f i v e
Gemma woke up the next morning with the same song replaying in her mind. All night she had dreamt only darkness, but that song remained as though it were trying to tell her something. She looked around the room disoriented, having forgotten for a moment where she was. She had forgotten everything about herself and went home with a bunch of boys who lived in an upscale apartment in Seoul. If that was not suspicious to her before, it was now. She also recalled that they had been out on the docks well into the middle of the night, and on a pretty nice boat that she wasn't sure how boys their age could afford.
They did mention they had older brothers who took care of them--bought them the apartment and very likely had given them the boat as well as use of the docks. But that was all strange to her and she was starting to suspect that they were involved in something horrible.
A part of her scolded herself for having trusted them and gone with them to their home. But they had seemed nice, to her at least. They were providing her with shelter and warm clothes to sleep in. She looked down at the baggy sweater she was wearing at the moment. It had a nice scent, and belonged to their leader who she had learned was named Taeyong. Still, she knew she couldn't remain there forever and would need to find her way back to her own home.
She went into the bathroom and noticed that her own clothes were still wet from the previous night. Her door was locked, so that no one could come in, but the house sounded silent. While she had tried to sleep the previous night, she could hear the other boys downstairs shouting at the television monitor while they played video games. Gemma had gone over to the top of the stairs to peek at them, and they were playing first person shooter games. None of them noticed her and she went back to her room to try to sleep again.
This time, she wanted to try to leave the house before anyone could wake up. She wanted to see if she might perhaps be able to find her way back home. But her shoes were all wet too, and she was only wearing socks. Still, she would try to check out the building and its surroundings. She tiptoed her way out of the bedroom into the darkened hallway. There were no sounds coming from anywhere in the house. She made her way down the stairs slowly and looked around to make sure no one was around before she found the front door and opened it. It went into a hallway with other doors. These were other large luxury apartments, and her eyes widened when at the same time, someone opened their door down the hall.
Gemma almost turned back and shut the door, but the person was someone young as well, though not as young as the boys living in their apartment. He was dressed in a business suit and he offered her a small smile once the look of confusion disappeared from his face.
"Hi, you're not from around here, are you?" He greeted her cautiously in broken English upon noticing that she was clearly foreign. Her eyes widened in shock, but she was almost frozen in place. He walked closer towards her as he continued talking. "My name is Raz. If you need any help, you can tell me. I live in this apartment right down here. I'm a lawyer, and I've noticed the boys in that apartment are involved in suspicious activity. I just don't have any proof..."
She gestured to the apartment door behind her. "I'm just visiting my friends." She lied. If she didn't know the boys and didn't fully trust them, surely she wouldn't outright trust another complete stranger. "I'm from Canada. Mark is my childhood friend."
"Just be careful." He warned, genuinely concerned for her safety. He thought she looked to be in the unknown about the possible things that they did. Then again, the boys in the apartment seemed totally harmless as well. "The young man who used to live there before them was very reserved. No one knew anything about him, just that he went by the name Light. One night, neighbors saw him leave the apartment with a gun and he never returned. He left all his belongings. The manager of the apartment still has everything in boxes in the basement."
"Okay, thanks." She nodded her head and went back to the safety of the apartment.
She closed the door behind herself and was breathing heavily in fear. She then looked up and jumped startled when she saw someone in the kitchen. It was Ten and he seemed to be cooking breakfast. She hadn't noticed him when she left the apartment, which meant that he had probably just gotten there.
"What were you doing outside?" He asked her curiously. His words did not hold any anger in them or annoyance.
"I just needed a bit of fresh air." She lied.
He then flashed her a polite smile. "You should come sit down for breakfast then. It should be ready in about ten minutes."
Gemma shook her head. "Why don't I help you finish it instead?"
"Do you know how to cook?" He asked her, surprised.
"I don't remember." She admitted to him truthfully, a small shrug moving her shoulders. "But I can try. It'll give me something to do while I'm in this house and I remember who I am. I can also learn to do other chores like tidying up the bedrooms and washing clothes."
He explained to her what he was making and then showed her how to do it. They were going to make a traditional Korean breakfast with elements from Thailand and Canada as well because two of their members were foreign. Soon, Gemma was doing it all on her own without his help. When breakfast was ready, Ten sent her upstairs to wake the other boys while he served the food for them.
When everyone was gathered at the table for breakfast and started eating, the boys made light conversation. They mostly kept to themselves about the business, since they didn't want to overwhelm her. But they were also careful in case she were to be an informant of another gang or an undercover police officer. They could never be too careful.
Instead, Mark piped up with a question for her. "Since you don't remember your name, do you want to just pick one so we don't have to refer to you as yeoja all the time?"
"Yeoja?" Gemma repeated the word slowly.
Jaehyun snickered in amusement under his breath. "Or Jagi, like with Satan hyung."
Mark ignored his other member's comment and instead nodded his head in agreement with her question of confusion. "Yeoja is the Korean word for woman. I don't think it would be nice to just call you woman when you could have a proper name. Just choose one that you like. Any ideas?"
She thought about it for a moment before a thought popped into her mind. The song, the same song that had been playing in her mind from the first moment that she lost her memories. It was better than being nameless, and it was also a pretty nice name. She could use it for the time being until she could find out who she really was.
"Hmm..." She started, and then continued with a smile playing on her lips. "How about Gem?"
They all looked at her with curiosity, and she quickly thought that maybe that name was pretentious.
"Gem." The boys repeated the name collectively.
Gemma nodded and then explained why she had chosen it. "For some reason, there's a song in Spanish that keep's playing in my mind. One of the lyrics says you are the gem that God turned into a woman. The song is called Gem." It was a simple name, and what was better was that it was easy for the other boys to pronounce as well.
"Then your name will be Gem." Taeyong said.
-
so now our main character has a proper name and unknowingly basically chose her own name to go by. its only slightly different-- gem/gemma. pretty much the same.
its actually a song in spanish. the spanish word for "gem" is "gema". and its a beautiful mexican song.
anyway, i hope you all like the update.
i'm going to rest for a little bit, then im going to get ready for school. so i hope you all have a wonderful day and i will see you later. thank you loads for reading and supporting this story.
-clary
