Chapter 12

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Dongpirang Village rests on a hill behind Jungang Traditional Market, in the middle of Hallyeoheasang National Park, in the city of Tongyeong. It was marked for demolition in 2007 but was saved by art students and local artists who started painting the walls of the houses and establishments with colorful and quirky murals all over the village. It eventually became one of the most visited tourist spots in Korea.

Lisa, with her 35mm film camera in hand, was walking along the tight alleyways around Dongpirang Village, along with a pack of tourists--most of them foreigns, who, like her, have their cameras ready--who wanted to see the artistry being displayed in every walls and crevices of every houses in Dongpirang.

She was following and pointing her camera at a little boy who looked Korean and was chase by a woman who was definitely not looking Korean at all, probably his mother, while jabbing in rapid foreign language, showing signs of concern and determination on her face.

The little boy was laughing while carelessly waving his little arms in the air, his little feet running and sprinting one after the other, not minding the possibility of tripping or falling down in the concrete pavement. Lisa was patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to press the shutter and immortalize the little boy's happiness inside a photograph.

When the laughing little boy passed by a white wall that was painted with little boys and girls who were chasing the colorful balloons on the other side of the white wall, Lisa automatically released her shutter. The little boy looked like he was one of the little children in the murals in a sunny playground. Elevated by a couple of inch from the ground, his hands were raised in the air, looking as though he was trying to get a hold of the strings attached to the balloons, laughing.

"Cute!" she muttered and smiled to herself while watching the little boy who finally stopped from running and was caught in a tight embrace by her foreign-looking mother who smothered the little boy with kisses all over his little face.

Jennie, meanwhile, was already getting a little tired from all the walking that she had been doing eversince she arrived from an hour car ride from Busan. The air was a little chilly but she was sweating under the thick overcoat that she was wearing. Her hair was down and was blown softly by the chilly February air. Her face was slightly getting numb from the cold and her patience was wearing thin.

She reached out for her phone inside the deep pocket of her black overcoat after she noticed it vibrating against the garment. It was Jisoo.

"What?" Jennie greeted Jisoo as soon as she pressed the green telephone icon on the screen of her device.

"Well, hello to you, too, Jendeukie!" Jisoo said sarcastically. "You sound impatient, Ruby Jane! Found her yet?" asked Jisoo. There was something about her voice that Jennie knew could only mean that Jisoo was silently laughing at her.

"No. Can I just go home already? Or maybe find a hotel where I can stay? I'm sleepy!" Jennie complained with a pout and a yawn. She knew it was a bad idea to fly from Seoul to Busan in a commercial plane at six in the morning. At. Six. In. The. Morning! Plus an hour car ride from Busan to Tongyeong! It was too much for someone who usually wakes up at ten in the morning. It was Jisoo's idea, of course. And the thought that she agreed to it was the worst part.

"Aigoo! But where's the fun in that? Huh? Tell me?" asked Jisoo. She was chuckling softly.

"Tell me about it when you already tried walking all by yourself and craning your neck, checking every faces you encounter along the way while looking like an idiot in this little village, Kim Jisoo!" said Jennie irritably, rolling her eyes at the sight of a couple who was happily posing for a selfie in front of a mural that depicted a huge bright, red heart in the most middle part of the wall.

Jisoo was laughing loudly on the other line.

"God! You sound like a spoiled uptown girl, Jennie Kim! Can you at least subdue it a little? Like, maybe, loosen up?" Jisoo mocked her. "Anyway, I called to say that I have a gift for you," Jisoo said, singing the last three words.

"Whatever that is, I don't need it," Jennie said impatiently.

"Oh, really? You don't need Lisa's exact location right now and save you from yourself? Because I can just turn this computer off and go ahead with my day, you know?" said Jisoo.

"Or you can just tell me Lisa's location ASAP so you can save yourself from me?" Jennie said, sounding murderous.

But Jisoo responded with a maniacal laughter, which irked Jennie more.

"Jesus! You're no fun, Jendeukie! Anyway, I have to go. Lisa's coming your way, says her tiny red dot on the computer. Don't forget to act normal! Bye!" Jisoo said and the line went dead.

Jennie shook her head and looked around her, looking for the sign of Lisa. That's if Jisoo was not making a stupid out of her.

That Chu!

Jennie knew that Jisoo was talking about the red dot of a person's GPS. Jisoo have shown her how it works after she told Jisoo about Lisa. And after Jisoo told her that she could actually locate Lisa in a jiffy. Inside her father's office. Illegally.

It was a special software created by Jisoo's dad's I.T. people from their detective agency to locate certain people. Only a few people from the agency were given a password to have an access to it. Jisoo said she wasn't allowed to use it, period. And since Jisoo was not technically part of the company and she wan't one of the "few people".

But since she, Jennie Kim, Jisoo's bestfriend and Jisoo's dad's third most favorite person in the world (next to Jisoo and Jisoo's mom), needed a little help, Jisoo said, "Well, damn the rules! Let's go find this Lisa!" To which Jennie responded, "But what about your dad? He'll find out!" and Jisoo answered in her deadpan voice, saying: "At least he'll kill you first, and then me." It was a joke, of course. Because as far as Jennie knew, Jisoo's dad was the most gentle and the most calm person she have ever met.

Lisa was already slightly panting when she reached the top plight of the steep concrete, narrow stairs that she was climbing on from the lower part of the village. She decided to go to the topmost part of the village, where one of the oldest pavilion was still standing, overlooking the scenic view of Tongyeong.

She noticed a lot of people were scattered everywhere in the area. There were children running around, laughing and teasing each other, hopping from one corner to the other, marvelling at the beautiful scenery below. There were also couples who were basking in the cold February sun, taking snippets as souvenirs for their weekend getaway. Also present were older folks hanging around the area, with tumblers on their hands while conversing lightly with their companions.

And there, standing in the middle of it all was Jennie, to Lisa's surprise. Clad in a fashionable black overcoat. She was stationary in the middle of the cacophony, looking around aimlessly. Her hair was looking like a beautiful mess, courtesy of the slightly windy February air. Her face was slightly blotchy due to the cold. Jennie looked lost in the middle of a crowd, Lisa thought. And oblivious to Lisa's presence, obviously. Still, Jennie looked excruciatingly breathtaking that it took every ounce of Lisa to tear her eyes away from Jennie.

Lisa raised her camera expertly and aimed it towards the spot where Jennie was standing. She manually adjusted her shutter speed and f/stop buttons hastily, just enough to blur the moving people around Jennie, without compromising the lighting and the magnificent display of scenery around her and to emphasize Jennie's stature, because Jennie was an art, herself. And just when she was about to release the shutter button, Jennie's eyes flickered towards her direction, as if she was suddenly aware of Lisa existence who was standing just a few feet away from her. Jennie stared directly at Lisa's viewfinder, intently looking as if she was gazing directly at Lisa's deepest soul.

Lisa released her shutter button immediately before the fleeting opportunity of a possible great photo and a display of such raw emotions on Jennie's eyes would pass by.

There was recognition in Jennie's eyes when she saw Lisa. And a tiny bit of light was dancing on both of Jennie's irises, like an excitement or something. Jennie smiled widely, showing off her gummy smile that Lisa once said was cute when they were both drunk and talking random stuff inside a cheap tent in Dongdaemun. It's already been a week since she last saw Lisa. God, how she missed those soft, big, round eyes!

"Hey!" Lisa said as she slowly approached Jennie, her camera was now dangling on her neck. She was smiling from ear to ear. She suddenly realized how much she missed Jennie and that gummy smile. It's already been a week.

"Hey, stranger!" Jennie responded. She, too, was grinning from ear to ear. She was gazing at Lisa's brown eyes and tried to contain the excitement that she was feeling inside. Whatever will happen after this encounter with Lisa, Jennie made a mental note to thank Jisoo later for breaking in to her dad's office.

"I didn't know you're here," Lisa said. She was now standing in front of Jennie. Far enough to contain her excitement, but close enough that she could sniff the deliciously expensive scent of Jennie's eu de perfume. It was teasing her senses.

"I..." Jennie startes and subtly cleared her throat, "I didn't know you're here, either," she said. "What a coincidence!"

"I know, right? Twice in a row, if my counting skill is correct," Lisa said jokingly, raising two fingers in front of her and added, "The universe must be telling you something," and laughed softly.

It suddenly became a melody to Jennie's ears, Lisa's soft chuckles. It made her smile a little wider. It made her heart a little lighter. She wanted more of it, she realized. God! She must be going crazy!

"Probably," Jennie responded coyly. "What are you doing here, by the way?" she asked Lisa, although she already had an idea.

"Oh, you know, stuff," Lisa said, unable to wipe the smile off her face, and held up her camera and gestured it to Jennie. "What about you?"

"Oh, you know," Jennie started, mimicking Lisa, "I'm trying to do normal things," she said, putting a slight emphasis on the word 'normal' which made Lisa laugh out loud. She remembered their last conversation about Jennie not being "normal".

"Ha! So, how is it working for you? Feeling a little normal yet?" Lisa asked. Her big, brown eyes were sparkling with the embers of her laughter.

"Do I feel normal?" Jennie muttered thoughtfully. "Hmm..."

Was she feeling normal? Absolutely not! Her heart was still beating madly against the walls of her chest. Her pulse was racing. She was sweating under her overcoat, and it wasn't because of all the walking and climbing up steepy narrow stairs and inclined alleyways. She was feeling anxious, awkward, giddy, exhilarated and weak on the knees. Which she thought was unfair because Lisa looked perfectly fine and beautiful and definitely normal and steady while standing in front of her, looking perfectly cool in her black tight pants, black leather boots and thick brown overcoat, with her camera dangling on her neck. Her long hair was softly dancing in harmony with the chilly breeze and her brow-length bangs was, well, non-locomotive.

But then again, this was how she would "normally" feel whenever Lisa was around. Whenever Lisa would find her on her solitary and caught her offguard. Was she feeling normal?

"Definitely," Jennie said with a smile.

"Good, good," Lisa said, nodding her head, "No. I mean, that's great to know," she added.

"So, uhm, who are you with?" Jennie inquired. She wanted so bad to engage Lisa in a conversation, casual or not. Nonsensical or with profundity. Whatever. She would not care. Just as long as Lisa would talk to her. She just missed talking to Lisa.

Lisa shook her head and smiled.

"No one. I usually travel alone. I mean, I don't want to bother anyone, especially since I do a lot of stops for you know, this," she said, pointing her camera. "What about you?"

"None. I'm on my own," Jennie said quickly.

"Hmm. No bodyguards? No personal driver waiting at the gate?" Lisa asked jokingly. But deep inside, she was silently hoping that there was no one waiting for Jennie at the gate of the village. Or anywhere near Tongyeong.

"Nope. Not everyone from Gangnam carries an entourage with them, Lisa. That's, like, a highkey kind of thing already," Jennie answered, thinking about the number of times that she would tag along an entourage with her whenever she goes. Her mother's doing, of course. And her entourage would mostly consist of a couple of bodyguards and a driver on a typical day.

"But you're not like 'everyone,' though," Lisa blurted before she could stop herself.

"Thank you. But I don't think that's a normal thing to say to someone who's still trying desperately to find her normal spot in a normal world, Lisa," Jennie said, laughing.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Lisa said, laughing shyly.

"It's okay. I was just teasing you, anyway," Jennie said, unable to wipe off the gummy smile on her face.

And then there was silence. Not an awkward kind of silence. Nor a nagging kind. But more like a calculating kind. Like, they both fell quiet at the same time. Synchronically. Both anxiously waiting for the other to break it for the both of them. And both were looking away from each other's eyes.

Lisa chose to stare at the overlooking view of the Hallyu Park, while Jennie was staring at Lisa's mouth and noticed how it was shaped like Angelina Jolie's. Jennie loved Angelina. The Hollywood star was a consistent candidate of being the best dressed female on the fashion magazine where she used to work in New York. Which already felt like eons ago, Jennie thought.

"So..." Lisa did the favor. So sudden that Jennie had to avert her eyes away from Lisa's mouth as quickly as possible.

"So..." Jennie mimicked, her heart was racing. She was now nudging the small crack on the pavement on the spot where she was standing, using the nose of her boot. Her hands were tucked inside the deep pockets of her overcoat, sweating.

"Do you, maybe, want to--,"

"Sure!" Jennie responded without further ado, her face lit up.

"I was about to invite you for a cup of coffee," said Lisa, amused at how Jennie was too quick to accept a half-formed invitation without even thinking.

"Lisa, I said sure. Let's go find a place to eat. I'm starving!" Jennie said and grabbed Lisa's hand without thinking and led them to another narrow slopey alleyway which would lead to where the coffee shops and snack bars were located.

After a few minutes of walking back and forth and discussing which shops they would go in and what food to it, like they've been doing it for years already, Jennie and Lisa both agreed that they should try a local delicacy called ggulbbang first and a heavy meal later on.

Ggulbbang is a soft, chewy doughnut-like honey bread dipped in syrup and filled with either sweet paste of red bean, sweet potato or yuzu. They were told that it was best to compliment it with a hot drink. So, Jennie ordered a cup of latte while Lisa ordered her favorite chocolate milk.

Jennie chuckled softly while staring at Lisa's large cup of chocolate milk.

"What?" asked Lisa, wondering what Jennie found amusing.

They were inside a small cozy cafe at the top of the village, that offered the famous ggulbbang, cakes and some other pastries. Also offered were cold and hot beverages and ice creams of different flavors.

"Nothing. I just remember the look on the old waitress' face back in The Era when you ordered choco milk," Jennie said.

"Oh, she was pissed at me that day. She told me, herself," Lisa said, laughing.

"She actually looked like she was about to poke you in the eye with her pen for a moment back there," Jennie said.

They chose a two-seater table beside a glass window that would give them access to the overlooking view of the Gangguan Port below. The cafe was already decorated with small cut-outs of heart-shaped art papers that were hung on the ceilings with thin red strings like tiny heart-shaped raindrops. Valentine's Day spirit was already hanging in the air. No wonder the cafe was filled mostly of couples who were making a big deal out of the tiny hearts hanging above their heads, looking all giddy and lovey dovey.

"She's so grumpy!" Lisa said with her aegyo voice which made Jennie laughed out loud.

"Oh god! I'll pretend that I did not hear that!" said Jennie with a grimace with a laugh because Lisa's aegyo was cute.

"Sorry, can't help it," Lisa said, laughing. "Anyway, have you been to The Era lately?" she asked while fishing off the chocolate foams on the surface of her drink using the tip of the red drinking straw.

"No, I haven't. Why?" Jennie responded and took a sip from her cup.

"Nothing. I was there the other day," said Lisa.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I handed the owner his hard copy. I took a snap of him once before and I promised him I'll give him a copy once I've printed it," Lisa answered.

"Seriously? Wow! You must be the first one to have lured William away from his kitchen and took a picture of him. He's mostly shy."

"You know him?" asked Lisa, wondering vaguely if what the waitress said about Jennie being a mafia boss was true.

"Of course. He's a friend of Dad's. My father used to hang out at The Era when he was still, you know, healthy and alive. William and I met at the funeral. I like him," Jennie answered.

"Oh," said Lisa. Relieved that Jennie was not a mafia boss or whatever. "Is that why you've spent a lot of time in there, too?"

"Have you been stalking me, Lisa?" Jennie teased Lisa.

"No! Well, maybe a little," Lisa answered, laughing and blushing. "The waitress told me about it. I told you I did look for you after that day, haven't I?"

"You really did, huh?" Jennie muttered, beaming. "Anyway, I was told that he would order the same black coffee whenever he's at The Era, my father, and would sit at the same table everytime. The table that I was sitting when you first saw me. So, I thought I'd like to see what he used to see everytime he was there when he was still around," Jennie explained and looked at Lisa curiously. "You must think I'm stupid?"

Lisa shook her head vigorously.

"No. I think that was sweet," Lisa answered truthfully. "I've never lost anyone important in my life yet, so I don't know how it's like. But I think what you did was sweet. Do you miss him?"

"Everyday," Jennie said. "But life has to move on at some point, right?"

"Right. But it doesn't mean we have to totally leave the past behind, I guess?"

"I guess so," Jennie said. "Anyway, enough about me. Tell me more about yourself."

"Like what?" Lisa asked, starting to get shy. She was never used to telling people more about herself.

"Like, what's on your mind right now?"















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