JOON YOUNG'S LOVE SONG [COMPLETE]

CHAPTER 13.1

"THERE ARE matches about a Park Joon Young who once lived in Hongcheon for almost half a decade with his parents, Park Hye Soo and Kim Ji Won before they left the country. After many years, they came back, but only for a while. And then not long after that, Park Joon Young came back alone, sold the house in Hongcheon and settled in Seoul. But the house wasn't registered to Park Joon Young. It's registered to a person named Andrew Park—it must be his English name."

Pakiramdam ni Julia ay nahihilo siya sa mga narinig niya mula sa police na nakausap nila kanina. Maswerte siya na mayroong police na marunong mag-English at tinulungan siya nito. Ito ang sumagot ng mga tanong niya.

Mumunting impormasyon lamang ang naibigay nito sa kanya dahil anito, kinakailangan pa rin itong pangalagaan ang privacy ng taong kanilang hinahanap. They aren't his family or anything and giving a very crucial information would be no good.

Pero para kay Julia, napaka-critical na impormasyon na ang kanyang natanggap lalong lalo na ang litratong ipinakita nito sa kanila kanina. It was a photo of a man, on his early twenties. Payat ito, bahagyang mahaba ang buhok at mukhang galit sa mundo. His eyes were dark, so were the circles under them.

Andrew Park...

Park Joon Young...

She felt an undeniably ache inside her. Parang hindi niya magawang mapaniwalaan ang nakikita niya. Park Joon Young looked like Andrew, only that the one in the photo was almost ten years younger of the former.

Gusto niyang itanggi sa sarili ang nakita niya at maging ang mga narinig niya, pero paano? Paano niya magagawa iyon kung nakita niya mismo ang litrato?

"Gwenchana?" concerned na untag sa kanya ni So Mi habang hawak hawak siya nito. Palabas palang sila ng police station. Tiningnan niya ang kaibigan at gusto niyang sabihin na ayos lamang siya at wala siyang nararamdamang kahit ano, pero hindi niya iyon magawa.

She walked towards a small bench and sat there for a few seconds. Naupo si So Mi sa tabi niya. "Hindi mo naman siguro ang iniisip na si Andrew si Joon Young, diba? Baka kamukha lang niya tsaka common ang surname na Park sa Korea, and Joon Young is very common name, too." Alanganing sabi nito sa kanya, pero walang conviction sa tinig nito. "And I feel that Andrew has no reason to trick you or anything."

Kinagat nya ang pang-ibabang labi. Gusto niyang paniwalaan ang sinasabi ng kaibigan niya. Maraming Joon Young sa Korea. Maaaring mali rin ang iniisip niya, dahil oo, walang rason si Andrew para lokohin siya o ano pa man dahil tinulungan pa nga siya nitong hanapin si Park Joon Young, diba?

But still... it doesn't feel right. At pakiramdam niya hindi rin siya matatahimik hangga't di niya nagagawang makumpirma na mali siya. Naalala niyang composer ito ng mg kanta, but she never bothered asking to whom does he write the songs for. "Find him online," aniya dito. "I just want to know." Her friend looked at her as if she was talking nonsense.

Parang gustong tumutol ng kaibigan niya ngunit sinunod pa rin siya nito. Sabay nilang tiningnan ang screen habang nagloload iyon. Upon searching his name, Julia realized that Andrew is indeed big person in Korea, yet she never really knew so much about him. He was rude and looked like he doesn't have anything to do in his life, yet there he was— a searchable person on the World Wide Web.

"Hindi ko mabasa," sabi niya kay So Mi nang matapos na ang pag-load ng screen. Nakasulat kasi iyon sa salitang Koreano. Tiningnan niya ang kaibigan, ngunit para itong napako sa kinauupuan nito habang binabasa ang lumabas sa screen. "b-bakit?" Ayaw sanang ibigay ni So Mi sa kanya ang cell phone, ngunit kinuha niya iyon sa kaibigan at pinilit itong gamitin ang translation setting niyon.

Which she almost regretted doing so.

Para siyang tinakasan ng lakas niya nang mabasa niya ang biography page ni Andrew Park. She read the page, however, nothing really registered to but the words Park Joon Young, Park Hye Song, Hongcheon and Philippines. There was a very brief description of what he did as a child and all it tells is that he travelled most of the time bcause of his father's business.

Parang biglang bigla ay bumalik kay Julia ang mga pagkakataon na akala niya ay masyado lamang niyang pinagdududuhan si Andrew: Ang biglaang interest nito kay Joon Young; ang pagsama nito sa kanya sa Hongcheon; ang kaalaman nito sa pasikot sikot ng lugar; at ang mga mumunting reaksyon nito sa bawat pinuntahan nilang mga lugar...

At ang naging reaksyon nito nang sabihin niya dito ang tungkol kay Mr. Park. Ang mga paulit ulit nitong pag-alam kung bakit niya hiahanap si Joon Young. Iyon pala, paulit ulit nitong tinatanong sa kanya kung bakit niya ito hinahanap...bakit niya ito hinahanap.

Everything seemed to have fallen in the right place in her mind and now more than ever, she is feeling so stupid. It was so stupid to trust Joon Young or Andrew or whomever he is. She was stupid enough to be tricked in to his antics and be a victim of his lies.

But most of all, she is feeling so stupid to be crying so much right now when she had found that the person she had been looking for was with her all along. Sa normal na pagkakataon siguro, hindi niya dapat iniiyakan iyon dahil ibig sabihin tapos na ang misyon niya.

Ngunit hindi ito normal na sitwasyon. Hindi ito normal kung ang taong natutunan mong mahalin sa loob ng napakdaling panahon ay ang mismong taong nagawa kang lokohin at paikutin ng walang kahirap hirap. Hindi, kung ang taong natutunan mong mahalin ay ang isang taong hindi mo pwedeng mahalin—Joon Young is someone she cannot fall in love with because of Mommy Melissa and Mr. Park... because of their situation.

Parang sinampal paulit ulit si Julia ng realidad habang unti-unti niyang narerealize ang sitwasyon na mayroon siya. She buried her face in her hands and cried harder. She couldn't even talk, but there was one word she wanted to utter. "Why?"

Why did Joon Young... or Andrew lied to her?

Kahit anong isip ni Julia ng sitwayson nilang dalawa, hindi niya magawang hanapan ng rason ang ginawa ng binata sa kanya. In the first place, they never really know each other, hence, he had no reason to do so.

So... why?