Chapter 1
Yeji sits in the far corner of the sofa with her phone in her hand, watching her friend’s relationship fall apart. At least that is what it seems like. Because her friend Jisu keeps writing long textmessages about how stupid she finds her boyfriend to be, how incredibly insensitive he has been and how he keeps neglecting her, taking her for granted. The text messages keep popping up on the screen, way too fast. With this speed Yeji has no chance to answer any of it. As soon as she has come up with a clever answer and has started typing it Jisu has already sent a new one. Yeji stopped trying to type an answer several minutes ago. All she does now is read and wait for Jisu to stop ranting at such a hectic speed.
“Wow, aren’t you gonna answer that?”
Yeji turns around and faces her older twin brother Hyunjin. His black hair covers his eyes when looking down at her.
“There’s no room for me to answer. Jisu is way too fast.” She looks up at her brother who laughs softly.
“That’s more than you can say about Seungmin.” He holds up his phone to show Yeji his screen. It is the exact opposite of Yeji’s. Instead of being the one to read a lot Hyunjin is the one to write. The screen is filled with text messages from Hyunjin to his friend Seungmin, the person who is also Jisu’s boyfriend.
“He wonders what he did in order for Jisu to, at first call him a self-centered giraffe, and later ignore him completely.”
Yeji cannot hold back a laugh. “She called him what?”
“A self-centered giraffe, but that’s not the point. He doesn’t seem to get what he did to deserve this treatment and asked a lot of questions which I tried to answer.”
“So that is the origin story to these novels like messages?”
Hyunjin nods slowly and sighs heavily. “So, if you could convince Jisu to talk with him I would be really happy.”
“Go ahead, she leaves no room for that.” Yeji nods toward her screen where new messages keep popping up.
Hyunjin sits down next to his sister. “You know this is a written conversation? You do not have to wait for your turn. You can just write now.”
“I know but I want to let her finish her rant first.”
“Okay but please make it happen soon? I can't bear this therapist role anymore.”
“Then don’t. You know it’s a written conversation, right? You can leave whenever you want.”
Yeji smiles teasingly and earns an elbow in her side from her brother. It hurts a little but it’s nothing she can’t live with. A little teasing has no one died of.
Just then the siblings’ parents enter the living room. Their mother wears her beige cardigan that she always wears when the evening cold has made its entrance. She sits down in the middle section of the sofa with a cup of coffee in her hand. Yeji can tell it’s hot because she can see the steam slowly rising towards the ceiling. To her left, their father sits down and sighs heavily as he does. He scratches his beard and leans back in the sofa. With the remote in his hand he turns on the TV.
They are going to watch the new as usual. Yeji glances over at the clock hanging on the wall. There is still five minutes until the news program will start. As usual her parents are a bit early, they hate to be late, not only because they may miss something important on the news but also because that’s how they are, always on time, never late. Those are one of the many important and emphasized rules that the siblings had to follow during their childhood, and still has to today. To be late is equal with being disrespectful to the person waiting, and Yeji can agree to a certain extent. Because what if something came in between? Such as the bus being late or your keys being missing? Yeji would easily forgive something like that, but not her parents. They would only say that one should have planned for that in advance. But Yeji has no will to waste her time being early to exactly everything. It’s better to risk being late and save some time that she can spend on something more useful or fun than simply waiting.
Yeji looks at her phone once again. Jisu is still writing but Yeji notices something else as well. She has gotten an email from her dance club. It’s Chaeryeong who has sent the members the schedule for this semester. Yeji smiles when reading it. Chaeryeong always wants to help and faithfully took on the role of this semester's organizer, just like the last one, and the one before that. She is a friend that one can really trust, not only as someone to keep her words and to always give a helping hand but also as a dancer. Whatever choreography she is given she can take on. Yeji is convinced that Chaeryeong one day will be accepted into the dance program at one of the country’s finest universities. If she only could have a little more confidence and believe in herself she could achieve anything in the world of dance. To be honest Yeji is a little jealous. Even though Yeji is a good dancer herself she keeps getting critique for the finer details and the way she puts a little too much effort into every move. Chaeryeong on the other hand rarely receives any critique, at least nothing major, and she always manages to avoid making the same mistakes twice. She is envious, but Chaeryeong deserves all that. Such a good person deserves to meet only the good in life.
The sound on the TV suddenly gets louder. Apparently the news has started now.
All four of them turn towards the flat screen and listen closely. A news reporter in a proper suit talks about how a company scammed several of their customers. After that there is a clip of a serious looking person being interviewed and addressing the matter.
“I don’t understand how people can bear to do things like this.” Yeji’s mother mutters in a low voice while not letting her gaze leave the TV.
“It’s so immoral.” Their father filles in and shakes his head.
Yeji smiles discreetly. They always sit like this, always seem to be surprised over the outside world and the actions of the strangers out there. It doesn’t matter how many of these news they hear, their reactions never change.
When the first news is over the reporter looks down at their papers on the desk. The reporter looks into the camera and opens its mouth again.
“A big survey shows that it’s much more common than before, for young people to ever have been in a homosexual relationship.”
A loud gasp can be heard from the other side of the sofa. Yeji feels how her heart starts beating faster. On the screen there are two guys smiling towards each other. After a few seconds they start walking away hand in hand. The next clip features two girls. One of them leans in for a kiss and lets her lips meet the other’s. Yeji glances over at her parents. Their mouths are wide open and their eyes are radiating pure disgust.
“How can they show something like this on public TV.” Her mother exclaims and furrows her forehead. “That is a very private matter, something they should seek treatment for.”
“Indeed,” The father answers in a dramatic voice. “It's very unnatural and still the reporter talks about it as if it’s completely normal.”
“What is happening with today’s society?”
Yeji throws a quick glance over at her brother. He keeps staring at the TV without as much as blinking. Is he thinking what she is thinking? Is he feeling what she is feeling? She doesn’t have the guts to ask. The question is way too sensitive, infiltrated with their parents' negative emotions. Still she cannot let her mind go off the topic. Homosexual relations, being more common today. Does that really have to be a bad thing? Could it actually be something good for the world? After growing up in a household like this Yeji doesn’t know what to think. Her thoughts are running wild and so does her feelings. Maybe she will do best by just ignoring the topic, pretending it doesn’t exist. At least she won’t have to feel so much then, feel so upset.