November 3, 2019
Jake and Bella walked into a park that Bella could only describe as designed with pebbles. There were several tall trees scattered all around as far as Bella's eyes could see.
As they entered, they saw a group of maybe ten to twelve children wearing white soccer uniforms. If she were to guess, their ages ranged from eight to maybe fifteen. They sat cross-legged on the pebbled floor arranged in a semi-circle, listening to a young man in track suit pants and a white cotton shirt. She assumed he was their coach.
Apart from them, the park seemed empty.
"Let's walk this way." Jake said. He led her to the far side of the park where there was a pagoda structure in the middle of an octagonal enclosure full of water. A solitary concrete bridge extended from the pagoda to the front of the enclosure.
The pagoda had three stories. Each story was defined with tiles arranged in an octagonal pattern. The second story had a balcony. The first level had thin red columns standing as if to support the winged roof tiles. Jake asked Bella to stay still as he fished for his phone. He seemed to take the wrong one out and fished for the other. He stood behind her and took a picture of the two of them in front of the bridge. They stepped aside when an older couple asked to cross the bridge. They took a few more pictures from the left side of the pagoda.
When Jake placed his phone back in his pocket, Bella could not help but make a comment. "I see you have two phones."
"I do. One for work and the other for uh, leisure."
"The one you used just now was for leisure?" Bella pressed.
"It was."
"Okay, then." Bella did not push the subject and looked off into the distance. She leaned against the top of the octagon-shaped structure. She used to think that a songwriter's life was like most of the regular musicians out there. But Jake gave her the impression that a Korean songwriter's life was cutthroat and strict. She felt that his work life was structured. What kind of schedules did they have if they had no time for themselves for more than three days within the next 365? Why did their company even need to send him to and from wherever he went using a company car? Was it because he also sang song guides?
Jake nudged her gently. "What are you thinking about, Princess?"
Bella looked at him. "You don't have to answer my question if you can't, okay? But I'm really curious about something. Something just doesn't make sense to me."
"Go ahead."
"I'm really confused about your job. From what I understand, your company is quite strict with you even to the point where you don't have vacations for an entire year. Is that standard for all K-pop songwriters?"
Jake sighed. "Maybe we should go sit down."
Bella's heart quickened. "Are you going to tell me you're really a hitman?"
"What?" Jake seemed confused. "No, I'm not a hitman! Princess...."
"Is there like a bounty on my head or something?" Bella refused to move.
Jake scooted closer to her. "Princess, trust me, okay? No one is going to harm you and no one is out to get you. Let's go sit on that bench over there." He basically dragged her to a wooden bench that was about thirty paces from where they stood. A shrubbery of green was behind them. They were surrounded by trees.
Bella sat silently, looking Jake up and down.
Jake took a deep breath.
Bella could see he was struggling with something. "Jake? If you can't tell me, it's okay."
