riki.nishimura → twelve weeks

15

Miss Hwang eventually brought the drinks, sitting beside Niki and facing me with an adoring smile. She was a cute woman, and I felt bad for her sometimes. She was all alone, with her daughter, and she seemed desperate to make her daughter happy.

I sipped on my drink awkwardly, four eyes were all just staring at me. I cleared my throat, looking up at them.

Hwang had sparkles in her eyes, as if she wanted to ask me something, for me to do a favour for her or something along the lines of that. I looked at Niki, and he just had that same smug expression as he always does, whatever, that guy is weird.

"So.. Yeojin.." Miss Hwang started, "What do your parents do?" She asked, and I looked at the table, not really wanting to answer this question.

"My mother is dead." I told her with little to no emotion, she seemed taken aback, matter of fact the two of them seemed taken aback. Niki almost choked on his drink whereas Hwang cleared her throat.

"I have a father. I have a brother in Seoul too, he works as a dentist." I sighed, trying to ease the topic a little, the two just stared at me, intrigued in my life.

"Seoul? Wow, as a dentist? Your father must be so proud of him." Miss Hwang seemed really eager about this topic of Seoul.

She wasn't wrong, my father was so proud of my brother and his occupation. Whereas me? Not so much me. He didn't really care about me after my mother died, he had no idea what was going on with my life for the past few years, occasionally he'd call and ask how I was, but other than that - there were no visits, no celebrations, no gifts or anything.

Those things were all mostly done to my brother. He was always the one my father loved more, but what could I do about it? Not much. I just had to live on.

"Mm." I mumbled, Niki wouldn't quit with the staring, he seemed interested, and I gave him a nasty look, one that stated; 'what the fuck are you staring at?'

He gave a gentle chuckle, taking a sip of his drink.

"So uh, Yeojin, can I ask a favour of you?" Miss Hwang started to get to the point. Now here, I was right, she did want something from me.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Saeron told me you're from Seoul, is that right?" Her beady eyes met mine, and my heart started beating a little faster at the mention of Seoul.

"Uh, yes?" I wasn't sure what she was quite getting at, but whatever it was, I already had a bad feeling about it.

"You know, my daughter, Seohee, she's always wanted to go to Seoul and tell her friends about it." She looked down, swallowing hard, "But I could never afford to send her there since I've never been myself, and I was just wondering.. if you could possibly take her for like three days."

I looked up at her immediately, my eyes slightly widening at her request. I suddenly couldn't even swallow my drink, instead I started choking on it, attempting to pat my chest lightly to stop.

"Oh god! Yeojin! Are you okay?!" Miss Hwang quickly gave me a glass of water, as if that would do much. I drank the water, and finally stopped choking on my drink, instead, I had hiccups.

She sat back down, looking at me with pleading eyes and a desperate expression.

"To Seoul?" I reiterated, wondering if I heard her right.

She gave a timid nod, her eyebrows knit upwards, as if she was begging me with her face.

"Yes, just for three days, or even less. I have the money, I'll pay for it all, I just.. I want Seohee to experience it." She explained and I couldn't help but feel even more guiltier for her, she had almost been scammed, she's alone with her daughter, and she hasn't ever been to Seoul before.

If I denied her right now, not only would this completely crush my good reputation, but I'd also feel like the worst person on the planet. I groaned internally, frustrated at the sole mention of that forsaken place.

"Okay." I said in a happy tone, I don't know why I sounded like that, I just ended up sounding like that. In reality, I was so unwilling to even step back in the premises of Incheon airport for another eleven weeks.

She looked up at me, a huge grin plastered across her face. Niki raised his brows, in shock that I'd agree to her offer.

"Really?! Oh my god! She's going to be so happy!" She stood up, sitting beside me and giving me a huge, huge hug. As she wrapped her arms around me, the smile on my face faded, and I stared into space, just feeling the genuine hug she was giving me.

I placed my hand on her back, giving small, slow pats as she expressed her joy.