Nae Chingu (My Friends) Chapter Six

Nae Chingu (My Friends) 

Chapter Six

I wasn’t sure how it happened. Or rather, when it happened, I just knew that three years ago my life changed dramatically and even after all this time, I still didn’t know what to do about it…

Three Years Earlier…

I didn’t notice her until her first attempt at getting the crowd’s attention. I stopped Ji Soo mid sentence and just watched.

    “Sheel-lay-ha—“she stuttered.

    “Who is she?” Ji Soo asked me once as he saw her.

     “I don’t know,” I answered but didn’t listen to what he said after that. She stood there attempting to recite whatever it was on the paper she was holding but it was obvious that she was embarrassed by the way her knees kept buckling. She was dressed in the SFLHS standard uniform and her short hair was pulled up into a small ponytail. I was surprised she could even get it into a ponytail, it was so short. She was foreign, that much was apparent just by the color of her skin. No one native to Korea was that tan but oddly enough, it went well with the tan color of our uniforms.

After a few more moments of trying to get people’s attention she made a sudden outburst. It sounded like she had been trying to say shilahamnida but what came out was quite possibly the most broken Korean I had ever heard. I couldn’t contain my chuckle but the humor of the situation quickly faded when I saw just how frustrated she truly was. Her face looked angry but her eyes were shiny as if she was holding back tears. While everyone else laughed at her and pointed, I took pity on her and walked towards her.

    “Jong Hwa—“ Ji Soo said from behind me but I didn’t stop.

That was the first time I met Lily and from that moment on, she was forever imprinted in my memory.

***

Last week at the convenient store...

    “Thank you Lily,” Mae Ri said to Lily sweetly. “I’ll just go where you go so you decide where we’re going.”

Mae Ri was my friend but sometimes she was too much. I rolled my eyes and looked at Lily expecting to see a smile on her face but instead I saw terror. Her eyes were wide and she stopped mid-chew on her ramyeon noodles. Her eyes met mine for a split second before she smiled and teased Mae Ri but the moment hadn’t been lost on me. Mae Ri and Ji Sook bickered back in forth before being interrupted by Lily again.

 Like usual we were sitting at one of the tables at the convenient store and discussing what we wanted to do with our life. Our senior year had arrived and now, more than ever, we needed to solidify our plans for the future. College exams were coming up and soon we would be either picking colleges or taking national exams. I knew I wanted to follow my mom into education and was already studying hard for the national exam that I would be required to take in a few months. Due to my mother’s connections, I already knew I was going to Seoul National University for Education. She insisted I become a college professor because they made more money but after two years of debating the logistics, I won the argument and she gave in to me becoming an elementary school teacher. I liked being with children and wanted to set them up for success with a good education while they were young. I also told her I would go to graduate school for higher education so I guess I hadn’t really won as I had actually bought an extension. I had yet to tell the others about my plans, in fact I had yet to tell everyone a lot of things, I thought to myself.

    “It’s easy then, we’ll all just go to Seoul University,” Ji Soo piped in and my mind came back to the conversation.

He said it so nonchalantly that I had to look at his face to see if he was joking. He wasn’t. I swatted the brim of his black fedora and sent it flying onto the table.

For the rest of our conversation the smile Lily wore never reached her eyes and it wasn’t long before she was standing up to make her goodbyes. I had known Lily long enough to know something was up and if she wasn’t telling us then it was something serious.

    “I’ll come with you,” I said quickly and got up. I swung my backpack around and nodded my goodbyes to the other two before leaving the store before she could protest. What was I going to say to her?

It was another minute or so before she finally walked out. “You didn’t have to take me home, I’m taking the bus anyway,” she said while looking straight ahead.

She seemed out of sorts which was odd because this wasn’t the first time I had walked her home in the last three years. She had gotten lost in Seoul one time; on her way to school she had taken the wrong bus and had ended up in one of the southern districts of Seoul not anywhere near SFLHS. I skipped my first few classes to go get her. She was so apologetic back then, it was cute. She had changed so much in the three short years she’d been here.

    “What’s going on?” I asked her while we walked to the bus stop.

There was a short silence before she answered me, “There’s nothing wrong.”

I would be patient. However, my suspicions were confirmed when her eyes did their little flitting thing—whenever she was unsure of something her eyes would flit from one thing to another. It was her telltale sign that she was worried.

    “Lily, something is wrong, what is it?” I started to get worried because she was being almost too casual. I nudged her with my arm and kept my voice low. “I saw your face when we were talking about college, are you not going to apply?” Maybe it was as simple as she wasn’t going to college although she’d never given any indication she didn’t want too. She was silent for another moment before she finally spilled the beans.

Despite her lack of enunciation, I understood her next words. In a rush she discussed her father’s plans to possibly move her again and I was glad my hands were in my pockets so she couldn’t see my fingers flex and unflex into fists. I knew how much it had hurt Lily to move from Germany even though I was incredibly happy that her father had done so. She was an amazing person and someone I was glad to call my friend. My life would have been so different without her and truth be told—I shook my head. There was no point in even going down that line of thinking, I told myself. My throat was dry but I spoke calmly.

     “Why can’t you stay? Aren’t you considered an adult in America,” I asked. One of the few things that bothered me about Lily was her pessimistic attitude, especially when it involved her family From the sound of it, her father had controlled the family for many years until Lily’s mother had finally broken free and moved back to the States. I even remembered there being a time when Lily had waited to for her mother to come back for her but she never had. Lily didn’t let any of us know how much it hurt her but we weren’t blind. Mae Ri had taken it upon herself to make Lily feel like she belonged, in fact it was one of the reasons Mae Ri was so obnoxious about involving Lily in everything. I went along with it because I had taken it upon myself to take care of her while she was in Korea.

She was speaking but I only caught the tail end, “—I’m sorry, can we not talk about this right now?”

    “Sure,” I said but I hadn’t given up. I wasn’t entirely sure I could say the same for Lily.

    “Thanks and don’t, you know, tell Mae Ri or Ji Soo,” she asked me but I all I could do was nod.

She turned and went inside but I stood there for a few minutes more. I realized that we had gotten comfortable both Lily and I. For the first year or so, Lily had seemed like she was always holding back no matter how close Mae Ri tried to get to her or me even. She always seemed like she was just out of reach but slowly she finally warmed up and return our affection. I watched her blossom and before I knew it, she was as much a part of the group as Mae Ri, Ji Soo and I had been before she arrived.

As I walked home I thought of ways I could help Lily but I didn't even know where to begin looking for a solution to this problem.

***

Lily never showed up to school on Tuesday. Although she had a pretty decent attendance record, it wasn't uncommon for her to miss some school days so I wasn't too worried. Mae Ri said she'd spoken to her last night and that she sounded fine. This didn't stop Mae Ri from calling Lily repeatedly throughout the day. But by nightfall, I was starting to get worried because it wasn't like Lily to not return phone calls or at the very least send a message. Around eight p.m. I finally broke down and sent her a message of my own asking if she was sick. It was ten p.m. now and I still hadn't received a message. Still, I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, people who are sick are less likely to respond and there was a good chance she was already sleeping. No matter how logical I tried to be, I still couldn't completely alleviate the feeling that something was seriously wrong and every text message I received from Mae Ri only compounded the issue. I would wait until tomorrow, I was sure she'd be at school with a logical explanation for her absence.

IN the meantime I would keep researching alternatives options that would help her stay. My mother was the most help in that department.

    "Eomeoni*," I called to the kitchen from the desk in the living room. "Do you have to be a citizen of Korea to receive financial support?"

    "Why are you yelling," my mother said from right behind me.

    "Omo*,"I said and rubbed my chest over my heart. "Kkamjjakiya*," my mother was as silent as a mouse which accounted for half the trouble my siblings and I got into when we were children. "Make noise when you walk, will you?"

    "Why," she smiled and patted my head. "this is so much fun."

I tsked at her but playfully and repeated my question. She walked around me and rested a hip on the desk. "Well, I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"

    "It's nothing, I was just curious," I lied but my mother wasn't dumb. I didn't know why I thought I could fool her.

    "My son doesn't ask meaningless questions," she gave me her best mother stare and I caved.

    "It's for Lily," I confessed. "She's going through some stuff right now."

    "Lily? Isn't her father in the military?"

    "Yeah but he's thinking of moving again and she wants to stay here," I shrugged and let my mom figure out the rest. I suppose I should search the Department of Financial Services website for an answer or at the very least call them tomorrow after school.

    "What about an exchange program," my mother suggested.

    "I thought those were only for students who wanted to study abroad," I had never thought about an exchange program, but the idea had possibilities if I could find the right one, maybe?

    "Normally yes, but Korea has a program where we bring students here to study as long as they meet certain requirements," she said while pulling on her earlobe which she only did when she was thinking.

    "What kind of requirements," I asked her and attempted to not get too hopeful.

    "I don't know, you will have to look it up yourself," she said and let go of her earlobe. "The place is called, ah, Educational Exchange or something. My old brain doesn't work like it used too," she waved the air in front of her face as if she was waving away something hazy in front of her.

    "Omaaa*," I added a slight whine to the word. "You aren't old," my mother was stern at times but she always caved to compliments. "You're still pretty."

    "Look at you," she lightly slapped me on the shoulder in admonishment before returning to the kitchen.

As soon as she was gone, I started looking for references to the exchange program she mentioned. It was called the Educational Student Exchange and it specialized in training foreign students who wanted to keep residence in Korea after college graduation. The list of careers that a student was require to get an education in was a fairly small list but I didn't think it would be a problem because Lily had yet to decide what it was that she wanted to do. So maybe she could pick from the list...? I would have to ask.

The more and more I read about the program the more hopeful I got that this would work out, at least, until I read the part about it being for college students only. Just like that, all my hopes were dashed. It would mean that she would still have to return to America to graduate before she could come back. The thought made my chest feel tight. No, there had to be another way.

I was just about to exit the browser when a word caught my attention: high school. I clicked on the link  and it brought me to a new webpage. The Educational Student Exchange offered an elite program for qualifying high school students an opportunity to experience a high school setting first hand before attending college to become a teacher. The only requirement was they had to major in education once they reached college level. It didn't leave any room for compromise and if Lily chose to do this, it would mean she only had one option after high school and whatever career path she had hoped for would cease to be an option.

I printed out the documents for the program anyway but I continued to search for a program that would allow for high school students but my search came up empty even after two more hours of searching. It seemed Lily would only have two options: stay and become a teacher or go back to American for the time being.

Either way, I would support whatever decision she made, I told myself. The tightness in my chest never eased up. I rounded up the papers and put it in a folder so I could give it to her tomorrow.

***

Lily was gone the next day as well. That made two days of unexplained absences. I even broke down and asked my mother to check and see if either her father or Lily herself had maybe called her in sick. By lunch time my mother had no answer for me other than that it was an unexecused absense. I knew better than to tell Mae Ri but of course she had a right to know. I told her the truth and it only made her even more panicky.

    "Do you think she's in the hospital," Mae Ri asked frantically as she tried to call Lily's phone again which was turned off at this point.

    "She could be dead," Ji Soo said nonchalantly and if Mae Ri hadn't hit him, I would have myself. I was on edge as it was not knowing if she was sick or not, I couldn't even bring myself to contemplate if she had gotten into an accident.

    "Ya! It was only a joke," Ji Soo said to Mae Ri after she hit him. "It's not like she just up and left the country," Ji Soo grumbled.

His words struck a cord and suddenly I had a whole new thing to worry about. What if her father had move her already? What if he'd gotten the transfer sooner than Lily had thought and she was already gone?

    "Andwae*," I mumbled mostly to myself.

    "Wae," Mae Ri asked and my two bickering friends became silent.

No, she couldn't already be gone. Her father still had to sell the apartment, they would have to pack, there were logistics to think about. But then again her father worked for the military, the apartment complex they lived in was owned by the U.S. military so they could simply clean it up for the next person's occupation. The government could also have movers come in, pack their stuff up and send it off to their new residence in American without Lily or her father having to lift a finger... I was so lost in thought that I barely even heard Mae Ri's complaints about my silence until she snapped her fingers in my face.

    "Jong Hwa-ya!" She said loudly. "Museun iliya*?"

    "We need to go to Lily's after school," I said quickly.

    "Duh, way ahead of you," Mae Ri said snottily.

    "No, you don't understand," I stopped. Lily didn't want me to tell Mae Ri or Ji Soo about her possible departure and I knew that if I told them and she was still in Korea, she'd be angry. However, if I told them and she wasn't in Korea, at least they'd be prepared to see an empty apartment. "Lily's father was planning on moving her back to America."

    "Mwo!" Mae Ri shouted which caused several people to turn and look at us.

    "Shh, Mae Ri-ya!" I said. She could be so loud at times.

    "Shh? SHH?" Not only had her voice continued to raise but now she was standing looking down at me like I was a small child. "How long did you know about this? How could you have kept this from me? How could she have kept this from me?"

Mae Ri was close to tears, she'd always been emotional but in this instance I couldn't blame her for being upset. She picked up her phone once more on the small chance Lily had suddenly turned her phone back on and would answer it even though she hadn't replied to any calls or texts for almost two days. It was looking more and more like she was gone.

The thought made it hard to breathe and I felt the sudden need for fresh air. I made some sort of an excuse to Ji Soo and made my way to the front door that led outside. It wasn't against the rules to go outside but being that it was in the middle of February, there wasn't anyone outside. It was having troubling taking in air and it felt like my ribs had become a vise that was constricted my lungs. I made myself breathe slowly.

It wasn't like me at all to have this kind of reaction but I seemed unable to stop it. After a few minutes I was able to breath normally again and I sat down on the cold steps that lead to the entrance of the school. Once I had myself under control I reminded myself of a few facts. First, Lily would never just up and leave without telling someone, either Mae Ri or myself. Secondly, if she had gone back to America, she would have found a way to communicate with either Mae Ri or I. By phone or email, either way Lily would have let us know what happened. No, she was still in Korea, I was sure of it. I squeezed my eyes shut and found a small ray of peace in that thought.

    "So, what just happened," a voice said from behind me.

I jerked around and saw Ji Soo leaning against the front doors of the school, hands in his pockets as he looked at me. "I'm sorry?"

    "You ran out of the lunch room and you seemed to be having a panic attack," he said evenly and just continued to stare at me. "So, what just happened?"

    "I--" I stuttered. I didn't know how to answer that.

    "We've been friends since we were kids," he said and came to sit next to me on the stoop. "So why don't I tell you what I think just happened."

He was silent and I was about to ask him what he thought when he finally started talking again. "I think you're in love with Lily." he said it so calmly that I almost thought he was joking except he wasn't looking at me. He was staring out, at what I didn't know, but being as anti-confrontational as Ji Soo was, he was avoiding my eyes on purpose which told me he was serious.

    "Why would you think that," I asked finally and pretended to laugh to ease the tension in the air.

    "The way you look at her, for starters," he shrugged. "The fact that any time you hear good news you call her, I'm not the first person you call anymore," He added. "It's the little things you do for her and the way you act around her, the questions you ask her.

    "I don't know what you're talking about," I told him.

    "I believe that," he nodded and looked at me. "I believe that you don't notice the things you do or say but this," he gestured with his elbow towards where I had been standing a few minutes before. "I wasn't sure until this happened. The thought of losing her caused you to have a panic attack; it's kind of a big indicator." he smiled at me as if he pitied me.

    "I don't think--" I stopped. Ji Soo just let me think it through in silence. Did I love Lily? I knew I liked her, I'd liked her since almost the beginning and sure it had grown as the years and gone on but I hadn't even contemplated it turning into love. I suppose that liking someone long enough did turn into loving someone but I would have noticed the transition, wouldn't I? I thought back and nothing stood out in my memory of having actually fallen in love with her but yet here I was. Ji Soo was right, at some point I had started to love her. I loved her enough that the thought of losing her actually made it hard to breath.I couldn't ignore what had just transpired in the last twenty minutes.

My realization must have shown on my face because Ji Soo nodded, "Geurae*." He rubbed his face with his hands and smiled back at me in his usual casual way. "Geureom*," he said and stood up to walk back inside. "Are you coming back to class or just going to stay out here and freeze?"

Now that he mentioned it, it was pretty cold outside and all I had on was the SFLHS uniform to shield against the chill but it offered very little warmth. I stood up and followed him inside.

    "Smile buddy, it'll work out," Ji Soo patted me on the back. "Well, that is if you make it to the end of school."

    "What do you mean," I asked him.

    "I'm not the one who has to share a classroom with Mae Ri," my expression must have been funny because he laughed abruptly. "Ah, forgot about Mae Ri, huh? My poor Mae Ri."

His words caught me off guard, "your poor Mae Ri?"

    "What? Did you think you were the only one with a secret crush?" He winked at me and walked into his classroom

I guess today was the day for revelations, I thought. As I turned back to my classroom, I saw Mae Ri standing outside the door waiting for me with an angry expression.

    "Aish*," I grumbled, how could Ji Soo like a dragon like Mae Ri?

***

I was so anxious to get out of class that it seemed that four hours turned into fourteen. But when the bell rang, both Mae Ri and I were of like minds and we were the first out of the classroom. For once, Ji Soo didn't make us wait for him because he was already standing outside of his classroom when we swung by to pick him up.

    "Kaja*," he said annoyed, as if he had been standing there for awhile. Mae Ri and I exchanged looks and Mae Ri shrugged.

    "Wae geurae?" She asked him.

Ji Soo looked at her and for the first time I could see what he meant about looking at the person you liked and how much it changed a person's face. His annoyed expression vanished and he smiled. "I just want to make sure Lily hasn't run off to some far off land," he said. How did I not notice that he liked Mae Ri before now?

We made our way to the bus stop and although it couldn't have been more than twenty-five minutes, it felt like the longest bus ride of my life. By the time we reached her apartment door, I was more anxious than I was at school. Her apartment was on the ninth floor and we had all been there enough times to not get lost in the twists and turns of the maze-like hallways. There was only one problem, I didn't know the code for the door. I looked at Ji Soo who shrugged indicating he didn't know either.

    "Aish, get out of the way," Mae Ri pushed her way between the two of us and easily entered the code. The door dinged and Mae Ri opened it with ease. The first thing I noticed were the shoes in the entryway and the more we entered the apartment the more reassured I was that they hadn't left yet. Nothing was amiss in the living room or the hallway leading to Lily's bedroom. I had never seen her bedroom but I was following Mae Ri who surely had.

Mae Ri lead us to the second door on the left and burst through the door without knocking, I guess it was a good thing that the first thing we saw was Lily in bed. God forbid had she just gotten out of the shower or something just as embarrassing, not that I would have cared at that exact moment. I was just so relieve she was actually in the bedroom. As soon as we entered, Lily bolted up in bed and stared at us. Her hair was messily pulled back and had loose strands hanging out at weird places. She was in her favorite over-sized sweater, the one I saw her wearing almost every time we hung out at her place and she looked so pretty all disheveled. Mae Ri didn't wait for Lily to say anything before she lunched herself at Lily and almost toppled her off the bed entirely. Lily gave Mae Ri a hug while asking what was going on but instead of answering, Mae Ri started hitting any part of Lily she could.

    "Ya!" Mae Ri shouted at Lily.

    "Ya, Neo!" Lily said and pointed her finger in Mae Ri's face. "I'm older than you are!"

Ji Soo and I looked at each other and it was like the last two days never happened. I was so relieved that my legs felt weak. Lily was ok and despite being gone for two days, she was already bickering with Mae Ri as if nothing happened. Mae Ri disguised her relief with anger, much like she did with all her emotions but it was easy to see how happy she was as well. It was hard to tell who started laughing first but soon both Ji Soo and I were laughing hard.

    "Mwo-ya?" The two girls shouted at us and any pretense we had of trying to contain ourselves vanished and soon the girls joined us.

***

We discussed the option of cooking food only to find out Lily didn't have much food in her cupboard which worried me. Had she eaten the last two days? She looked thinner but I didn't know if that was my imagination or not. Ji Soo offered to order out but Lily quickly turned it down. She didn't like other people spending money on her, despite Ji Soo having plenty of it due to his father being a doctor. Instead, we opted for popcorn which Lily was currently making in the kitchen.

While we all sat and waited for Lily to come back, I pulled the folder of information out of my backpack and set it down on the floor for when she came back. Once she filled us in on what happened the last two days, I would broach the subject of the Educational Student Exchange program and see how she felt about it.

She came back in a few minutes later and placed the popcorn on the table and sat down on the floor next to Mae Ri and across from me. We all stared at her waiting for her explanation.

    "Mwo?" she asked defensively. Did she really not know why we were staring at her?

Per her usual self, Mae Ri jumped right in. "Why haven't you been in school and don't tell me it's because you're sick because you feel fine!" She crossed her arms angrily and waited for an answer.

Lily just gaped at her and seemed to be thinking of a good enough excuse to explain why she hadn't come to school. "Ahh..."

    "Does it have anything to do with you moving," Ji Soo asked and if Lily hadn't pegged me with a glare, I would have punched Ji Soo right then.

    "Don't blame me, you're the one who missed school for two days," I said and immediately regretted it. As a rule, Lily rarely started a fight but if the last three years had taught me anything, it was that she had no problem rising to the occasion. "What was I suppose to tell them?"

    "Are you serious," she asked me in English which only went to show just how angry she was. I sighed, it wasn't like I hadn't expected her to be angry, I told myself.

    "I'm sorry Lily, I wasn't going to tell them but then you were gone today too. What was I suppose to think? I thought your dad and moved you already." I replied back in English. I tried to calm myself but if I had to admit it, I was angry too. I had just as much right to be angry as she did. She tells me one day that she might have to leave and then she disappears for two days?

    "Ya! Look at you two," Ji Soo pointed at the two of us. "Why aren't you speaking in Korean? What aren't you telling us?"

Mae Ri was staying silent for once and I noticed her shaking her head slightly to shut Ji Soo up. I would have been curious if I didn't still have angry-Lily to contend with. She stared for only a moment more before she began to explain the situation to the others. Her voice sounded depressed and something else I didn't want to believe. She sounded resigned, as if her impending move was unavoidable. The anger I had tried to fight back surged back to the forefront.

    "So you're just going to give up, just like that," I asked her forcefully in English. The fact that the other two couldn't speak English wasn't lost on me, I wanted to know just where her mind was without the others interrupting us.

    "I'm not giving up Jong Hwa, I've been through this before," she sounded exasperated. "My dad doesn't listen, what am I suppose to do?"

    "Find another way, make it work," I said. Was it really that hard to try? Lily always just gave in whenever it came to her father, she'd done it countless times over the last three years but did she really have to concede so quickly with this?

    "It's not that easy, Jong Hwa!" She raised her voice, "I don't have money, I don't have a place to stay and by Korean law, I'm not even an adult yet!" Again her voice had become resigned. "Even if I could do all that stuff, Korean law requires I have a guardian."

I was at a complete loss. Is that what she'd be doing the last two days, preparing herself to leave? She'd made it seem like she didn't want to leave but what if she'd never planned to stay? My left hand, which had been laying on the folder of information, curled into a fist. "I guess it's a good thing you aren't Korean then, huh?"

I couldn't sit here any more, I rarely got angry and I was afraid of what might come out of my mouth next. It was quiet but I caught the next words out of Lily's mouth and I felt like I had been sucker punched. She called me a bastard. Ji Soo winced and Mae Ri looked surprised.

    "You can leave now," she said coldly and only added to the ice that had somehow found its way into my chest.

    "Wait, what?" Mae Ri asked questioningly. I was too busy trying to not feel hurt to bother with catching the other two up on the conversation. I knew, logically, that Lily only said that out of her own anger but that fact didn't make it hurt less.

    "Nevermind, let Lily figure it out," I said while grabbing my jacket.

Ji Soo made some sort of an excuse to leave and despite Mae Ri's protests, we were all out the door within a few minutes.

    "Jong Hwa, what--" Mae Ri started to say but Ji Soo jerked her back by her arm and shook his head silently. Luckily for Mae Ri's sake she listened to Ji Soo's warning. We rode the bus to Mae Ri's house in silence. After we dropped off Mae Ri, we caught the next bus to Ji Soo's neighborhood and from there I would walk home. I needed the fresh air, I decided.

Ji Soo spoke for the first time after we reached his front door. "Jong Hwa," he sighed. "I don't know what you two said to each other but just remember she's going through a rough time."

    "You think I don't know that," I asked him.

    "I also know you're going through a rough time," he said quietly. "Just don't hold it against her, you know she'll feel bad tomorrow. It's just how Lily is," he finished.

    "She just gave up, Ji Soo," I finally said.

    "I know," he clapped his hand on my shoulder and stooped down until we were eye to eye. "But between you and Mae Ri, do you really think Lily will be allowed to give up now?"

No, I thought. I could find some solace in that. No, now that everything was out in the open, she'd fight back now. Hopefully she had found the folder I left on the floor for her by now and she'd already be thinking about the possibilities. I'd given her a head start and I could be happy about that. Plus, Ji Soo was right. By tomorrow, Lily would feel terrible about what she'd said and that gave me something to look forward too. She'd have to apologize at some point.

    "Ji Soo," I looked up at him.

    "Eung*?"

    "Will Mae Ri and I be the only people who miss Lily," Ji Soo never really spoke about his feelings, he was an enigma but he'd answer a direct question.

    "I think our group would never be the same again if Lily were gone," he admitted. "I think she'd leave a hole that no one would ever be able to fill."

I left after that. I felt better after talking to Ji Soo and suddenly the walk home was much more refreshing. I wondered what tomorrow would bring...

To Be Continued...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Eomeoni: "Mother"

*Omo: Much like a surprised "Oh!" in English, it can also be an "Oh God" Or "Oh My"

*Kkamjjakiya: "You scared me" or rather just something Korean's say after being surprised.

*Oma: "Mom", it's an informal version of Eomeoni

*Andwae: It can be used as a simple "No" or "I won't", it just depends on the circumstances

*Museun iliya: "What is going on?"

*Geurae: "Yes" or "Sure", it's just an affirmative response

*Geureom: "Then" it's usually said as transition to leaving much like a "Well then"

*Aish: Koreans say this as a sign of frustration or as a curse although it's not the equivalent to the English curse words, more like the word "damn"

*Kaja: "Lets go"

*Eung: A lot like "Geurae", these two words are interchangeable but Eung is more informal