Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Twenty-Three - The Storm

Kopter

Everything felt like a blur. The gasp still rang in my ears as I came back to my senses and hastily stood up. Park scrambled off of my lap to the edge of the bed and stared horrified at his mother.

His voice trembled with fear as he spoke. "Mom, I can explain-"

His words were immediately drowned out by the hysterical screams of Mrs. Park, whose voice trembled with rage. Her tone was so shrill and emotion-filled that I didn't immediately realise that she screamed in Korean rather than English.

I watched helplessly as Park pleaded with her to no avail. Tears now ran down his pale face and splashed down onto the floor below as his trembling took over his entire body. I watched in horror as the boy I loved pleaded desperately with his grief stricken mother. Her normally sweet, kind face was now white with rage as her hurt and anger swelled and burst out of her. Angry tears fell from her eyes as she looked down at Park with a look of betrayal.

Her words, whatever they were, hurt him. He shook his head repeatedly and uttered intelligible answers back in Korean between thick sobs, but nothing he said quelled the barrage of shouts and never ending rage from her.

Park pleaded once again as he moved himself closer to her from the bed. Whatever he said ignited a fresh wave of emotion in her, as she grabbed a book off of the shelf beside her. In a split-second I realised what was going to happen and threw my arms open in front of Park just as his hands flew up to protect his head. The book collided with my shoulder and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Standing face to face with Mrs. Park terrified me more than I could have imagined. The sleek knot at the back of her head had come undone and her jet black hair hung loosely and wildly around her enraged face. She pointed a shaking finger at my chest and glared at me with a look of complete betrayal and hurt.

"You!" she whispered as her voice shook uncontrollably. "You do this. You do this to him!"

Park now sobbed uncontrollably and shook all over. "No no no!" He sobbed and tried to pull me back by the hem of my shirt. I stood firm, gathered all my courage and kept my eyes locked with Mrs.Park.

"Throw whatever you want at me," I whispered, using all my energy to control the urge to shout. "But you don't get to hurt him."

Mrs. Park stared down at the crumpled book on the floor and the slightest look of regret flashed over her disgruntled face. She took a step back and seemed to regain some of her lost composure when the door was thrown open once again with a loud crash.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Mr. Park entered the room with Sunny closely behind him. He looked around startled, and then turned to his wife expectantly for an explanation. She spoke rapidly in Korean and paused occasionally to give me a look of disgust. I glanced at Sunny in the doorway, who looked back at me, horrified and pale-faced.

"Dad, please," Park pleaded desperately. I looked up at Mr. Park's face hopefully, but his expression was set and stoney.

"Park, I think you should leave." His voice was strained and hoarse, like every word caused him pain.

Park was racked with a fresh wave of sobs and crumpled back onto his bed.

Sunny stepped forward. "Dad, you can't-"

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" he roared back at her. I'd never seen Mr. Park raise his voice at anyone, and by the look on Sunny's face, neither had she. He turned back to Park and repeated himself, his voice firm and controlled.