A Boy: Part IX

Keum was in total silence.
He didn't say a word for the entire trip back to Seoul.
Three large suitcases full of cash didn't excite him.

From the moment she said that she remembered Keum from the temple and she was the little girl who visited her father, the old monk, he was in love. No, maybe he had been in love since he saw the little girl for the first time at the Buddhist's temple. He was practicing Tae-Kwon-Do all by himself in the backyard of the temple, and from nowhere, this little girl appeared. She was wearing a pink polka dot dress and was holding a bunch of wild flowers. She said hello in a small voice and came to him and handed the flowers. "This is for you." Before he could respond, she smiled the most wonderful smile, turned around and walked away. He was the loneliest boy in the universe at the time, and there she was, smiling at him like an alien from another planet and disappeared!

For the first time in his life, he felt something very warm glowing inside of him. And didn't quite know what to do with it.

Two days after they arrived in Seoul, Keum asked the pro for a short break.
Keum thought that it was about time that he visited his mother. It would be his first time since he left her to go to the temple. He suddenly missed his mother terribly.

On the following morning, he was on the bus to his hometown. He had all his saved money with him including his portion of the last winning prize. He thought that the money would buy his mother a nice place to live and if she wanted, she didn't have to work any more for the rest of her life. Keum looked out the window of the bus. Winter trees with their bare branches were passing by at the speed of the bus, and on top of the passing trees, he was seeing himself, a small boy leaving his mother, holding a stranger's hand, trying to hold his tears and not looking back, walking on the dirt road, getting smaller and smaller. It has been too long since he last saw his mother, he thought. And the warm sun ray through the window over his shoulders made him fall a sleep.

When he woke up by the announcement by the bus driver that they were approaching In-Cheon, his hometown, he remembered that he was dreaming of the little girl holding a bunch of wild flowers. In his dream, she kept smiling but said nothing. He gathered his belongings and stepped down the bus.

The city looked smaller. Much smaller than what he remembered.

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His mother didn't say a word when she saw him walking into her restaurant.
Keum didn't say a word either. They just looked at each other for a longest time. Keum was the first to hold his mothers hands and squeezed gently.
She cried silently. Streaks of tears ran on her weathered old face with the same silence.

For next few days, Keum's mother didn't open the restaurant and stayed with him at home, talking with him, walking around the city with him, cooking for him, and smiled with him. She was happy to see her son grew up to a handsome and strong young man.
When he gave her the money she said that she didn't need any but she would open a bank account and save it for Keum's future.

It was the fifth day, when he heard the phone rang at 2 in the morning in the living room, and heard his mother was screaming at the phone. Keum ran out of his room to the living room to find his mother was on the floor. He shook her out of fear that she must be ill, then she opened her eyes and asked for a bowl of cold water.

After she drank the water, she sat down without saying anything for a long time, then she told Keum that it was the local police station, and they said that Keum's father was found dead on one of the boats at the Port of In-Cheon.