Icy-Shock (Completed)

2. The Mysterious Owner

Heartina...

My Saturday routine was to visit an orphanage nearby. One Saturday, there were about 12 cars standing at the gate of the orphanage. I went in and the caretaker Ahjumma (lady in Korean) there told me that the owner of the orphanage was paying a visit with his one and only son and asked me to continue with my work silently. I had 2 bags of dresses, both full and heavy. I was sweating as I walked in with that heavy load.

"May I help you?" came a sweet, but authoritative voice. I looked up at to a find a young man of maybe, 26. He had a mask on. I could only see his eyes and could guess nothing about his features. Then, I looked up at his eyes and a sudden movement of his eyeballs indicated that he was smiling at me.

I smiled lightly and said, "No thank you. I can carry it by myself".

"I don't think so", he said and pulled one of the bags from my hand.

"What are these anyway?" he asked pointing towards the bags.

"These are clothes. I collect old clothes from my friends, relatives and bring them and give it to the kids here. If these clothes are torn, then I stitch it and then give it to these kids as these kids do not get good clothes", I said.

"You don't live here?" he asked and I replied no.

"Who are you and why do you have that mask on?" I asked him unable to control my curiosity.

At that time, we were inside the dormitory and he smiled at me.

"There is a reason for everything and I will tell you about it later. I am sure we will meet again soon", he dropped the bag and quickly moved in the opposite direction. I felt as though he was avoiding my question about his facial mask.

Who is this weird guy? Why is he hiding his face? I thought for a while and then suddenly, I got the answer. He must have a very ugly, dark and a deep scar on his face and so he wears a mask to hide it. I felt embarrassed for asking him about that. That must be the only possible reason. Then, I went inside and started distributing the clothes. When I finished my work there, it was the lunch time at the orphanage. The orphanage received food donations which were pretty limited in quantity and so, the kids got very little good food. Though, the caretaker and kids ask me to eat with them every time, I say them no, because of the limited food donated. Every Saturday afternoon, I had my lunch at the noodle shop near the orphanage and the noodle shop's ahjumma was very fond of me and we were great friends. On Sunday afternoon, I am usually summoned at home as we have a special meal every Sunday afternoon. It was my routine to intimate the ahjumma in the orphanage before going out for lunch.

"Ahjumma, I am going out for lunch", I said.

Only then, I realized that the dining hall was different that day. Apart from the caretaker and the kids, there were other people too. I recognized him immediately. It was the masked guy and there was also, another masked guy, but of older age. There were many body guards about 15. I wondered why there were 15 guards for 2 masked men. Who were they? Both the guys had lifted their mask and now, it exposed their mouth, nose and half of their cheeks.

"Come and have lunch with us", said the guy I met earlier.

"No... No... The food donated to the orphanage is really less and so I will eat at the noodle shop outside. You continue", I said and turned to walk.

"Today, there is enough food in this orphanage and we will order more if we need. Come on take a seat", he said pointing at an empty seat next to him.

The caretaker signaled me from behind to sit near the weird guy. But there was another seat, next to the caretaker ahjumma which fell right opposite to that masked guy. I sat near the caretaker ahjumma rather than to sit near that weirdo. The masked guy gave me an icy cold stare. I acted as though I didn't notice it and started to eat. The food was good and I felt happy as the orphanage kids were able to eat a good meal that afternoon.