Field of Dreams

The Next Meeting

Ri Jeong Hyeok

I was not actually thinking when I suggested that we had a next meeting. It was spontaneously coming out of my mouth when I looked at Yoon Se Ri so engrossed in what I had to say. It was.. a great feeling. To have someone listening to you like that. Never mind that she was a sight for sore eyes.

I agreed to the meeting in the first place because I felt bad that my ball was close enough to hurt her the other day. And that girl was clueless really about who I was and about baseball in general. So I shrugged aside my reservation for journalist and agreed to meet her for an interview.

It was amazing the way I felt in tune with her presence that I could sense she was nearby when I trained this afternoon. I held my smile when I saw her taking picture of the field, the bleachers, and.. picture of me. And after our meeting, I was sure that I was attracted to her. Immensely. Thus the next meeting.

And the next. And the next. And the next. We eventually agreed to have ten meetings.

I really thought she would know everything baseball now. I talked about my childhood, about my love for baseball, about my favorite player, about Hyun Jin Ryu, about my dream, and about... my brother. I just realized that I've never talked about my brother to anyone before. But the way she's been listening to me made me want to tell her. The question was about my role model. I didn't know how it would fit into her article, but I figured I could open up to her.

"I always think that my role model was my brother. I kinda tell you the other day, that he's not a big talker, but everyone eventually always gravitated to him. He's a good man, a good baseball player, who's thrown under the bus for the other's failure. He's killed in an accident a few years back after a scandal erupted in KBO. That's one reason I hate journalist. They spin everything to their liking and to what's benefit them.

"Hyung was.. accused of match fixing. Several matches if you read in the news. But I know Hyung, he would've never done something like that. That year, his pitching was bad, so when his team lost, that's really because of his bad performance and not because he did something to alter the outcome of the game. I knew this because.. he went home a couple of time to discuss with me and to practice, to get to the bottom of his problem with his pitches. So it really was not fair to him that he's the one who got accused and not someone else in the organization. After the accusation, that was as low as I've seen him, he was beside himself. It killed him to see his name everywhere, to feel like he disappointed my parents, that he failed me. The pressure was gotten to him."

I paused my story and gauged her reaction. I thought I heard a sniffed and when I looked up to see her, I saw her taking a tissue to wipe her tears. I smiled at her, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Hey, don't cry. I just thought you should know. Please, you know I couldn't handle situation like this. Come on, you want some ice cream?"

She sniffed and just shook her head. "It's so sad. I'm sorry that it happened to you and your family."

I nodded and felt the lightest I'd ever felt in a long time.

"Thank you for your kind words. But it's been a few years. Let's continue this whole thing about me tomorrow."

"Yeah, you know, at first, i thought my article would be about.. not you, obviously. But now, I've got more stories about you than the sports itself." I laughed hearing her said that. That's true I guessed.

"You mind?"

She shook her head. "Not at all, I could come up with something." And she winked at me.

I tried to dig up her story, and she opened up to me little by little. Why she wanted to be a journalist. What kind of journalist she dreamt to be. Seemed like, this sport article would be a one time thing.

"I've begged the assistant professor and he just shrugged it off. I hate him."

I laughed loudly for the first time around her. And she actually taking her iPhone to snap a picture of me laughing.

"You should smile and laugh more. It's glorious to see it."

"Then probably we should meet even after the 10th interview tomorrow. Just so you can entertain me with your stories. You cracked me up." I subtly told her that I wanted to meet her outside this interview setting.

I watched as her face blushed. And she played with her straw. Then she cleared her throat.

"Please, stop doing that. I would think it has different meaning."

"So you don't want to?"

"Well, at first I thought this would be a one time thing, right? Then we stretched it out to 10 meetings. I think I have everything line up for the article."

I didn't know if she was truly believe there's nothing going on between us. Or if she just ran away. But I didn't think that this was the right time to pursue this matter. So I just nodded.

"Okay, then. Tomorrow is the last day."

***