Wicked Fate

NINTH CHAPTER

The Past and its Hold

Ji's second weekend in Jeju is beginning to look like it will be as uneventful as his daily clinic. Waking up to the sound of waves from the sea, he knows he has to do something he has been putting off for the past twelve years, but he still is not going to do anything about it.

With a cup of steaming coffee on hand, he thought to himself, "I might not do it at all even while I'm here".

Ever since his return, he'd been staying in Seunghyun's beach shack, a little way off from his cousin's own home. It's a charming two story, two-bedroom cottage that had been built for his cousin's first wife.

Before Bom had come into Seunghyun's life, his cousin had been living like a zombie in the memory of his high school sweetheart. Five years ago, when they had seen one another in Seattle for a conference, Ji was beginning to lose all hope that the man is ever going to surface from that black cloud.

Even Young Bae was telling him that Seunghyun could self-destruct anytime.

But two years after that, it had all changed when Bom moved from Seoul back to Jeju to take care of her ailing mother. She decided to work for their family's clinic and with all that sunshine, was able to draw out Seunghyun from the darkness that encased him since being widowed.

He remembered wishing at that time that someone could come in his life like that, yet he knows that with the life he's led and with the past he has, it is better off to go on alone.

He became a different man when he left because people didn't know who he was, they didn't have judgments of him just at the mere sight of him and they didn't expect him to do anything wrong. That knowledge led him to begin to change from a once reckless teenager to a highly decorated military man.

It's easier to forget who he was and to begin to become who he actually wants to be in that faraway land.

Back here in Jeju though, no matter how much he's changed, the expectations of people that he is still the same old rascal who wreaked havoc into their lives is making it difficult for him to continue being who he is now and not revert back to who he once was.

His phone rang and he saw it's Young Bae.

"Bro."

"Hey Ji. Me and the guys are going to play ball. Want to come?"

"Sure. What time will you be playing?"

"We'll do it later this afternoon. There's lunch over at Teddy's house then we play ball afterwards. You should come to lunch too. Every staff on day off is there and all the women cook!"

"No problem. I'll be at Teddy's house for lunch."

"That's great! Dara's going to be there too so it's going to be really fun with you and her as our main entertainment."

Ji laughed at that. "I just might have changed my mind."

Young Bae responded with a hearty laugh from the other end of the line. "Don't worry. She's not as predatory on her day offs. I'll see you later then."

"Wait. Do I need to bring anything?"

"Ow! Bring lots of booze, cash, and women. Teddy's got a mini home theater. We could forgo the basketball and just have cabaret night."

"Sure! And have our heads cut off by Mai-noona and Bom."

With a smile on his face, Ji put down the phone and looked up the clock. It's only 8:00 AM. He still has a lot of time before lunch.

"Maybe I should just get this over with", he told himself and headed for the shower. There are things that even the greatest of us cannot run away from.

***

Where angels fear to thread

Dara looked up one of the most beautiful houses in Jeju and felt her throat go dry with apprehension. She isn't sure if this is the right thing to do but she said yes to Seunghyun already and she knows it was childish and stupid to turn back.

"You see him and scold him more than twice every God-given day in the clinic", she told herself, "This is no different. Just give the food to him and leave."

Almost like a tradition now, their whole team gathers together every Saturday for lunch and talk of everything or nothing. It has led to them becoming closer like a real family and it has formed a lot of their bonds into the way they are now.

This is supposed to be the first lunch that Ji is invited to since Seunghyun suggested he be left alone last Saturday but despite a promise made to Young Bae, he did not come.

"I saw him leave this morning", Bom told them.

"I think I know where he went off to", her husband answered and asked Bom to prepare lunch for him, "He'll need his time."

And so here she is, bringing him food in the house he grew up in because Seunghyun asked her to be the one to do it.

"He might be feeling a little raw", the Doctor told her.

"Then why am I the one you're asking to bring him food?", Dara asked in surprise, she surely isn't going to be "sweet" or anything to him just because he could be feeling "raw".

"Because seeing you will draw him out from all the memories of that house. He'll surely banter with you and it'll take his mind off things."

"Great!", Dara answered sarcastically, "And I'm supposed to be encouraged by this."

Seunghyun laughed. "You know what I mean."

With a sigh, she shrugged her shoulders and now headed for the door. Imposingly beautiful, this house had both fascinated and scared her ever since she first came to Jeju.

The judge and his family were immensely respected in the island. However, everyone knew that the patriarch's imposition on his only son to follow his footsteps was such that it had led to one of the most intense displays of rebellion the island has ever seen.

She remembered her Grandfather telling her and Chaerin that despite that, they should not think of Ji as a bad guy. "He is a very good young man but he is misunderstood", the old man explained to them.

"But he's still an airhead", she told herself to build up her irritation and not show any hint of understanding for Ji. She knows what he is going through but pride is often a crazy senseless thing. And she just couldn't let go.