Chapter 11. Why?

Seung Hyun’s POV

I moved my hand and covered my eyes. The sun was such a bother!

I smiled. The blanket was warm and the smell of coffee…Wait! WHAT! I sniffed the air. The smell of hot coffee was floating in the air. But…then, the flashbacks gave me chills down my spine. I just didn’t do that! How could I…why did I go drinking again?!

I got down from the bed and looked around. The whole apartment was so clean that it was almost sparkling! No more clothes on the floor, the waste bin was empty, the photos were arranged and the broken glass was no longer scattered on the desk. That monster…

I sighed and took a clean towel from the closet. Even the walls seemed to be much more pink. Pink!

“She saw my pink bedroom. NOOOOOOOOOO!”

Ra Nae’s POV

“Yah, Kim Ra Nae! Is this the proper hour for you to return home?”grandpa frowned as I tried to move to my room without making any noise. “Where have you been? Did you know that I haven’t slept even one hour while waiting for you to come back? Where were you?”

C’mon, Ra Nae! Think about something!

“Don’t even think about lying to me, young lady.”

That old grandpa! Slyer than a fox! “Ok, ok! I meet with fatto on my way home and I had to go home with him because he was way to drunk to even stand on his own. And once we got there, I put him into bed. I wanted to leave, but seriously, I couldn’t ignore the dirt that was all around the apartment so I started cleaning up. And I got carried away and…”

I raised his hand to signal me to stop. “I understand.”

“You do?”

“Yes. But tell me, what do you have in mind, Ra Nae?”

“What? Are you some kind of Edward Cullen now?”

“Who’s that?”he asked, with his eyes full of curiosity.

“No one, grandpa,”I giggled.

“So? What’s your plan? ‘Coz I can certainly can see that you have something in that little head of yours.”

I put the bag next to me and took out some photos I snatched away from Seung Hyun’s house. “This was him before the accident,”I placed in front of grandpa a photo that showed a happy captain embracing a beautiful woman that was wearing the stewardesses’ uniform. “And this is him right now,”I put the next picture on the table, one that I myself took it just before leaving his place. He was half covered by the blanket, sleeping with his mouth opened and drooling all over the pillow, while his huge tummy was moving rhythmically as he breathe. “He’s suffering, grandpa. He’s having a hard time admitting that his wife died. And he’s sinking into bottles of whiskey.”

I took a deep breath. Grandpa was still looking over his newspaper. “I’m going to change him.”

He stopped and slowly took off his glasses. “And how do you plan to do that?”

“I don’t know yet,”I muttered under my breath. “But what I know is that he needs a wake-up slap. His life is going down. Ok, I get it! His wife died. His unborn child died too. His life went down the water. I get all of that! But even so…”

“Even so?”

I looked down at my hands. “Even so, life goes on,”I lifted my chin. “He should get over it. And I want to help him do that.”

“Why?”

This grandpa! Why is demanding to know so much?! He wants to know something that even I don’t know yet.

“As expected, you don’t have an answer to that question yet,”he spoke after few seconds. “Look Ra Nae, I can’t agree with your plan since it means invading in his private life. I know that he’s your idol and all that, but even so you have no right whatsoever to tell him what he should do or not. So, as long as you don’t have an answer to my question, I’m afraid I will not allow you to interfere in his life.”

“But…Grandpa!”

“My words are final, Ra Nae. Now go and change your clothes. You still have a job to do, don’t you?”

“Yes,”I bowed my head and took my bag.

~*~

I looked at the clouds that were forming on the sky. Rain.

“Why are you day-dreaming, monster?”

I snapped out off my daze and stared at the guy who was waving his hand in front of me. “Not in the mood for your jokes, Pororo.”

“Hey! We still need to finish here before the rain starts!”he nagged. “C’mon! Just another one and we can close the gates. Then I’m going to cook some soup and you can tell me all your thought over chopping onion,”he winked, putting on his helmet.

I sighed and moved the crane machine towards his direction. As soon as the metal arm was above the car, he hooked the chains and signaled me that it was good to go. With one move, I placed the car over another one that was waiting to be scrapped. Now there were two of them. Waiting. Two. I smiled to myself as I sprung out off the crane.

“GRANDPA!”I yelled while throwing my shoes away.

“What? What? Where’s the fire?”he jumped from his armchair, looking all confused and sleepy.

“I’ve got it, grandpa! I’ve got it!”

“Stop jumping up and down like a well fed puppy, ‘coz you’re making me dizzy! Explain yourself!”

“I know why I want to help him get over the death of his wife,”I looked straight into his eyes.

“And why is that?”

I took a deep breath. “Because I need to help myself.”