Nae Chingu (My Friends) Chapter Sixteen

Nae Chingu (My Friends)

Chapter Sixteen

The next couple of days flew by quickly; I felt like I blinked and already it was the end of the school day on Wednesday. Where had the time gone? I packed my backpack and headed straight out the door without looking back. I had a lot of homework I needed to finish before I could go to bed and I needed to get to bed early because tonight was my first day on the job. I had just gotten down the stairs to the main floor when someone yelled my name. It was Annabeth and she was calling for me from the top of the stairs with a wide smile on her face.

I liked Annabeth, I really did. To a certain extent she reminded me a bit of Mae Ri--the life a the party kind of personality--but sometimes, she was just too happy to be around. It seemed she was always in a good mood, she was always peppy, happy-go-lucky, life was good for her and I hated it.

Nevertheless, I headed back up the stairs in her direction anyway..

    "Derek said you were coming to our study session today, I figure we could walk together," Annabeth told me.

Crap, that's right. I had said I would come today, I winced inwardly. Too late to back out now, I guess and resigned myself to my fate. At least I'd get homework done, I thought. "Awesome, I'll follow you." I kept my arms tight to my sides whenever I was near Annabeth, she had a bad habit of wanting to link arms whenever she was walking with someone. That was one thing I could say about Mae Ri; Mae Ri might be overly zealous when it came to her friends but she was never ridiculously touchy-feely and it made me miss her all the more.

Annabeth led the way to a classroom that, if the boxes and dust were anything to go by, looked abandoned. Light streamed through the windows and made the otherwise depressing room look somewhat less dreary but of all the classrooms to be studying in, this is the one they'd chose?

    "Hey guys, I brought Lily," Annabeth announced as soon as we stepped into the room

I was shocked to see how many people actually took part in this study group. There had to have been more than fifteen people here, I thought as I started counting heads. 18 to be exact. I had envisioned a group of maybe seven or eight but eighteen? And they were all students that were part of the program, did these guys never hang out with regular students?

    "Hey, Lily," a few people I recognized from the dorm said but otherwise I mostly just got curious glances.

Derek and Brian were already there sitting huddled over a book they were sharing, Derek waved earnestly while Brian just nodded his head in greeting before giving his attention back to the book.

    "Hey," I waved awkwardly, wishing all the more I'd been able to back out.

    "Come sit over here," Annabeth patted the floor next to where she was sitting. Only a few people actually used the rickety looking desks that the room had, otherwise most of everyone were either sitting on the floor with books in their laps or laying on the floor with the books in front of them.

I sat down next to her but didn't move to take out my books; I was too busy watching what everyone else was doing. I just observed the atmosphere for a few minutes and found it relatively pleasant. Once in a while someone would ask out a question and someone else would give an answer but mostly the room was quiet and everyone was busy doing their own homework.

Almost a full ten minutes after I arrived, I finally pulled out my books and laid down comfortably on the floor to start my own homework but I didn't get very far before Annabeth grumbled in frustration next to me. "What's up?"

    "It's nothing," she looked at me with a smile that was a little strained at the corners.

    "Maybe I can help, what is it?" I asked again wondering what could have possibly cracked her ever-so-happy mood.

    "I just--ugh, I don't know how you did it," she exclaimed with a loud sigh and pushed her book over to me. She must have been working on the Korean homework Mr. Do had assigned us today--an assignment I was going to put off until last because I knew it'd be the easiest homework for me. "I can learn the individual words but putting them together to form a sentence is probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do!"

    "Believe it or not, it was for me too, don't worry," I told her and looked at some of the sample sentences the book offered. "Well first off, just remember that the sentences they use in these books are a bit over the top--no Korean ever speaks this--" I searched for the right word. "--precisely."

    "What do you mean," she asked me with genuine confusion.

    "Well, no sentence structure ever looks the same in Korean. With the amount of suffixes and prefixes in the Korean language, it is never a sure bet as to what will come out of the mouth. Actually, Koreans tend to omit of lot of information when speaking to each other because the information isn't required. So very rarely will you hear sentences structured like this."

    "Okay," she nodded like she understood but her tone said otherwise.

    "Okay, so as an example, in English, 'Sa-gwahn-neun ppal-gan-saeg' would be translated to "The apple is red" or "Apples are red" but in Korean is just means "Apple red". It's a statement of fact. Actually, the word "saeg" literally means color. So "ppal-gan" means..." I let it dangle.

    "Red," she said hesitantly.

    "Yup," I nodded. "And 'neun' is just a topic indicator. Ah," I thought of a better way of phrasing it. "It indicates that the apple is the subject of the sentence, it's what you're talking about. So 'sa-gwahn'  means apple, well actually," I backtracked. I knew I was making a complicated concept more complicated but I had the sudden urge to explain. "It could mean 'apology' too, which happens a lot in Korean. A lot of words sound exactly the same which is why you have to listen to the whole sentence. Anyway," I waved the air in front of my face in order to get back on topic. "so 'sa-gwahn neun', apple plus the topic particle 'neun' combined with 'ppal-gan' literally means 'apple red', the 'saeg', which indicates the color red as opposed to, lets say, a red 'dress'. This is what turns the English translation into 'apples are red'."

There was a moment of pause while Annabeth digested the information before she nodded once again and said, "Okay, I'm starting to get it."

    "They don't have words for 'the' or 'is', so when translations from Korean to English happen, those words have to be placed there in order for it to make sense to us. Do you get what I'm saying now?" She nodded. "So don't beat yourself up for having a hard time putting words together. It's different when you're actually speaking to a Korean and can hear how they put words together."

    "So how did you do it," she asked me curiously.

I thought about it for a moment. "Well, when I came to Korea I didn't have a program like this to fall back on. It was sink or swim," I told her honestly. "It's nice that you've got people," I gestured around and realized that almost everyone was looking at me. "--What?"

    "Nothing, we're just listening," Derek said while some of the students pretended like they hadn't been eavesdropping on our conversation.

    "It's weird because it's like you're from here except you aren't," Annabeth said although I felt like she was stating an obvious fact. "I mean, it's just nice to have insider information without feeling like you look down on us."

    "Look...down...on you, what do you mean?" I asked.

    "Well, it's hard to talk to the students here, you know," another girl I didn't know said.

    "Have you tried," I asked.

    "It's hard when you don't know the language," someone else said.

I understood what they were trying to tell me; they were scared to ask anyone for helping because they feared getting laughed at or rejected. I knew the feeling, probably better than most but I couldn't help feeling a little bit better about my own personal circumstances. I hadn't been so lucky as these students who had others who spoke their language to help support them. I'd been virtually alone; my mother hadn't been here long enough to help me learn anything about Korea and my dad had strictly wanted to keep it American inside the apartment so everything I'd learned had come from Jong Hwa or Mae Ri. Heck, even Ji Soo had helped a little. In some ways these students had been luckier than I but in others, I'd definitely gotten the better part of the deal.

    "Well, do any of you have questions," I asked tentatively, not expecting anyone to actually ask me anything. I was wrong, almost immediately I was accosted with questions about the Korean culture and language, I could hardly keep up with my answers.

    "What's with the whole "hyung"-"oppa" thing," a girl asked me a little while later, I think her name was Chelsea.

    "It's all part of the hierarchy, in Korea there is an order to everything and there are levels, these titles are all a part of that," I told them.

    "What do they mean," Chelsea asked.

    "Well, younger males call older males "Hyung" as a sign of respect--it's an indicator of their age. In Korean society, there are roles; elders help guide their juniors--sunbae's and hubae's--while the juniors show respect to their elders so 'hyung' really just shows a hubae acknowledging his place in the relationship," I told them. "It's the same for "oppa" just for girls addressing older males," I tried to keep it simple but that was the difficult in the Korean culture, one thing was always connected to someone else, there was a reason for everything, I'd learned.

It continued on like this until someone noted the time and we all had to rush to pack our bags to make it to the last pick-up bus that would take us to the dorms. There was a lot of chatter about the Korean culture when we all climbed the steps to board the bus and I couldn't help but feel a little excited that I'd been able to help someone else. Instead of being the one that didn't know anything, I had now become the knowledgeable and the idea made me feel good.

My happiness was short lived when we got back to the dorms and I realized tonight was my first night of work. I had to give Annabeth a quick goodbye so I could head up to my room to get my homework done as fast as possible. Although I got through most of it within a couple hours, Math always seemed to elude me, at least without the assistance of someone else. ...And that someone else was no longer by my side. I pulled out my phone and debated if I was really going to send a message to Jong Hwa in order to get help with my math homework.

We hadn't had any communication since the last time we were together. I'd pulled out my phone several times to text him but I'd resisted because I needed to get used to not having him around. That would make his eventual departure easier. Mae Ri, on the other than, had texted me several times throughout the day for the past two days. I'd texted her back when I could but Jong Hwa, so far, had been utterly silent.

It was because of that silence that I decided to not ask him for help and I put my phone away. I glanced at Emily's alarm clock and noted that is was already well past dinner time and I hadn't eaten anything since lunch. My stomach gurgled loudly but I ignored it. I needed to get to sleep and set my alarm for 2:30 so I could get a few hours of sleep before having to be at work.

I turned the light off at my desk and made my way to the closet where I'd hung my jacket. I still hadn't been able to convince myself that I needed bed sheets so I continued to sleep in my jacket, sweats and slippers. I knew eventually I'd have to break down to get them but I wanted to save my money where I could and right now, bed sheets were not an expense I could afford. I wrapped my jeans up in a shirt again and climbed the step ladder.

Because I was so used to falling asleep later a night, it was hard for me to sleep so early which is probably what accounted for me feeling miserably tired the next morning when my alarm went off at 2:30. Emily grumbled loudly but turned over and fell back asleep as soon as I shut off the alarm. Even though every fiber of my being wanted to stay in bed, I needed the job so I dragged myself out of bed anyway. I changed into my jeans and a plain white t-shirt and packed my school uniform into my backpack before quietly leaving the room. The bright, fluorescent lights in the hallway nearly blinded me as I made my way to the stairs and down to the common area.

As soon as I stepped outside the first door I was stopped by the security guy and I was surprised to find out he was Korean.

    "Omo, where are you going," He asked me in severely broken English so I decided to just respond in Korean.

    "I work in the mornings," I told him.

    "You need to have a special waiver form in order to leave the dormitories this early in the morning," he told me.

    "Oh," I hadn't known that, well now what the heck was I gonna do? "Can you let me go for today and I will call Chan Min about the waiver," I asked him with pleading eyes. "It's just, I really need the job."

He hesitated for a moment, not sure what would get him into trouble but eventually he nodded, "Just for today."

I bowed and thanked him before I headed out into the cold, March morning. I didn't know when Spring was finally going to come to Korea but it couldn't come soon enough, I thought as I bit down on my lip to avoid shivering. I fast-walked the eight blocks and was almost out of breath when I finally reached the club. I entered the passcode and introduced myself to the over-night security guy. He seemed nice and showed me where I could find the cleaning supplies before leaving me to my work.

***

The club had two floors; upstairs held the karaoke rooms and downstairs was where the bar was located. I couldn't tell which floor was the worse to clean up. Downstairs, probably, I decided since there were no walls to keep the mess enclosed.

After nearly three hours of sweaty, grueling work, I finished my work day by cleaning the bathrooms. I checked back in with the security officer and he ran through the checklist before giving me the thumbs up which left me with about thirty minutes before the buses would arrive. I used that time to wash up in the bathroom at the club before heading out.

I arrived ten minutes before the bus got there and I silently patted myself on the back. That wasn't so bad, I thought. I even felt somewhat refreshed after working so much before school, I didn't feel tired at all.

Of course, that was before I reached third period and nearly slammed my forehead onto my desk after almost falling asleep. The student next to me must have saw me struggling because she asked me if I was ok when the teacher's back was turned.

    "Gwanchana," I whispered back and hoped I was telling the truth. I had to keep shifting in my desk to keep myself awake but no one was more happy than I was when the lunch bell rang. My stomach had been gurgling since the first hour as if to remind me that I hadn't had dinner or breakfast. Not that I needed the reminder, I thought.

Which is how I found myself arm-in-arm with Annabeth walking at a clipped pace to the lunchroom. Once I'd gotten through the lunch line and sat down, I didn't even wait for the others before I started shoveling rice into my mouth.

    "You're a hungry little lass today, aren't'cha?" Brian asked a few moments later while he openly stared at me. His fork dangling in his hand.

    "Hmm," was all I said as I continued to eat quickly.

    "You do realize we have a total of thirty minutes to eat, there's no rush," Brian said teasingly as he finally started on his own food.

    "So, whats up," Derek asked as he carefully chewed his food.

    "Nothing, I was just hungry," I began to feel a little self conscious. I had just piled a whole bunch of food into my face like Ms. Piggy, I thought silently.

    "I didn't see you at dinner last night," Derek hinted once again. "Or at breakfast this morning," he finished.

I decided that actively ignoring him was my only way out of this situation, "Hmm, hey Annabeth, did you ever figure out your Korean homework," I asked her and only felt a little guilty about using her. I knew she'd perk up and ramble on about her homework which would effectively shut Derek up and I was right, it was a useful strategy.

She kept talking until it was time to get back to class and for once, I didn't mind her cheerful happiness.

***

Because there was no study hall after school I snagged a spot on the first pick-up bus and headed back to the dorms after school. During the ride I checked my phone for new messages and found five new messages from Mae Ri alone.

    "Aish, Mae Ri-ya," I chided and read each one thoroughly. She wanted to come by the dorms to see me after school today but I quickly sent a reply saying I had too much homework but that she could come by tomorrow. That would work because I'd have the whole weekend to do my homework. Tonight I needed to do the minimal amount of homework and get some sleep.

She sent back a cheery response--I could tell by the smiling cat emoticon she used--and I put my phone away. I just wanted to go home and sleep, I was so tired. I leaned my head up against the window of the bus and closed my eyes.

The next thing I knew Derek was sitting in the spot in front of me, staring. "Kkamjjakiya," I jumped back as far as the seat would allow.

    "Sorry, sorry," Derek raised his hands. "I tried to wake you up by calling your name, then I was going to shake you but," he made an "X" with his fingers and reminded me that I'd told him to never touch me. I had to give him kudos for following orders, even to such extremes as this.

    "No, it's fine. Look, forget what I said the other day, I don't like being manhandled, that's all," I told him and he looked confused. "Just don't, you know, jerk me around abruptly."

He nodded his head fervently, "You got it."

I looked around and realized the bus had stopped moving, "Are-are we at the dorms," I asked.

    "Yup, got here about ten minutes ago, I was trying to wake you up to tell you we were here," Derek told me.

    "Oh, thank you," I picked up my backpack and slid out of the seat. Derek followed me off the bus and walked side by side with me towards the dorms.

    "So, ah, you know, I meant to apologize for walking in on you and your, ah, friend the other night," Derek said with a lot of hesitation.

    "It's ok," was what I settled on. He chuckled nervously, waiting for more of a response but I had none to give him.

    "So, is he-is he your boyfriend," Derek asked.

We had reached the front entrance to the dorms when I stopped to consider his question and how much information I was willing to share. I guess I had nothing to lose by being honest and saying we were best friends. However, something didn't feel right about making it look like Jong Hwa was only a good friend when he was so much more than that. "He's--someone I'm interested in."

    "So you two aren't dating," he questioned.

    "It's complicated," I told him.

    "Complicated how," He kept pushing for an answer.

    "Why do you want to know," I asked, letting my annoyance leak through my voice. Couldn't he take a hint?

    "Because I don't want to be attracted to another man's girl," he said exasperatedly.

I had been taken by complete surprise and I was unsure of what to say to that. "Are-are you always this honest" is what I settled on.

    "I try to be," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I had to look away because it reminded me so much of Jong Hwa. "I didn't mean to make things uncomfortable, but I've been thinking about that moment...and," he took  deep breath. "Nevermind, I'm sorry I brought it up," he pulled open the door as if to leave but I stopped him.

    "He isn't my boyfriend," I told him quickly. "He--I love him," saying the words to someone who wasn't Jong Hwa hurt more than I thought it would. "I love him, a lot actually, but it's complicated right now."

    "Because you switched schools," Derek asked as he let the door slide shut.

    "No, because--look, he's a good guy, he's kind and gentle, he's honest and hardworking," I hadn't meant to spill everything to Derek and yet here it was all coming out of my mouth. "He's the kind of guy every girl wants as her boyfriend but," how could I explain so he'd understand. "I'm not--he doesn't love me, I mean, not like that anyway."

    "Didn't look that way the other night," Derek said quietly. He was right and deep down, I knew he was right but I had spent the last three days telling myself that what had happened in the front foyer didn't mean anything and I had done all I could to make that memory seem less important. It wasn't working very well, but I was trying.

    "Maybe not but all the same, we're just friends," I said.

    "So I'm confused, are you telling me it's okay for me to like you or are you telling me you're unavailable," he asked me, point blank.

I didn't want to hurt this man's feelings but I also didn't want to lead him on. "I'm unavailable." I didn't apologize because I wasn't sorry and I didn't belittle either of us by saying 'we can still be friends'. Yeah, there was no way around this ensuing awkwardness that was bound to sprout up between us. Why couldn't he have just not said anything at all?

    "I"m glad we got that all cleared up," he said and nodded briskly and opened the door. "Let's go in, it's cold out here."

I nodded and followed him in, I just needed to escape to my bedroom as soon as possible.

    "By the way, when does spring usually hit Korea, 'cause man, I really want to throw around a baseball," Derek said and effectively broke the awkwardness all on his own.

We spent another ten minutes chatting about the normal weather patterns in Korea before I finally disengaged to go to my room. He seemed absolutely normal, despite our previous conversation and I thought, maybe things wouldn't be so uncomfortable after all. I could pretend like that conversation never happened.

When I reached my room, I felt lighter somehow and the feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant. I pulled out my backpack and attacked my homework with more motivation than I'd had previously. It wasn't until almost an hour later when I remembered that I needed to get a waiver from Chan Min.

    "Aish," I muttered as I searched for my phone and started to put in the passcode that when remembered that I didn't have service. "Aish," I said more loudly as I headed for the door. I was heading for the front desk when I passed by Brian in the stairway. "Hey, Brian could I--" I'd been going down the stairs at such a fast pace that I missed the fact that Brian had actually been using his phone.  "Oh, sorry, never--"

    "Baby, hold on," Brian said into the phone and put his hand over the receiver. "What'd you need," he asked me.

    "I was going to ask to use your phone but you're on it," I told him and waved off my request.

    "One sec," he said before moving his hand away from the phone. "Baby, go take your shower and call me back afterwards." He was silent as he listened to whoever 'Baby' was. "Nah, it's okay. Okay, love you too." He hung up the phone and passed it to me.

    "You didn't have to do that," I said humbly.

    "Nah, she had to get ready for school anyway, she just had a late start this morning," he explained.

    "I'll just be a minute, I promise," I held up one finger for emphasis before taking the phone and dialing Chan Min's number. I prayed he was still in his office. He wasn't, the phone kicked me to the front desk where the receptionist answer the call.

    "Is-is Soo Chan Min-ssi still in the office," I asked her.

    "Aniyo," she said in clipped tones and I envisioned the snarky-looking receptionist that sometimes manned the front desk. "He's left for the day, would you like to leave a message?"

    "Um, do-do you have his cellphone number by chance, it's kind of an emergency," I said.

There was a pause on the other line before she responded, "Unfortunately I can't give out personal numbers, what kind of an emergency is it, I could connect you to the Director."

I had an intense internal debate on whether I wanted to ask this kind of a favor from the Director himself but I had no other choice otherwise I'd miss work tomorrow and I would lose the job. I was already starting to feel the panic rising in my chest. I squeezed my eyes shut to try and control the urge to hyperventilate. "Yes, please."

    "One moment," she said and a moment later a piano started playing in the background.

Oh please, oh please, I begged to whatever higher power was listening.

    "This is the Director speaking," the Director said after the piano cut out.

    "Oh, Annyeonghaseyo," I squeaked into the phone, I was so nervous. "Jeosonghaeyo, It's Lily Smith," I was even more scared of asking for a favor from him than I was of Chan Min, what had I been thinking when I asked to be transferred to him?

    "Oh. The receptionist said it was an emergency, what's going on," he asked but not like he was mad. He actually sounded worried.

    "It's not an, I mean, it kind of is, but--" my words came out jumbled.

    "Slow down, Lily," he said in a soothing voice and I took a deep breath.

    "I have a job but it requires that I leave earlier than allowed in the morning, so I need--"

    "A waiver," he finished for me when I stopped to take another deep breath.

    "Yes, sir," I confirmed.

    "When do you need it by," he asked gently into the phone.

    "Tomorrow morning, I know it's such short notice but I was caught doing homework and I--"

    "It's okay, it's okay, I'll have one faxed over," he said.

    "Kamsahamnida, jeongmal kamsahamnida," I was so relieved I actually bowed before I remembered that he couldn't see it.

    "Cheonmaneyo*," he said. "Hey, Lily, let's get together sometime next week."

And all my happiness evaporated in that moment. Why would he want to meet up with me? This whole call had been a mistake, it didn't matter if I didn't have a job if I was kicked out of the program. There went school, college, everything, I thought to myself and felt all the panic drain out of me as depression set in. The only reason he'd be calling me in to meet with him is if I'd made a fatal mistake in this phone call.

    "You still there," he asked and there was a muffled sound on the other side.

    "Yes," I reassured him.

    "So you'll come see me next week," he asked again.

    "Yes, sir," and we said our goodbyes and hung up. I handed the phone back to Brian and thanked him for letting me use it.

    "What was all that about," he asked as he pocketed the phone.

    "It's nothing," I told him as I started back up the stairs.

    "Well, it's obviously something," he said. "Hey, wait" Brian grabbed a hold of my wrist and effectively cut off my ascent. "What happened/"

    "It's none of your business," I shouted and yanked my wrist out of his hand. "It's-it's none of your concern," I repeated in a much milder tone.

    "You know, Lily, we're all going through the same stuff here," Brian gestured towards the common room door.

    "I doubt that Brian," I rolled my eyes and started back up the stairs.

    "We're all in a different country," he said through clenched teeth. "We all feel alone, it's an adjustment for all of us but we don't have to go through it alone, and neither do you. I know you want to be 'mysterious' but cut yourself a little slack. It might make the adjustments easier," he finished with a long sigh.

I had the sudden urge to scream but I refrained, just barely. "You don't know anything about my situation, I'm not like you guys. I was never like you guys, so don't force us all into the same category. It's an adjustment?"  I laughed condescendingly and took one step back down. "My father left me here! With nothing! No money, no clothes, I didn't even have a toothbrush! I had a pair of sweats in my backpack and what amounts to twenty dollars in my hand. We are not the same."

    "Lily--"

    "No, you want to know what we have in common? The only thing we have in common is that we are both in this program. That's it and this conversation is done." I waited to see if he'd say anything else and he looked like he was going to but his phone went off in his pocket. "It's probably your girlfriend, you should pick up."

I didn't wait around to see if he'd actually pick up his phone or not because I quickly ascending the stairs and was out of sight within moments. I locked myself in the dark room where I could breath a little. I hadn't meant to explode on Brian, and I also hadn't meant to give away so much information about myself. Knowing his big mouth, he'd probably tell the whole common room about the conversation he'd just had with the 'mysterious' newbie and I'd have to face all of them tomorrow.

I slapped myself on the forehead, how could I have been so thoughtless? I went back to my desk and packed up all my books and put my uniform in the backpack as well. It was only a little after five but I got ready for bed anyway. I didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone for the rest of the night, I just wanted to escape into sleep.

A little while later the sound of knocking broke me out of my dreamless sleep but I ignored it. It was either for Emily and she wasn't here or it was someone wanting to talk to me and I didn't want to talk to anyone.

    "Lily, are you in there?" I heard Derek ask through the door. Yeah, I definitely didn't want to talk to him. I stayed  perfectly still until he left a few minutes later.

***

Derek...

Lily hadn't been at dinner tonight either, I thought to myself. Maybe she'd gotten so distracted by her homework that she'd forgotten when it was served. I snagged a dinner bun, a small milk carton and an apple to bring to her. It wasn't the best meal but it was all I could carry in my hands.

    "Yo, where you going with that," Brian called from the table he was sitting at with a few of the other students.

    "Ah, Lily didn't come for dinner and I thought she might be hungry," I said. I expected Brian to make some sort of innuendo but he didn't.

    "Ah, I see," Brian said. "Make sure she eats, eh?"

    "I'll try, I guess we'll see," I said. Brian seemed out of character tonight, I wondered if something happen with his girlfriend back home. I know he'd left on tense circumstances, maybe they'd broken up, I wondered.

I left the cafeteria and made my way up to Lily's room, I didn't see any light coming from under the door but I knocked anyway. After almost five minutes, I gave up. She was either already asleep or not even in her room. I debated on whether or not to leave the food lying outside her door but decided against it, no one wanted to eat an apple or a bun after it'd been sitting on the floor. There was also no guarantee that she'd come out tonight at all and see it.

But...what the hell was I gonna do with a bun, an apple and a carton of milk?

To Be Continued...

***

*Cheonmaneyo: "No problem" of "You're Welcome"