“Are you still looking for your fishing rod?” I asked approaching him.

At that, he turned to look at me, then, proceeded to do his searching, saying, “Yeah… It’s not where I left it. I don’t know where it is.” Struggling to find it.

“It’s in that luggage. The one under that green table.” I said pointing to the table next to him.

“Really? How do you know?” He asked simultaneously pulling that out.

“Your grandfather told me.” I said. And at that point he had already opened the luggage and took the rod out.

“Yeah it is here!” He screamed. “He has kept all my belongings in here…” He added taking the things that were inside it. Everything was from his childhood.

When he took this specific red covered book, a photo fell off from it.

…

A photo of a young woman.

His mother.

“Is that-” I let the words out in confusion, picking the photo up.

“Yep. That’s my mother.” Insoo said, smiling anxiously.

“Woah… She’s beautiful.” I gasped.

Indeed, she was very beautiful. With beautiful dark brown eyes just like Insoo and an ethereal smile. And she looked very pure and… really young, probably 17 or 18.

“Yeah… She is.” Insoo said taking the photo from my hands.

His lips curved into a gentle smile looking at that photo of her. It felt like he was reminiscing everything related to her. Her smile, her voice, the sound of her laugh… Everything.

When he was looking at that, suddenly, I noticed something odd in his eyes. Something negative. I couldn’t actually put my finger on it. But I know, it was the same emotion that I saw in his eyes when he first mentioned about his mother... Maybe………... Guilt?

At that thought, I couldn’t help but say,

“You know you did nothing wrong, right?”

I asked and when he heard my words, I could see the smile in his face slowly vanish as he raised his head to look at me. Guilt clearly showing beneath his eyes.

“It… Really wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.” I further emphasized.

He stayed silent for a long moment before, “I-” He spoke. “I don’t know. But if I- weren’t born, she would have been alive right now. She wouldn’t have passed away at such a young age. Don’t you think?” He asked me but it felt like he said that to himself. These were what he had told himself.

I took a moment to think and “Yes. That’s right.” I answered and he nodded, sighing heavily at that.

“But.” I continued. “Do you think your mother would have ever felt that way? To think that you were the reason, she died so young?” I asked him.

“No. She wouldn’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that, she’d be standing here, breathing, if she didn’t have… Me.” He spoke looking away and his voice showed pain.

“Insoo…” I called and he turned to look at me again. “Please, that’s crazy. I know it’s true that she might have lived if she didn’t have you. But it was her choice to have you, wasn’t it? Again, she was the one who chose you over herself. And trust me, I’d do the same if I were in her place. And, I’d never want my child to blame themselves or feel even a tiny bit guilty for what happened to me. Ever. …………… All mothers think that way. Your mother would’ve too.”

I said and “Do you think so?” He asked me with unsure eyes. And that- Hurt me. Really. It hurt me to think that Insoo somewhere in the corner of his heart felt this way about his mother’s death. This man is unbelievable. He has a habit of blaming himself for things that were never his fault in the first place.

“Yep! Successfully being in the mother profession for 6+ years,. I confirm it to be true. Not only that, she’d be as angry at you as a mother would be to her kid who got an F grade, for thinking this way for all these years. So, stop it if you don’t want to get your ass whooped.” I said pointing upwards.

He laughed at that before “Got it, momma…” He joked imitating Iseul.

“Hey what’s that pic? Is that you?” I asked looking at the another picture that was under his mother’s photo. It looked like Insoo’s childhood photo and that got me curious right away.

When he noticed what I was talking about, his eyes suddenly grew wide as he quickly hid the picture behind his back, saying, “You- aren’t supposed to see that.” Panicking.

“What?” I asked him confused and offended.

Why am I not supposed to see his childhood picture?!

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“C’mon! Show me… What is in it that you don’t want me to see. Is that a funny picture of your childhood? If that’s so, then, I must see it!” I said simultaneously trying to get my hands on the photo, trying to snatch it.

“Dayun!” He screamed but I wasn’t having it. He moved his hands fastly to stop me from reaching it but at some point I managed to hold his wrist tightly.

I have to thank my fast reflexes for that!

I’d have grabbed the photo right away, but, I froze.

“That- That boy-”

Insoo used that moment to free his hands and quickly kept both the pictures back inside the book, put it inside the luggage and immediately closed it and shoved it under the table.

“Yeah… It is a funny picture and I won’t let you see it.” He told me strictly.

“But-”

Did I see it wrong? I could have. I could have easily mistaken it because I did not even get to see his face for a second.

But

Why did he look a lot like… Him? That boy.

“Damn. It’s 3:45! We’re late for the match. C’mon, let’s go.” He said holding my hand and led me out of the room not letting me speak. I was still a little bit started.

But, he can’t be him………………. Right?

~

~

“So… Folks! Let the match…………….. Begin…” Insoo’s grandfather roared and not even a second later. Nearly 30 fishing hooks attacked the surface of the water.

Seeing all the old people with years of experience, it was very unlikely that Insoo or Chul-ho would win.

Hmmmm…… I can’t even think about them catching more than 5 fishes, let alone win.

True to my instincts, Jae-mi asked Chul-ho how many fishes he had caught in his life and Chul-ho’s reply really made my hope vanish into thin air. “Nah, I haven’t actually caught many fishes. But I’ve found many missing shoes of the people while fishing.” He said proudly like that was the most incredible thing anyone would ever do.

Insoo for his part said, “I have caught two fishes! And even though they were accidental catches, Granny told me they were rare. Does catching rare fishes increase our points?”

I-

What-

Are these two the same boys who bragged about their fishing skills this morning? And hearing them speak like that, I and Jae-mi may or may not have gotten our hopes high. Now, I already see the results.

But Iseul was rather optimistic. “Don’t worry momma. Don’t worry aunt. Even if Dada and uncle don’t catch any fishes, we would still have granny’s fish to eat.” She told us.

Yes. Who cares about them when we’d have delicious barbeque to eat at the end of the day. Iseul has a point. Food is more important. I’ve raised her right.

Watching the match, I guess, the ones that were most likely to win must be Insoo’s grandfather or one of his friends. I heard one of them say that they had over 60 years of experience in fishing. Next would be Chul-ho’s father and his mates. They too had incredible experience.

Last would definitely be those two only-good-with-words boys.

As soon as the match began it grew intense. You could literally see the fire in everybody’s eyes. They truly had a thing for fishing. The battle field was amazing. Everyone was curious as to who would be the one to catch the first fish.

And we didn’t have to wait longer to know the answer.

To everybody’s surprise the first one to catch a fish wasn’t one among the most experienced old men. It wasn’t the middle-aged team either.

Rather, it was-

Insoo?

Wait- What?

My eyes were the most surprised ones…

But Insoo on the other hand literally jumped in joy on catching the first fish earning the older people’s wrath. “We’ve been too easy on them, yeah?” I heard one of them say.

But to everyone’s shock, shortly after catching the first fish, he caught the second fish too.

What the hell was happening-

“How did you do that man?” Chul-ho asked him bewildered.

“I don’t know either” was Insoo’s award-winning reply.

But regardless of that, he caught the third fish too. None of them had caught a single fish yet, but he had three fishes in his basket.

He had three fishes in his basket!

Maybe I really did underestimate Insoo, he must be secretly great at fishing. I couldn’t stop but get excited. Because at this rate, he might even win!

…

But-

How wrong can I be-

I might have got my hopes a little too high when Insoo caught those three fishes because, those three, were the only fishes he had caught for the past hour. Even Chul-ho had caught his fourth fish.

After catching three fishes in a row, Insoo didn’t catch a single fish again. I and Iseul shouldn’t have gotten ahead of ourselves when we screamed our lungs out to cheer him. I even thought he’d win.

How stupid of me to think that.

The next hour passed by quickly and Insoo still didn’t seem to have progressed from his three fishes so did his friend. His count stopped at four. They are bros for a reason.

Finally…

They decided to end the game as everyone had grown tired.

Insoo’s grandfather had won the match by catching a whooping 120 fishes. All the others followed close behind. Chul-ho’s father had caught 70 fishes.

The least was Insoo obviously. With his infamous three fishes and Chul-ho scored a little higher than him having caught four.

“But still all of my three fishes are big, aren’t they?” Insoo remarked.

“As if that matters.” I scoffed.

“I may have not caught many fishes but I did help ten people find their lost shoes. And it’s the most shoes I’ve ever found!” Chul-ho spoke proud of his achievement. “Well, at least- that would help someone.” I told him. “Yeah!” Jae-mi screamed.

“C’mon… Why aren’t you appreciating my hard work.” Insoo spat at me.

“I would, if you did any.” I spat back. I didn’t mean to sound rude. But how can he say he worked hard when he literally just sat there holding the rod. He didn’t even hold it right, in the first place.

“What?! Iseul, look, what your momma is saying! You don’t think that, right? You think Dada worked hard, right, little one?” After arguing with me, he quickly went to Iseul for appreciation.

But unfortunately, “You were the worst, dada. You should let momma do fishing next time.” Iseul too wasn’t ready to accept his claims.

“What? But… But you were always on my side.” Their conversation was hilarious and I couldn’t help but laugh. But I stopped when I felt Insoo’s cold glares on me. I replaced my laugh with a cough as if he hadn’t noticed it already, but still he did decide to ignore it as he switched his attention back to Iseul.

“Why did you switch sides, Iseul? You should always take Dada’s side. Don’t take Momma’s side, take Dada’s.” Insoo leaned to meet her level. He sounded like he was giving her some serious life advise.

“Why? Why would she do that? I gave birth to her. Obviously, she’d take my side.”

“Should she take your side just because you carried her in your tummy? I too have carried her on piggy back rides. And I’m pretty sure she enjoys my company than yours. We’re game partners for a reason. As my partner, she should take my side.” He walked to stand in front of me, rising his voice to strengthen his argument. I wasn’t giving up either.

“What? I think you’re forgetting the fact that I’ve raised her for 6 whole years. She should take my side!”

“Must have been the boring six years of her life.” He rolled his eyes as he scoffed. “But she won’t be-” I couldn’t continue my sentence, because of Jae-mi coughing, a fake cough.

“Stop it. You really sound like an irritating old couple. Sooo annoying.” Chul-ho spoke clearly annoyed at our argument.

Before one of us could reply to him we heard Iseul calling us, “Dada… Momma… Look, granny cooked the fish that grandpa caught………… Come quickly.” She shouted a little far from us where Insoo’s grandparents stood. “Aunt, come… I have fish for you too. I’ve got one for Chul-ho uncle too.”

~

~

The rest of the day went by splendidly. We ate, laughed and shared a lot, sitting around the camp fire that we set up.

It has been a long time since I’ve interacted with so many people. Or I could even say, it is my first time to interact with these many people. And I must say, it’s amazing.

I usually don’t like interacting with people because it always drains my energy and I don’t trust people easily for me to talk with them. But with these people, it’s different.

They’re genuine, kind and welcoming. I already feel like I’m a part of their circle. Listening them talk about their old times, about their fishing records and bickering about it, all made me smile. Iseul got her own little friends circle.

I also got to learn even more funny stories about Chul-ho and Insoo. Chul-ho was more of a trouble maker of this town when he was young and Insoo seemed like his reluctant crime partner in most cases.

…

This day was extraordinarily great and again, its all thanks to Insoo.

Without him, I wouldn’t have had this experience too.

Thinking about him, made me turn my face to look at him. He was sitting across me, with Chul-ho, his grandfather and other people that they were close with.

Laughing and chatting heartily.

The camp fire did good on his already good-looking face. And looking at him talking to them like that, was making me remember how nice it would feel to be near him. Being with him has always made me happy.

I’m so used to being with him that I almost forgot why I was staying with him in the first place. And I have no idea how I’m going to live once things get back to how it was before.

I already knew this would happen.

I already knew this and I still decided to keep on walking, on that path, which clearly was an one-way.

How am I even going to learn to stay without him?

While I was thinking about all those things, I watched Insoo turn his head to face me.

Our eyes locked for a prolonged moment, after which he gave me one of his gentle smiles, stealing my heartbeat, right away.

And

At that moment

I realized that I cannot deny the fact that, I have fallen in love with Moon Insoo, anymore.

To be continued…