When love was not meant for us

Chapter 2: The decenary

Alya was just about to fall into a deep sleep when her pager started to go off. She woke up to a continuous sound of shrill beeps. She lazily pulled out her pager but immediately dashed out of the call room when she saw it was a priority one case.

As she ran to meet the other members of her team, she caught up with Dr. Kim Dongwoo who was running towards the O.R.

“Chief has called the two of us for surgery. Prep up,” said a breathless Kim Dongwoo, as he saw Dr. Kim Haneul beside him.

Dr. Kim Dongwoo opened the doors to the O.R and Alya followed him.

Asahi was in a deep slumber when he heard the lights being turned on and titled his head slightly to see that his roommate, Lee Kwangmin was also stirring in his sleep.

It was their leader Choi Sungho at their door. Asahi looked at the bedside clock and it read 7 O’clock.

“Wake up. We have to go to practice,” said a groggy Choi Sungho and left to wake the other members.

A few minutes later, all of them were in the practice room of their company, practicing their singing and dancing vigorously for their show tomorrow.

Their choreographer added in some new moves since the stage tomorrow was going to be bigger. And they had to make use of the whole stage.

It didn’t matter whether they won tomorrow or not. Their leader Choi Sungho was always adamant on giving the best performance for their fans.

Asahi knew their fans would be cheering for them at the show tomorrow.

After practice, the boys were resting when Asahi got a message. Normally Asahi wouldn’t have checked the message but he immediately got a call after the message. It was his father calling.

He picked up the phone and was asked by his father whether he could make it home tonight. 

“We’re holding a dinner party just like old times. The Kim family are going to come over. It’s been a long time since you haven’t met them. And Mr. Kim was saying he will make an important announcement today at dinner.”

Asahi looked at the time. It was almost 4pm. He had no other schedules after dance practice so he told his father he would be there by 6.

Alya had just come out of surgery when she saw her mother waiting in one of the corners of the hospital.

She made her way towards her mother who smiled as she saw Alya.

“How was your day today Alya?” asked her mother.

“It went fine. Just got out of surgery. Thankfully, the surgery was successful.”

“What brings you here?” asked a curious Alya.

“Are you free tonight?” asked Mrs. Kim.

“Yeah,” replied Alya.

“The Chief said that I could go home after surgery. But I’m on call for friday and sunday.”

“That’s good then,” said Mrs. Kim, clapping her hands.

“Let’s go. Your Dad is waiting in the car.”

During the car ride, Mrs. Kim asked Alya, “Do you have any dresses for a casual dinner party?”

Alya who was at the backseat almost drifting off into sleep, woke up startled and replied, “Why do you ask?”

Her gut feeling was telling her that she was well aware of why her mother had asked her if she had a dress. But she wanted to be proven wrong.

“The Hagas are holding a dinner party for us. Your father has an announcement to make.”

Alya slumped back in her seat and crossed her arms, sulking.

“Do I really have to go? Today was one of the few days I got off from work easily.”

Mrs. Kim turned from her seat in front to face Alya who was sitting behind.

“Yes,” Mrs. Kim said, giving Alya a stern look.

Alya groaned in frustration. If there was something Alya could never do, it was to disagree on something with her mother.

“Asahi is also coming to dinner. He’s pretty busy but he said he will make it tonight,” said Mrs. Kim.

Alya groaned even deeper in frustration but quickly stopped when her mother gave her the look again.

Alya thought back to the time when the Kim and Haga family had lost touch ten years ago after her family shifted to South Korea.

Alya was in her final year in high school when her family had received the terrible news. 

Her grandmother had died and her parents had made the tough decision of returning to South Korea for good. Alya was very close with her grandmother. She remembered the times she felt like a foreigner in her own country whenever the Kim family went to South Korea during vacations.

She never shared her experiences with anyone except her grandmother. Surprisingly, her grandmother understood her the most. Alya’s parents had moved to California because of their jobs. Her mother was a linguistics professor at Stanford whereas her father was a philologist at Berkeley college. Thanks to both her parents being linguistically skilled, even though Alya attended an American school, her parents homeschooled her so she was pretty good with the Korean language. Though she was born and raised in California pretty much all of her childhood years. 

She remembered the time she was bullied by a group of kids while she was playing with her grandmother in a park.

She could speak and write korean but most times, out of habit she found herself using English with her grandmother. She rarely used her mother language with her parents. And back in high school, she was the only korean there. 

When the other kids and their parents had heard the conversation she and her grandmother were having, they called her weird, a showoff because she could speak english very well and a disgrace to their society because of how well she could speak english.

She found herself not being able to make friends with the kids in her grandparents compound. She would play alone, all by herself when she was young because the other kids did not want to play and be friends with her. She remembered always going to cry on her grandmother’s shoulders and always asked her if there was something wrong with her. 

Her grandmother was the most intelligent woman she knew. Alya used to hate the vacations to her grandparent’s house in South Korea but then after sometime she got used to it. All the bullying, hurtful remarks and learnt to adapt to the environment. But the most exciting part of her family trip and which she loved was that she could get to meet her grandmother.

Alya’s grandmother always told her that Alya was a gift sent from heaven. Because she never saw someone as kind and understanding as Alya was. She did not use her name “Haneul” much when she was in California, but after coming to Korea, she used it because she felt attachment towards it. She was named by her grandmother.

The last time she saw her grandmother was during her sophomore year in highschool.

She knew and she could see that her grandmother was unwell and ill. Her grandmother had once pulled her close for a hug and told Alya what she keeps and holds with her forever.

She was sitting on a cushion while her grandmother slowly and gently stroked her hair.

Using english to speak to her, her grandmother said, “You know Alya, I feel proud knowing that you turned out to be exactly like the name I gave you. You are truly a gift from heaven. I know how difficult it is for you. Your nationality is korean but you do not feel at home here in South Korea. That is acceptable. Don’t let others tell you the other way. The way I see it, it doesn’t matter which country or nationality a person represents. The most important thing above all is learning to respect and accept the ways and cultures of different countries. You were born and raised in California. But you are from Korea. You could call California or Korea your home. Or maybe other countries too. Home is where you feel yourself the most. But the reason why I call you the kindest and most thoughtful person is because you Alya, tell yourself you do not know which culture you belong to. But at the same time, you are the most respectful and kindest when it comes to understanding and respecting other cultures”.

Alya’s grandmother continued stroking Alya’s hair.

“I heard from your parents that you have an amazing group of friends. All from different places and nationalities. And that you punched your classmate because he called your friend a terrorist.”

Alya remembered the incident and immediately apologized.

“I’m sorry grandmother. But Fareeha Hossain has been my best friend since middle school. I couldn’t stand it when Brett the bully called Fareeha a terrorist. On top of that, he forcefully tried to remove Fareeha’s hijab.”

Her grandmother chuckled and said, “He deserved it. It sends a good message that the Kim family should not be messed with.”

“So tell me about the rest of your group friends,” urged Alya’s grandmother.

Alya’s face lit up into a smile at the mention of her friends back in California.

“I named our group the Amalgas, because each one of us come from different countries and we all have different religions. But those things never got to us. The name Amalga holds a special meaning for us. That friendship connects us all the most even if we are different from each other.”

“I agree,” her grandmother said, proud of her granddaughter.

“We have Fareeha Hossain who is from the Middle East, then Esther Wu from China, then Alia from India, Caleb Adkins from Canada, and recently a new addition to our group, Asahi Haga from Japan.”

“And me, myself from South Korea.”

Her grandmother mischievously smiled and asked, “Isn’t the Asahi guy your betrothed?”

Alya immediately sulked and said, “Wah! Daebak! Halmeoni!”

(*cringe* The fact that I am not korean or japanese but I’m using the universal language, English for writing this story. This is me as an author trying to insert few japanese and korean words-in english I must say.)

Her grandmother laughed out loud and said, “Your parents and the Haga family don’t mean it seriously. Child marriages didn’t exist during my time also. They are also trying to show that we can be respectful of other people’s culture and religions.”

Alya was now used to being called her real name, “Kim Haneul” by everyone; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Haga, her colleagues at the hospital she worked in.

There were only two people who knew her real name but still called her Alya. It was her grandmother and Asahi. Asahi was now known as Byun Hyuk. But because Asahi still called her Alya, she was the only person to call him Asahi.