Chapter 17  

I turned off the engine and got out of the car after finding a parking space. I headed toward the passenger side to open the door, but AhJung burst through it before I could even get there. As she closed the door, a whistle blew beside her. She quickly turned at the sound and immediately exclaimed, "Yes, I’m coming!"

She had been ready to run when she suddenly stopped. AhJung must have realized what I already knew; the person blowing the whistle was not me but the parking enforcer.

Both Na AhJung and I stood there in silence. It was like the Pavlov reflex. Upon hearing the whistle again, AhJung flinched.

Feeling guilty about doing that to the girl, I sighed with a heavy heart. For a moment, I became angry at my brother for letting it get this far. If my brother had not initially brought her home, I wouldn’t have had to harass her to this extent. But what was done was done, whether I felt guilty or not. Let’s just be thankful that I found out before it was too late.

To alleviate my guilt, I walked behind the frozen AhJung and placed my palm on top of her head.

"Not that way." I turned her head towards the mall’s entrance. "Let’s go this way."

"Oh." AhJung nodded her reddening face and started to walk toward the mall entrance.

I had been walking next to her when the sound of the whistle was heard again. I took my two hands and shielded her ears from it.

***

First, we entered the furniture section and asked the sales rep for help.

"I need to buy everything for a girl’s room, what do you think I will need?" I asked her.

"Excuse me?" said the rep.

"I have a bed, wardrobe, and a desk, but what else would I need? For a girl’s room," I explained.

"Oh...one moment." Looking confused, the sales rep opened a drawer underneath the register and took out a catalog.

I turned back during this moment and saw Na AhJung wandering around.

"If you look in here, you can see the model designs of girl’s rooms. You can use it as a reference." The sales rep opened the catalog and placed it in front of me.

I looked through the catalog in detail. AhJung’s room was designed like a castle in Versailles with white and luxurious antique furniture. I indicated the furniture pieces that would be needed to complement the decor. A vanity, full-length mirror, vase, tea table and chairs, cabinets, teddy bear...Is a teddy bear also considered furniture?

"Do you sell this here also?" I asked, pointing to the large teddy bear that sat on the bed in the picture.

"No, we don’t. That’s just for decoration because most girl’s rooms have at least one doll of that sort."

"Then I need to buy one of these also," I mumbled to myself.

I entered the teddy bear into my brain. Suddenly something unexpected caught my attention in the picture.

"What’s this?"

From the top of the bed frame, a drape flowed and wrapped itself around the bed like a white veil. Na AhJung arrived next to me and interrupted us.

"Oh, I know what that is. It’s a mosquito screen," she answered brightly, glad to find a piece of furniture she knew about.

The sales rep in front of us opened her mouth delicately to correct her.

"That’s...a canopy."

"Canopy?" AhJung looked as if she had never heard of such a thing. "What’s that?"

At AhJung’s question, the sales rep turned the page and showed us a picture of an even more extravagant canopy.

"You drape it over your bed like this as a decorative touch," explained the rep. "Isn’t it pretty? It’s a bed for a princess."

AhJung nodded as if she understood. "I see, it’s pretty...useless."

"No, it’s very useful. In the summer, it can also function as a mosquito screen," insisted the rep.

"But it’s all open on this side," AhJung pointed out.

"That portion is so the person can enter and exit through it."

"And the mosquitos can also enter and exit through it."

"As its main purpose is decorative, it will be difficult for it to function exactly like a mosquito screen," said the now perturbed rep.

AhJung scratched her head in confusion while examining the canopy. Her eyes made it apparent that she still thought it was useless. The sales rep saw this, so she started to list the positives of the canopy.

"It will be great to have one of these in your home. It’s a girl’s fantasy, a delicate chiffon canopy."

"Ugh, cleaning chiffon is a handful. You have to wash it manually, and since it’s so thin, it will probably melt when it gets wet. I’d be afraid to even rub it." AhJung shuttered, unwilling to even attempt cleaning such a thing.

I interrupted Na AhJung and replied casually, "You won’t be doing laundry anyways, so just use it."

"What?"

I ignored her and flipped over the page to the one I had been looking.

"Excluding the bed, wardrobe, and desk, I want everything else," I told the sales rep.

"Oh, yes, of course!" The rep smiled widely and went to the register. Next to me, Na AhJung had her mouth wide open in shock. I took out the credit card from my wallet and pointed at the catalog with it.

"This teddy bear, where can I buy it?"

***

Na AhJung

Inside the mall Starbucks, I sat hugging the giant teddy bear which I hadn’t been able to find a separate seat for, trembling in fear. Lee JiHan had not only bought an entire set of furniture to decorate my room but also bought a stack of clothes to fill the closet. He’d even bought a makeup set! Still unable to decipher what he was up to, I watched in fear as JiHan continued to open his wallet.

Why? Why is he buying all this stuff for me? What’s he up to? Could it be that the card that he is using left and right, is secretly under my name?! I trembled as I imagined myself receiving the astronomical credit card statement and being sold away for my inability to pay it back.

"Are you cold?" Lee JiHan asked me, returning from getting us our drinks.

"Uh, no."

"Then why are you trembling?"

"Because I’m afraid..."

JiHan tilted his head quizzically at my answer. "Why are you afraid?"

"Um, I’m sorry, but, could I take a look at that card?"

"The card?"

"Yes. The card you’ve been using all day. It’s just...the design looked pretty."

"First, take this," JiHan said and handed me the Americano.

He placed the overly sweet looking frappuccino topped with a mountain of whip cream in front of himself and took out the credit card from his wallet. With trembling hands, I took the card from him and checked the name. LEE, JIHAN. Seeing the gold blocked lettering, I sighed in relief. I never thought this jerk’s name would look so beautiful.

"Wow! It’s really pretty."

The world suddenly looked more beautiful, like I was a newly released prisoner. As I returned the credit card back to him, JiHan examined the card, not understanding what all the fuss was about. Finally able to calm down, I wrapped my hands around the warm Americano that he’d brought me. I remembered back to a month and a couple of days ago, when Lee JiHan and I had sat across from each other at an airport Starbucks.

I wondered how the cold, distant JiHan, who had taken the frappuccino I bought for him without even thanking me, had become the JiHan that bought me this Americano. I was just about to drink the Americano when I froze. Did he put something in my drink? I hurriedly put down the Americano and fell back.

"What? Is it hot?"

"Huh? Oh, yes." I nodded as JiHan put down his drink next to mine.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m putting it there so yours will cool down faster."

"But then yours will melt!" I said, pointing at the frappuccino.

JiHan shrugged. "I don’t mind," he replied. "Just because it melts a little won’t cause me to hurt my tongue."

He said it in a way that made it seem like he was worried I would hurt mine, and it peaked my suspicions. There must be something if he’s trying this hard to make me drink my Americano. I was glaring at my drink suspiciously when I heard JiHan’s voice.

"If you need anything else for the house, let me know. I don’t know what kind of things girls need."

I don’t need anything else, I just need you to go away. It was scarier when he’s being nice to me than when he was harassing me. Feeling a chill on the back of my neck, I hugged the teddy bear tighter and gulped.

***

Not having drunk a single drop of my Americano, we left Starbucks and headed for the grocery section. Lee JiHan paid for some snacks, wine and cheese, and finished our shopping. After parking at the apartment garage, JiHan grabbed all the shopping bags by himself and got out of the car. When I went to help him, he refused my assistance and told me to just take care of my teddy bear.

In a horror film, there is always a scene like this. You can sense that a ghost will pop out and soon, but because you don’t know when or where it will happen, you tense up in anticipation for it, agonizing over it. Every time that happened in movies, I couldn’t stand not knowing how frightful it would be. Sometimes I’d cry, pleading with the ghost to just hurry up and show itself. This very moment was like that.

What kind of horrific fate awaited me? How and when was Lee JiHan going to turn on me and attack? As he and I rode the elevator, I squeezed the teddy bear with my hands folded in prayer around it. Just go back to how you were treating me. I’d rather my body be exhausted than my mind. Even after we arrived at the apartment, my prayers went unanswered.

Lee JiHan’s manners continued to be kind as he prepared dinner, and after we had finished eating, he did not command me to do any chores and just left me alone. I guess forcing me to rest was a command in itself, but other than that, he did not hand out any chores.

Why? For goodness sake, why? Crouched on the bed with my teddy bear, I sent JiKyung a message in hopes of figuring out the answer.

"You’re brother is being nice to me all of a sudden..."

[How exactly is he being nice to you?]

"Everything..."

The moment I sent the message, JiKyung called me out of the blue.

"Geez, you scared me!" Jumping in fright, I answered the phone with my guard up and lowered my voice.

"Hello?"

[What do you mean, everything?] JiKyung asked seriously.

"It’s–" I was about to relay my entire day’s worth of strangeness when the teddy bear caught my attention and I immediately shut up. This teddy bear which I had refused and which Lee JiHan had insisted I have. The thing I had carried around with me all day...it wouldn’t be bugged, would it?

I knew it didn’t make sense, but my imagination was running wild, and there was no other logical reason that came to mind. Why would JiHan buy me a teddy bear? He couldn’t have bought it for me because I would actually like it, could he? No. But at what possible timing could he have put a listening device in it? He gave it to me the moment he bought it.

My mind’s logic overcame my imagination, but I still grabbed the back of the teddy bear and shoved it in the closet. Closing the closet door, I finally felt safe.

[AhJung? Are you listening?]

"Yes. It’s okay now." Just in case, I hid under the covers and answered in a whisper.

[I ran out of a meeting because of you. What were you talking about? JiHan is being nice to you?]

I told him about JiHan carrying me to the bed and offering to let me stay at his apartment and buying me all this stuff. I gave him a timely play by play of every strange action that his brother had done that day.

"What do you think this is? What do you think he’s planning?"

At my final question, JiKyung contemplated in silence then answered.

[Did he start liking you?]

"What?!"

[Not as a girl, just as a person.]

"Oh..."

[He can pretend to hate something even though he likes it, but he can’t pretend to like something if he hates it.]

"Really?"

[I told you last time. He’s very consistent with what he likes and dislikes. He’ll never do something he doesn’t want to.]

"That’s true." I nodded my head as I remembered the list of JiHan’s traits I had tried to memorize in the past.

[He must have changed his mind within the month. He may not have agreed to the wedding, but he at least seems to want to be friendly with you.]

"Do you really think that’s what this is? I keep thinking this is some sort of new plot," I mumbled unconfidently.

[Plot?]

"Pretending to be good to me and then, bam! Stabbed in the back. Is he trying to get me to lower my guard and then lure me into a trap? That kind of thing."

[No way.]

"Hey. Last time, I was ecstatic when he told me I could get a day off and then he ended up following me around everywhere and annoying me. It was a nightmare."

[Well, at that time, it felt like he was throwing you a bone. I thought it was weird that he said he would give you a day off in the first place.]

"If you thought it was weird, why didn’t you tell me last time? Why are you telling me this now?"

[If I told you that then, you wouldn’t have gotten a single wink of sleep, afraid of the terrors that awaited you the next day.]

"Well...that’s probably true."

[Anyways, this time will be different. He said he was sorry and would play fair with his own mouth. I think this time, he is sincere.]

"I hope you’re right..."

[Of course, there’s no way a worrywart like you is ever going to believe that.]

I nodded as he described me perfectly.

JiKyung reassured me by adding, [I’ll call JiHan and try to find out what’s happening. For now, quit worrying.]

"Okay. Thank you."

I was about to end the call on a positive note when I heard a knock at the door. I hurriedly hung up the phone in fright and kicked away the blanket. Outside, I heard Lee JiHan’s voice.

"Can we talk outside?"

Lee JiHan didn’t open the door but waited for my answer. I realized that my space included a door. A door that blocked anyone from carelessly interrupting or seeing me. My sudden awareness of my privacy caught me off guard. Due to this sudden realization, I sat there numbly for a moment, then finally got up to answer the door.

"Ah, yes, I’m coming!"