Meori Apeuda

Chapter 7

Jeju, the main City of Jeju Island, where the copy shop was situated, was absolutely impressive. It was mostly programmed for tourism, unlike the small village where my hostel was. Rows after rows of houses lined the street, a labyrinth someone could easily get lost in.

We searched for a parking spot and then made our way towards the copy shop. On our way there we came across a little marketplace, squeezed into a small alley, where people from the area sold fish and vegetables.

I took out my phone to take some photos, while Chan explained what he knew about the local products. He was looking rather impressive, wearing his oversized black hoodie now, the hood drawn over his baseball cap and wearing his sunglasses again.

People were bustling around the market and the further we went in, the tighter the crowd became. I hated that but I didn't want to appear weak, so I put on a confident smile and nodded, when Chan asked me to go down the alley.

We squeezed through, Chan walking in front of me. Suddenly somebody bumped into me hard from behind, throwing me against Chan. He caught me by the arm. "Woah, are you ok?" I nodded, but felt my throat tightening. Slight panic rose in my chest. So much for putting on a brave face...

Chan studied me for a second. "You're not okay, aren't you?" he asked and I shook my head after a few seconds. Without a further word he spun me around by my shoulders and gently pushed me out of the tight spot we were standing in, manoeuvring me to the outskirts of the market where the crowd cleared up a bit. His hands were never leaving my shoulders.

He leaned me against a small transporter and positioned himself so that nobody would come too close to me. Gently rubbing my upper arms he murmured: "Slow breaths K, it's gonna pass soon. I'm here, nobody's gonna push you over ok?" I nodded, concentrating on my breathing and snapping my rubber band.

Minutes, that seemed to last an eternity, later my breathing normalised finally. I rubbed my hands over my face, exhaling sharply. "God I hate that so much, I can't even tell you!" I hissed and Chan hugged me, pressing me softly against him. "I know, Darling. But it's nothing to be ashamed of, ok? Don't worry about it too much."

I was reeling too much over the fact that he hugged me again and that he had called me Darling to answer properly, so I just nodded.

"I'm still owing you an Ice cream, so what do you think, shall we get one?" Chan asked after a minute and I made an approving noise. He let go of me and took my hand in his, as if it was the most normal thing in this world, guiding me out of the market. One of the last stands was a fruit stand with loads of pineapples and citrus fruits like lemons and funny looking tangerines. They also sold cups with little fruit salads in it.

I pulled at Chan's hand and he stopped. I pointed at the cups. "I want to buy some for us!" - "Sounds good to me."

We stepped closer and I reached for my wallet in the back pocket of my Jeans. I froze. Letting go of Chan's hand I patted all my pockets but the result was the same: it was gone.

"Shit!" -"What's wrong?" - "My wallet is gone...it's gone!" My voice was full of disbelief and desperation. Chan looked around us, if it had fallen out of my pocket but couldn't find anything. "Did you leave it in the car maybe?" he suggested, but I shook my head. "No, I checked if I had it with me, when I got out of the car. It was still there."

Then something came to my mind: when that person bumped into me before I had felt their hands on my back, I then had thought they wanted to support themselves because they'd lost their balance or something. But now the possibility of pickpocketing was quite high.

I told Chan my train of thought and his face darkened. "Yeah, I thought I saw someone running away through the crowd, but I thought nothing of it then."