Chapter 12: Getting Down And Dirty?

“You guys had better leave,” Hee Chul said. “Ee Teuk might come after Jae Wook again.”

“I can’t run forever,” Jae Wook said. “What about tomorrow?”

“I’ll call his family later,” Hee Chul said. “That loon needs to be put away.”

“You know his family?” Jae Wook asked.

“His father and mine are golfing buddies. I’ll make sure his father talks to him tonight. That usually works.”

“Can I go with nuna?” Sung Min asked.

“You stay here with me,” Hee Chul said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from Jae Wook and me.

“Let’s go,” Jae Wook said and we started walking.

“See you guys tomorrow,” I waved at Hee Chul and Sung Min.

“Where are we going?” Jae Wook asked.

“Your place or mine?” I asked in return.

“You wanna go to my place?” he said incredulously.

“Why?”

“I live in the slums, Sierra,” he said.

“What slums? There are no slums in Seoul,” I said.

“Sierra… Sierra…” he laughed and slung his arm around my shoulders.

“What?”

“I am now certain that you have been living a very sheltered life,” he said. “Then I guess we should go to my place.”

“Okay…” I said.

“You won’t be okay once we get there…” he said.

“We’ll see,” I said indignantly.

I refused to be scared off. I seriously did not believe that his home was in some kind of slum because I had never seen one before.

“Where are you going?” I asked as he led me past my car, which was waiting in front of the school gates.

“You, Miss Sierra, need a dose of common life. We’re taking the bus,” he said.

“I don’t have a T-Money card,” I said.

“Ah… at least you know you need one,” he laughed.

“I may be pampered, but I’m not totally ignorant,” I huffed.

“At least you know you’re pampered,” he added.

“I’m going home,” I said, turning the other way.

“Hajima…” he coaxed, and caught my hand in his. “I won’t make fun of you anymore.”

“You’d better,” I said, glaring at him with the corner of my eye.

“Araso, araso,” he said, hugging me with one arm. “Kaja…”

Music: Clazziquai Project – Romeo N Juliet

We took a short walk to the bus stop near our school and hopped onto the bus.

“You can pay your fare with coins,” he said, in a tone a teacher would use on a pre-schooler, and dropped some coins into the till.

“That’s one…” I warned, and he grinned.

The bus was quite full, and we had to stand the entire journey.

“Hang on to me,” he said as he held on to the bar and pulled one of my arms to wrap around his waist.

“If this wasn’t obviously a method of keeping me safe, I’d think that you were trying to take advantage of me,” I said as I put both arms around his waist.

“Hey… all couples ride the bus like this,” he said, and nudged me to towards the direction of another couple.

Instead of the guy holding onto the girl, they’d found a corner where they could stand and snuggle. Both guy and girl had their arms wrapped around each other, and not long after, they started necking.

“Omigod… get a room,” I whispered.

“Shh…” he said. “You don’t want him to punch me for having a nosy girlfriend.”

“You’ve taken one for me. Another would be a piece of cake,” I said, smiling smugly.

“Sure…” he sighed. “Piece of cake…”

The bus got more and more crowded. At one point, a group of sweaty football players got onto the bus. We were all sandwiched together, and the sweaty guys were surrounding us.

“I can’t breathe,” I whispered at Jae Wook.

“Just a few more stops,” he said, and grimaced when the bus jerked and the sweaty people around us were squashed further against us.

I wrapped my arms tighter around Jae Wook and pressed my face to his chest. Thank god he smelled nice. I inhaled the clean scent of his shirt, trying to drown the smell of sweat at grime which wafted around the bus.

“That was fun,” he said, as soon as we jumped off the bus at our stop.

“Fun?” I glared at him.

“I had fun,” he grinned mischievously.

“Sure you did. We were pressed against each other from head to toe. Of course it was fun for you,” I said.

“At least I’m vocal with my appreciation,” he laughed. “Let’s go now… it’s just another 10 minutes from here.”

It was then that I’d noticed where I was. He was right, it was the slums.

“This is the main street, so it’s a little well-kept compared to my street,” he said.

If he considered this well-kept, I cannot imagine what his street looked like. These were old buildings, really old buildings. The paint was peeling off the walls, trash cans overflowing with rubbish, clothes hung out of the windows on the dilapidated balconies.

We turned the corner and I was startled when a dog rushed out and barked ferociously. Jae Wook swung his backpack at the dog and yelled at it. His scare tactic worked, and the dog backed off with its tail between its legs.

“You’re afraid of dogs?” he asked me.

“Only stray beasts,” I said.

“That’s the only one here. I think he does it as a game, to see how many people he could scare each day,” Jae Wook smiled and rubbed my shoulder to calm me down.

We finally reached his building, and my first reaction was to thump him on the arm when I saw it.

“Yaa…” he exclaimed and rubbed his arm.

His house was the nicest one on the street. It was actually a small apartment block which was done up recently.

“You said the main street was better-kept than yours,” I said.

“I said the street,” he laughed. “Let’s go up.”

“There had better be no more surprises,” I said.

“Yes, your highness…” he smiled, and held my hand as we walked up the stairs.

2 flights of stairs later, we arrived at the door of his apartment.

“Tada!!!” he announced as he flung open the door.

We took off our shoes and took a step up. A small table sat in the middle of the living cum dining room. His living room was smaller than my bathroom.

“That’s the bathroom,” he said, pointing to one of the 3 closed doors. “My mother’s room, and this room, I share with my brother,” he said and opened the door.

Inside were 2 thin mattresses on the floor, 2 pillows and 2 sets of blankets neatly folded at the foot of the mattresses.

“You have a brother?” I asked.

“Yea.”

“I’ve never seen him in school,” I said.

“He doesn’t go to our school,” he said. “His results didn’t qualify him a spot.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I said. “My father is on the school board. He could’ve gotten your brother in.”

“I just didn’t think it was the right time. I’m not the kind to ask for favors from someone I’ve just met.”

“Well… ask me when you get to know me better then,” I smiled.

“Hyung?” a shirtless guy suddenly popped his head out of the bathroom.

Music: Sorea - 이 노래를 부를게요 (I Would Sing This Song)

I quickly covered my eyes, and he covered his chest with his arms.

“Jae Joong,” Jae Wook laughed. “This is Sierra. Sierra… this is my brother, Jae Joong.”

“Hi,” Jae Joong squeaked and shut the door.

“Have a seat,” Jae Wook said as he gestured to the cushions on the floor.

I sat down and Jae Wook placed a glass of water in front of me.

“So what do you want to eat?” he asked me.

“You’re cooking me dinner?”

“No…” Jae Joong said as he walked out of the bathroom, “I am.”

“My brother does most of the cooking around here,” he said.

“You mean you can’t cook?” I asked.

“Of course I can,” he said.

“Yea… ramyun…” Jae Joong snickered.

Jae Wook and his brother were tall, slim, fair, and very, very good looking. What made them both more endearing were their slightly flawed beauty; birthmarks on their fair and flawless skin.

“Ya! When you were a baby, I was the one who made your ch’uk every day,” Jae Wook said.

“Yes… and I’ve never heard the end of it. Ever since I could reach the stove, I’ve cooked you rice every day,” Jae Joong countered.

“Ya… ima…” Jae Wook said.

“Ok… stop… stop… keumanhae… I’m dying of hunger while the both of you fight,” I laughed.

“What would you like, nuna?” Jae Joong asked.

“Whatever you can make me,” I said.

“Okay…” he smiled, and walked off to the kitchen.