05

tausendsassa

(a multi-talented person)

16th June, 2019

THE moist bristles of the brush held in Ye Bin's hands transferred their maroon tinted liquid on the canvas. The white material was leaned against the railings of the balcony, her brush movements slowing resulting in the formation of an ostentatious series of flowers. A transcending concern jolted inside her  when she examined her progress. Was this piece worthy of someone's hard earned money?

An utter mayhem of disdain spread it's roots around the expanse of her heart as she pondered the conundrum in silence. What exactly was she expecting from herself? Definitely, she had lost the charm she had in her youth. She was failing in the process of trying to crawl back to a lost version of herself and her searing passion.

With an audible exhale of anguish, Ye Bin pulled herself up from the cold floor of the balcony. Under the light of the LED bulb she had provided for the balcony, she viewed her surroundings. Everything was pitch dark, only the fragile rays of the lights of distant houses were trying to reach her eyes.

She turned on her heels, deciding to take a break. Pulling open the door of the house, she sauntered into the living room. To avoid huge electricity bills at the end of the month, she had let the entirety of the floor bath in darkness. After a session of fumbling through some of the clustered boxes, she pulled out a cup of instant ramen.

Ramen was probably one of the most affordable things she had found in Korea. After arranging some warm water and a boiled egg in the kitchen, she got herself a self-made ramen meal. There was no way she was going to eat noodles with spoon. Luckily, she had a batch of wooden chop-sticks to her rescue. Remembering that quick purchase she had made earlier at the convenience store, Ye Bin beamed. Atleast, something wasn't a waste of money.

As the carbonara flavoured ramen entered her system, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, in the surge of pleasure. If only she had a few slices of cheese, she would have directly ascended to heaven.

Not wanting the noodles to turn into a soggy mess, she fastened her pace. Partly from hunger she had suppressed throughout the day, she had been feeling nauseated since the evening had set in. Allowing herself only one meal a day was too hard to get used to.

Ye Bin mulled over the possibilities of failing to support herself, in her head as she sat in the dark with the vacant noodles cup in the grasp of her fingers. There was a noticeable void of creativity in the way she imagined and painted. It took her some minutes to realise that she had crumbled the paper cup into a ball out of a state of frenzy.

Fingers curled into a fist, she found her way back to the balcony. Pinning the blame of not doing well instantly, on herself wasn't going to help.

The balcony of her floor was quite a great feature if she had to compare it with the rest of her abode. It stretched generously for almost throughout the entire boundary of the house, making it easier to get a good view of all the areas nearby.

Ye Bin made herself take rounds of the balcony to get rid of her worries temporarily.

A string full of garments swinging lightly in the backyard, came into her view as she gazed outside. Her forgetful mind had managed to get rid of the idea that she had done the laundry during the first half of the morning. A profanity rolled off her tongue as she scolded herself in her mind for being so absent minded.

She could also spot a huddled up figure which was settled on the trimmed grass. The unmistakable mass of purple mullet was almost glowing in the dark, due to its vibrant shade. Well, of course, it was Han Ju Ho, the baker guy. 

Ye Bin hurriedly descended from the stairs of the house. She could have been a real menace to Ju Ho throughout the entire day because of her laundry. She wanted to bang her head on the wall because firstly, she did not even give him a heads up and now she used his territory without a thought of conscience.

The rustle of leaves informed Ju Ho about the appearance of another human being behind him and thus, he snapped his head backwards to discern the person's identity.

"I am sorry I left my clothes outside all this while. It really slipped out of my mind." started Ye Bin, spotting Ju Ho.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it." added Ju Ho. His voice definitely sounded sulky and Ye Bin could swear that she was about to cry because of the brief frown she had spotted.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Curse me out if you want to." she bowed, remorse stinging her chest."I did not mean to offend you."

"I'm not offended. Did you get the time to check out my gift?" enquired Ju Ho as a warm smile replaced his grim expression. 

"Huh?" confusion struck Ye Bin as she took a few seconds to understand what he was referring to. He suddenly changed the topic and it kind of caught her off guard."Oh, I did. Your croissants were really good."

"Glad it was." Ju Ho resonated. "I should get you another batch of those some day again."

The other party was quick enough to decline his offer.

"You shouldn't be giving me those for free. I will come to your bakery if I need some."

"Sounds great. Are you here to take your clothes back to your home? They seem to be all dried up now."

"Oh, yes!" gasped Ye Bin, disappointed at how she forgot about her clothes again momentarily because of the appearance of another topic. "I didn't find the time to take them back before the sunset. I am quite absent minded."

"Do you have a personal washing machine?" Ju Ho chuckled softly. "The amount of clothes hanging is quite huge compared to normal weekly laundries."

"I wanted to get all my clothes cleaned since I couldn't do so while travelling for the first two weeks. I washed it with my own hands and soap."

The idea of someone from the States, washing her clothes with a bar of soap seemed comical to Ju Ho. Cleaning the entire bunch of clothes all by oneself, seemed to have been quite an onerous job."Why would you wash it with your own hands? We have a local laundromat. Jeju isn't behind the country technology wise, you know."

"I can't afford it." Ye Bin tried to meet his gaze firmly, a blush coating the skin of her cheeks as she openly declared herself to be bankrupt to a man she barely knew. "They are quite costly as compared to a bar of soap. It's too much to bear for a freelancer like me."

Ju Ho relaxed his jaws. Realisation of her condition flowed inside him. "Oh. I am sorry in case I crossed the line by asking that."

"At this point, you should change your name to 'Apology'." Ye Bin forced out a breath. "I am trying to earn a living by painting. At this moment, I am trying to minimize my living expenses. You did not cross the line. It must have been surprising to see this."

There was a tincture of American accent in her silvery voice which was quite pleasant to hear. Maybe because of that, Ju Ho secretly preferred listening to her more than speaking himself.

"I won't lie, it was. It's okay. I shouldn't be taking financial stability for granted." he sighed and looked at her. 

"You don't look good." Ye Bin watched him closely as he faced her properly. "Are you ill?"

"Huh?"

"Your skin kinda looks pale and you seemed to have a lot on mind." a voice echoed in Ye Bin's mind cursing herself out after she voiced out her concern. Why was she interfering in his business?

Ju Ho touched the skin of his cheeks as an instant reaction, "Ah... I do have some problems troubling me right now. I am not sick though. It's just some temporary concern."

"Quite surprising..." trailed off Ye Bin, her feet dragging her towards the clipped garments.

"Why?" Ju Ho met her eyes and smiled drily. "Do I look too carefree and nonchalant from the outside?"

"Erm, considering how vibrant your outer appearance is, it will be quite impossible to not think so."

"You're not wrong." Ju Ho just stared into space. "I definitely am a vibrant person but as you can see, I have a fair share of problems and worries too, like every other person."

"I wish I could comfort you with some warm words but I don't think words would solve your problem." Ye Bin sighed as she took off the hanging clothes from the polyester string."I'll hope that whatever is worrying you will subside. I can lend you an ear if you want to talk."

"You don't need to be concerned about me." Ju Ho hummed. "I surely will find a solution to my problem."

"I need that positive attitude in me." Ye Bin snickered, a basket full of her laundry resting on the curve of her waist and the grip of her left hand. "Painting is a great deal of pain if you don't get enough inspiration. I thought that Jeju would be a good investment but I am not sure now."

A din caused by the voices in Ye Bin's head started to take over her concentration. She was over-sharing for no reason. Why would her neighbour care incase she dies out of hunger because of her approaching failure?

"What's your main subject usually when you paint?" Ju Ho looked at her, interest flowing inside him.

"I usually paint anything that's related to nature."

"I think I might have a solution for you." Ju Ho got up and brushed the back of his pants to get dirt off its surface. "I'll be back in a jiffy."

The child inside him popped out again as he marched off to the side of his garden with some hasty movements of his hands. Minutes later, he came panting with his hands soiled with mud and a small plant.

"Take this." Ju Ho held a baby plant in front of her face. His eyes were twinkling. Man got some serious mood swings problem. Ye Bin could swear that he wouldn't be this cheerful, five minutes later when she had spotted him initially.

"What's this?" Ye Bin asked with a slight amusement colouring her tone. The tiny shoot had a couple of fresh green leaves putting their heads out.

"Just find out when it's all grown up. Give it some water and sunlight. That's it! Put it near you. You'll love the result you will get at the end. It will help with your inspiration."

Ye Bin scanned his face briefly before taking the plant. He looked very enthusiastic about it and she really couldn't refuse. She had no idea how an infant plant was going to save her.

"Thank you for your support."

"Don't thank me." Ju Ho waved his hands violently. "Also, you should give yourself some time. There's nothing called instant success. You need to build yourself bit by bit everyday, to become someone who's successful."

With a slight nod, Ye Bin bid him goodbye. As she climbed up the staircase, she suddenly peeked to have a look of him, out of sudden temptation. Ju Ho was standing right in front of one of the trees, hands enveloped in his pockets.

He smiled again as soon as he noticed her eyes lingering on him. Before she could gather herself to smile back, her feet suddenly decided to carry her back to her residence with great speed. For some reason, she could feel a scorching scarlet replacing the skin colour of her cheeks. She had peeked just out of concern. That must be it.

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[Word Count: 2049 ]