Noise Of Silence

- Chapter 2 -

We were having dinner when I told my parents about Min Soo and her idea. They did not object. On the contrary, the idea made them happy. They wanted me to go out and visit the city. They only wanted to know about our destinations. I replied spontaneously that we were going to hang out around the city. I did not know that the unruly Min Soo had other plans for me.

     The next day, we took the metro heading into the unknown. Out of the blue, the same illusions strangled me. My hands were shaking and my heart was beating crazily. Min Soo noticed that and she asked what the matter was, but as usual, I was speechless with my head down to earth.

     We headed somewhere I did not know, and I did not even bother to check the written name on the ticket of the place where we were heading to. I gave her the full right to do all she was willing to do and I was reassured. When we left the metro station, she went away for a while and then she came back carrying a bag. I did not ask about the bag's contents. She caught my hand and I was just walking behind her. We took the stairs which led us to a vast space. She was jogging due to her long legs and I had to run after her out of breath. I looked like a faithful dog.

      After we had gone through that fast yard, we crossed an asphalt road that was crowded with cars. Then, we walked on a crowded sidewalk as if we were on Judgment Day.

      After almost an hour we reached our destination. I saw a huge building, with hundreds or maybe thousands of girls lining up in front of it.

     On the building, there was a huge digital screen showing the faces of five young men with crazy haircuts. In the scenes in which they appeared, they looked awful. In a matter of few seconds, those faces disappeared from the screen and instead of them, some writings popped up, once in Korean and then in English (X-Five).

      I asked Min Soo who was standing next to me in the queue which was as long as the Great Wall of China: "What's this? and why are we here?"

     She replied bringing out of her bag two popcorn boxes. She handed me one and kept the other for her saying: "Having fun."

      I gestured with my head that I do not want the popcorn, and asked:" What kind of fun?"
-"We are going to meet the X-Five."
-" Meeting whom?" I asked revealing my ignorance.

    She stared at me stunned for a while, then  asked:" Have you ever heard of the X-Five?"

      I shook my head in a no. She said painfully trying hard to hide her disappointment: "Okay, you will get to know them today."

      In the queue,  I was thinking about the X-Five I was going to meet. We stood there for hours and hours until I initiated feeling dizzy. I was about to fall because of exhaustion. I could not stand the girls pushing me forwards, screaming now and then. I told Min Soo that I was not staying there for any other second as my legs could not carry me any longer. But as I initiated my battle with those girls, trying to get out of that crowd, they started to push me even harder.

      Suddenly, I found myself standing next to the front iron barriers. I had a sudden feeling of panic, and I was about to faint falling on my face. The screams of the girls and the way they were scrambling made me revile the moment I agreed to leave my small rural village, and the moment I met Min Soo.

     I started yelling in panic:" Min Soo, Min Soo", but my low voice could not win against the screams of the girls. Their screams reminded me of the thunder of cannons on the battlefields. It baffled me and made me wonder in amazement:" Were they doing all of this just to meet the so-called  X-Five?"

    The girls kept pushing me until I reached a place where I was able to walk without being pushed. I followed the row of girls who were running like fools. They were waving with their hands shrieking, though some of them were the same age as my grandmother. Suddenly, I saw a man ten paces away from me. Three girls were separating us. 

    Behind him, so many cameras were taking photos of him, and next to him was a young woman pating him on his head.

    The young man stood there for a while to hug one of the three girls. It seemed to me that she was the one to ask for the hug since she yelled loudly,  bubbling over with excitement.

     I felt like someone had thrown cannonballs out of his mouth,  even the young man unwillingly had put his hands on his ears with his eyes closed forcing himself to smile. The second asked for a kiss and he simply made her wish granted. Despite these absurd requests,  the third one seemed more mature and modest as she only asked for his autograph on her t-shirt and then took a photo with him.

      Carried up towards him on the wind, I stood before him tired, frowning, and exhausted.

     He stared at me for a few moments without saying a word. I waited and waited.  For what? I did not know.

    He smiled childishly. I saw something beautifully manifested on his face, something I had never seen before. My eyes glittered and I was about to beg him to keep that smile on his face for a  little bit longer. He looked just like someone who had spent years studying cuteness at some of the most sophisticated acting academies in the world. I wanted to store that smile in my long-term memory to draw him later, but I held myself up and kept my mouth closed.

    The voice whispered in my head:" Run, save yourself, Leila."

    From the ground like a mushroom growing in a tropical forest a shadow appeared. His close breaths obliged me to turn and face him. Due to my surprise, I was frozen. I started feeling the cold freezing me and those waves came back to besiege me. Every person who was surrounding me vanished out of a sudden, and as usual;  I was struggling and lonely.

     I needed the strength of the great warriors in Greek mythology to whisper in a low voice:" Wake me up."

     I felt cold and I was shaking, gazing at emptiness, feeling the pain in every single cell in my body، however, I  took my phone and called my mother. She replied whispering:" I am in the middle of a meeting, Leila. Call me later."

     She had hung off before giving me a chance to talk. The voice in my head went louder:" Of course,  she is in a meeting, and that  meeting is more important than her daughter."

    I walked a few steps in the middle of nowhere crying loud. No one had asked about the reason that made me cry that loud. As if no one had remarked on me.  I prayed to hope that Min Soo would find me soon,  or maybe my mother would call back to get into my head and redeem me.

        Drowning deep and deep,  a familiar voice said:" Wake up."

    My mind obeyed immediately and made me conscious.

-"Are you sick?"

   I nodded.

-"You are sweating...is it a fever?"

  I nodded.

-"This is a problem... and what are you going to do now?"

      I  shook my head.

   -"Are you dumb?" he said offering his hand.

       As soon as I came back to my sense,  I was hit by the screams of the girls. The same young man led me to an empty room and asked me to stay there till he comes back with something to drink.

      was it he the one who woke me up!?

       A few minutes later, the same woman who was touching his head entered the room. She gave me a look that reflected her surprise, but she did not say a  single word and left. I remained there for almost fifteen minutes thinking that that young man had forgotten me.

       I took one of my notebooks out of my bag and started drawing. All I wanted was to run out of those scary visions I see now and then. The door opened again and the young man appeared with two other women behind him. I swallowed my saliva and lowered my head trembling. I heard his footsteps getting closer quietly.   He asked handing me a bottle of juice, and standing next to me: "Are you drawing?"

     I took the juice showing my gratitude with a gesture with my head and nodded with my head still down to the ground. He added:" Would you allow me to have a look?" I pushed the notebook towards him. I heard the sound of the papers being turned slowly.

    "This is Gyongbokgyung Palace. This is so precise. you have drawn it from different angles, amazing!"

     He sat next to me hiding his eyes with his arm. One of the women standing next to him asked, "Are you fine,  D-O?"

      He replied: "Just exhausted a bit. "

      He opened his eyes, pointed them at me, and said: "You do not look like Koreans at all."

    I did not answer. I was thinking about the  pain in my throat, "My tonsils hurt again, oh God!"

       Focusing on my drawings, he questioned afterward:" Were you born in Korea?"

     I was finally able to say:" In Gangoon District."

      He gave me my notebook back when one of those women approached handing him a cup of juice.  I took my notebook dying from shyness.  At times like this,  all  I wish was to be home with my cold parents.

      Soon later,  the young man called D. O asked one of those women to pick me home.

         At home, as expected, my parents were not home yet.  My mother did not even bother to call to see how I was doing.  My parents did not notice that they were mere strangers to me. They did not perceive that their only daughter was not sharing a conversation with them, and they did not care if she chats with them or not.