Starry Night

twenty-five

"Suzy!" eomma shouts from across the campsite, relief in her voice. She rushes ahead of the men and throws her arms around me. "You're all right."

"Eomma . . ." I say, hoping the right words will come out, but I'm stuck between her concern and the shit storm that's approaching.

She pulls back and holds my face. "You're fine."

"I'm fine."

She moves one of her hands to Jungkook's face. "You're okay too?"

He nods. HIs expression taut.

"What in the world is going on?" my father roars over eomma's shoulder. He's not talking to me. He doesn't even give me anything but a cursory look. His eyes are on Jungkook, and he pushes eomma aside to get in Jungkook's face. "You snatch my daughter away and take her into the woods?"

"I didn't snatch anything," Jungkook says, eyes narrowing.

"I asked him to take me," I tell my dad. "Seolhyun left us. She was our transportation home. And Jungkook knows the park -"

"I don't give a damn," my dad says. "Seolhyun came home five days ago. Five days! You've been alone in the wilderness with my daughter - my daughter," he shouts at Jungkook.

"Daniel," eomma says, trying to pull him away from Jungkook.

Dr. Choi clears his throat. "Suzy, I'm glad to see you and Mr. Jeon are well."

"There was never anything to worry about," I say, giving him a tight smile. "I'm sorry you were dragged into this."

He shakes his head. "I'm just you're all right. I invited you here, so I feel responsible."

"Damn right, you're responsible," my dad snaps. "These are underage kids."

"I find that most of our club members are smart, self-aware individuals who don't need a babysitter."

My dad snorts. "Then you're obviously not a parent, because these kids don't know their asses from their faces."

Dr. Choi holds up his hands in surrender. "I told you before, I'm not going to fight with you. Since my club member is seemingly unharmed and accounted for, I will leave you to sort this out among yourselves. I just ask that you don't upset the other campers. We're here to witness nature, not disturb it." Dr. Choi looks at me, a look of pity on his face, before turns to walk away.

Eomma gently inserts herself between Jungkook and my father. "Let's talk about this civilly."

"The time for being civil has passed," Father says.

Something snaps inside my head. I look back, making sure Dr. Choi in out of earshot, and then I turn to my father.

"It absolutely has," I tell him. "It passed when you threatened Jungkook last fall in that hotel. Yeah, that's right. I know. I know everything."

"What hotel?" Eomma says.

Something close to rage passes over my father's features. "Oh, really? Did he tell you that I caught him trying to use a stolen credit card and that he took a swing at me?"

"Yeah, and that's the bruise you told Eomma and me that you'd gotten at a construction site," I shout. "You lied about that. You lied about Jungkook. Instead of telling his parents, you took it upon yourself to administer justice that you had no right doing."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Eomma says. "Daniel, what's going on?"

"I caught him trying to get a hotel room for the two of them," Dad says.