Linger - Part 2
Part 2
Located at the end of a cul-de-sac, the house was perfect. With the ocean practically at its backyard, it was quiet and secluded, but yet not too far from the town's main thoroughfares. Just the place to finish what she'd been unable to do in Seoul, and for that, she had Tiffany to thank. Such were the perks of having a manager who also happened to be your best friend. Tiffany had generously loaned Jessica her family's vacation home, without a thought of procuring any pecuniary interest out of it, although Jessica knew the house was, at certain times of the year, rented out to holidaymakers.
"No need to thank me. Just get that writing done by the deadline and I'll be thanking you instead," was all Tiffany had said while helping to load her luggage into the car.
Presently, there was a very attentive Kwon Yuri helping to unload her two bulging suitcases from the truck, transferring them onto the front porch while Jessica stood in the gravel driveway, looking at the smallish, single storey house, its orange tile roof glowing dimly amidst YulSoo's setting sun.
"Unnie, if you'll just unlock the door..." She heard the girl calling out to her.
"All right, I can take it from here." Jessica strolled up to the porch, fumbling in her tote bag of some overpriced French make, the brand of which Yuri recognised but couldn't pronounce. She soon produced a bunch of keys and some cash which she waved at the girl. "Here, get yourself some ice-cream."
Ice-cream? ICE-CREAM? I fuckin'wanna SCREAM! Looking at the cash offered to her, shoulders drooping, ego deflated somewhat at being made to feel like she was 10 years old, Yuri had lost some of her enthusiasm. In a small voice, she politely rejected, "It's all part of the service. No need to tip me."
"I insist." Jessica was most adamant as she stuffed the bills into Yuri's hip pocket, and then airily waved her off, "Now, scoot."
That's it? Scoot? No "thanks for the ride"? Horrid, horrid unnie. But I'll let it go this time since you're so pretty.
Reluctantly, Yuri got into the truck, calling out to the horrid unnie as she slammed the door shut, just to remind her, "Your car will be ready in 3 days. We'll deliver it if you can't come down. See you then!"
And with that, she sped off, waving, leaving Jessica Jung to her own devices.
*
There were two bedrooms. The one that was en suite was of a good size, and had a queen-sized bed; the other, which was smaller, only had two singles. It wasn't at all difficult to guess which of the two Jessica chose to room in.
Dragging her suitcases into the larger room, and upon close examinination of the bed, Jessica, who had a mild case of OCD, wondered if she should change the bed linen, although they looked perfectly clean. She knew Tiffany had been there on vacation only two weekends ago -not with her family but with a boyfriend. Thinking of the activities that Tiffany and boyfriend might have engaged themselves in, right there on that queen-sized, made up her mind for her. She shuddered.....
I'm SO changing the sheets!
But before getting started on the chore, she thought perhaps she should give Tiffany a ring to let her know she had arrived safely at her destination.
*
Tiffany Hwang took an eternity to pick up her call.
But the moment her voice came on the line, "H-h-hello?" ragged breathing and all, sounding as if she'd just taken part in a marathon, Jessica knew.
"Why do you sound so breathless?" In an instant, Jessica was suspicious when she heard giggling and what was so distinctly a man's voice somewhere in the background. "What's going on?"
There was a pause, followed by more giggling and the commotion of Tiffany hushing someone up. Finally, breath hitching, Tiffany had gained enough composure to say, "N-nothing. Just... working out on my treadmill."
"You don't have a treadmill, Tiff," Jessica deadpanned.
"I don't?" Tiffany ran a hand through her dishevelled hair, not in the least bit embarrassed at being caught fibbing. "Haha, thanks for calling me out."
"And for the record, Miss Hwang, neither do you work out. Unless, of course, you consider sex a form of working out?"
"You know, I actually do? Waiiiit....how'd you even know I'm with...uh.. someone?"
"I'm not 5 and not exactly hard of hearing either. I heard him. Duh."
"Bitch." Tiffany slapped away the hand that had made its way to her derrière. She pulled at the sheets, covering herself as she got off the bed. Putting a finger to her lips, she motioned for the man in her bed not to make a sound.
Jessica smiled into the phone. Tiffany Hwang was the only one who could use that derogatory term on her and get away with it.
" 'Sup?" Tiffany asked, again smacking at the amorous hand that was clearly quite impatient to get her back into bed.
"Nah, just calling to let you know I got here safely, is all."
"Grrreat, so you got there safely. Byeeeee!"
"Tiffany Hwang, if you dare hang up on me-"
"Woman, you're calling at a very inopportune time," Tiffany hissed. " Speak, before he loses his you-know-what."
"Fine, wanton wench. I just want to remind you..." Jessica breathed into the phone, sounding urgent, "NOT to tell her where I am?"
"But what if she keeps hounding me?" Tiffany wailed on the other end of the line. "You know she can be really persistent at times?"
"Do you want us to meet the publisher's deadline or not? "
"Yes, but Jessi- "
"Then you keep mum. It's that simple,"Jessica said, matter-of-factly.
All she needed was some peace of mind and breathing space. Lots and lots of it. Of late, it felt as if she was up to her neck in crap, suffocating, with all those emotional fuck ups that had happened between them. She was cracking up. All that adversity was screwing up her head, and ultimately, writer's block could only be the worst thing that could plague anyone who made a living out of writing. Furthermore, there was that deadline to meet. Getting sued by the publisher for failure to deliver was, simply put, not an option.
"You make everything sound so... final."
"It is. Everything ended the day she announced her engagement to him. As far as I'm concerned, we're through. Finished. No looking back."
"Chrissakes, Jessica. I do so hate seeing the two of you ending up like this when you're both near and dear to me. Isn't there anything- ?"
"Don't start, Tiff. Don't. Even. Go. There. I know where you're coming from and I love you for it but, no, there isn't anything you can do. In time, she'll get over me, just like I need to forget we ever happened. I'll have that book finished. You, Tiffany Hwang, can continue to go about doing whatever you're supposed to do without having to get screwed over for my sake. Book gets published. No one gets sued. Book sells-hopefully? And everyone's happy. Period. "
The entire house was in darkness by the time she'd ended her phone conversation with Tiffany.
In the darkened room, she sat at the edge of the bed for a while, ruminating over things, past events, that had occurred not so long ago, which had brought her to where she was then. Yes, breaking up with someone who once was your entire world was nothing short of painful; the hurt, unbearable. But in any case, Jessica needed to move on and start her life over with a clean slate- if she were to keep her sanity about her.
Life goes on....with or without her.
*
The sound of her empty tummy growling, complaining of a lack of food, reminded her that she was hungry and needed to replenish her system with suitable nutrition-preferably, something filling.
Flicking on the lights before padding into the kitchen, Jessica noticed that it came equipped with all manner of modern appliances, but for one whose culinary skills were close to being non-existent, the devices were decidedly redundant.
Rummaging through the cabinets, she found some instant ramyeon, but a cursory check revealed that they were long past the expiry date. Going down with food poisoning from the consumption of expired ramyeon on her first evening in the house was not an option, even if she was freaking starving. The fridge was bare, save for several bottles of mineral water which were still good for drinking. She immediately grabbed a bottle, uncapped it and took a long swig to quench her thirst.
Hmm, why does thirst always co-exist with hunger?
It was while pondering over this trivial question that she noticed a squarish, rather plain-looking leaflet on the fridge, held fast by a magnet. It was a restaurant flyer which, surprisingly- as nondescript as it looked-came with an extensive menu. On the flyer, the eatery also stated that they did deliveries, and for the first time that day, Jessica Jung felt relieved. Reaching for her phone, she dialed the number to The House of Choi.
*
It was a slow evening for the tiny restaurant situated at the corner of a row of shops fronting the pier. Presently, there were only 3 diners occupying the table nearest to the entrance.
Seated on a high stool behind the counter, Sooyoung had a platter of dakbal in front of her. Looking down at the delectable pieces of chicken feet, in all their spicy-red, chilli-peppered glory, she was preoccupied with only one thought :
Do I eat them all now or save some for later?
To Sooyoung, life couldn't be any simpler.
If only all of life's decisions lay in whether to eat all the chicken feet at one go, or to save some for a midnight snack.
But seeing her best friend since forever sauntering into the restaurant just then, she sighed. There would not be enough for later if she were to share them with Yuri now, especially so if Yuri hadn't yet had dinner.
No matter. Best friends share everything. Even chicken feet.
"Yo. Why're you staring at that plate of dakbal?" Yuri asked, leaning back lazily against the counter, looking first at Sooyoung, then at the chicken feet, and then back at Sooyoung again.
"Want some? You look hungry."
"You look even hungrier. If I know you, you're only asking out of politeness. Thanks, but no thanks," Yuri declined." Wouldn't dream of robbing you of your midnight snack."
"You're a friend after my own heart, for knowing me so well." Sooyoung beamed, holding a piece of dakbal with one hand while picking up the phone with the other- some woman had just called in to order a takeout. Sooyoung gestured madly at Yuri with the hand holding the dakbal, urging her to help take down the order. "Good evening. House of Choi, finest Korean and Chinese cuisine in YulSoo. Yes, we deliver. May I take your order please? Mmhmm...one order of jjajangmyeon, one order of deep-fried mandu, and one sweet 'n' sour pork with rice. More kimchi and kkakdugi? Of course, of course. Not a problem. Your name, address and phone number, Ma'am? We'll try to deliver within the hour. Thank you."
While Sooyoung shouted the orders into the kitchen for her mother to start cooking, Yuri stared at the address and phone number that she'd helped take down as if she knew them from somewhere, but what was of utmost familiarity was the name, Jessica Jung.
*
After changing the bed linen, Jessica took a shower. She'd just dried herself off with a towel when she heard the doorbell chiming. Shrugging into her bathrobe, she flew to open the door, expecting the delivery person from the eatery.
"You!" was the first thing she said when she flung open the door and came face-to-face with a helmet-clad Kwon Yuri. She saw a scooter in the driveway.
"Your food, unnie." Yuri grinned. She was carrying a cumbersome, metal box that was used to hold the food.
"Good grief. Besides towing and repairing cars, do you also moonlight as food deliveryperson?" Jessica asked, stepping aside to let the girl in.
"Just helping a friend out," Yuri explained, removing her helmet.
Jessica led the way into the kitchen and looked on with mouth agape as Yuri transferred the food from the metal box to the kitchen table. They were really large portions and they soon took up all the space on the small table. As hungry as she was, there was no way she would ever be able to finish them by herself.
Paying Yuri for the food, she suddenly had a notion on how to resolve the issue of over-abundant food. "You look hungry."
"Funny, but my friend just said the same thing to me earlier."
"You haven't eaten dinner, have you?"
"Nope."
"I didn't know they come in such large portions. How would you like to help eat them?"
"Uh, I'm not sure..." Yuri began, a litle hesitant, but a quick-acting Jessica had already pushed her down onto a chair.
Sitting down next to Yuri, Jessica thrust a pair of chopsticks into her hands. "Eat," she fairly commanded.
At the receiving end of Jessica Jung's bossiness, and at a loss for words, Yuri could only meekly comply by putting a piece of sweet 'n' sour pork into her mouth. She was seated at close proximity to this snooty, quirky woman in a fluffy bathrobe who quite evidently wasn't wearing anything else underneath it; who had just showered and washed her hair; the lingering scent of shampoo combined with shower gel, raping her senses with their heavenly smell. She suddenly felt very small, very shy, and terribly self-conscious. She didn't know why she'd begged Sooyoung to let her do the delivery in her place. She didn't even once think she would end up dining with the woman.
Then, Yuri heard Jessica asking, "Say, kid. Are you any good at hooking up computers to the Internet?"
Yuri was about to reply when she noticed that the lower half of Jessica's robe had slipped and parted when she sat down, exposing her tofu-smooth thighs. There were thighs and then there were thighs but Yuri couldn't understand why she found Jessica's thighs so intriguing. The only plausible reason she could come up with was that they were quite simply-Jessica Jung's thighs. Without meaning to, Yuri found herself staring at them. She would've continued to ogle had Jessica not slapped her on her shoulder, aptly reminding her of her place.
"Stop staring," Jessica chided, adjusting her robe, starting to wonder about Yuri's sexual orientation. "It's really rude. And you haven't answered my question."
"S-sorry. I didn't mean to...you know...stare. " Yuri had never been so embarrassed in her entire life, to be called out like that by someone she hardly knew. "Yeah, I know how to hook up a computer. "
"Can you help? "
"I'll be glad to."
*
As it turned out, Wifi wasn't available at the house. Tiffany had apologetically told Jessica that there was Internet connection, but she would have to depend on a modem plugged into a phone line, the old-school way. Not being the least bit computer savvy, Jessica thought she would sound the kid out, thinking maybe she would be able to help hook up her laptop to the Internet.
It took Kwon Yuri all of several minutes to do that, and she'd done it effortlessly.
Hmm...Commendable really. Jessica was beginning to see her in another light. A good one.
When the laptop had finished booting up, the first thing Yuri saw on its desktop was the wallpaper splashed across its screen-larger than life, were two women in bed, in an intimate pose.
One was Jessica Jung; the other was just as pretty and almost as fair in complexion, and she had long, blonde hair.
* tbc
A/N: Oh god. First YulSoo, then the House of Choi. So lame, right? And there's Tiffany and Sooyoung coming in. A little of Jessica's backstory is revealed. All cliche as hell, but guess who's the other woman in Jessica's laptop wallpaper?
Some footnotes:
dakbal 닭발 - chicken feet ( refer spoiler below ) don't squirm... it's a delicacy in Oriental cuisine!
jjajangmyeon 짜장면 - black beanpaste noodles
mandu 만두 - a kind of dumpling, with a meat & veggie filling, the Korean equivalent of the Japanese gyouza & Chinese guotie
kkakdugi 깍두기 - radish kimchi, usually in cube form
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Dakbal, anyone?
(cr: yulyulk's instagram )
