Episode 202: Two and a Half Years – 3
“Yaaawn…”
I’ve thought this before, but there is definitely something about school auditorium microphones.
Or maybe there is something about teachers’ voices.
Having arrived at Jiwoo’s school a bit late on purpose, I sit quietly in the very last row of the auditorium, listening to the principal’s speech.
I try to fight back the flood of drowsiness, but it isn’t easy to stop yawning.
It truly is an incredible thing.
Whether in Korea or Italy, principals all talk too much.
They seem like they’re about to finish but don’t, and just when you think it’s finally ending, they keep right on going.
There must be some law that requires you to talk a lot before you can become a principal.
“···”
Anyway, dozing off at someone else’s event is bad manners.
They are fine words, truly, but I let the speech flow in one ear and out the other while craning my neck.
Then, looking toward the front where the students are sitting, I try to spot the back of Jiwoo’s head.
Where would she be sitting?
Hmm…
…Ah, there she is.
There aren’t as many students as I expected, so finding Jiwoo isn’t difficult.
Well, of course, even if there were more, I would have found her easily.
“···”
Seeing the back of Jiwoo’s head as she sits there quietly, pretending to be docile, I let out a soft chuckle.
Come to think of it, everyone else seems excited about graduating, whispering back and forth with their neighbors.
Jiwoo just sits still, staring straight ahead.
Suddenly, seeing her like that reminds me of the past.
Of my elementary school graduation.
Honestly, I had been quite worried before the ceremony.
Thinking back now, it was nothing, but back then, I don’t know why it worried me so much.
Just, how should I put it.
I suppose I was afraid it would be a lonely graduation.
After all, I wasn’t the type of kid to be close with everyone in the class.
My personality was like that, and I spent most of my time in the soccer club, so I was rarely in the classroom.
So the only close friend I had was Jiwoo.
I didn’t hate that; in fact, I liked it. But the graduation ceremony felt a little different.
While the other kids were all mingling and taking photos together, I felt like it would be humiliating to stand there alone, awkward and out of place.
I even found myself wishing my parents wouldn’t come.
I was fine, but I thought they might worry for no reason if they saw.
I thought they might nag me about something.
Anyway, I worried that much… and well, it was exactly as I feared.
My father took time off work insisting he would come that day, and my mother came too.
In front of them, I sat quietly in my seat and endured a rather solitary graduation.
Back then… even the teachers’ speeches, which I usually found boring, felt short.
That was because once they ended, the time for the kids to take photos and say goodbye would begin.
I worried about how my parents would feel, seeing no one come up to me and watching me stand there like a loner.
Well, Jiwoo was there, but.
Unlike me, Jiwoo didn’t have only me as a friend.
I figured Jiwoo would be busy taking photos and talking with her other friends, so I had resigned myself to just staying there a while before slipping quietly home.
I was preparing a vague excuse about meeting up with the soccer club kids afterward.
Consequently, as the teacher’s speech neared its end, my heart began to thump unpleasantly, and for no reason, my parents’ gazes watching me from behind felt frightening.
“···.”
But when that terrifying moment actually approached, things began to unfold differently from what I had imagined.
When the teacher’s speech ended and it finally became time for the kids to mingle.
Jiwoo was the first to approach me as I sat there awkwardly, at a loss.
And she dragged me around frantically.
She dragged me to her family to take photos, asked my parents to take photos for us too.
She even kept taking photos in turns with friends from other classes.
With friends who weren’t close to me, but only close to her.
Honestly… it’s still vivid in my mind.
In the frenzy of being dragged here and there to take photo after photo.
The expressions on my parents’ faces as they took the pictures for us.
They kept smiling, taking photos without showing the slightest hint of annoyance.
Anyway, even amid all that, I was a terrible brat who grumbled that it was annoying and I wanted to stop taking pictures.
Of course, deep down, I was incredibly grateful to Jiwoo.
Thanks to her, the graduation became a boisterous celebration I had never imagined.
“···.”
I am reminded of it once again, but time really does fly.
That memory feels like it was just yesterday, yet here I am sitting at Jiwoo’s high school completion ceremony.
Would I have imagined it back then?
That I would be doing this in faraway Italy.
That I would even be wearing a mask, afraid people might swarm me.
“Jiwoo has had a truly hard time. You know?”
“···Yes.”
I nod at my father’s words from the seat beside me.
Dad hasn’t lowered his arm since earlier, busy taking photos nonstop.
Seeing Dad look at Jiwoo as if she were his real daughter brings a smile to my lips unbidden.
“Coming to a strange land all alone to study—how hard must that have been? And on top of that, she looks after us useless men. Where in the world would you find a friend like that?”
“···”
He is right.
There is no friend like Jiwoo in this world.
“Her parents raised her well. Bright, kind, positive, and she studies hard too. Where do you find a child like that? Right, isn’t that so?”
“···That’s right.”
“Right? You don’t think there’s anyone like her either, do you?”
…Hmm.
But why is he suddenly acting like this?
I feel somewhat strange and don’t quite like where this is going, but I nod.
Then Dad speaks.
“Jian.”
“Yes.”
“So hold on tight.”
“···What?”
…Hold on tight to what?
I look at Dad, and he says:
“Hold on tight, you punk. Always treat her well, speak nicer, and tell her thank you, thank you.”
“···I do treat her well.”
“I mean treat her even better than now. No matter how well you treat her, it won’t be enough. Even if she says something pointless, listen well. Even if she makes a lame joke, laugh. Okay?”
“···”
Where did all this nagging come from, all of a sudden?
Still, since Dad doesn’t usually say things like this, I nod obediently.
“Jian.”
“Yes.”
“Dad was born into this world first, and having lived a few more years, this is what I’ve come to feel.”
Dad’s voice suddenly grows serious.
“Meeting a friend who truly clicks with you is a blessing. If you have even one such friend, you don’t need a hundred or two hundred others.”
“···”
“So you have received a truly great blessing. Meeting a friend like that.”
Well… I think much the same.
“Always be grateful and treat her well. Dad isn’t saying this because I want to keep eating Jiwoo’s cooking forever. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“You have to treat her well.”
“I said I got it…”
That’s why I cleared my whole schedule today.
To come here.
Well, sometimes she really gets on my nerves, and there are times I want to flick her in the forehead.
But I am much more grateful to her.
Just as Dad said, I should always be grateful and try to repay her.
“If Jiwoo weren’t here, what would we men have done, bored out of our minds? Right?”
“···”
“The very air in the house is different when Jiwoo is here and when she’s not. There are always things to laugh about. She is a lucky charm, that girl.”
…That’s a bit much, no matter how you look at it.
Anyone watching would think she is his real daughter.
Dad, gazing at Jiwoo in the distance with honey about to drip from his eyes at any moment, spoke:
“My final wish before I die is to have a daughter-in-law like Jiwoo.”
“…*Cough! Cough!*”
I suddenly choked.
*
This might just be the case here, so I shouldn’t generalize, but in terms of length, the Italian principal seems a cut above the Korean principal.
It was only when my rear end began to ache that the end of the speech finally came into sight.
Then the students went up to the podium one by one to receive their certificates, and only then did it become the students’ time.
“Let’s go too.”
“Yes.”
Families sitting around us began to get up to find their students, so we slowly rose from our seats as well.
…It is a bit awkward. Since the students are unquestionably the stars of the day, no one is paying any attention to me.
I suppose I worried for nothing.
Anyway, it’s not disappointment; rather, it’s a good thing.
I push comfortably through the crowd and head forward to find Jiwoo.
After a moment, I spot Jiwoo standing with her certificate, looking around.
“···”
The area around her is bustling with students meeting their families and chatting affectionately.
Seeing Jiwoo somewhat left alone waiting for us amid all that stirs a mischievous urge to tease her, but I suppose I should restrain myself from jokes, at least for today.
“What are you looking around for? I’m right here.”
“…Ah!”
I slip through the crowd and raise my hand, and Jiwoo breaks into a bright smile and waves.
But only for a moment.
“Why are you so late! Do you want to die?”
*Thwack.*
Jiwoo’s cotton-like fist lands on my shoulder.
Why does she always make a fuss when I show up?
This is why I can’t manage to say anything nice, even when I want to treat her well.
“Dad said we should go slowly because it’s crowded in here. Are you going to complain to my dad?”
“I’m sorry, Jiwoo.”
“Huh? Ah, no. That’s not… hahaha…”
Plus, her reactions are so amusing that I want to tease her even more.
Still, today is a special day, so instead of teasing her, I take out what I had hidden behind my back.
A bouquet I bought on the way.
Jiwoo’s eyes go wide at the sight of the bouquet.
“Hey, what! I told you not to buy stuff like this! We could have just gone out and eaten something good.”
“I just picked it up on the way. It was lying on the street.”
She kept telling me since yesterday not to buy flowers, so I bought them on purpose.
If Jiwoo insists several times that it’s not true, that means it is.
“Argh, you bought so many. What, am I supposed to just carry this around in my arms?”
See?
She’s asking why I bought it, but she can’t hide her smile.
Well, looking around, everyone is holding at least one bouquet.
I couldn’t let Jiwoo be the only one empty-handed, could I?
“Why don’t you two take a picture. Dad will take it for you.”
Anyway.
I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Jiwoo, gently pushed by Dad’s hand on my back.
“I’ll take it.”
“Okay! Hey, smile. Even if you have to force it.”
“···”
Doing this reminds me even more of the old days.
Only unlike back then, this time I am the one who came to Jiwoo.
“Okay. Nice. Jiwoo, take pictures with your other friends too. This uncle will take them for you.”
Having forced a smile for the photo, I hear Dad speak to Jiwoo.
Dad seems to have come here determined today.
But Jiwoo shakes her head.
“No, it’s all right. You don’t have to trouble yourself.”
“What trouble is there in taking a photo? Photos are all that last. Call friends who want to take pictures.”
“No, I… it’s fine…”
Dad pushes Jiwoo’s back, and I subtly study her expression.
There is no way Jiwoo actually finds taking photos bothersome.
Hmm.
I think I know what’s on her mind.
…I really didn’t want to do this, but I suppose I have no choice.
“*Ahem.* It’s stuffy.”
Pretending it’s stuffy inside, I take off my mask.
And I glance around.
I suddenly worry that I’ll make a fool of myself by getting excited alone, but that worry lasts only a moment.
“Huh!?”
One, two.
The gazes of the surrounding students and families begin to converge on me.
And soon… the surroundings begin to descend into chaos.
“It’s Ri!?”
“Why are you here?”
“Wow, it’s Ri! Can you take a picture with me, just once?”
I only came to congratulate her, so I really didn’t want this to happen.
But it can’t be helped.
Today’s main characters are the students, but Jiwoo is a student too, so this should be fine, right?
A friend with an utterly spectacular expression of surprise asks, and I place my hand on Jiwoo’s shoulder as I answer.
“Because this friend is my best friend…”
At that answer, everyone makes strange noises and looks at Jiwoo as if she is incredible.
Honestly, even I think it is an embarrassing, cringeworthy thing to say.
But seeing the students’ gazes change when they look at me… it is truly funny, but.
I felt that I had done well, working hard all this time.