Diaries of a Distance

Chapter 30

"Yura, you're home!" I heard Mrs. Lee exclaim from the kitchen.

"Yes." I closed the door behind me, took my boots off and walked to the kitchen. On my way, I spotted Mr. Lee sitting at the coffee table. "Hello Mr.Lee", I greeted in English. He likes to hear the English language so asked me to speak as much English as he could understand.

He looked away from the television. "Oh, hello Yura!"

I entered the kitchen. Mrs. Lee was cooking something and it smelt very good.

"Dinner's in ten minutes", she announced loud enough so that her husband would hear. Mr. Lee has a habit of going to the toilets before every main meal, and it takes him exactly ten minutes every night so Mrs. Lee always tells him when it's ten minutes before dinner. She addressed me, her eyes focused on the frying pan. "Have you eaten, Yura?"

"Yes, at my friend's house. I wish I could eat that though", I said, my eyes gazing at the delicious food in the pan.

Mrs. Lee chuckled. "Your mother called earlier", she said.

That diverted my attention from the food. "She did?"

I felt so dumb after saying that.

"Yes. She asked me to tell you to ring her back when you get home."

"Thank you. I'll do that now", I said and headed for my room.

After Mr. Park had finished showing me his gigantic DVD collection, Mrs. Park insisted that I have dinner with them. It was fun, because Jae Wook and Mr. Park kept arguing over the tiniest things. Mr. Park told Jae Wook to get food for me, Jae Wook said I've got hands so I could do it myself, I said I'm fine, Mr. Park said no I'm not, Jae Wook said yes I am, and the argue started. If it wasn't for Mrs. Park's presence and mine I think it would've turned into a brawl.

I've learnt one thing about Mr. Park, he is a socialite and socialising seems to be his top priority. It probably has to be seeing as he is in the entertainment industry. And Mrs. Park... she has that air of stiffness which intimidates people but she is a kind woman.

Mr. Park made Jae Wook drive me home. Jae Wook said I could walk home myself. Normally I would have striked him straight away, but I deciphered his real intentions; Jae Wook likes getting his father angry and said that only to piss him off. I know Jae Wook wouldn't let me walk home by myself even if I wanted to.

So yeah, in the end Jae Wook drove me home.

I checked the time on Hello Kitty. In Australia it would be my family's dinnertime. I'll call later. Right now, I think I'll take a shower.

---

I lay on my bed clutching the phone. I dialled my home number.

...

"Hello?"

The voice... was very unfamiliar. "Sun Dae?"

"Who is thi-" She paused. "YURA?!"

"Yeah! This is the first time I've ever heard your voice."

"Same! How are things Yura?"

I laughed. "We just chatted a few days ago and since then... I'm still cool."

"Oh yes... Yura, Young Jae is very afraid of what?"

"You call him Young Jae?"

It was all very weird because I was speaking to her in Korean, and she was replying in English. And even more weird that she calls Y.J Young Jae, because only father calls Y.J Young Jae.

"It annoys him. I think", Sun Dae said.

I decided to give her a few tips. "He likes the western culture better. And Y.J is scared of... scared of..."