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Yi-Seo

As if the revelation of having to live next door to an alcoholic isn’t enough drama to deal with for the day, I have just received a message about the monthly meeting that happens in the library building of Silver Springs. The worst part is that this meeting is a mandatory one which is to be attended by all the residents of Silver Springs—owners and tenants alike.

However, at the moment, stepping out of my home and escaping the hawk-eyes of the neighbor next door seems a better option, even though he isn’t lying on the couch anymore, fortunately. But attending the community meeting means that I could most probably bump into him once again, which makes me cringe and curl inward.

Nevertheless, I swallow that thought and allow it to sit in the pit of my stomach as I head outside and take brisk steps, making my way towards the library building which is situated behind the magnificent vintage water fountain that’s right beside the lake.

I push past the glass swivel doors and land myself inside the cool library, which isn’t anything like a library at the moment because of the crowd of people chattering away as they wait for the meeting to commence. Looking around the area, I find a seat right next to a middle-aged woman, and I proceed to occupy that seat as we both exchange friendly smiles.

“Hello! I haven’t seen you here before. Have you moved in recently, perhaps?” The woman asks me as soon as I settle down in my seat.

“Yeah, I moved in just today,” I answer her with a smile.

“Oh, that’s nice. I’m Mi-Yang, and my husband is the president of the residents’ welfare association of Silver Springs, but honestly, don’t even ask me why these weekly meetings are conducted,” she leans closer to me and I do the same as her voice drops to a whisper. “The old hags here are hell bent on socializing and discussing water supply and other useless things every week, and trust me, this is going to be the most boring meeting that you will ever attend in your life,” she rolls her eyes as she leans back.

“Oh, probably the meetings that follow might outdo this one,” she giggles at her joke, and it makes me giggle too.

“I’m Kwon Yi-Seo, and it’s nice to meet you, madam,” I bow my head a little, causing her to gasp dramatically and turn her head to look at me with an insulted look on her face.

“How old are you?” Her voice once again lowers to a whisper.

“I’m twenty-three,” I respond in a whisper too.

“I’m only thirty-five, and if you call me madam once again, then I might have to launch this heel of my shoe into your foot. Call me eonnie,” she declares as she flips her long ponytail back over her shoulder and lifts her chin, giving me a proud and pretty smile.

“Alright, I’m sorry, eonnie,” I laugh softly. “Since he is your husband,” I point with my chin to her husband at the head of the table, “I thought that we’d be far apart in age, but you actually look so young,” I pass on my compliments to her because she just made it obvious that age is just a number, and that she is not too fond of growing old. So, telling her some nice words to boost her ego wouldn’t cost me anything, and it would make her feel nice as well, right?

“I know, right?” Mi-Yang eonnie laughs cutely, scrunching her nose, and then she drags her chair closer to mine. “Which house have you moved into? Are you going to live by yourself?” She quizzes me, sounding extremely curious.

“I’ll be living by myself, and I’ve moved into one of the two isolated, smallest houses here in Silver Springs,” my reply makes her mouth form into an ‘o’, and her slim eyebrows shoot skywards.

“Wait, do you mean one of the two terrace houses?” She turns around a little more to sit facing me, forcing me to do the same.

“Yeah,” I bob my head up and down with a bright smile. “The same one,” I give her my confirmation that makes her expressions freeze and her mouth hangs open for a few seconds before she closes it and clears her throat, and this unexpected reaction from her makes my eyebrows come together in confusion.

“Is something wrong?” I ask her, and she glances at me once with a slightly worried look on her face.

“Your neighbor…” She lets her words hang before she looks around at the people around us, none of whom are paying any kind of attention to us, and then she diverts her eyes back to me.

“What about him?” I ask her, and her eyes go wide.

“So, have you met him already?” The surprise in her voice isn’t at all reducing.

“Uhm, not really. I just saw him lying around in his house,” my shoulders lift in a small shrug, and I try to sound as nonchalant as possible, but right now my curiosity is kicking inside and torturing me to dig deeper into the details.

“He can be a little obnoxious sometimes, and he is also known to be too loud. The man is a drunkard, and he lives alone, and he used to bring in random women every night until a few years ago, but now I guess he is just too broke to spend on women. You wouldn’t ever see him attending any of these meetings, but that’s really not an issue. The problem is that he doesn’t respect any of the community residents or rules, and yet he manages to live here because he owns the house, and he cannot be driven out of here just like that,” Mi-Yang eonnie rolls her eyes as she ends her speech and lets out a long-drawn breath.

“He owns the house?” It’s my turn to be surprised now. “Wow, okay. So, he was probably rich, and he just destroyed himself by giving in to his vile habits,” I nod my head, looking away and focusing on the men who are occupying the long table where a few other eager residents are seated, awaiting the start of the meeting.

“He wasn’t just rich, but he was super famous too. He was an idol, and back in the days, I was a huge fan of him…but not anymore,” she sighs with a sad smile and returns her attention to the men at the table.

“An idol?” I’m definitely shocked to hear that. 

“Yeah, you probably wouldn’t know because his career ended ten years ago, and he has been living the life of a mysterious recluse ever since, choosing the easy path to death through liver cirrhosis. He’s problematic, and it’s safe for you to steer clear of anything concerning him and stay away from him for your own safety and sanity,” she shakes her head a little.

“Oh,” is all that manages to come out of my mouth as I nod my head a few times and try my best to concentrate on other things inside the library. But it seems nearly impossible now because my mind is suddenly crowded with thoughts about this mysterious neighbor of mine.

Why is Mi-Yang eonnie projecting him as such a bad and troubled person? Bringing random women home isn’t something entirely unheard of for a single, middle-aged man, and if he is drinking like there’s no tomorrow, there definitely must be a solid reason behind it. She also mentioned that his career ended ten years ago, and that he was also super famous back in the days. Why and how did his career end? Could that be why he is living this way now?

God! Why am I so curious?

I try to remain calm and not ask anything more about him to eonnie, but my mouth finally betrays my mind and blurts out the one question that I have been holding back from asking her for the past twenty minutes.

“Eonnie,” my voice makes her turn her head in my direction. “What’s his name?” I ask her rather hesitantly, but I definitely need that little detail to research more about him on some random night while fighting a losing battle with my perpetual insomnia. Which is most probably tonight.

“Whose name?” Her eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“My neighbor, the idol,” I gulp lightly, and this makes eonnie’s shoulder slump a little in disappointment before she lets out a slow breath.

“Kim Taehyung,” her solemn words are punctuated by a loud screech with which the swinging glass door to the library flies open, causing all the heads within the space to snap towards the door.

Speak of the devil…

And there he stood in flesh and blood, as if adding more drama to the moment where his name was uttered, grazing everyone with his unwelcome presence. Nevertheless, his timely entry makes me not want to look at anyone or anything else, and I find myself totally awed by his presence.

But except me, no one inside the library seems impressed by him showing up at the meeting today, and everyone begins mumbling something among themselves while he lets go of the door and walks with a gait that is slightly unstable and plops himself down on one of the chairs that is at the far end of the long table.

Kim Taehyung leans back in his chair and crosses one leg over the other, and even though the meeting is presided over by Mi-Yang eonnie’s husband, right now, this man’s aura is so dominating and his presence is so overpowering that everyone in the room is looking at him as if he is the main character of this gathering. And he definitely seems to be enjoying all the attention that he is receiving.

After all, old habits die hard.

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Published on : 12/31/2022