Boundless

제 4 장

I was gone before Jae woke up. I slipped out of his warm safe haven into my cold sanctuary. I was ashamed and scared. I was a coward, I hadn't take his number, and I didn't even say goodbye. Days had passed and silently wished that I would run into him, that I'd see him before he saw me. When I went to work with the kids, I thought of him. I thought about how he felt when he found that I escaped his embrace.

My heart pained when I thought about his frown that would ruin his perfect face , his perfect smile. He cradled me in his arms, like he loved me, like he knew me. It made me wonder why he was single, he had an extraordinary skill of pleasing a woman. He had a way with his words. I was not what he deserved. I cried knowing that I this man who has been nothing but kind to me would not be the man that would save me from this lonely world.

I was jealous of the woman he would find  to cherish and love. I became depressed eventually. I resumed this hollow and meaningless life of mine.

I went into the elementary school that I worked part time at after I came from the campus. I greeted my colleagues and they greeted me, and I went to see Mrs.Kim. She sat her desk flipping through papers. Her face lighted up when she saw my face. " Ms.Jackson, are you here? The chairman's son is here today. He's with the kindergarteners, with Ms.Oh" She says excitedly.

" Isn't the kindergartens in music and development?" I asked her. She nods and tells touches her books. " These are from Mr.Min, these are the new music books for the kids. He's so kind, he definitely does not take off from his father" She tells me and I bit my bottom lip. " And he's quite handsome, and he's great with kids. All the kids love him. He probably has such great chemistry with Ms.Oh, it'll be good for her if they hit it off, you should greet him. You are a kindergarten teacher" She says and I look to her.

" Should I?" I ask and She nods. " It's proper etiquette darling" She says before getting up and guiding to the kindergartens wing.

She followed behind and I sighed. I wasn't in the mood to smile in anyone's face. I heard laughter and the sound of a guitar being strummed from down the hall and I figured that's where they were. When we reached the classroom, through the window I saw kids sitting around a man that sat in the middle perched up on stool with a guitar in his hands. His back was turned to us, all that was visible were his thick caramel brown hair.

I saw Ms.Oh smiling widely, her hand on the back of his chair, and the other on her hips, giggling her pretty little head off. Mrs. Kim opens the door and everyone continued listening and singing along to the man who played the guitar, humming and singing so sweetly. When the nursery rhyme ended, everyone clapped their hands.

" Ms.Jackson! Teacher!" One of my students called. That's when he turned around. Jae stood from the stool, his freshly dyed brown hair swept over his eyebrows and looked at me with his mouth agape. " Athena" He says softly. Mrs.Kim looked between us, I was utterly speechless. " You have met Mr.Min already?" She asks me, and I couldn't speak, I just stared into his dark eyes, part glad that I saw him again in front of me, and part embarrassed that we met again like this.

" Yes we have." He says lowly, not smiling his beautiful smile he always flashed. His eyes carried disappointment and disapproval. " Great, then we can all go to your show tonight together" Ms.Oh says sweetly her arm hooking his. I looked at her and she batted her innocent lashes at me. She was taking claim of him. " It's not a show really, it's just something that I do for fun at local bars and nightclubs" He says breaking our eye contact, lifting his arm from hers. He looked down at his shoes. He looked sad, and that ached my heart.

" You probably wouldn't like it much. I hear that it can ge—-

—-I'll go." I say cutting her off. I was not interested in what reasons she thought I wouldn't want to. Jae looks up at me and I smiled sweetly. " I'll go" I repeated.

                  •.              •.              •

        " Tonight, we have Jae-Eun with us tonight, singing and doing his thing, you guys show him some love!" The mc hollered into the mic and the growing crowd that filled the moderate sized pub, cheered in excitement with a round of applause. He smiled broadly at the crowd as he took his place on a chair on the stage. He tucked his lips in as he positions his mic, and adjusts his guitar.
" Woohoo" Ms.Oh hollered and I couldn't fight back the eye roll I delivered.

When he started strumming his guitar the world stood still.

Beauty queen of only eighteen she
Had some trouble with herself
He was always there to help her, she
Always belonged to someone else
I drove for miles and miles and wound up
At your door
I've had you so many times but somehow I want more
I don't mind spendin' everyday
Out on your corner in the pourin' rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved, and she will be loved

He sang the words so sweetly and tenderly. His voice moved my spirits and I thought that I he couldn't have been any more amazing than he already was. His words bleed on clean white sheets of paper, but his voice sealed the wounds of paper cut with a bandaged kiss. My heart beat deafened me, it was so loud in my ears. He immediately jumped off of the show right after his performance, despite his applause, and he approached me.

He swept his finger under my eyes, I hadn't realized that I was crying. He then grabbed my hand and inter-winded his hands with mine, and Ms.Oh gasps from behind us. He then pulls me towards he exit and says, " We need to talk"