CHASING RYAN

CHASING RYAN 1

Author's Note:I do not claim ownership to any picture or art on this story.

    Come,let me take you on a ride....

   Every conversation in this book is in Korean except the ones in bold italics. Enjoy.

10 YEARS AGO,JUNE 6TH
GWANGMYEONG-RO AMUSEMENT PARK.

         The sound of sobbing grew louder, annoying Ryan even more,she looked to the crying figure on the bench beside her annoyance written all over her face. She increased the volume of her music for the 3rd time hoping the loudness of her earpiece could drown out the noise this time before returning to the book she was reading.

       She picked up her empty water bottle and tossed it gently at the boy,"heyyyy,you're crying too loud,can you be a little quiet?"she lifted her book showing him the reason she needed him to be quiet.

       The boy looked up at the voice and for the first time he noticed that there was a person there with him. He jerked in shock and embarrassment,his hands immediately going to wipe his face. He looked up again his eyes widening as soon as they fell upon the other person. He opened his mouth to speak but mute exclamations came out.

         Ryan smirked at the expression on the boy's face,"what? Did you see a ghost?",she waved her fingers Infront of her face teasing the other.  ".....is there something on my face?" ,her expression shifted from playful to serious as she began to wipe off imaginary dust from her face.

          "No!...no,I mean, there's nothing on your face",he adjusted his posture,speaking slowly with the amazed expression still on his face. "....I'm just.... surprised on ....on.... you're not Korean right?",he began to stutter afraid to use the wrong words when talking to this foreigner.

         She burst out laughing pointing jokingly to the uniform he was wearing," let me guess, you're not the smartest student in your class right?",her rhetorical question sent him into a state of confusion causing her to laugh even harder. She placed her hand over her mouth to stop her self from laughing,"Clearly I'm not Korean, I'm from Africa",she lifted her hand to her face enabling the boy get a better glimpse of her skin skin with a bright smile plastered to her face.

          The boy looked deeply interested in this conversation totally forgetting he was crying a minute ago,"wow, that's so cool.....then.... how did you learn to speak Korean so well?",he decided to switch into speaking English in other to make her feel more comfortable talking to him.

     "The exact same way you learnt to speak English ",she slammed back immediately her voice sounding thicker in English than when she was speaking Korean. The boy's eyes shot open totally amazed at her switch. She looked back down at her books quickly flipping the pages to continue reading relived that the crying had stopped.
"But why were you crying though?",she asked out of curiosity, her eyes moving from her book to his face which was already back to a sad frown.

       He bowed his head in attempt to hide the tears falling out on its own accord wiping them off with the collar of his shirt. He bit into his lips trying to fight back the tears that were now streaming uncontrollably.

       Ryan cursed internally at the day for the drama it brought. She cringed at the crying boy confused on what to do. She thought of picking up her things and just walking out of here but the crying got louder which distracted her from her plans. She took another look at the crying mess," do you need ....uhmmm.....water?",she rolled her eyes embarrassed at the fastest sympathetic sentence her brain could come up with. She got up on impulse and walked over to the bench a few feet besides her's and sat down right beside the boy with her hand softly placed on his shoulder.
       He leaned into her seeking comfort as he pulled her in for a hug while crying into her shoulder. "My ....my parents are getting a divorce",he cried loudly squeezing the stranger more into the sad hug .