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

it. But first tell me what trick.’

‘No, because you’re going to use it on me.’

‘I know one trick that I already can use, so better tell me second.’ But Ji Woon just shrugged his shoulders. ‘Alright then.’

Woong Tae grabbed Ji Woon’s head and put it under his arm. Then he started to tickle the younger boy, as they walked down, to the stream nearby. Ji Woon was wiggling, trying to run away from Woong Tae. Finally he hit his friend on the back of the head and procced to run down. Woong Tae had to go after him. It was their happy time.

Chapter 7

It was around noon, but it was gloomy. Young Saeng was laying in very uncomfortable position, with one leg above the couch back rest. He moved rapidly, like he was having a bad dream and finally woke up by falling from the couch hardly to the floor. He sat up massaging his lower back and mouthing some ‘ouch’ words.

He took few deep breaths, stood up and went to the bathroom to refresh himself. He couldn’t sleep well this night, because of weird dreams he had, which he didn’t remember anymore, resulting in missing the time, when Aeri was leaving the flat. He walked out, drying his face and headed to the kitchen. On the table there was some rice and side dishes wrapped, beside them there was a note, written with neat handwriting.

‘Young Saeng!

You slept so well, so I didn’t wake you up. Gone to work. Eat something. After work going to get things done, I’ll get you a phone number. I’m going to be back around eight, eat something without me. Allowance money is in cupboard beside fridge. The code to the door is 7639.

Kim Ae Ri – mom’

Young Saeng caught himself reading it out loud, so he smiled. He looked at the clock to check when actually Aeri left and gasped in shock, that it was already so late.

‘This is what you get, when you finally fall asleep at dawn…’ He said it, sat down and took chopsticks. ‘Bon Appetit!’ He started to eat, but he rather didn’t have any appetite. He put the cutlery down and sighed. ‘What to do…’

After fifteen minutes, he wrapped the uneaten food and put it into the fridge. He went to the couch, folded the blanket and placed it beside the pillow. Then he approached the pile of clothes and scanning them he picked some black trousers, different type from those he wore yesterday, but still black, white t-shirt and reddish, plaid shirt to put on the t-shirt. He also chose the black baseball cap and tried on track shoes – they were slightly loose, but still fitting him. He checked his appearance in the mirror, which was next to the entrance, went to the cupboard near the fridge and took the money. Aeri was generous, so he smiled. When everything was set he walked out.

As he left the building he was hit with sun ray. He squinted his eyes. Earlier the sun was hidden behind the heavy clouds and when he was getting ready he didn’t notice it got clear. Then he registered the noise coming to his ears. There were birds singing and kids laughing, screaming and talking in the nearby playground.

He took a minute to breath the air, which wasn’t the freshest and cleanest, but still it was his first breath having so much of freedom. He neatened the hat, putting it more onto forehead to give more shadow, looked into the direction of the kids and smiled. They were having so much fun, they were free. He felt an urge to join them, but then he shook his head. ‘Am I a kid, like them?’ He thought and glanced about.

He was standing still with hat on, so few moments later some mothers sitting on the bench started pointing at him and whisper between each other. Young Saeng realized how it may look, so he decide to go in random direction, just to get away from that place.

He walked and looked around, not noticing people around him, therefore he often bumped onto passers-by and he repeated ‘sorry, sorry’, but he still was not careful. He passed the café and smelled the coffee, as he took a long sniff savouring the aroma. He decided to walk into the store.

It was his first coffee after regaining consciousness. In hospital it wasn’t maybe forbidden, but rather inadvisable. He didn’t even think about drinking it and even if he would, it would come from simple vending machine, making the coffee not so special as this one prepared by barista. But after smelling it, the one coming from this cafe, he couldn’t resist. He ordered the most popular item which was iced coffee, asked for a take-out and made an exit to continue the walk. He took a sip of the beverage, which had strong, bitter flavour but still was drinkable.

On his way he found the bus stop and looked at the schedule. He tried to read all stops on map, in hope that something will sound similar, but nothing showed up in his mind. Therefore he picked randomly by jumping into first bus that appeared. As the bus was driving, he looked outside the window in awe. Even though he could recognize all the places it was passing, still, after spending so much time in hospital, it was refreshing to take such tour. He got out on the stop, where a lot people was doing that, he followed the crowd, hoping that they were going to somewhere nice.

He kept moving his head around and he found some restaurant with funny name. He walked in ordered two servings: one was for him and second, as a take-out, was for Aeri. He sat beside the table, enjoying the food and looking at the people walking by behind the store’s glass window. When he left, he bought some random newspaper and again got on bus heading to ‘I-didn’t-know-where’.

When the bus stopped at it’s final destination, he had to get out. It was already afternoon and the sun was slowly setting. He walked to the park beside the river, which he noticed before. He strolled, admiring the view and found a bench. He sat there, to read the newspaper, he put the take out and the empty cup from coffee under the bench, near his legs. He didn’t throw the cup away, keeping it as a souvenir from his first self-reliant trip. As he read, he felt his eyelids were becoming more and more heavy, so he decided to lay on bench to take a quick nap. He took off the red shirt and used it as pillow.

But as he woke up, the sun was already gone, even though it was not totally dark. The sun was making a halo on the horizon, definitely indicating it was evening. He gasped and quickly put on the shoes, which he also took off and he picked up food with the cup, seeing there were few coins and a chewing gum. ‘Nice’, he thought, ‘now I’m a beggar’. He took out the coins, but the chewing gum was stuck to the cup, so, with heavy heart, he had to throw it out, alongside the newspaper. Then he stood up and headed home.

However one problem occurred, about which he didn’t think of. Choosing the direction of trip had it cons, but he didn’t pay any attention from where he started. He was lost. So he went to the nearest bus stop and asked people how to get to °°° Hospital, because it was the only place that he knew. He got onto bus and started getting home.

***

Aeri was sitting beside the table and nervously shook her leg. It was already past 10 o’clock, but Young Saeng still hadn’t shown up. Earlier she called her friend, that he was lost and they needed to look for him, but she only answered that it was easy to foresee and probably he was out of country with nurse’s stuff – money, jewellery, etc. Of course Aeri didn’t believe her, yet still checked if anything was missing. Nothing was stolen, so there was only one possibility – he was lost. But what to do – her friend was too lazy to look for him, he didn’t exist in the system, so she couldn’t t call the police… She sighed and decided to wait until 11, then she would take car and go look for him.

‘No, let’s do it now… Maybe he again was beaten up…’ She started to bite her nails, clearly nervous, and she stood up going to shelf to grab the keys, but she heard the beeping sound.

The door open. She halted, because it was a sudden noise, but as it opened it showed Young Saeng looking pitifully. He saw her, looked at her with puppy eyes and smiled weirdly, giving her the box with something inside. She took it, without saying a word and opened it. She couldn’t believe her eyes, as she saw some remains of something which once might been food.

His smile slightly fades and with scratching his head, he spoke. ‘Well, I got you some food, but the trip back here was so long and I got hungry… So…’ He lifted one corner of his mouth awkwardly. Aeri threw the box onto the table and started hitting Young Saeng. ‘What?! Wait! Ouch, stop! Sorry!’

She was furious. ‘Where you’ve been?!’

‘I got lost! Sorry!’

‘First day of living here with me, staying under my custody and you do such a thing!’ She threw last punch and quietly went to sit on the couch, pouting. ‘But why I’m angry? You’re definitely an adult, you can do whatever you want.’ She waved his hand at him.

Young Saeng had hid words stuck in his throat. It wasn’t something he would expect from the nurse. As long they knew each other, or as he knew her, she barely showed any emotions, always looking cheerful and unfazed. He felt like a scolded dog.

‘I really got lost... I took random bus and got to the park. But I forgot to remember this place address, so I had to take a return bus to the hospital. Then, from there I tried to look for this flat, but it took me more than an hour… I thought I’m totally lost, so I sat and the swing on the playground and ate your food. Then noticed that this is the playground near to the home… You won’t believe, how happy I was… I almost cried…’ He wanted to please her, but he remained silent.

He tried to use one last tactic he knew, so he went onto his knees and bowed his head down. ‘I’m really sorry that I made you worried.’

Aeri saw his posture and couldn’t play mad anymore. ‘Ok… I have phone for you, so next time have it with you so that I will know where are you.’

‘Yes, mom.’ He said, with his head still down, so he couldn’t avoid the pillow aimed at him. He got shot in the head. ‘Why?! You, yourself, signed the memo like this!’

‘Oh, stop being so clever!’ She grabbed another cushion and tried to hit him again, but this time he dodged. The heavy atmosphere around them melted and they both smiled. ‘Wait a minute.’ She went to the room and brought a desk lamp. ‘Sit there.’ She pointed at the chair in the kitchen, then she put the lamp on the table and switched it on.

He sat on the chair and the light hit his eyes directly. ‘I told you everything I know!’ He put his hands up and that is followed with punch. He scowled. ‘It’s a misuse of authority!’

She massaged the arm she hit second ago. ‘Stop moving for a second, I have to take a good picture of you.’ She took her phone and adjusted the angle.

‘For what?’

‘Remember that Ji Soo’s idea with forum?’ He nodded. ‘So I need it for that.’

He relaxed and changed his position, placing his hand under his chin. ‘Make me look smart.’

‘Impossible.’ She smirked, content of her joke. She snapped a photo, when he was slightly irritated. ‘Ok, done.’

He stretched his hand. ‘Show me.’

‘No way!’

‘Give me that!’ He tried to take the phone out of her hand and accidently knocked it out of her hand.