A walk to remember || Tk

「 Chapter 13 」

—Chapter thirteen—

In the center of the room I saw a giant tree, decorated with tinsel and colored lights and a hundred different handmade ornaments. Beneath the tree, spread in all directions, were wrapped gifts of every size and shape.

They were piled high, and the children were on the floor, sitting close together in a large semicircle.

They were dressed in their best clothes, I assumed--the boys wore navy blue slacks and white collared shirts, while the girls had on navy skirts and longsleeved blouses.

They all looked as if they'd cleaned up before the big event, and most of the boys had had their hair cut.

On the table beside the door, there was a bowl of punch and platters of cookies, shaped like Christmas trees and sprinkled with green sugar. I could see some adults sitting with the children; a few of the smaller kids were sitting on the adults' laps, their faces rapt with attention as they listened to " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

I didn't see Jungkook, though, at least not right off the bat. It was his voice that I recognized first. He was the one reading the story, and I finally located him. He was sitting on the floor in front of the tree with his legs bent beneath him.

To my surprise, I saw that tonight his hair was in a middle part, just as it was the night of the play.

Instead of the old brown cardigan I'd seen so many times, he was wearing a red V-neck sweater that somehow accentuated the color of his big doe brown eye. Even without sparkles in his hair or a long white flowing victorian style shirt with ruffle drawstring lace in the front and white trousers, the sight of him was arresting.

Without even noticing it, I'd been holding my breath, and I could see Mr. Jenkins smiling at me out of the corner of my eye. I exhaled and smiled, trying to regain control.

Jungkook paused only once to look up from the story. He noticed me standing in the door-way, then went back to reading to the children. It took him another minute or so to finish, and when he did, he stood up and smoothed out his V-neck sweater and trousers, then walked around the children to make his way toward me. Not knowing where he wanted me to go, I stayed where I was.

By then Mr. Jenkins had slipped away.

"I'm sorry we started without you," he said when he finally reached me, "but the kids were just so excited."

"It's okay," I said, smiling, thinking how nice he looked.

"I'm so glad you could come."

"So am I."

Jungkook smiled and reached for my hand to lead the way. "C'mon with me," he said. "Help me hand out the gifts."

We spent the next hour doing just that, and we watched as the children opened them one by one.

Jungkook had shopped all over town, picking up a few things for each child in the room, individual gifts that they'd never received before. The gifts that Jungkook bought weren't the only ones the children received, however-- both the orphanage and the people who worked there had bought some things as well. As paper was tossed around the room in excited frenzy, there were squeals of delight everywhere. To me, at least, it seemed that all of the children had received far more than they'd expected, and they kept thanking Jungkook over and over.

By the time the dust had finally settled and all the children's gifts were opened, the atmosphere began to calm down. The room was tidied up by Mr. Jenkins and a woman I'd never met, and some of the smaller children were beginning to fall asleep beneath the tree.