Nook in the Forest

X

Chapter 10: Search

"Benji, get out." Jun ordered and pointed toward the door.

"But I didn't even do anything." Benji contested.

"You hurt my sister. If I see you here again, I'll call the police."

"But–"

"Go!"

Benji watched Jun a moment longer as if he were deciding how serious Jun was. When Jun didn't change his expression, he turned around and left the building.

"I've been wanting to do that since the day I met him. I knew it would happen eventually."

Tae Seok wanted to say something to Jun about Jiji, but he didn't know what he should address first. Jiji might still be mad at me. It's still worth it to ask, though.

"Do you think I should go after Jiji?" Tae Seok said after a moment.

"I mean, I won't tell you what to do. I don't even know where she goes in the forest after she runs away," Jun responded very nonchalantly for someone whose sister just left the house crying to an unknown place.

"Oh," was all Tae Seok had to say. What was he supposed to do, then? Wait until she comes back? No, that would be weird and sort of creepy. Maybe he could talk to her tomorrow, but that didn't feel right either.

"Except..." Jun remarked. "Never mind. You should just wait until tomorrow.".

"I really think I should see her now." The younger boy looked outside. "It might rain soon."

"Well, all I was going to say is that Tigger usually follows her when she runs outside. Nothing important."

"Tigger...?" Tae Seok followed Jun's gaze down to his feet, where the orange cat he had seen many times outside of the café circled his legs. "This is your cat?"

"Yeah."

At first, Tae Seok was at a loss over what to do. If Tigger was the only one who knew where Jiji went, how was he supposed to find her? Then, it struck him.

"Thanks," he nodded at Jun and started walking toward the back door. Tigger ran ahead of him and embarked on a course that seemed familiar to him.

Tae Seok followed the cat through the forest that, in the past, had only served as a background to the café. Now, it was a problem to solve as he pushed through the brush and looked for broken branches that Jiji left behind in her wake.

He passed what felt like miles and miles of trees as the sun set and the sky grew darker with rain-filled clouds. It was only beginning to drizzle as the trees cleared to reveal a fire illuminating a cave in the heart of the forest.

His heart stopped when he heard a voice.

"Took you long enough." Jiji spoke clearly, but her hoarse voice indicated that she had stopped crying only a little bit ago. Tae Seok almost asked what she meant, but when she bent down to pet Tigger, he understood that she had yet to notice him

"Ahem," he cleared his throat, startling her into falling off the log she used as a seat. "I'm so sorry! I just..." What did he want? "I wanted you to know I was here."

"Thanks," Jiji righted herself after getting up from her fall. She cleared her throat and pretended like she never fell in the first place. "For being here, I mean. And for apologizing."

It was dark, so Tae Seok couldn't be sure, but he thought saw a shadow of a blush covering Jiji's cheeks. When he didn't say anything, Jiji spoke again.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry, I just followed Tigger here and I thought I–"

"No, I'm serious. Why are you here?" Jiji repeated herself and Tae Seok realized that he had only imagined the animosity in her voice. At this moment, he looked in her spring green eyes and saw only curiosity.

"Oh. I wanted to check on you," Tae Seok managed. "I mean, I hope that's not weird or anything. I thought you might need someone to help you, because of the rain. Someone to talk to," he explained. "That's what I would want."

"It's not weird. It's nice of you to do that for me," she admitted. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you. Especially when you were brand new, and you didn't know anybody, I was not nice to you at all. The worst things you did were mistakes, and you always apologized."

"It's okay."

Tae Seok sat down on a cushion and observed the small cave in which they now sat together. The stone floor was covered in pillows and short chunks of logs that served as stools. Duck-themed decor covered the walls, and each stone surrounding the fire bore a different painting of a colorful duck. Duck posters framed bolted shelves full of duck figures, and stacks of books with ducks drawn on the covers filled the spaces of the floors not taken by cushions and seating. Anxious to break the silence, Tae Seok started the conversation.

"So, you like ducks?"

"Yeah! How did you know?" Jiji replied enthusiastically, and Tae Seok almost immediately laughed. He recognized that she was serious; he laughed anyway.

"What's so funny?"

"Jiji, I'm going to be honest. If someone stumbled upon this cave and didn't know the owner liked ducks, he would probably take another step and trip on a blade of grass."

"I don't know what that means, but I'll take your word for it." Jiji shrugged and picked up a duck plushie that laid nearby.

Wasn't she supposed to be bad at admitting she doesn't know things? I thought Jun said she was in denial.

"You know, I have a duck plushie like that as well," Jun mentioned casually. When Jiji stared at him with wide eyes for an uncomfortably long pause, he questioned his own words. Why did I say that? That's so weird.

However, instead of mentioning the unusuality of Tae Seok owning a stuffed animal, Jiji suddenly squealed, "really?! What's its name?"

He felt the weight of being rejected leave his shoulders and answered her. "His name is Duckworth. I've had him since I was seven."

"That's so cute! This kind of duck is a white pekin duck, which doesn't actually live in the wild. Some people think all ducks look the same, which is so embarrassing, right?" Jiji looked to him for validation.

"Totally," Tae Seok nodded seriously. He was one of those people.

After a beat, Jiji burst out laughing and pointed to him. "You should've seen your face! I know you're one of those people." She wiped a false tear off of her cheek. "It's okay, we can't all be perfect."

He rolled his eyes but smiled in spite of himself. She continued to talk about the different kinds of ducks in Massachusetts, and only one thing permeated his thoughts as he listened: I'm glad she's feeling better.