Gratefulness~ pt.4

"Some say that the more someone has tattoos, the more fears he has. Maybe he's afraid of you. Or more like losing you. A fear for the sadness he might have to endure if he lost you. Or something."
"Wow! That was deep," Narelle laughs at Gyo Mi-Ok who's enjoying her water.
"Hahahah! Yeah, it was!" Mi-Ok agrees and places the bottle on the counter. She always drinks her daily doze of water which is many litres of it. I mean, I drink a lot of water too but she seems to be addicted to it. And sometimes I find diet drinks from the fridge and I know that those are hers. But I don't know why she needs those. She's already so small.
I put down the Korean magazine. Slowly I'm starting to understand the language.
"You really think so?" I look up to Mi-Ok and lean on my elbow.
"That he really would care so much?"
She shurgs and her long hair flies from side to another as she shakes her head.
"I don't know! It was just a joke... But who knows? Maybe?"
"Yeah..." I ponder. "I don't think that he would have a tattoo taken because of me. It would be ridiculous."
Ariel comes from the bathroom and walks to our room wearing a bathrobe. I pity her. She seems to be an outsider among us because of the language barrier. And she's so shy too.
"Ya!" Narelle yells and grabs the water bottle, that Mi-Ok is again lifting on her lips, and replaces it with a lollypop.
"You are too skinny! Eat! Eat, eat, eat! Nyam nyam!"
I laugh so hard my tummy hurts at these two idiots.
"Ani!" Gyo Mi-Ok laughs and throws the lollypop towards the floor.
"Gaah!! It was a Hello Kitty one!" Narelle sighs, looking at the pile of sugar dust laying on the floor with sad eyes.
"Oh jeez, girls," I laugh and stand up, taking the magazine with me.
"I have to vlog now. Byeh!"
Narelle turns around and locks her fingers around my wrist.
"Wait."
"Hmh?"
"Cecily called and she said that somebody is waiting for you at the YG building."
"Really?" I frown. "Who?"
"I don't know. She didn't say," Narelle lets go off my hand and leans agains the counter. She looks at me and blinks her eye.
"Could it be... Ji Yong-ah?"
I blush immediately.
"He's in Japan, you idiot," Gyo Mi-Ok slaps her friend. I laugh.
"Aah, ne. So, you haven't seen him. Has he called you? Did you call him? Do you guys send a lot text messages? Huh? HUH?!" Narelle gets too excited about us and leans to my direction.
"Uhm... Not that much," I grin.
"Whaa?" they both look at me with their eyes widened.
"But now," I laugh and turn to leave. "Vlog time!"
It's true that we haven't contacted each other for a few days but the world doesn't end because of it, right? I guess it's good to give and have some own space as well.

At the building I bump into Seungri who's just running out of the doors.
"Ah! Mianhe, Mineeha! Oh, that's funny," he utters a laughter as he puts his hands on my shoulders and guides me inside.
"Mianhe - Mineeha, you see?" he smirks. "But now I need to hurry. Nice seeing you!"
I walk to Cecily and ask her about the visitor.
"Annyeong, Minea," she greets me happily after a long time of being alone in her apartment and having a little break after what happened. And it's the first time that someone pronounces my name like it's supposed to. I bow at her.
"Yeah, there's someone waiting for you in the cafeteria. I think you'll be very happy seeing her," she smiles.

I take the elevator to the lowest level because I can't wait to see who has come to see me. I walk along the corridors until I hear the familiar sound of tableware clinking. I have no idea who is there waiting for me and I don't dare to guess so that I wouldn't get disappointed.
I get inside and see that the tables are all full since the lunch is served at this time. There sits iKon, girls of New Girl Group an also Tablo with his manager. And couple of other managers have joined them also.
"I choose Big Bang and EXO and... Wait. A bias, you say? Bhahahah! One just can't simply have one bias!" I can hear someone talking in English. The girls sometimes practice their language skills by having days that they only are allowed to speak the specific language they have chosen among themselves. Usually it's Chinese but now it seems to be an English-speaking day. It's a fun idea after all.
At the table located nearest to the corner I recognise a familiar-looking brown wool coat hanging on a woman's bony shoulders. Her hair is covered by a silky scarf and she's leaning against the table, admiring the landscape painting on the wall.
"Mom...?" I let out a silent word. I take a look at myself and make sure that I look okay although I wouldn't have to. It just feels like I was have a meeting with a relative that I haven't met in my life before but in reality I have only been away from home a few weeks.
I approach her from the back and touch her shoulder lightly. My finger touches her collarbone which is sticking out remarkably and my body shivers as the white face turns to look and smile at me. Mom's cheek bones have become more visible and her eyeballs look bigger in her now smaller and slimmer face. But even then those eyes look at me sparkling full of admiration and pride.
"Oh, how wonderful to get to see you," mom stands up and hugs me as hard as she can. I seem to be still confused. "I hope you weren't busy."
"No... Mom, why are you here?" I ask and sit down beside her. I can't help but to notice how horrible she looks and how much she has changed in so little time. I guess the illness has become worse during the time I wasn't there.
"I just wanted to see my daughter," she smiles, looking so tired.
"This is so beautiful building. You live here?"
"No," I shake my head and lean on the table. "I live in a dorm but I practically spend the most of the time here," I keep telling her more about what's happening in the building.
"How exciting. Interesting," mom nods. "I was thinking that if we could go for a walk? You could show me places. I'd like to know where my child lives and how dangerous it is here."

We walk along the same boulevard I met Kiko at the time. It's peaceful and there's no clouds on the sky. Not even a light breeze is blowing and moving the yellow leaves that have fallen lately on the ground. All the joggers have woken up and left for their daily course. Also a few families have brought a picnic basket with them to be able to spend some time outside.
"Well, as you can see, it's not that dangerous," I spread my arms and my mom looks happy.
"But the traffic!" I remember to mention. "Especially the tax drivers and delivery boys drive the way they want to and they don't care about others. But I knew it before I even came here so it doesn't bother me. And a manager usually drives me to places if we have to go somewhere further away. To the dorm I walk through this park so it's perfectly safe," I explain to her so that she would feel at ease when thinking about me and how I manage here in a completely different place compared to Finland. She seems to be somehow so calm and carefree today. I feel a little worried but maybe I shouldn't. Life should be enjoyable to live, just like she has taught me.
"Do you have jet lag?" I ask as we arrive to the gate. Mom looks at me slowly and laughs:
"No but it's just so nice here that I find myself thinking of other things... Where did you live again?"
We walk to the dormitory and I show her the whole dorm we have, now that my roommates aren't there. I make her tea and eat vegetables and rice for lunch myself. I even offer her cookies but she doesn't want them.
"I'm not really feeling that hungry," she just smiles politely.

Notes