🧣 ──── it was rare, i was there, i remember it all too well.
baek ji-eun, daughter of acclaimed author,
cho jiwoo and famous news anchor, baek yijin
finds herself rea...
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1998...
CHO JIWOO SAT IN THE SNACK SHOP, chowing down the tteokbokki and the fish cakes as the door opened and she was surprised to see Baek Yi-jin. He was seriously everywhere, like a ghost haunting her. She watched as the owner of the snack shop hurried over to fuss over him and somehow ended in tears. As she was getting up to leave, she and Yi-jin locked eyes. Jiwoo looked away and turned to put her red scarf pack on. "Hi," he said awkwardly
"Hello," she nodded, "I'm going to go now," she said, leaving the shop as she had already payed beforehand. As she walked out, Yi-jin began to follow her and eventually caught up with her. They walked in silence before Yi-jin spoke.
"I see you still wear the scarf I gave you,"
Jiwoo shrugged, "It's my favorite," and then they fell into another long silence, walking to the bus stop as they sat down and Jiwoo scuttled away.
"Are you avoiding me?" Yi-jin asked, his tone a little joking.
"Yeah," Jiwoo deadpanned, "But you keep on showing up out of nowhere. Let's just stay from one another, alright?"
Yi-jin frowned, "I don't want that," he said, whining a bit.
"A few months ago you said you wanted to do nothing to do with me and lately you've been acting like we're best friends," Jiwoo remarked dryly, "Decide, do you want nothing to do with me or not?"
Before Yi-jin could reply, the bus arrived and the two of them boarded the bus. "You sit," Jiwoo offered, before Yi-jin could argue, she pushed him down into the seat and stood next to him, burying her head into the red scarf.
They sat in silence then suddenly, the bus came to a sudden stop and Jiwoo would've landed on her face but Yi-jin had grabbed her arm and saved her from falling and breaking her nose. Before she could thank him he got up and silently pulled her into the seat. Jiwoo stayed silent and didn't protest, instead, she just stared out the window until she arrived home.
When she arrived home, her sister was sitting alone on the couch, watching something. "Unnie," she greeted, "What are you doing?" she asked, going over to join her sister on the couch.
"Oh, hey Jiwoo," Ji-na nodded, "Watching Shin Jae-Kyung Sunbaenim. She's so cool ── where were you?" Ji-na asked
"Eating tteokkboki," she admitted
Ji-na looked at her in offence, "You didn't bother to invite me?! I could've drove us!"
Jiwoo grinned, "You've been stressed with work so I didn't want to bother you," Jiwoo then took a black plastic bag out, "I bought some for you too," she said, handing her sister the bag of tteokbokki, her sister beamed and began to chow down the snack, "Thanks, now can you go away?" Ji-na asked
Jiwoo sighed, "Fine─ I just bought you tteokbokki, and then you tell me to go away? Some sister you are," she scoffed before going back to her room
"I love you!" Ji-na called as the door to Jiwoo's room shut. Jiwoo closed the door and decided to clean her room. She began to gather all of the old things she didn't use anymore and she noticed a plain shoebox labelled memories.
She took the box out and began to look through it ── pictures and pictures of her highschool days filled the box. Pictures of Yi-jin as the lead guitarist, pictures of her and Yi-jin in the expensive red car, pictures of their graduation photos, and one picture of her and Yi-jin at the Military center where Jiwoo had sent Yi-jin off and that was the last photo of them together as a couple.
The Cho family had been one of the lucky few who had avoided the increasing IMF crisis as her parents had been business attorneys who had saved so many companies from the crisis and were both paid well. And it helped that the family had old money rooting back from the 40s.
Jiwoo wandered around the neighborhood when she passed a loud noise. Jiwoo was a nosy person and so she turned into the alleyway. "Tell us where your dad is!" a hysteric man cried, "Stop saying that you don't know. That doesn't solve anything! I had to sell my house because of your dad! Now i have to pay rent! If only your father could help us out a little, that would mean so much to us,"
Jiwoo peered into the blue gates and could see two middle-aged men harassing Yi-jin. Her heart sank as she slowly approached them and Yi-jin finally spoke, "Please. I don't know where he is now," Yi-jin admitted.
Another man spoke, "He didn't tell you because he knew we would look for him ── Goodness, there's nothing more we can do. Let's go. He even divorced his wife on paper so his family wouldn't suffer. This family has fallen apart too, chairman Baek's precious eldest son is staying in a tiny room The chairman probably didn't have any other choice,"
"But what about us?" the other one asked, "What about our families?"
Yi-jin interjected, "I'll try to get a job as soon as possible and pay you back little by little,"
"It will take you forever to pay us back with your meager salary!" the man screamed, shoving Yi-jin, "My child is in senior year, studying day and night to go to a good university. My mouth goes dry seeing him study because I don't have any money to pay for his tuition. Part of me is hoping that he fails the exams this year so that there's an extra year to make things better. I am a father who is wishing for his child to fail. that's how pathetic I am!" he began to violently shake Yi-jin
"And you... How can you go to bed every night as if nothing's ever happened!" he began to demand for an answer while Yi-jin continued to apologize
Jiwoo couldn't take it and interjected into the confrontation, She pushed the man away from Yi-jin and stood in front of Yi-jin protectively, "Please stop harassing him! He's a kid ──" she was cut off
"There's nothing I can do now," Yi-jin admitted, on the verge of breaking down "I'm so sorry. But I promise I won't ever be happy again. I'll spend my entire life thinking of all the pain you're going through. I am truly, deeply sorry. I will never be happy, not even for a single moment. I am terribly sorry," he looked down and the two men walked away in despair.
Jiwoo turned to Yi-jin, and could feel tears brimming in the corner of her eyes. But instead of saying anything, she took his hand and took him to the local supermarket.
She handed him the slushie and sat down next to him, "Look at you," she mused, "You're sitting here, sulking while drinking a slushie. Something I'd never thought I'd see you do. It's funny, isn't it? How we both had such bright futures but ended up as losers,"
Yi-jin laughed, "I wanted to go to NASA and you wanted to be an author. How did we both end up right where we started?"
Jiwoo shrugged, "I'm asking myself that question too, Baek Yi-jin," she sighed and got up, brushing her clothes down, "C'mon," she said, extending her hand out to him, he looked up at her in confusion, "Help my find out why we're such losers who don't have any source of joys.
That evening, they were kids again. Chasing each other around and teasing one another while causing havoc like they used to. Back when they were just kids who had bright futures. As they sat on the swings at the playground, panting and catching their breath Jiwoo grinned at Yi-jin
He looked at her in confusion, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked
"I've finally decided on our relationship," she said, "I don't want us to be just exes. You are now officially my loser buddy. And together we'll find our way out of loser town and into Happyland, deal? ── for now, we'll just be two losers having fun together, deal?"
