“Sweetie, I’m
home!”
I didn’t
budge. I was still doing my home work. My fingers were struggling to get used to
roman letters again and it rendered me laughing every time I accidentally
registered the words in hangul or hiragana and had to rewrite them. My book
looked like a mess.
“Milu, are you home?”
“Yes, mom! Doing homework!”
I called at the door. Papers rustled downstairs and a strange noise sounded,
followed by a thump. My curiosity wouldn’t
keep me seated much longer.
“Are you okay?”
I decided to ask and rushed down. I still remember the last time she tripped
and fell. There was red everywhere and I had to drive her to a hospital.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, a bundle of white fur
attacked me. When I finally got a hold of the creature
without hurting it, I held it away from my face.
“What is it?”
“It’s
a puppy,”
Mrs Kim laughed, picking the boxes and papers that fell and placing them on the
table.
“It’s
a male puppy –
just a little something to say sorry for this morning,”
she smiled. It was the type of smile that offered a world of comfort and
reassurance.
“He’s
yours, Milu,”
she said, stroking my hair affectionately. “You
can name him whatever you want, just remember to take him on walks and feed him
everyday, all right?”
“I’ll
call him Haru,”
I decided, looking into the puppy’s
fluffy face. I rushed him upstairs to my room, but stopped at the top of the
stairs and turned to look back at my mom.
“Saranghaeyo, mama!”
She blinked in response.
I ran around for
a while and constructed a tent of fleece blankets, pillows and newspapers for
Haru. Luckily, my room was big enough for the both of us.
***
I struggled to
concentrate for the remainder of that day. It was pathetic. The new girl was in
every class I attended and she didn’t look at me even once. She worked really
hard, I admire that of her. She really isn’t like the others. She doesn’t talk
with the other girls when they talk about love and R rated matters. Her
innocence is beautiful, but her seriousness and ambition ruins it. I wonder if
she’s all that serious in person.
“Yo, Caine!” The
ball hit me hard on the head.
“Watch it!” I
yelled and the others start laughing. I kicked the ball into the air and held
it there with my knee, then side-kicked it to Travis, who was holding his belly
from laughing too much. It hit his hands, causing him to crash to the ground. I
laughed at his shocked expression and chased after the soccer ball.
“Travis, take my
right!”
“Gotcha!” Travis
accepted the pass like a pro, dodged Tony and scored a goal.
“Okay, people!
Go away, I want to go home,” the coach blew a whistle so that we all would hear
him. He always had the most absurd ways of dismissing the practice sessions.
“Hey, Caine?” It
was Travis. He threw me a towel that I hung around my neck as we walked back to
the locker room.
“Yeah?”
“Are you going
to the gymn now?”
“Man, I gotta
catch up with some homework, dude. I’ll gym with you tomorrow?”
“Whatever, man,”
Travis waved a hand in disappointed dismissal. I sighed. He was always like
this. You’d think I would be used to it by now.
If he had to
find out what I really do when I skip gymning sessions, he would be furious.
A few hours later.
“’Sup, guys!”
“Caine! So glad
you came! We need more muscle in this... Whatever this is,” Roxxy said,
adjusting some controls on her keyboard.
“Ha! Muscle?” I
asked, somewhat embarrassed. “We’re a band, aren’t we? Where’s Adelle?” The
crew’s smiles faded.
“She left for
college today; becoming a chef, apparently,” came the reply. I was shocked.
“What about her
singing career?” I protested helplessly.
“There’s no
money in it,” Kevin, our guitarist, mocked in a high pitched voice. The rest
frowned at him for his joke.
“Then we’ll just
have to find a new lead,” I smiled. What else could I have said? I didn’t want
to crush them.
“I’ll make
flyers for auditions and post them up on the school’s bulletin board tomorrow,”
Roxxy offered. “But for now, we practise! From the top!”
Kevin started
with a comfortable melody, going from soft and when it reached the right
volume, Roxxy tuned into it with the keyboard. The melody built to a climax
that I carried out with my drums, giving the song an energetic feel.
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