That Night

(FLASHBACK, THAT NIGHT)

After drinking countless bottles of soju, we were completely wasted. I stood up to wake Jin Ho from sleep. But my vision had definitely been distorted. Instead of tapping him to wake up, I was slapping the table whilst saying: "Jin Ho, let's go."

In his subconscious state, he replied: "Alright, I will be right up."

"But you are right down", I reminded him.

Then, like an activated zombie, he got up all of a sudden and held my hand. "Amy, let's go", he said to me. We walked down the street and I was just moving from left to right. Jin Ho however was more sober and he protected me from hitting many poles. Finally, he held my hand.

We held hands as we walked back, and I asked him out of the blue: "Jin Ho, can you sing?"

He gave out a squeaky laugh and said: "What are you talking about? Back in school, I was known as angelic Jin Ho. I had such a voice smoother than honey that everyone loved. Especially the ladies. I was even part of a band."

"Really? Which band?" I asked whilst tossing from left to right in his hands.

"What was its name?" He asked as he tried to recall the name of the band.

"Perhaps, was your band playing in the backyard?" I asked.

"How did you know?" He acknowledged my guess. The answer to his question was obvious and I explained it in simple terms to him. I told him: "Only unpopular bands lack a name. But, you are still a musician."

"That's right", he agreed. And I continued saying: "And since I also sang and people thought I was a singer, should we have a showdown?"

"Deal. But who would be our judge?" He asked. I looked around and saw nothing except a brown fluffy dog.

"That dog", I replied. "Dog?" He asked back.

"Yes. That dog likes to bark, so the one who gets the loudest bark is the winner", I explained.

"Agreed", he said and gave out a hearty laugh.

We sang countless songs in front of our judge. Well, our judge was chained to a pole in front of a motel. So that means that we were singing and disturbing the motel's occupants.

Just then, the motel's manager came out and shouted at us saying, "Hey! You lunatics! Why are you disturbing my customers?"

Nevertheless, we were in our own world and cared less about his customers.

"They won't give up", the manager said after seeing the intensity with which we sang. "Security, handle them", he ordered.

Two dark husky men appeared from nowhere and came to us. "Hey, stop it and leave", they ordered. None of us paid attention to them so they proceeded to drag us with force. Their only mistake was to drag me first before approaching Jin Ho.

"Let go of her", Jin Ho said with blazing eyes. They didn't mind him and the other wanted to drag him as well. But Jin Ho repeated his words whilst clenching his fists. "Didn't you hear me, I said let go of her", he repeated and punched the incoming guy. The blow was so heavy that he fell straight to the guy.

The one who had held me tried to bluff by saying: "If I don't, what would you do?"

But the next moment, he was standing by the manager. The manager looked at him and shook his head in disbelief. "So you let go of her?" He asked.

"I had no choice sir", he replied. The manager looked at us as we continued making noise whilst laughing wholeheartedly.

He instructed his men saying: "Give them a room. The one which is sound proof."

"But what if that couple comes in?" One of the men raised a huge concern.

"I don't think their noise is as loud and irritating as these ones", the manager stated.

"That's true", the guard agreed. But the noise was about to get worse as I decided to sing a Whitney Houston original.

Staggering around, I said: "I'm Whitney Houston", then I began singing the worst rendition of the song.

'And I… Will Always Love Youuuuuuuuuu!'

The manager couldn't stand the noise anymore. "Enough!!!" He shouted on top of his voice.

"Get them inside that room. Now!!!" He shouted at the bodyguards.

That's how we ended up in the room. And that also led to me getting undressed.

In the room, we were still on with the singing battle. But after making the dog bark very loudly, I said in excitement: "Jin Ho, I won."

"Are you sure?" He asked. And I pointed at the dog whilst saying: "See how it is barking?"

"Alright, I give in. The winner is Amy Lee", Jin Ho acknowledged my victory.

"Woo!" I happily applauded. Jin Ho then gave me a free interview.

"Amy Lee, how do you feel after winning the dog singing contest?" He asked. And I replied: "I am very very very very happy."

"I see. Then, would you participate in next season's singing contest?" He asked.

"Sure thing. But what's my price?" That was very necessary.

Jin Ho looked around and had an idea. Taking the dog in his hands, he said: "Since this is a dog singing contest, then this dog is your price."

"Doggie, come here. You are my price", I happily said. I was about to grab the dog, it jumped to the ground and I decided to chase after it. How could my price run away?

As I was running towards the dog, I slipped and fell backwards. But during this unprecedented motion, my lightweight body landed in the arms of a well-built guy. Our faces got extremely close and that's when I said: "Jin Ho, why do I feel like kissing you?"

"What?" I asked.

I raised my body to kiss him and all of a sudden, I, I…

"Threw up? I threw up after asking for a kiss?" I asked myself after that memory flashed through my mind.

And right now, we were in the same posture. I was in his arms and our lips were close. Maybe Jang Sik's wife's prediction would have come true but after recalling that embarrassing memory, I pushed him aside and ran off.

"What was that?" Jin Ho was stunned.

Jang Sik sat in front of his room and saw me running. This made him wonder, "Did it occur? Guess she feels shy afterwards."

Soo, Jin Ho also arrived in the hallway. He saw Jang Sik sitting in front of his door. He approached him and asked: "Older brother, why aren't you going inside?"

Jang Sik looked at him with his puffy eyes and told him: "Jin Ho, treasure the moment you just had very well. Don't forget a thing about it. The dress she wore, the weather condition, the date, the setting, please keep them all in mind." He then turned aside and continued crying.

Jin Ho left him in his awkward state and mumbled to himself: "Is everything fine with him? And what nonsense was he talking about?"

But all of a sudden, Jang Sik shouted from afar: "Make sure to keep them! Make sure to…" he continued crying again and couldn't complete his statement.

After closing the door behind me, I stood against it whilst recalling what I did on that night. "I can't believe it. I… I told him that I felt like... Why? Why would I do such a thing? My virgin lips. This is why alcohol is dangerous. It's so dangerous", I cried out as I kept banging my head against the door.

"What are you talking about?" Ra Ra who had closed his eyes asked all of a sudden.

"Aren't you asleep?" I asked.

"Were you hoping that I would be in Dreamland?" She asked and rose up from her bed. "Something happened between you two right?" She asked and stared directly at me.

"What are you saying? What could happen?" I asked.

"Kiss. Did you kiss him?" She asked and I nearly fell to the ground.

"I have my dignity, okay?" I mentioned before going to bed.

"Won't you change?" She asked but I pretended to be asleep.

"Whatever, Miss Dignity. I'm sure soon you will turn into Kiss Dignity", she chuckled and went to sleep.

Back in Seoul, things were getting dangerous. At the secret army base, the man who's always in casual wear paid a visit to the boss once again.

"Sir, I have something to report", he said as always.

"What is it this time?" The boss asked. This time also, he refused to reveal his face.

"Sir, Ri Won Taek is working for the NIS", he reported.

"WHAT? What did you just say?" The boss was extremely shocked. It seemed as if this news meant big time trouble for him.

Keeping his composure, he asked: "So far, have you found out anything about Ri Won Jae's son?"

The man reported back saying: "Not yet sir."

"Hurry up!" He ordered, after which he added: "If he is alive, that could mean our death."

"Yes sir", the man replied and left the boss's office.

After he had left, the boss took a picture from his drawer and looked at it closely. He then said: "Ri Won Jae, even after your death, you continue to disturb us in the grave. And your annoying brother, Ri Won Taek, is getting on my nerves. Speak to him or else… he'll be next." That was a scary warning.

I woke up so early the next morning and got ready to leave. Jang Sik's Grandma came to my room and asked if we could speak. I agreed and we went to her room.

I saw several old photos of her and a young handsome man. It seems like that was her husband. After leaving me alone in the hall of her room, she returned with a cup of brewed tea.

"I didn't know what you would like but I thought that maybe tea might be refreshing for the morning", she said after handing me the tea.

"Thanks. Honestly, I am not a fan of tea but I drink it once in a while since it is very hygienic", I revealed.

We sipped a bit of the brewed tea and she proceeded with what she had to say. "Amy, how deep is a well?" She asked unexpectedly.

"Very deep, I guess", I replied.

She placed her cup of tea down and told me: "If you want to draw water out of a well, you will need lots of help and lots of strength. The right materials, the right amount of energy. Once you have these, you will be able to draw as much water as you want."

I didn't know what she was talking about but then she added, "That is how a man's heart is. It is just like a well. Without the right materials, it might look too deep. But with the right materials and strength, you can discern into it. Apply this with Jin Ho. He always looked like someone with a gloomy past. Take good care of him and lighten up that world of his. I trust that you would do a great job."

"Thanks grandma", I said after listening to her advice. Though her words seemed quite proverbial, I understood the meaning of those words.

After I left the room, she smiled and said, "I now know who caused the typhoon to come to a halt. It was the boy and not the girl."