"

Ji Won looked at her from the corner of her eye. Hook who up? So that he can move from one sister to the next? "Dream on."

Mi Na pouted. "You suck. If you don't want him, why not give him to me? Oh, by the way, Umma said I should bring you home for dinner tonight."

She sighed then gulped down the glass of soju. As the strong liquor slid down her throat, she made a face then glanced back at her sister. "Count me out. I don't think I am in the mood to look at that woman struggle to keep herself from asking me about my non-existent love life. And that goes to you two, too," she warned, wagging her finger at them. "I'll start dating when it's time but till then, keep your mouths shut!"





***



I watched as my great-grandmother read the first story I'd ever written. Our classes had been going well and our routine was to slip in an hour of studying before going out to the fields then an hour later, after filling out bellies with dinner.

After reading what, now that I think about it, was probably about a hundred words, she looked up at me and said, "Did you write this yourself?"

I nodded.

She pursed her lips sideways. "Are you sure you didn't copy it from a book?"

I nodded fervently. She was my only source of literature so even if I'd wanted to copy anything, I was sure she'd recognize the source instantly. Hence, the thought had never even occurred to me.

She nodded once as she folded the sheet in half. As she handed it to me, she said, "Not bad."

My heart sank as I heard those words. It had been almost a year since she'd begun her lessons and months since she commented that I was a very fast learner. Ever since I understood the basics, I'd tried to read everything I could get my hands on. I still had a lot to learn, particularly with understanding the more complex words but I was getting pretty good especially as one of her friends had lent us a dictionary. I'd discovered my love for words and on some days, spent endless hours reading through the dictionary and discovering new words.

Dejected, I picked up my notebook and stood up. Having spent so long writing and rewriting that story till I'd thought it was perfect, I'd expected a far more favorable response from her.

As I turned around to leave, she also stood up and called my name.

"Yes?" I mumbled.

To my surprise, she quickly grabbed me and pulled me to her. As she hugged me, she said, "Pil Suh yah, that story was wonderful. I was only teasing you." She chuckled then patted me on the head. "And I really like that the first story you've written is about a little boy and his grandmother, so of course I loved it!" she said, rubbing my shoulders. "Can't you tell when your halmoni is teasing?"

Still unsure, looking up, I muttered, "Really?"

"Really!" She playfully roughed up my hair and said, "You're getting so good at this. Before I know it, you'll be writing better than I." She pinched my cheek. "Just work on your tenses and the next story will be even better. Okay?"

Relieved that she'd liked my work, I gave her a quick hug and promised that I would.

After disentangling from me, she said, "I'm going to my room to rest for a bit. Wake me up in thirty minutes so that we can go to the farm. Okay? With the way the weather has been lately, I'm sure we'll need to take our hose with us."

"Yes, Halmoni," I said, grabbing my notebook and sitting back down so that I could start working on the next story. I picked up our only textbook to reread the section on tenses.

For years later, I often regretted not savoring those moments more, maybe talking to her as she retreated to the bedroom or even following her so that we could nap together, because, as bad luck would have it, it would be the last time that I ever see her alive.



***



"Will you like anything else?" the waitress asked, refilling Ji Won's glass with water. The last time she'd seen Shin, they'd agreed to meet every other day to exchange their work so she was waiting to see him. She'd been under the impression that it would only be a quick meeting where they'd say their hellos, exchange folders and then their goodbyes, but the previous day, he'd called saying that he wanted to discuss some of Pil Suh's comments about her edits.

She had braced herself for that. Writers –especially successful ones- were very stubborn when it came to criticism about their work but it was her job to make sure that every book she edited adhered to the highest of standards. And if that meant cajoling the author a little, twisting his arm as she fed him honey, she was more than willing to do it. But with Pil Suh… how exactly did one go about cajoling an author through a middleman?

She looked up at the waitress and shook her head. "Nothing. Thanks."

The waitress frowned. "If you don't want anything else, why don't you just leave? You're taking up space in my section and I'm sure there are paying customers who'd love to sit here," she said before rolling her eyes and leaving.

Normally, such rudeness would have met with a cutting reply or a complaint to the manager but instead, Ji Won was embarrassed. All the lady wanted to do was earn some money yet she'd been occupying a four-person table for almost an hour and to top it off, she'd only drunk water. She'd picked the large table so that she and Shin would have enough room to pore over the manuscript but since she'd obviously overstayed her welcome, she decided that it was time to leave. Less than thirty seconds later, she dropped a 10,000 Won bill on the table and left. As soon as she was standing on the street, for what seemed like the millionth time that day, she flipped open her phone and dialed a number.



***



"Stop calling!" Shin yelled as he covered his ears with his pillow. After seeing how the so-called editor had massacred his work, making more crosses on it than a tic-tac-toe game, he'd ended up staying up much later than he normally did.

He was certainly no novice, having written steadily for more than half his life and not to toot he's own horn, he was still very much one of the celebrated young writers of his genre, with his books translated in several languages and a series on Taiwanese television. And not only did he have millions of books in print, his unique literary style had won him both awards and critical praise so how dare she have so many 'corrections'? Granted, he was writing his memoir in a completely different style but there was no way he sucked so much!

With that in mind, he'd angrily gone to his computer and written and written till he barely had enough energy to walk over to his bed and sleep. At that moment, he couldn't believe that he'd been asleep for long so if the stupid caller could only get the hint and stop calling, he'd be able to sleep a bit longer!

When the ringing stopped, he pushed the pillow off and readjusted his body to a more comfortable position. But just as he was about to nod off, the phone chirped again.

Grumbling, with his eyes still shut, he reached for the phone and after what felt like an eternity, he finally felt it. The moment he put it against his ear, it chirped loudly. Grunting in frustration, he pushed the button to answer the call. "What?" he yelled.


"What?" Ji Won replied in exasperation. "Did you just 'what' me? Have you forgotten that we were supposed to meet today? The first time the wrong person showed up and now, no one showed up at all! If this is a joke, I am not finding it funny. If you can't take this seriously or you don't want to work with me, please say it instead of wasting my time like this. I am sure you can find another editor and I can find a more professional writer!"

Shin wiped his eyes and turned over. "You're shouting. Can you lower you voice?" he said, groggily.

"For God's sake don't tell me you are sleeping!"

The tone in her voice woke him further. As he opened his eyes, his brain began to function better and as if he'd been struck by a bolt of lightning, he remembered the meeting he'd set up. He wiped his eyes again then looked over to his alarm clock. On seeing the time, he cursed under his breath.

"Are you cursing at me? Mr. Jo, if this is how you conduct business—"

Now alert, Shin sat up in his bed. "Just give me twenty minutes – no, fifteen minutes and I'll be there."

"There? I just got kicked out of the restaurant so I know you don't expect me to go and wait for you somewhere else! Let's just postpone this to another day."

He jumped off his bed, peeled off his pajama bottoms and threw them on the bed. Since he normally slept shirtless, he was naked except for the boxers he still had on.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Na," he said, walking over to the bathroom. "I promise to make it up to you but let's not delay this any further. Plus Pil Suh has been very creative lately. He already has five new chapters."

"Five new chapters?"


Shin smiled when he heard the curiosity in her voice. "Yes, five new chapters. He had a sudden burst of inspiration and kept writing all night."

"Okay. But I don't want to sit and wait any longer. Besides, it looks like it's about to rain. Where's your office? Maybe I can quickly pick it up and leave. What's the address?"


He walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on to let it run and heat up. "I'm not at the office," he said, testing the water with his fingers.

"Then where are you?" she asked in exasperation.

"Hey, chill. I'm around but just not in an office. I live pretty close to the restaurant so if you don't mind, you can come here instead. Do you have a pen on hand? Let me give you the address."



***



The door opened just as Ji Won raised her hand to knock at it.

"I'm so sorry about this," Shin said as he opened the door wider to let her in. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans and it was obvious to Ji Won that he'd dressed hurriedly because some parts of his t-shirt clung to the moisture on his chest. Plus he was drying his hair with his towel. "Welcome to my home," he joked as he took the towel off his head and slung it over his shoulder. "Why don't I get you those chapters?" he said, turning around and retreating hurriedly to his room.

Ji Won walked in further and looked around his place. It was exactly as she'd expected – clean and angular, with Ikea-style furniture she suspected cost far more than the entire contents of her mother's house. The walls were painted in a beige hue and he had the standard unnecessarily huge plasma television in the living room, polished wooden floors in addition to what appeared to be a real Persian silk rug. His home was understated and somewhat sparse but still had a lot of character. There was a glass shelf behind one of the couches that was filled with what appeared to be differently-sized vases from all four corners of the earth. She was surprised to see that because she'd never pegged him as a collector of anything.

She sat down on the loveseat, surprised by how soft the firm-looking sofa really was. On the mahogany coffee table lay a multitude of remote controls and after looking at them, she curiously picked a small black one that only had two buttons.

"I wonder what this does," she said to herself right before pressing one of the buttons. When she looked around the room and saw no changes, she pressed the other one and watched as a stool almost noiselessly pulled out from underneath the coffee table. She laughed and pressed the first button to push it back in. Just as she was about to pick up another remote control to see what it did, she heard Shin's footsteps.


"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said.


Embarrassed that she'd been caught playing with his things, she quickly got up then turned around to face him. She sucked in her breath as she took in the sight of him. Okay, what was it about guys with wet hair that weakened her knees so? She ignored her quickening heartbeats and swallowed. Standing there, watching him walk over was the first time she realized that back in Aruba, while they were with the dolphins, when he'd emerged from the water --his hair stuck to his face, his eyes blinking widely and his lips turned up in a reluctant grin-- was when she decided that she wanted to sleep with him. Not because she wanted a fling to dull the pain from being dumped, but for herself. Not as revenge against Joon Young but because she'd been attracted to him and wanted him. Every inch of him. With that in mind, she looked away to hide what she was sure was a face that was now crimson.