Cherry Blossom Winter~ To Lack, To Find

Bom woke with a start and frantically looked around the room. It was like that every day. She couldn’t remember when it started, but it was sometime after returning to Korea from her stay in Japan. She thought about it for a couple seconds until she heard the intercom buzzing.

“Oh…” she said sleepily. That must have been what woke her. Bom grabbed her phone from under her pillow, where she put it every night to check the time. 7:00am. She emerged from her warm cocoon of blankets and went to the intercom to see who it was that was bothering her at this hour. There was a growl from her stomach and aside from that an unsure feeling was in her stomach too. Who was at the door? The buzzing was loud and sure… and repetative.

Was it Kyung Soo? She finally reached the intercom and looked at the screen. It was a man, but not Kyung Soo. This man was much taller than Kyung Soo. She couldn’t quite make out the persons face, since the intercom camera was placed at an awkward angle above the visitor. Unless one knew the top of their visitor’s head very well, it was hard to make an accurate recognition.

It was probably one of Tae Woo’s guy’s, Bom thought to herself. Maybe he was bringing her the money Tae Woo promised her. She unlocked the front door for him and let the mystery man come up to her apartment. Then, Bom headed to the kitchen to see if she had any food anywhere. She knew the answer, but she wanted to check anyways.

Not five minutes later, after Bom was done checking all the cabinetd and the fridge as well (only to find what she knew was there, absolutely nothing,) there was a loud knock at her apartment door. She nearly jumped out of her skin. Anticipating far more time until her visitor made it upstairs; she was only wearing her underwear and a ratty old black t-shirt that she had gotten in Japan years ago. However the knocking was loud and persistent so she just rushed towards the door. It’s not like random guys haven’t seen her in her underwear before.

She was almost positive it was just some protégée of Tae Woo’s dropping off money, or coming to relay another ‘job’ for her, so she didn’t even look through at the second screen that showed who was at one’s apartment door. She opened the door and was surprised to find Wu Yi Fan, the man from the night before, standing right in front of her. She was a bit taken aback and stood there hand on the door knock, staring at him.

He smiled and took her arm. He lifted it from the door knob and out of his way, walking into the apartment. Bom was left at the door alone. Smug bastard. She slowly closed the door and turned around. He was standing, facing her, shoes already off. “No house shoes?” he asked.

Bom stared at him blankly, down to his socked feet, and then down to her own completely bare feet. “Uh, um, no. I don’t have any. I moved in right after they built this place, before they equipped the rooms with that kind of stuff,” she replied.

“Ahh..” he said nodding and looking her up and down as if he just realized she was in her underwear. He then turned and walked further into the apartment.

Bom followed him as he walked. They were headed into her living room. He sat on the couch. Bom decided to stay standing. “It feels a bit empty.”

“What?” Bom asked. Yi Fan’s speech had been mufflied by the sudden turning on of the television that Bom barely used.

“It feels empty in here,” he repeated slightly louder “You really live in this huge apartment all by yourself?” Yi Fan looked from the television to Bom with curiosity bouncing off of all the features of his face.

“No, I share it with…” Bom was going to say she shared it with Kyung Soo, because they basically did share the apartment, but she stopped herself. “Yeah… I live alone.” Bom stood there yanking awkwardly at her shirt, wishing at that moment that it covered more of her lower torso. This kind of behavior was so abnormal for her and when Yi Fan took notice of the odd behavior and looked down at Bom’s legs, she quickly put her hands by her side and tried to right her shoulders in confidence. Yi Fan chuckled and turned back to the television set.

“So you live all by yourself,” he spoke to the television set. “Don’t you ever get scared of robbers and stuff?” He asked with such a tone of genuine concern that the question didn’t sound out of place. Bom paused and thought a moment. She never really thought about robbers, per say, but she was always fearful of Tae Woo and his guys. Since Tae Woo paid the rent and practically owned the building that Bom lived in, he had all access everywhere. It bothered Bom.

Recently, Kyung Soo had had another bolt added to the inside of the door though. Bom had come home to find it already installed, shiny and new. It made it so even if someone knew the code to get in, they wouldn’t be able to fource their way in with Bom inside. Kyung Soo had decided to do so after Bom’s first panicked wakeup with him. Bom found it so sweet that he had cared so much for her. She didn’t even ask him to do it, but he did it on his own. She felt at that moment that he really cared and trusted him wholeheartedly. To her Kyung Soo was safety in more ways than one.

“No,” Bom said, back in reality. “I have a bolt on the inside. It keeps me safe.”

Yi Fan looked back in the direction of the front door. Bom’s apartment was an open floor plan so every part of the house, aside from the bedrooms, was visible from any one point in the house. All the walls were white and side from that, there were all hard wood floors and Bom had no rugs or carpets so she too could see it feeling ‘cold’ and ‘empty’ inside. It wasn’t very ‘homey’ that’s for sure, but to Bom, what place ever did feel homey?

Bom walked to her room to change into day clothes and get ready for the day. She wanted tp just throw on some black skinnies and her grey hoodie, but remembered that Yi Fan was a client and she had to dress to impress for lack of a better phrase. She took a quick shower and blow-dried her hair. She wasn’t in the mood to style it so she just threw it up in a nice bun. Then she went to her closet and found an emerald green dress with an illusion neckline* and long sleeves.

She put on sheer black tights and black suede ankle booties on. She walked out to the kitchen with the ambition of brewing some coffee but was intercepted by Yi Fan. He stepped in front of her, almost stepping on her. His face looked down at hers and she could feel his hot breath on her neck. She shivered violently. “Wh—” Bom started to say, but was cut off by Yi Fan’s sudden grasp on her lower back and his forceful shove upward, forcing her up to meet his face with her own. Bom just looked up at him, shanking a little bit. He chuckled. “Where should we go today?” he asked.

“Bom pulled away from him now that his grasp was loosened. She dusted some invisible dust from her corduroy dress and gave him a dirty look. “You startled me, you fucking asshole,” she said angrily, walking to the coffee maker. “You can’t pull the whole caring bad boy shit, it’s annoying,” she mumbled into the coffee maker. Then she quickly put her hand over her mouth realizing what she had just said. “Sorry…” she said quickly.

“It’s okay,” Yi Fan said chuckling, yet again. “You can be honest.”

“No, I have to be polite and compliant, that’s proper behavior towards a client,” Bom recited as if she was reading a rule book. Then she put her hand over her mouth again. Why was she saying all these things? You’re not supposed to tell the client the rules. Shit.

Wouldn’t you know it, more chuckling came from Yi Fan. This time though, he didn’t say anything more, he just chuckled.

“After I finish drinking this,” Bom said gesturing to her brewing coffee. “I’ll put on my coat and we can go somewhere…” she paused. “Wherever you want.” She finished, trying to sound flirtatious. It blew up in her face, though.

“I said be honest,” Yi Fan chuckled. “That means in actions, too.”

Bom turned around and grimaced in embarrassment. I guess he could tell she wasn’t being genuine. Damn. I’m really out of practice, she thought to herself. She used to do this so well.

~~~

On their way out, they didn’t speak. It was really silent in the building too because there were so few residents in it. Bom recalled when TaeWoo had just had it built. She was one of the first residents to move in, along with a number of other high ranking hostesses and small handful of workers from the corporate side of things. When she used to step out of her apartment then it was completely silent, and Bom had always shivered from a creepy chilling feeling in the halls when she ventured down them. It was so quiet then and still very quiet even now that more residents moved in. The only noise ever heard was the occasional door slam shut or drunken hostess shouting down the halls after a long night of work.

The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Bom went to step in, but Yi Fan beat her to it and stepped in first, in front of her. Bom then stepped in and turned around. She saw two people coming. It was a fellow hostess Bom worked with in Gangnam named Kwon Ah Young. Since her and Bom lived down the hall from each other, they often walked or rode home together at the end of the night (if neither had left the bar for a special client). They could be considered friends, but Bom had a hard time considering anyone her friend. It made her uncomfortable.

Ah Young was naturally very pretty. Her eyes were light brown, on the brink if hazel and she kept her hair this nice light sandy color. But, when Ah young had all her makeup done ready for work, she was drop dead gorgeous. On various occasions Bom and Ah Young, when together, were called the dynamic duo. Bom doubted she was as beautiful as Ah Young, but according to everyone else, she was just as gorgeous.

When Bom had brought in poor Ji-ri as a sort of protégé, some of the other hostesses called Bom and Ah Young the oemma and appa. But it last long before Ji-ri’s accident. Bom shivered at the thought of poor Ji-ri considering the state she was in now, still recuperating from the awful thing that happened to her.

The other girl that was with Ah Young Bom didn’t recognize, but assumed it was another one of Ah Young’s many friends. They both walking urgently to the elevator, trying to catch it before the doors closed, Bom assumed. As soon as Bom realized that was probably what they wanted, she saw the doors begin to close. She quickly stepped her foot out to prevent the doors from closing, and the doors bounced off her black suede bootie, making a slight clanking on the studs that covered the back of the shoe. A surprised Yi Fan looked at the shoe and then to Bom confused. Bom gestured to Ah Young and her friend.

“Friends of yours?” he asked quietly.

No. “Uhm… yeah,” Bom nodded in reply. “Sort of.” Before Yi Fan could question any of it further, the two girls caught up to the elevator.

“Omo, thank you so much, Soo-soo sweetie,” Ah Young said panting. Ugh, that name, why does she too have to call her that. Bom smiled and nodded.

“No pr—” Bom started.

“Omigosh! Is this your boyfriend?” she asked excitedly… and loudly. “He’s so cute!” she exclaimed putting an emphasis on the world cute.

Before Bom could say anything, Yi Fan put his hand around her waist and quickly pulled her closer to his body. “Yep!” he replied. “Don’t we look so good together?” he continued leaning his head in cutely and putting a bright award winning smile on.

“Yees! ” Ah Young exclaimed towards Yi Fan. "And her i was thinking you were dating that short guy.. but now look at this!!" Ah Young said, playfully shoving Bom. “Why haven’t you introduced me yet?”

“Sorry,” Bom said reluctantly. “This is Yi fan,” she began.

“Annyeonghaseyo,” Yi Fan said bowing slightly.

“Oh, you don’t have to be so polite. Speak comfortably around me,” she said, now playfully hitting his arm he had around Bom’s tiny waist.

Then turning to Yi Fan, Bom continued. “This is Ah Young and…” Bom said looking back to Ah Young’s friend. “Sorry I don’t know your name…”

“Ah! This is one of the new girls TaeWoo had flown in recently. I just picked her up last night. Her name is Li Hwa. Isn’t it gorgeous? It means lion flower in Vietnamese I think!” Ah Young said animatedly, moving her hands rapidly as she spoke. “Oh! And she doesn’t know a word of Korean! It’s so funny,” Ah Young said giggling. “I’m showing her around today.”

“Ahh, annyeonghaseyo,” Bom said bowing. Yi Fan bowed too. It kind of bugged Bom that Ah Young talked of smuggling in girls so easily. Bom was always dreaded having to pick up girls at the airport or meeting boats at the coast. It made her uncomfortable. Human trafficking was illegal and Bom never enjoyed the crime side of the business.

The chime from the elevator sounded again and the doors opened. They were at the lobby of the building. The two parties emerged and said their goodbyes.

The two remained in the lobby for a while after Ah Young and Li Hwa left out the front doors. Once Yi Fan and Bom were alone, she attempted to inconspicuously remove herself from Yi Fan’s grasp, but he held tight. She ended up giving up. “Where do you want to go?” she asked.

He shrugged. She found that mildly irritating. He barged into her apartment early in the morning with nothing planned? What an asshole.

Just as Bom started to rip apart Yi Fan in her mind, he let go of her waste and grabbed her hand. Yi Fan began to walk, quite fast, towards the front door. It was a very surprising shift, in Bom’s opinion, since seconds before they were, one, standing completely still and, two, had no place they were planning to go. “What—” Bom mumbled to herself. When they were just outside of the building when, in the drive, Bom sotted a car parked.

It was not abnormal to have cars parked in the drive, but this one caught Bom’s eye for some reason. A lot of the time the vehicles in the drive were taxis, hostesses had no use of their own cars. The only cars that ever appeared were those of the residents from the business end of the conglomerate. This car was really nice, and really new. The outer color was black and glossy, and the car oozed of luxury.

Soon after it caught Bom’s eye, she realized that the two were walking towards it. Could this be her companion’s car? Before she knew it, Yi Fan opened the passenger’s side door for her prompting her to get in, and then walked around the front of the car to get in on the driver’s side.
Bom peered around, running her hands along the leather seats and upholstery, enjoying the feeling on her fingertips. She loved expensive cars. It was one of the many perks of her job. Yi Fan pulled out of the drive and swiftly entered traffic. There were no words spoken for a long while and in that time Bom simply stared out the window, admiring how all the scenery passed. It all passed so quickly. She got to see it all and in a way visit all these places she laid her eyes on, but didn’t have to become committed to them or stay for long. After what felt like only a few minutes, but after looking at the clock and saw that it was 20 minutes, Bom turned to Yi Fan.
“So is this your car?” She inquired.

He quickly glanced over and then back at the road. “Yeah,” he simply replied. Bom waited for more, but found there was no more.

“Where are we going?” She then asked, but to that there was no reply. Put off by his ignoring her question, she was quiet for the rest of the ride. What was probably 30 minutes later, the two finally arrived at their destination. Bom slowly emerged from her seat, opening the car door and getting out, fixing her clothes and adjusting her jewelry. As she situated herself, she looked around. They were at the edge of Seoul at some sort of store. She read the sign and it read
“Yangjae Flower Market”. Why are we at a flower market? Bom thought to herself, confused.
Her confusion must have shown on her face because as soon as she made eye contact with Yi Fan he spoke.

“Have you never been to a flower shop before?”

She didn’t like his attitude. “What point would I have to come to a flower store?” He chuckled and started walking towards the building. “Wait—” Bom started to say. She thought for a quick moment and then said, “Oppa! Wait for me!” She ran to catch up. The obviously overt and forced ‘oppa’ left a bad taste in her mouth, but she ignored it and kept the mask on.

Yi Fan turned around and waited for Bom to catch up. Soon the two were slowly walking side by side. “So… why did we go to a flower market?” Bom asked.

“To purchase flowers.” Yi Fan answered matter-of-factly.

“Why do we need to buy flowers?” Bom further prodded.

To this he didn’t answer. He simply let out a long exhale. Bom could tell she was becoming increasingly irritating to him, so once again stopped the questioning.

It was extremely cold outside and even had started to snow a bit, somewhat early for late fall in Seoul. Nonetheless, the market remained open. The two reached the door and Yi Fan opened it and walked in. Bom did the dame, herself as well. As soon as she was completely inside, she felt the intense humidity and heat of market. It had to be kept ward to keep the flowers alive. It was pretty empty, since winter was swiftly approaching, and no new stick was being brought in, but everything was on sale, making the ambiance lively as ever. People were bustling about trying to collect the potted plants they wanted, perhaps for Christmas gifts to their lovers, perhaps for themselves, and Bom was completely entranced by the whole thing.

A hurried ajhumma, not watching where she was going, rammed straight into Bom. She lost balance and fell, dropping all her plants. Yi Fan was quick to the rescue of the ajhumma and Bom headed down for the plants. The dirt was spread everywhere and one of the many plants the woman was carrying had even fallen completely out of the planter. Nom hurriedly removed her gloves and scooped the dirt back in and then the plant, followed by more dirt. She could hear Yi Fan, now standing along with the ajhumma, asking if she was alright and where she was hurt. The woman was insisting she was fine. When Bom had completed fixing all the plants, she brought them back up to the now standing ajhumma’s height and bowed in apology.

“I am so sorry, I should have been more alert and watched where I was walking,” Bom stated.

“Ah well it cannot be helped,” the woman stated after a brief pause. “They’re on sale anyways.”

Bom bowed a couple more times but the ajhumma just waved her hand and wobbled away.
“Way to go, Bom. Barely been in here a minute and I’m already ruining everything.” Bom said aloud jokingly to lighten the mood.

Yi Fan just chuckled and turned, walking in the other direction. For a short moment Bom just stood there, but quickly tried to catch up to her companion. They were making their way to the back where some offices where held. By the time Bom had made it back there, Yi Fan was already in a conversation with someone.

“I’m here to pick up an order for Choi In Sun.”

The worker fumbled through some papers and then made some clicks on a computer. “Uh.. Yes. We’ll bring it to the back for you for easy pick up. It will be about ten minutes. If you could just bring your car around back, please,” the worker instructed.

Yi Fan nodded and turned towards Bom. “Pick out something pretty,” he told her.
Bom was confused. “Wh—”

“For your apartment. It was looking drab and cold remember?” He clarified.
Bom nodded.

“I’m going to pull the car around and pick up the order. Wait for me by the front when you’re finished and I’ll come back around. Here,” He handed her money for the plant. Before Bom could get a word in even if she wanted to, Yi Fan had walked off. He definitely was a man of business and Bom could see that. When he did things he did them fast and got them done.

Bom had heard the name Choi In Sun before. He was one of Tae Woo’s friends and business partners. He dealt with the stuff Tae Woo didn’t want to get his hands dirty on, like drugs and things of that nature. His birthday was coming up soon. Bom only remembered because it was so close to Tae Woo’s birthday and they often celebrated together.

While she walked up and down and in between the mess of left over potted plants and flowers she thought about it. She saw a purple flower she liked, but she knew she would surely kill something that delicate. She couldn’t take care of herself, let alone anything else… though she did care for the cats she fed. She hadn’t fed them in a couple days, though, which made her feel awful. “Aishhh.” She said softly waking her palm to her forhead numerous times. And the fact that winter was approaching made her nervous for her little feline friends. She found another flower, this one was yellow. It looked sturdier and she for a moment thought that she possibly could get away with not killing this one.

She almost settled for it when she felt someone looking at her. She looked up from her flower and made eye contact with a woman. It was the ajhumma from earlier. Bom immediately smiled and bowed.

“Your flowers are looking nice,” she said gesturing to the woman’s flowers that she earlier crushed.

The woman smiled holding them up like they were trophies. She brought her arms back down and spoke. “Where is your boyfriend from earlier eh?”

“Oh, it’s not like that. He’s just a friend. He had an order to pick up out back. A lot of flowers,” she said though she realized she didn’t really know what he was picking up. Was it drugs? Drugs for Choi In Sung? Bom felt extremely uncomfortable with the thought that she was transporting drugs. Suddenly the market felt hot and crowded. Bom took off her scarf and started unbuttoning her coat.The woman gave her a look and Bom said, “It’s a little warm in here,” she laughed while she said it.

The friendly woman smiled again. “Looking for a plant?”

“Yeah, I need one for my apartment, a small one, I was thinking about getting this—” The woman started batting her hand and shaking her head.

“No, no, no. This will not do. Come with me,” passing Bom and walking in the direction to Bom’s back. Bom turned and followed. The woman led Bom out of the potted flower section and into a section with less color and more green in it. Bom saw some cacti and some other odd looking plants. The woman stopped and turned to Bom. “You need this,” she said handing Bom a strange looking plant. Bom accepted it with two hands. She examined it with a confused expression and woman took notice. “It’s a succulent. They’re in the same family as cacti,” she said. “But they look a lot prettier,” she finished in a jokingly hushed tone. “They’re easy to take care of, barely need any water and this one,” she said pointing to the pot in Bom’s hands. “This one, you can cut open the growths and put the inside liquid on injuries.” The woman gestured to Bom’s wrapped injured hand. “It’ll do wonders. It’s called aloe.”

When the woman was done explaining it, Bom thanked her and assured her that she would definitely buy this one. Bom had found it all quite fascinating. She never had paid much attention to plants or anything and had no idea there were so many kinds with their own characteristics and rules to take care of. Bom did as she said and bought the aloe plant. She was waiting by the door and since people were coming in an out it was alittle chillier at that spot. She set down her aloe and began to put her scarf back on and then button her coat back up. Just then, Yi Fan rolled up in his shiny black car. He idled there for a moment and then she saw his figure getting out. After she got back in the car he asked her what kind of plant she had decided on.

“This aloe plant,” she said. “It’s supposed to be easy to take care of and had healing agents inside it or something.”

Yi Fan was somewhat preoccupied with driving and didn’t really reply. After a moment, Bom returned his question. “What kind of plants did you pick up?”

There was a pause. “Some sort of flowers, I don’t know.”

“What for?”

“Choi In Sun.”

“Yeah but what for?”

“I don’t know!” Yi Fan shouted a bit flustered. “I’m just the errand boy. I pick things up and I drop things off… and I don’t ask questions.”

So, Bom and Yi Fan drove on. Bom didn’t know where to, but based on what Yi fan had stated, it was to drop the “things” off.

What an eventful day… Bom thought to herself, even a pro at being sarcastic in her own thoughts.

Notes

illusion neckline*- a high cut (base of neck), but wide cut (from shoulder to shoulder) style neckline