Chapter In Which It Is St (1/1)

Chapter 5     “Full yet?” She asked, finished drying the iron pot. I nodded. “Oh, and thanks,” she said lifting up her bandaged hand.     “I think I should be the one saying thanks.” She smiled. “And... sorry about everything today.”     She stood over me, while I looked up to her to see a sincere smile; she gave my head a little nudge. “Don't worry about it. Anyways, I think we should go back to bed. It's getting really late -”     “May we talk?” I tugged at her arm. She returned to her original position, sitting next to me.     “Talk? You and I? Girl and a guy? About what?” She removed her glasses and placed on the counter.     Really, I wasn't sure what I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to talk. “I'm not usually a jerk like I was at the airport. It's just that I found myself, insecure? I'm not sure myself.” Well at least I was stirring up a conversation of some sort.     “Insecure? About what?” She smirked. “Scared you won't find a girl?”     I gave her a punch.     “Ow~!” She looked pained but she was smiling at the same time.     “Sorry. I'm usually use to punching guys like that... I mean, I guess, it's suppose to be a tease.”     “I'll bitch slap you like I do teasingly to my friends.” She paused. Was she expecting a reaction. “It was suppose to be funny. Haha.” She jokingly slapped me on the arm. “Anyways, back to the serious stuff. What are you insecure of?”     “Honestly, I'm not sure. I guess, it's just that my English isn't really great, and I guess knowing that I'll be surrounded by English-speakers... well, I'll have to make conversations in English...”     “Aw~ Minho. You're like a kindergartener; there's really nothing to be afraid of. You're talking to me just fine, and I can understand you just fine.”     “But my accent...”     “But I find your accent really cute.” My face screwed together, knowing that I was blushing. “No worries, we're really superficial people.”     “Super-facial?” Marisa let out a tiny laugh.     “Superficial,” she responded, “it means that we go for looks. And Choi Minho, believe me, you have looks, really good looks.” Her smile continued to warm my face. “You'll really love my sister then. She speaks really fluent Korean, so all of you will have fun communicating with her.”     “How is your sister?”     Her smile was persistent, but now seemed rather forced. “She's fine. I called her, and she's with her boyfriend right now. But she'll probably have to stay at the hospital for a few more days.”     “And you'll be okay handling this all by yourself?” I was sincerely concerned for her, and by her smile, I think she could see it on my face too.     “No worries. I called up a friend. She's taking tourism in University, and I think she can help me out for the next few days.” Then there was a slight silence, but her smile lit up again, and a slightly awkward and overwhelming feeling of relief rushed through me.     “He really loves my sister.” She sighed, looking down at the floor next to her. “It sorta makes me wonder when I'll find someone who loves me even half as much as Taeon loves my sister.”     “Taeon? Your sister's boyfriend's Korean?”     “He's from Korea. My sister, besides from being a popular tour guide, also works part-time tutoring foreign Japanese and Korean students. That's how they met” We made eye contact again, this time it was me who turned away from her, but she gently turned my head back to facing her; she gave my face a sly lookover. “I won't believe you if you told me that someone like you can't find any love.” There was something about the way she stared at me; it was the first time I've really had a conversation with her, but her eyes just seemed to open all my locks. There was a sense of familiarity, even though she's just slightly closer than a stranger.     “Well...” I stammered. I haven't spoken about it to anyone for a while. The only people who really knew about it were Taemin and Key; they present themselves as people who give a crap about what I say – I guess Marisa's the same. “It was roughly two years ago... before I graduated from high school. I was one of the top athletes in school, but I just wanna clarify, I'm athletic, but I didn't possess any of that “jock” attitude; I take relationships really seriously... I guess maybe too seriously." I didn't know how to continue, so I took a breather. "I only really did like one girl, Soon-Ah; I honestly thought she liked me; she introduced me to all her friends, but I guess she was only using me to flaunt to all her friends. I used to do everything she wanted to do...” A pained smile crossed my face, thinking back. “I almost even started smoking because she took up the habit. I tried to be the perfect boyfriend – loving, caring, understanding... understanding...” I laughed. “I thought she was the perfect girlfriend too. She made me feel special, but I was childish. I got all arrogant because she kept on praising me; I guess she only praised me, because I naturally just wasn't good enough... anyways, there was this guy who also liked Soon-Ah, but I thought I was the best person for her. We started fighting for her... but everything became I blur after that...” My brain decided to naturally snip that month out of my life. “The only thing I recall was a soccer game. I was about to kick the scoring goal, but I guess I was too busy paying attention to those looks that butthead was giving to Soon-Ah -” I laughed again. Having to recall such painful memories, I guess I could only laugh. But I was lying to myself - I couldn't mask the pain, because I haven't forgotten how much it'd hurt. I could feel Marisa's arm comfortingly around mine; I didn't mind – I actually felt at eased that she's understanding me. “I caught the ball with my hands, just out of the blues, I used my hands... and then I remembered everyone from my school cheering, including Soon-Ah because we won the game, but I don't remember scoring the goal. After the game, she completely ignored me, she instead walked up to that jackass and kissed him on the cheeks... And she said something to me, 'cause she caught me looking. 'I don't date losers!'” The same sentence repeated over and over in my head; I thought I gave up on her, I guess I thought wrong. “Looking back, I guess she's what you'd call, 'super-facial'. When I wanted to do something, she would always give me an excuse, which back then, I thought she was really just too busy. She treated me like an object, not a person...” It really was the first I noticed that. But why then am I still thinking about her? “So... now that you know one of my darkest secrets, I think it's only fair if you tell me one of yours...” I turned my head to look at her, but instead she was on my right shoulder, sound asleep.