MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2021
ELLA’S STUDIO, GREENWICH VILLAGE, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
“Hey lover… this an early morning booty call?.” Ella was relaxed and a bit punchy from staying up all night.
“Excuse me?” The voice was unfamiliar and Ella quickly looked at her phone. She had seen Jae-Young’s name but hadn’t noticed that it was a group call.
“Ummm… Ella, this is my grandfather.” Jae-Young’s voice broke in. Ella could feel the flush in her face, and she stammered a bit before a greeting.
“Well, young lady, it appears nae sonja didn’t tell me everything.” The voice was somewhat gravelly with age, but sounded amused. The accent was entirely different from Jae-Young’s. Strangely enough, a mix between what sounded like British and Chinese.
“I’m sorry Ella. I told him everything… about you.” Jae-Young sounded despairingly apologetic. The kind of voice you would wring hands over.
“It’s okay Jae. I have wanted to tell my parents so many times. And, even, sometimes my brother.”
The grandfather interrupted the moment of silence, “When Jae-Young called me, I wasn’t ever expecting what he told me. And then he told me you needed some way to connect with this other side. So, I have a story to tell, but knowing will be dangerous.”
“Not knowing right now is dangerous for me, sir.”
And without any preamble he began:
> "I was born in Hong Kong in 1921. My mother was, as you know from Jae-Young, from Iceland and had traveled through Europe and then fled the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. I didn’t know much more than that of her past as she never spoke of it. When she was asked, she would just smile and move to other subjects.
> I did not know what she was when I was young. She had married my father, a minor Korean banker, who had fled the encroaching Japanese occupation. Perhaps they found commonality in that.
> My mother was a sight in Hong Kong, blonde with pale skin and blue eyes, and we attracted attention wherever we went, but the people were mostly kind.
> One day, my father and mother made me dress in my finest clothing. We were to meet with a very important banker about the development of Kowloon. Kowloon at the time was an abandoned military fort that existed in a legal absence and was already developing a reputation as a slum.
> I remember the day well. My father was so nervous, and Hong Kong is brutally humid in the summer. We took a rickshaw to the fanciest gardens I had ever been and walked into the room.
>
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> I saw a sitting man surrounded by a large group of others: he was very elegant, almost perfect. I remember thinking he was the most attractive person I had ever seen. He wore an elegant morning coat and very expensive tinted spectacles. I could remember thinking everyone else paled in comparison to him. Even his clothes somehow felt like what our clothes wished they could be."
The voice on the line paused for a moment. And Ella could hear the tremendous age in this recitation. As if this story was forcing the man to confront how long he had lived.
> "But, this is not what stood out about him. He was glowing. It was blinding. I thought I would go blind. I didn’t understand why everyone else was ignoring it. It was not light I saw with my eyes, and — even with them closed — I would be able to see the glow. My mother, I remember her sudden and terrified grip on my hand, she squeezed so hard it hurt.
> Then she whispered something into my father’s ear. I could not hear it but whatever it was, he did not care. He argued with her some, but she stood firm. He bowed and apologized to the strange glowing man, and we left.
> I never knew if my mother saw what I saw. She told me to never say anything. That I was to keep quiet and even should I live a hundred years, this man could hurt me. Well, I am over a hundred now and breaking that promise. And I am doing so because of that man, I could not let go of my curiosity. I found out who he was by listening to my father complain about the missed opportunity. I saw him occasionally in the newspapers.
> And when we fled Hong Kong during the war, into China for a time and then back to Korea after, I saw in the newspaper that this man, a very important banker, had fled to America, and died at sea with his wife. But his son survived and became a very important financier after the War.
> And he looked exactly like his father.
> Without the warning of my mother, I might have thought it merely familial resemblance. And I spoke to her before she left, and she told me he would live forever. That nothing would kill him, and I should never even think about him again."
“Before she left?” Jae-Young asked tentatively?
“Oh yes, she was an elf and, thus, long lived. When my father was dying of old age, she told me she would retreat from the world as her kind did. That we might never see each other again. I don’t think I ever accepted that, but one day she was gone. All her clothes and items left but one family picture she took with her. She left her ring, which Jae-Young has, and that was the last time I saw her.”
“And so,” Ella said, “somewhere out there is a person who glows, who will live forever, and that your mother was terrified of?”
“Yes. When I knew him, his name was Wu Shen and the son’s name was Wu Longwei. He was a very important man, pivotal in founding the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.”
His grandfather’s voice strengthened, "I have held onto this for so long. It is a relief to tell someone, and it is a blessing that it is someone that will believe me.
After some thought, Ella said hesitantly, “Well that gives us something to start with.”
“No, it gives us two leads,” said Jae-Young. “My great-grandmother is probably still alive. Somewhere.”
The grandfather laughed, “I would love to see her. I am not sure how long I will live, her blood is weak in me as compared to Jae-Young. And I will get to yell at her for leaving me even if I was a middle-aged man when she went. That will feel good.”
“Oehalabeonim, kansamnida” Jae Young murmured.
“Yes, thank you.” Ella said forcefully.
“Of course. And I admit, I always wanted to know who that man was. So please be careful, but let me know. I would love to know before I pass.”