Eternal life - Magdalena Wita (best summer reads .TXT) 📗

tell later, that I didn’t warn you. You cannot forbid me from worrying about you. You have to call me in the morning, first thing you wake up! Every minute of delay will make me so stressed. Oh, about calling…’ She took her bag, which she put on table. She pulled out some item - smartphone, but older generation. ‘I found my older sons old cell phone. Give it to Gil Dong.’

Right, when she said the name, bathroom door opened, and the man came out. His hair was still wet, falling on his handsome face. He had some muscles, which were visible, because he only had a towel wrapped around his waist.

‘This name summons me! And I hate it!’ He said, as Ji Soo was looking at him with her mouth open.

She looked over his body, from his head to toes and swallowed saliva. ‘If you hate it so much, then how we should call you?’

‘Ha! You see, I thought about it! Wait a minute…’ He ran back to the bathroom and he closed the door.

Ji Soo turned her head to Aeri and whispered. ‘I see, why you want him…’ She lifted her eyebrows.

‘Oh come on, that’s called a harassment…’ The nurse rolled one’s eyes.

He came out of the bathroom again, this time in full clothing – the black shirt and trousers he wore earlier. He held a towel and was drying his hair with it. As he walked out, he noticed the clothes on the floor and points at them. ‘What’s that?’

Aeri answered, while handling him already folded clothes. ‘Your new clothes, Ji Soo has brought them.’

‘My hubby got fat, they should fit you.’ She said with resentment in her voice.

‘Oh…’ He put them away onto the shelf Aeri told him he could use. ‘Thank you.’ He nodded towards Min Ji Soo and made her flustered.

‘No problem…’ She cleared her throat and remembered something. ‘But about this name? What would you like to be called?’

‘Right!’ He stopped being so humble and hurriedly grabbed a kitchen chair to sit on it. ‘So, like doctor Ahn Chang-Woo suggested, I would like to have surname Jo or Do. And… And! The old patient next to me on the ward, you know which…’ He looked at Aeri, she was still picking up the clothes. ‘This, I think second one. Never mind!’ He shook his head. ‘So he told me, that his granddaughter has a boyfriend. He knows it, because he saw him on the phone of hers! Really handsome! He said we look alike. So I asked him, if he knows this person’s name. And he proudly said, that he asked about it, and it’s…’ He emphasised every syllable. ‘Park Bo Gum. So I thought about Jo Bo Gum or Do Bo…’ He had to stop as he saw that Aeri and Ji Soo are looking at each other weirdly. ‘What?’

The girls started to laugh so hard, that the nurse threw around already folded clothes and Ji Soo was falling off of the chair.

‘Hey, ladies, stop, what it is!’

Aeri stopped first and she wiped the tears. ‘We shouldn’t laugh at the sick person…’ But she looked at her friend again and they started a new wave of laughter. After a while they finally stopped. ‘Okay, sorry about it...’ She said breathing heavily.

Gil Dong was sitting, pouting his lips and had his arms folded on his chest. ‘So will you tell me, what wrong with that?’

‘So you don’t know who Park Bo Gum is?’ Ji Soo said with a smirk on her face.

‘The patient’s granddaughter boyfriend?’ Young man said naively.

‘No, silly, he’s a famous actor. Poor grandpa was deceived and took a fool with him.’ Aeri finally saved him from this horror.

‘Oh…’ Gil Dong hung his head low.

The nurse was folding the clothes again, when an idea stroke her. ‘Oh my God, what if…’ She picked up her head. ‘Chang-Woo said that he doesn’t remember anything related to his person…’ She pointed at the man. He lifted one eyebrow up. ‘So maybe he doesn’t remember, but he’s connected to the Park Bo Gum, so he doesn’t remember him! And Park Bo Gum can’t look for him, because it would stir the media up…’

‘Like who is he for him? They don’t look similar…’ Ji Soo gave her friend a warning, since she already knew what Aeri had on her mind.

‘Lover…’ She looked away in a dreamy way away.

Ji Soo found a sock laying near her leg and she threw it at Aeri. ‘Someone’s watching too many dramas! Look!’ She faced shocked Gil Dong. ‘Nod if you know them, shake if you don’t: Lee Minho. Hyun Bin. Lee Dong Wook. Park Seo Jun.’ Every time she said someone’s name, he shook his head. ‘See? You think that he slept with half of the Korean movie industry?’ He changed his expression from shocked to utterly disgusted look, while Aeri put her shoulders down, pouted and whispered quiet ‘yeah’. Ji Soo continued. ‘Didn’t Chang-Woo also assumed that he probably have been studying history? Or something related? You think, if a person is so addicted to the past, he gets what’s happening around?’

Aeri was upset. ‘Yeah… You don’t even let me dream…’

‘Excuse me, I’m here!’ Gil Dong waved his hands, but he was ignored.

Ji Soo suddenly opened her eyes wide and put finger up. ‘It have me an idea! Like, if he’s a student, than maybe someone will recognize him! Give me your phone!’ She stretched an open palm towards Aeri.

‘What? Oh, okay, wait.’ The nurse was sitting the whole time, so she stood up from the ground. ‘Ouch, sat to long…’ She limped towards coffee table, where her phone was, unlocked it, and handed it to Ji Soo.

When her friend received the phone she bolted up as soon she saw what hour it was. ‘Oh my God, it’s so late! Honey’s going to kill me!’ She handed the phone back to Aeri and hurriedly went to the main door. ‘Eat the food on the stove, but you have to heat it up again!’ She put the coat on and pressed the door handle. ‘Bye, my love, call me in the morning!’ She walked out.

Speedily went after Ji Soo, picking her head through the door. ‘Wait, what about your idea?!’

Ji Soo shouted back. ‘Oh, forgot! Take a photo of him and put on some forum for students, maybe someone’s going to recognize him!’ And she ran away.

‘Oh! Good, bye, love you!’ But her friend was already gone. She shut the door and looked at the young man. ‘That was hectic, wasn’t it?’

He was pouting. ‘But really Bo Gum is a no-no?’

***

After Ji Soo left they finally ate the dinner. They sat facing each other, so Aeri could look at him closely. Gil Dong put down the bowl from which he was eating. ‘Thank you for the food.’

She was picking on food. Her friend’s cooking skill was amazing, but the nurse rather didn’t have any appetite. ‘You should thank Ji Soo, without her it wouldn’t be eatable.’

Gil Dong smirked. ‘I think I would eat everything, even cat or dog food.’

Aeri looked at him, without smiling. She was worried. ‘Are you okay?’

‘What did I tell you about this ‘okay’ thing?’ He grinned, but it went away quickly. He knew what she meant. ‘I’m not sure. Today’s was so exhausting…’

The nurse stood up from the table and picked the dishes. ‘We have to fill that paper, that civil workers gave us.’

‘One more?’

‘Yeah and I will drop it on tomorrow on my way to work.’ She was turned back to him, putting dishes in sink.

‘And what I can do tomorrow?’

She put the sponge away and took off the gloves, taking deep breath. ‘I asked Ji Soo about something. She has some connections, maybe someone will give you job, without all those paperwork, etc…’

‘But still it’s a maybe, right…’ He sighed.

She finally turned to him. ‘And as we’ll wait, to know, if it worked, I will give you some money. Travel around the town, perhaps you’ll remember something.’ She blew some of the hair out of the sight and she put the dishes away for drying. ‘Wait, I’ll bring that paper.’

She went to her bedroom and brought it. She sat in front of him again and she started reading what this paper is about. He was lurking and peeking.

‘So, mainly, it’s kind of form, where you fill data about yourself. Like name, birthday, birth place, family…’ She noticed that he started to sulk again. ‘But don’t worry! We can fill them with ‘unknown’. The most important is giving you a name! So, Do or Jo?’

‘I would like Jo…’ He was drawing something with his finger on the table.

‘Okay, so Jo.’ She wrote that down on blank paper. ‘What would go well with that… Jo… Jo… Young Cheol? Bong Yeon? Dae Hyoung? Chang Min? What you think about them?’ She also brought some notebook and was writing the ideas down.

He wasn’t satisfied with the propositions. ‘Hmmm…. Do you have more?’

‘Wait…’ She took her phone and searched for more. ‘So… Hajun. Hwan Jun. Young Sik. Young Saeng...’ With every name he was softly repeating them with his new surname.

‘Jo Young Saeng…’ He lifted his head. ‘Kind of like it! ‘Eternal life’… Like from now – I will live…’ His eyes brightened and he smiled. ‘…forever!’

She was thrilled to see him smile like that. ‘Let’s go with it!’ She crossed out all names listed earlier and circled the chosen name. She extended her hand. ‘So, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jo Young Saeng.’

‘It’s a real pleasure.’ He grabbed her hand and held it tightly.

After a moment of holding she finally took her palm out, slightly embarrassed with such a skinship. She put a strand of her hair behind her ear. ‘Next thing we certainly need is a birthday...’

Young Saeng tapped finger on his chin. ‘Do you remember when I came to the hospital?’

‘Yeah, the end of August. You want this as your birthday? You don’t even remember what happened to you and you didn’t regain consciousness for more than a week… Maybe the day you woke up?’

‘No, this day is fine. You see, do adults recall when they were just a new-born?’

‘Obviously not.’

‘Yeah, still that time is important for bonding with them… They need that time…’ He looked deep into Aeri’s eyes.

She just shook her head and yawned. ‘I don’t get you, neither your way of thinking…’

He sighed. ‘Whatever. Make it as you want. If that’s the day, when I lost memory, then certainly I was reborn that day.’

‘With that I can agree.’ She filled this blank spot and looked at the rest ‘Okay, I think we’re done.’

‘But it’s still almost empty?’

‘Yeah, but rest are info, that can be left with ‘unknown’. And by the way I’m really tired, so lest call it a day.’ She stood up, folded the paper and went into her room.

‘One more question: where do I sleep?’

Aeri was a person which was terse when tired. She pointed at the sofa, much smaller than Young Saeng. ‘Couch.’ Then she moved her hand at the cupboard with small pillow on it and some blanket. ‘Sheets.’

‘You surely are very generous person.’ He said bitterly.

‘Goodnight!’ She closed door to her bedroom and put the lights out.

Young Saeng blindly went towards the couch, hitting the table on the way. Then he sat down and tried to make his eyes get used to the dark. The street lantern was shining outside, so soon everything became clear. He rested his head on the backrest and he whispered. ‘…Goodnight, Kim Aeri.’

Chapter 5 - past

Year 1592, winter

The horses could’ve been heard from afar for a long time until the first horseman arrived at the court. He bowed to the men and women of servanthood, which were gathered in the middle of the yard. The steam was coming from their mouths, as the heavy snow was falling. They’ve been waiting for a while now, since they expected their lord to come earlier, but the blizzard was the cause of delay. However, they still had to wait and be prepared – they served General Shim Dae Song, the King’s favourite.

The General was a tough man. He served the country for most of his life. He came from the capital, were he learned from the best the art of warfare to master it and passed the government military examination. He was ambitious and hated failure. Everything in his life had to go as he planned, so even the attendants couldn’t lack.

He announced his arrival three days ago and from now on everyone had to prepare the house for