Roseanne's Summer Vacation- Chapter 14
They spent over an hour at Babie Doły until the wind got so cold that they couldn’t stand it anymore. The wall of trees gave them necessary protection on the way back. They even caught the return bus just in time. Unfortunately, it took the vehicle two hours to crawl through traffic and road construction to the city centre. They even passed a fire squad handling a hit-and-run incident.
The sun was getting closer to the horizon. The colour of the sky changed from bright blue to a tinted one in the shades of pink and purple. Nika didn’t have to struggle with her motion sickness because she passed out from tiredness. Others were consumed by their phones. Mr Orville was the only one looking at the view outside, making sure they wouldn’t miss their stop.
Roseanne began sending pictures of the beach to her family. She knew it would be best to wait until evening and send all the images from the first day of the trip, but she just couldn’t help herself. She also wanted to compose an Instagram story out of them, but an unexpected pop-up notification made her feel the rush of adrenaline: Tae-jun has accepted her invite.
She quickly opened up the Korean boy’s Instagram profile and was immediately overwhelmed by the wall of photographs. There weren’t many of them, a couple of dozen or so, but she wanted to go through them all. She knew from experience that even one image can tell a lot about a person.
And what did Tae-jun’s images tell? That he was a regular guy. Nothing out of the ordinary. No wild card photos where he’s goofing around like a complete jackass, no memes, no hidden content. He had a pretty low number of followers—only seventy-one—and these were people from all over Europe. As for the pictures he had posted, these mainly featured him visiting popular landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Victoria Street, ABBA Museum, and many others. Other pictures were from the restaurants he had worked in. Tae-jun posed behind his workstation, always smiling, surrounded by busy co-workers.
Much to Roseanne’s surprise, there wasn’t a single picture from any party or friends hangout that would give any inclination that he has a girlfriend.
For a brief moment, Roseanne considered messaging him, but she stopped herself in an instant. What the hell would I write? she thought. Hi? How are you doing? I’ve just been to Babie Doły… She learned from past mistakes that this kind of correspondence only makes her anxious. It was as clear as day: she writes something trivial and he writes back something trivial; or worse, he reads the message and doesn’t write back, pushing her into a downward spiral of overthinking for hours.
Oh god, what am I even thinking?! Roseanne shouted in her mind. This is happening way too fast. It’s best to cool off, close the damn app, and wait for a natural interaction at the hostel.
Roseanne wanted to turn to Natasha and tell her about the profile, but her friend was fast asleep—her face with an open mouth glued to the window evoked the image of a fish taken out of water.
***
“Jajangmyeon ready for no. 6!”
Tae-jun worked efficiently in the kitchen. The current restaurant he worked at was small, but he didn’t mind that. At least, he could have some rest from the hustle and bustle of large eateries where timing and cooperation between chefs were essential to ready a dish.
He was the only foreigner on the staff. Apart from him, there were two more chefs working. If he were to come to work in the afternoon—when it was the busiest—he was working with the other chef. Then the third one would come in for the evening and work alone. The rotation shifted each week. Right now, he was due to finish in about an hour.
A waitress came in with two more orders. Tae-jun could tell she had a crush on him. Local waitresses are too predictable whenever they see an Asian guy.
“Would you like me to help you with the washing later?” she asked, her cheeks burning red.
“That’s okay. I’m fine, thanks,” he said calmly.
“Oh, you’re always so diligent and hard-working, Tae-jun!”
The boy just smiled and nodded when she left. Diligent and hard-working… You wouldn’t even believe how much, baby! He thought to himself: Six European countries so far, two in the Middle East, and the United States. Not a single person he met put the two and two together. How could they? He never let them know he was trained to have photographic memory and mind the details. They never knew he spoke three languages fluently or even that he had a pilot’s licence issued fair and square in Seoul. They knew nothing about him because they didn’t have the faintest idea who the real Tae-jun was.
Having done the washing up, Tae-jun hung his apron and left Oppa Spot. His military backpack was on his mind 24/7, but he couldn’t let others show how important it was to him. Here’s a tip for worrisome overthinkers that Tae-jun follows: If you have something you value a lot, put it in an ordinary-looking thing—not a package—and treat it casually, not with care. Tae-jun just tossed his backpack into a kitchen corner for the duration of his shift.
***
The sun was nicely setting over the sea, creating a warm light, although the air was getting chilly. Tae-jun passed his hostel, continuing to walk straight ahead. He entered the Southern Pier, which was the most popular tourist spot in Gdynia. From this place, you had a great overlooking view of the city beach, the aquarium facility for kiddies, and the marina for small yachts. Towering over the entire area was the Sea Towers, a 38-storey high apartment complex combined of two towers joined by sky bridges in the middle. Its walls, covered in dark graphite, aggressively reflect the sunlight whenever it shines on the building.
Tae-jun shook his head in pity. The Land of Po is a small country, and its high-rises are small, too. His homeland always thinks big, and this mindset has turned it into a big country.
The boy walked along the edge of the Southern Pier, which had an abundance of ships moored, such as a navy ship from World War II, a sail training ship that became a museum, and a couple of cruisers that belonged to the Gdańsk Shipping Company.
He almost reached the end of the pier. There was one more ship for tourist purposes over there. It looked like the Black Pearl knockoff from Pirates of the Caribbean flicks. He bought a ticket and boarded it along with a slew of elderly holidaymakers who put their shorts on this morning, the wrong side out.
The ship’s engines roared, and it set out on a short voyage along the coastline. From his wooden bench on the starboard, Tae-jun could see the sandy shore and a bunch of contestants preparing for a sailing competition.
“Lee Young-ae is crying in Panmunjom…” He suddenly heard behind his back.
There was a tall man on the adjacent bench. He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.
“Because Brigitte Lin is shooting in Chungking Mansions,” Tae-jun finished the sentence.
The man slightly leaned over, so Tae-jun could hear him better through the wind. “What is the status of the order?”
Tae-jun didn’t even turn. He continued to look at the sea. “Almost ready for shipment.”
“Almost that means when?”
“In two to three days. I’m still waiting for any missed collectables.”
“You’d better add this to your collection.”
The man placed right a square box made of wood next to Tae-jun. It was small enough to carry a single item. Tae-jun took the box without opening it and put it straight into his military backpack.
“Contact me when it’s ready for the recipient.”
The ship made a U-turn and began steering back to the Southern Pier. The man stopped talking and relaxed on the bench until his peace was disrupted by a Jack Sparrow impersonator, but pale and malnourished.
“Ahoy there, you scurvy dog!” the Sparrow lookalike said in a cringeworthy tone. “Stop the parlay nonsense and take a quick pic with the Captain. What’d you say, huh? Only five pesos.”
The wannabe pirate extended his hand in the hope of getting money, but the baseball cap man grabbed it quickly. His grip was so strong that he broke the pirate’s middle and index fingers.
“Nobody is going to take a picture of me,” the man said quietly, but his voice gargled from suppressed rage. “Now be a good sport and lock yourself in the loo. Believe me, you don’t want to see me again.”
“Ow! Argh!” the poor worker cried in pain while running to the toilet.
Tae-jun and the man resumed admiring the sea, pretending that nothing had happened and they didn’t know each other.
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