City Lights: Chapter 3

Chapter: 3 Characters (in order of appearance): Jin Chul and Hee Jin* *indicates original character Words: 1,249 Edits: 1 Added: January 29, 2011

Wednesday, July 14, 8:05am
Seoul, South Korea

Jin Chul walked slowly along a path in a beautiful park. He felt knots in his stomach thinking about his planned meeting with his best friend. Correction: ex-best friend. He couldn't help feeling nervous about meeting someone for the first time in person after only ever speaking to them online. He sat on a park bench and heaved a deep sigh. He had imagined it much more exciting and happy. That was before he found out that his friend was actually a girl pretending to be a guy. He was still angry about it and planned on yelling at her when he met her.

Jin Chul looked at his watch and glared. She was already eight minutes late. He knew eight minutes wasn't that late but he wanted to keep adding up reasons to be angry at her. He sat stiffly on the bench not taking his eyes off his watch. Counting every minute, every second she was late. He paid no attention to the loud footsteps drawing near and eventually stopping directly in front of him or the sound of a person clearing their throat.
Finally a voice said loudly, "Jin Chul?" Jin Chul nearly yelled out in surprise. His eyes darted up to the prettiest girl he'd ever laid eyes on. She had long soft black hair and enchanting eyes. He was sure he had seen her before and it was a moment before he realized that it was the same person in the photo Snowy_summer had sent him. She opened her mouth to speak.

"It's me," she said, smiling brightly. He stared blankly at her so she raised her eyebrows and said, "You know, Snowy Summer. Remember?"

Jin Chul continued to stare blankly at her. Hee Jin glanced around thinking she had the wrong person. "You are Jin Chul, right?"

He finally snapped out of it and said in a low voice, "Yeah. I'm Jin Chul." He glanced at the ground.

"Wow. You said you got nervous but I didn't think you'd be around me." She was more irritated than amazed. "Come on! We've known each other for how long. Can't you at least look at me?"

Jin Chul shot her a dirty look which took her by surprise. "I'm not nervous," he snapped. "I'm angry."

"About what?" Hee Jin said, both shocked and confused.

"Do you honestly have to ask? You lied to me!"

"You're still mad about that?" Hee Jin asked in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't I be!" At this, Jin Chul stood up, standing face to face with Hee Jin. He was a little closer than he meant to be and tried to step back but nearly fell back onto the bench. His face went red from both embarrassment and anger. He was about to tell Hee Jin off some more but was surprised to see her scowling.

"So, is that why you never wrote back to me?" she asked.

Despite feeling somewhat intimidated by Hee Jin, who was now looking thoroughly angry, Jin Chul stood his ground. "Do you blame me?" he asked. "I wasn't even going to call you out. There's no reason for us to be friends if you're going to lie to me."

Hee Jin folded her arms. Her once enchanting eyes were now fierce and piercing. Jin Chul slightly backed down. "So," Hee Jin began. "Why, exactly did you call me out? To tell me off?" Jin Chul was about to speak but Hee Jin cut him off. "I'm not done," she snapped. He quickly closed his mouth. "You don't want to be friends because I told you I was a guy? Do you have a problem with girls? Since when couldn't girls and guys be friends? And the only reason I didn't tell you sooner was because I was worried you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. I felt stupid when I thought about it later but after seeing you like this, I guess I wasn't worrying for nothing.

"So what," she went on, "You're going to break off our friendship? All because of one tiny lie?"

Jin Chul cleared his throat and tried to muster up some courage to speak.

After a moment of silence, Hee Jin impatiently tapped her finger on her folded arm and said, "Well?"

"You're right," he said in a low voice. Hee Jin looked somewhat surprised and a little relieved. "I don't want to be your friend anymore. You lied to me and I don't think we should be friends."

Hee Jin went back to scowling. "So, that's it? One year of friendship gone because I told you the truth."

Jin Chul shook his head. "One year of friendship gone because you lied to me."

"You're pathetic. A true friend wouldn't do that."

"A true friend wouldn't lie," he retorted.

"A true friend would forgive and forget!" she said loudly, biting back tears. "You said I'm a liar? What about you?"

"What about me? I told you the truth."

"No you didn't. You told me that no matter what happened, no matter what I did, you'd always be my friend." She couldn't help it anymore and tears began to flow out freely. "Why would you say something you didn't mean?"

Jin Chul wasn't sure what to say. He knew what she said was true but he was still upset. "Yeah. But I wasn't saying it to the girl Snowy Summer. I was saying it to the guy Snowy Summer. There's a difference."

"Is there? You can't bend what you say when you feel like it. It's either you mean it or you don't."

"Well, I can and I did. I don't want to be your friend anymore and that's all there is to it."

Hee Jin continued to scowl as Jin Chul began to walk away. He turned to her, "I'm deleting you as a friend online and I don't want you to message me anymore. This is the last time we'll ever speak to each other so goodbye." He began walking again.

Hee Jin stood there breathing heavily while frowning. She finally shouted at him, "Fine! Just remember that I was the one being truthful! In the end, Jin Chul is the liar!"

Jin Chul nearly turned around and shouted back but thought better of it and sped up his walk instead.

When he felt he was far enough away, he took a glance back and saw Hee Jin sitting on the bench with her face in her hands. She was obviously crying. He felt a tang of guilt come over him but ignored it and continued on his way.

Meanwhile, Hee Jin sat on the bench. Unlike what Jin Chul thought, she wasn't crying. Instead, anger was boiling inside of her. He got angry over something so small and broke off their friendship over it. He called her a liar and acted like she was the bad guy but here he was refusing to forgive her and being untrue to their friendship. She felt like kicking him. He was the exact opposite in person as he was online. And to think, she actually came all the way to Korea to visit him. She wasted both money and vacation time for a self-centered, unforgiving jerk.

Hee Jin stood up and kicked the garbage can nearby, hurting her foot in the process. She held her foot as tears came down. She angrily wiped them away and tromped off back home, fuming as she went.

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Author's Notes:

Okay. I know Jin Chul is sounding like a jerk and even I feel that he's being too much (or I would if I were in Hee Jin's shoes). But, don't forget to think of how each character is feeling. It's hard not to choose sides but it IS possible. I'd actually like to hear your thoughts on this. Please comment :)