“What do you think he’s going to tell me?” Hazel asked Jan when they went out sunbathing the next day.
“Urgh … if you ask me that one more time … I’m going to drown myself in the lake … no … I’ll drown you in the lake,” she had one arm folded behind her head, sunglasses covering her eyes.
They were laying on a large towel at the dock with their heads against each other.
“No, but seriously …” Hazel had her phone in her hand and taking pictures of them with lollipops in their mouths.
“Yes, seriously … I’m not lying when I say I’ll drown you … he’s going to tell you exactly what you’re going to tell him … aawww … but it’s so romantic though that you guys decided to tell it in person, not a lot of people do that anymore.”
With all the technology and application, the gesture of expressing their feelings in person was invaluable. It was a lost art.
“He’s been sending me drone footage of Gyeongju, it’s so gorgeous … makes me want to go there, let’s take videos of us too … and the lake, I want to send him something too,” she said it while snapping shots of them from different angles.
Jan slipped her hand to Hazel’s bikini top and slid it down.
“Hey!” Hazel slapped her hand and burst into laughter.
“What? He’ll appreciate a little boob pic if you ask me,” Jan laughed out loud.
“He’s not like that.”
Jan rolled her eyes, “They’re all like that … what 17-year-old boy doesn’t like boobs?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right … but I’m not giving him boob pic until … you know?” she was too shy to say it.
“Until he’s your boyfriend?” Jan sat up and folded her legs in front of her. “Oh my God … can you believe it? You’ll have a boyfriend soon … well, technically, you already have one, you just haven’t said it yet.” She stomped her feet on the dock with both hands clutched in fists, “I’m so excited for you!!”
Hazel blushed and looked away. It’s a funny feeling, just a couple of days before, she thought she had lost her best friend. “But I’m not giving anyone boob pic, though, that’s just stupid,” she giggled.
**********
Dimples: Do you mind if my grandma wants to see you? Can we do video?
She received the text later that day. They just had dinner and were relaxing in her room at the lake house.
“His grandma wants to see me,” she said to Jan nervously.
“Wow, they must have discussed the marriage prospect,” Jan said sarcastically.
Hazel lit up in a laugh, she was happy again. She fixed her hair in the mirror and fired up her laptop on the writing desk. She sat in front of it and texted Lee.
Hazelnut: Okay, I got my laptop ready.
The soonest the call connected, she could see half of his face on her screen. He was adjusting his camera so that it will capture him and his grandma who was sitting on the sofa.
His earring, his black hair tucked behind his ear, his eye glanced at her and wrinkled in the corner as he smiled and formed his dimple. “Hi,” his soft-spoken voice greeted her.
She felt warmth on her cheeks, “Hi,” her eyes were pinned on the view in front of her.
He backed away from the camera and took a seat next to his grandmother. A petit elderly woman with cropped grey hair. She looped her arms around Lee’s arm and leaned on his shoulder as she waved at the camera. They look adorable. She could see the resemblance on their facial feature almost immediately.
She cupped her hands around her mouth, she was laughing lightly, “Hi … oh my God … she’s so sweet.”
She could hear a murmur in the background, the interpreter was there too, but he wasn’t visible in the camera. Then his grandmother was saying something in Korean and tapped his cheek lightly, she laughed and clasped her hands together like she was so happy about something.
It made Lee blush, he looked down as his grandma kept pushing his arm. The interpreter asked, “Do you want me to translate that?” he was laughing too.
Lee shook his head then his eyes fell on Hazel, “I’m sorry … she said you’re the prettiest girl she’d ever seen.”
“Aww thank you, no one has ever said that about me before … well, except for my mom and dad … your grandma is beautiful too, what else is she saying? It seems like she’s saying a lot of things.”
His grandma was still talking, tussled his hair, and pressed her hand against his cheek again and again. Lee was just laughing.
“She is … but I’m not gonna tell you exactly what she said,” Lee said. “She loves you … even before you said anything …” he pinched the bridge of his nose shyly, “I guess it runs in the family,” he looked into her eyes through the lens and smiled.
“So … tell me everything …” he said again. They haven’t been out of contact for that long before, they always know everything about each other.
She told him everything about the lake house, the boathouse. How she had a barbeque with her family, Theo’s family, and went fishing with her dad and didn’t like it. Jan was in the background joining in the conversation once in a while, and his grandma was just lovely listening to the interpreter and making sweet comments.
And all the while they couldn’t take their eyes off of each other, the things they wanted to say couldn’t be said in words with the people around them but their eyes said everything.
“Bogoshipda, Hazel,” Lee said at the end of their video call.
His grandma squealed beside him and grabbed his arm.
“What does that mean?” Hazel was excited to know.
He was laughing at his grandma’s reaction, “It means, I miss you.”
“Aaaww … I miss you too … what was it? Bogo …? What?”
“Bogoshipda,” he repeated it a few times and even spelled it for her until she got it right.
“I’ll call you again tomorrow … or text … or …” he was stuttering hoping everything was back to normal.
“Bogoshipda,” Hazel repeated it one more time and smiled, “I can’t wait to see you again, Dimples.”
“Me too,” he kissed the tips of his fingers and pressed them to the camera. “Love you, Hazy … love you too, Jan!” he was in front of the camera ready to go.
“Not as much as you love Hazel, I bet …” Jan rolled over on the bed, “But I love you too, Lee … stay safe out there and come back soon! Get me out of this misery … pleaseee … she can’t stop talking about you …”
Hazel threw a pillow to Jan’s face, “Jan! Don’t mind her … okay, bye-bye, talk to you later, Dimples, bye Halmoni (grandmother).”
The camera finally cut off, but her smile was still wide on her face. “Bogoshipda,” she repeated it again.
“Urgh … you should get a room …” Jan grunted on the bed, but then they burst into laughter.