snippets of VCY

you gave me all your love (and all I gave you was goodbye)

"Channie-ya!"

Vincenzo knows Koreans are loud.

So, he doesn't turn around to see who shouts in that all too shrill and brittle voice.

Instead, he chooses to look at his partner who apparently looks up at the voice, searching for the figure while a noodle sticks out between her lips.

The sounds of steps get closer, and Vincenzo finally allows himself to look back and follow his partner's vision.

A man walks up to where they're sitting, and Cha Young stands up and smiles blindingly at the person.

"Hyun Woo-ya!" She squeals.

And runs.

She runs.

"Channie-ya!" The Hyun Woo-ah accepts her hug a little too enthusiastically for Vincenzo's liking.

All of a sudden Vincenzo feels a wave of nausea hitting him, he tries to control the burning and queasiness in his stomach and stands up and moves to face the whatever is happening behind him right now.

Turns out, the man is Cha Young's childhood best friend.

The two are engrossed in a very nostalgic conversation and reminiscing a whole lot about childhood.

About things Vincenzo doesn't know.

Hyun Woo and Vincenzo do exchange formal pleasantries but then his attention diverts back to Cha Young.

There's a whole lot of Channie-ya and Cha Young seems to enjoy it, letting out a hearty laughter at an incident Hyun Woo quotes.

Vincenzo is getting dizzy, every time the man says Channie, he feels a wave of nausea hitting him and he would very much like to curse.

Yes, Vincenzo knows how it is to have childhood best friends and yes, he knows you can give them an affectionate pet name.

But Vincenzo assumes this man has forgotten that the woman has her very own name.

So, before he can do something rude, he politely interrupts their conversation and excuses himself to leave.

He hates how his brain screams when Cha Young holds his arm to join them.

But because he has a wise and old heart, he refuses her with a smile and withdraws her hand from his arm, bows respectfully and leaves.

A gush of cold wind blows, and the nausea disappears when he breathes in and out, thankfully.

But it gets worse, when suddenly his heart clenches, his brain playing the recent memory of Cha Young's laughter and his already red eyes due to the cold, get a little darker as they heat up.

Vincenzo immensely hates his body, brain and heart for how it is reacting right now.

Emotions are not his cup of tea, and he usually keeps them closed tightly.

That is a valid reason for he hates how he's feeling right now.

So, he moves to get in his car and drives back to his shitty apartment.

Copious drinking of wine goes on for hours.

No makgeolli today, he bitterly thinks.

The bundle of feelings isn't wearing off, no matter how much he drinks.

He just feels more and more.

He tries to wear it off, tries to remind himself his motives for his stay in South Korea, tries to think about practicalities and upcoming problems.