On My Side

Chapter 9

Paloma stood, staring at her phone. She didn't know what to do. Eunwoo hadn't contacted her since his return to Korea two months ago. Of course, she was angry and sad, but the current situation was more important than all that. She paced back-and-forth in her galley kitchen and thought about what to do.

I shouldn't let my pride get in the way of helping out someone I care about, even if I'm mad, she thought as she turned around and began another lap around the tiny space between the cabinets and the kitchen sink.

"You're gonna wear a hole in the floor," Azul commented as she pulled a Yakult from the refrigerator.

"I don't know if I should tell him that I was contacted by a Korean investigator," Paloma fretted.

"I'm sure he already knows he's under investigation since it's all over the internet," Azul quipped sarcastically. "Honestly, I say fuck him," she opined. "You don't have to contact him. At least, you didn't testify against him. He should be grateful for that at least," she said, attempting a layup with her yogurt drink container and missing the garbage can.

"Pick it up," Paloma scolded.

"God, I know!" Azul groused. "I'm not an asshole."

"No one said you were," Paloma replied. Changing gears, she suddenly declared, "I'm gonna text him."

Azul shrugged. "It's your funeral," she commented as she walked out of the small kitchen where they could barely fit. It was better to give Paloma her pacing room when she was upset.

"Eunwoo, hey what's up?" she texted before deleting it. That's dumb. The whole world already knows he's under investigation, she thought to herself. "Eunwoo, I think we should talk," she wrote, and again, deleted it. That sounds ominous and foreboding, she said to herself. Okay, just tell him right out of the gate what you are contacting him for. No need for preliminary niceties, she decided.

"Eunwoo, I was contacted by a Korean investigator about the alleged drug use while you were in LA. I told him that we had been together practically the entire time you were in LA and that no drug use had taken place. They asked me a lot of stuff, like where I work, but I cooperated and made sure to let them know I was sure of your innocence," she wrote. It was a long text. He'd have to scroll for this one. Paloma smiled for a moment, hoping she wasn't becoming her mother, who was notorious for sending texts that required significant scrolling to get through.

Eunwoo's phone buzzed. He picked it up from the metal table that separated him from Detective Lim.

"Who's that?" the detective asked.

"Is that relevant?" Eunwoo inquired, trying not to sound uncooperative.

"It could be," Detective Lim replied as he held out his hand for Eunwoo to give him the phone. "Oh, well, this is interesting," he said with a wry smile. "It's from the lovely young lady I just got off the phone with," he said playfully.

Detective Lim's demeanor was incredibly annoying to Eunwoo. He could joke around all he wanted because it wasn't his life on the line here.

"I'm sorry. What young lady?" Eunwoo questioned.

"Bah-LOW-mah," he pronounced in a very Korean way, which surprisingly sounded quite a bit like how Paloma herself said her name.

"Let me tell you the good news for you," he said. "The fact that you did not contact her before we called you in for questioning works in your favor. At least, we know that you did not try to influence a witness," he conceded. "Now, I still don't know if her testimony can be believed. She does live in a rather questionable part of the city, but we are in the process of confirming all the places she says she went with you to establish a timeline of events," he concluded.

It irked Eunwoo that the detective was calling into question Paloma's testimony. "Detective, if there is one thing I can say it is that I have never met anyone as morally uncomplicated at Paloma," he defended. "She knows what's right and she does it. And not only that, she teaches her students to be good people," Eunwoo said with conviction. "Say what you will about me, but don't even think about questioning her ethics!" he warned.

Meanwhile, Paloma saw that Eunwoo had read her text, but when he didn't respond, she got ready for work and headed out. Life didn't stop for a broken heart. When she arrived in her room, she found a Post-It note on her computer from the school administrator, Dr. Gómez. She was asking to see her. Paloma checked the time and realized that she could still fit in a visit with Dr. Gómez before her class began.

When she entered the administrative office, she found Dr. Gómez on the floor behind her desk. Paloma stood watching the older woman searching for something.

"You asked to see me," she began.

"Oh, Paloma, it's you. You scared the piss out of me, which isn't a hard thing to do these days," she quipped as Paloma helped her up off the floor.

"What are you looking for?" Paloma asked, smiling good-naturedly at how adorably scatterbrained her boss was.

"Oh, I lost my pen down there somewhere," Dr. Gómez said as she sat down in her chair, trying to smooth down the gray hairs that were poking out around her bun. "So, Paloma. I have good news, dear," she began in her motherly way of speaking. "The plans for the new wing are back on!" she announced, much to Paloma's surprise.

"But I thought the funding fell through," Paloma replied.

"Well, we found a private donor who was very excited about helping us," Dr. Gómez answered. "So, this means that you will get a new classroom that actually has windows. I know how long you guys have been stuck in that dungeon. You and your kids deserve a classroom with some natural light," the administrator added.

"Wow, this is great news!" Paloma said. "Who's the donor?" she asked. "I find it hard to believe that someone just approached you and said, 'I want to invest in one of the poorest schools in LA'," she told her boss.

"Well, you'd be wrong, linda," Dr. Gómez replied. "But our benefactor prefers to remain anonymous," she said with a slight smile. "He's a lovely, lovely man, though," the older woman said wistfully.

"Alrighty, then," Paloma said, laughing. "Sounds like you're slightly enamored of our new benefactor," she teased.

"Well, it's hardly my fault," Dr. Gómez defended. "He is quite the looker."

"You're incorrigible!" Paloma scolded. Looking at her phone, she jumped up. "I gotta go. My class is about to start," she said as she ran out of the office.

Paloma found herself humming happily despite her ongoing Eunwoo problems. She decided then and there not to let his lack of response to her text ruin her day. Things were looking up for her after all. She would finally get to move her kids out of their cave-like classroom. She imagined that the art and music rooms would also be moved into the bright, new classrooms to be built in the new wing. It really is a good day, she said to herself as she entered her room, ready to tell her students the good news.