Twice in a Lifetime

Chapter 2

There they are at it again, staring at him like he just came down from the heavens, he thought.

Well, Park Ji-han is no ordinary man by all standards. As one of the top ten actors in South Korea, his well-chiseled features make him stand out in a crowd. Even though during that day, he was only wearing a black cotton, round-neck t-shirt, faded denim jeans, and black loafers, he still stands out.

Ji-han went to the last place on the queue going inside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport or what they call NAIA in the Philippines. He had come to find an old friend after many years but was not able to locate him or his family anymore. In this type of personal visits, he makes it a point to have only one bodyguard with him, who stays behind and blends in with the crowd to watch over him. Ever since that incident more than ten years ago, his family made sure that he never goes out without a bodyguard or two. But since gaining fame in showbusiness in South Korea, and taking the whole Southeast Asia by storm, it was not that easy anymore to go out without being noticed.

He was in the Philippines for a personal matter. It turned out the private investigator his personal assistant hired did not really do any investigating to locate his friend and was quite surprised that Ji-han personally came to talk to him. The PI just pocketed the payment that Ji-han's assistant wired him. He thought of just reporting back to Ji-han's assistant that the person they were looking for could not be found. He was the fifth PI that has done this kind of sloppy work. But Ji-han knew he must not lose hope, however flickering it may be.

Oh, he was mad, really mad! He only had a day to squeeze in the visit. He demanded the PI to go back to his friend's place of work. The PI did not find anything because the two older guys who probably knew Ji-han's friend have already retired and went back to their respective provinces to spend their retirement days there. What the PI found out was that Ji-han's friend does not work there anymore and owing to several reorganizations, all the staff are relatively new, even the boss, and they are not familiar with the name that Ji-han gave the PI.

He saw three women on the other side of the line. Pretty much seemed like the older woman was the mother and the younger ones were her daughters. He assumed that the older one is leaving. Hmmm...where to? Would she be working as a nurse abroad? Filipino nurses are very much in demand. Or maybe a household worker? There are many Filipino household workers abroad.

The older woman was crying. The youngest looking one was trying to put on a brave face. The younger one was comforting the older woman and looked like she was giving instructions to the youngest one. Seemed like that girl is a no-nonsense one. He looked at the younger woman, scrutinizing her appearance. Very simple, but regal looking. White top tucked in a pair of jeans, with black flat shoes. Simple pearl earrings, hair tied in a pony tail. There was something about that widow's peak on her forehead that made him remember that one fine day all those years ago. And he smiled at that thought.

Ji-han moved to the first security check.

"Sir, please remove your sunglasses and cap," the airport personnel instructed.

"Oh, sorry," Ji-han moved back from the metal detector and placed his sunglasses and cap on a bin before moving forward again. As he stepped forward and spread his arms for the usual body check, people started to recognize him, whispering his name. They started taking his picture, so he smiled and waved at them. He just prayed they would not start to ask for his autograph as he really want to breeze through the immigration area right away.

His bodyguard moved past him, went to an airport personnel and whispered something. The airport personnel nodded his head and walked toward Ji-han.

"Mr. Park? This way please," the airport personnel said.

Ji-han and his bodyguard went with the airport personnel, who turned them over to another guy who escorted them until they reached their departure gate. Ji-han doesn't really like this kind of thing, it makes him feel uneasy being given special treatment. But given the fact that people were starting to recognize him, his bodyguard felt it better to coordinate with airport personnel so they can move faster and not cause any commotion in the airport.

Ji-han sat down on the VIP lounge, taking a slow sip of his drink. He started to think – where did his friend and his family go? How is he supposed to find them? He was in Malaysia for a photoshoot and instructed his personal assistant to block off three days after the shoot so he would have time to squeeze in a short visit to the Philippines.

Six years ago, he received a cryptic message from his friend, asking him to watch over his family. He was not able to read the message immediately as he was shooting several action scenes that went on until the next day. His personal assistant did not relay the message to him as he thought the message was missent. And so it was already after two weeks when he read the message. He was at Incheon International Airport at the time, browsing through his cell phone messages while waiting for his flight going to Australia to shoot a television series. He opened his email and wrote a message to his friend. He never responded.

What did he mean with that message? He owed his second chance at life to that man who saved him from a very dark period in his young life. If he requests him to watch over his family, he will do that with all his heart and to the best of his abilities. His friend knew that. He looked at all the emails that his friend sent him. The emails were quite few, sent to greet him on special occasions. The last one contained a picture of his friend with his family. They were all smiling in the photo and his wife was looking at him lovingly. Pretty much how his mother looks like in every photo with his father. Ah, he wants that kind of love from a woman. He's been known to be mysterious when it comes to his personal life in the showbusiness industry. But only he knows the real reason why he cannot commit himself to other women. And he made a promise to himself that he will wait for the right time. After all, that love is still in his heart, with the passing of the years not diminishing it but letting it slowly grow. He still has her image embedded in his mind. Yes, when the right time comes, he will find her and court her and tell her how he had been thinking of her all these years.

Ji-han started to get angry at himself. He knew it was his fault. He got so busy pursuing his dreams that he missed out on his friend. Communication between the two of them were sporadic. His friend doesn't have a Facebook account, so they just communicated through emails and text messages. But those communication have very short messages. He remembered that every time he called his friend, he would make a fuss of how much the call is going to cost Ji-han. His friend would make a quick rundown on what's happening with his family so the call would not be that long. And he smiled at that thought. The cell phone number was also a dead end. It was a prepaid number and can no longer be contacted. He knew that something happened to his friend, he may have even passed away. He shuddered at that thought. His friend protected him with his life but never asked for anything in return. If he had indeed passed on, his family may not know his friend's email password and may have remained unopened until now.

"Oh, Ji-han," he chided himself, "you may be one of the biggest stars in South Korea now but you're a total idiot."