Koala

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Chapter 2

“We could have taken the main road, you know.”

Ji Won turned around and flashed the beam of light in Jae Jin’s face, nearly blinding him.

“Would you stop whining Koala? We’re almost there!”

Jae Jin shielded his eyes from the bright light and snapped back through the bandana covering half his face. “Stop calling me that!” he hissed. “Which brings me to another thing. Couldn’t we have taken a car instead of going on foot?”

Everyone continued walking and ignored him. Jae Duc put a hand on his friend’s shoulder for comfort and pulled down his disguise.

“Just two more miles Koala, you’ll make it. Just watch your step.”

“Okay…Duck,” said Jae Jin, smiling as he emphasized the last word. He took longer strides and quickened his pace to get to his destination faster but -

SPLAT

“Eww! Nasty! Sick!”

Jae Jin lifted up the sole of his sneaker and squinted to make out the dark substance covering the bottom end of his shoe. “Shit! Why does the worst stuff always happen to me?” he complained.

The others burst into laughter and formed a ring around him. “Ew, get away from us Koala!” they chanted. The guys broke out into a run after the taunt and Jae Jin chased after them.

He realized the leaves and debris getting caught in his shoe was slowing him down. He stopped for a moment and when he looked up, no one was in sight. The others had run off and left him behind.

“Great,” he grumbled. “Just great.”

Jae Jin started to scrape the gunk off his shoe on a nearby tree. It was night time and the woods were completely dark so Jae Jin wasn’t able to make out the svelte figure leaning against the tree. He smeared his business against it.

“Gross! What are you doing?!” shrieked a high-pitched, girly voice.

Jae Jin was already backing away from the voice that had startled him but the girl came closer and gave him a hard shove. He fell back and snapped his ankle.

CRACK

“Ow!” he yelped in pain.

Jae Jin took off both of his shoes and threw them in the other direction. He grabbed his ankle and winced from the pain. The girl covered her mouth with her hand in ardent shock and sudden remorse.

“I’m so sorry!” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to push you that hard but you wiped your shoe on my back.”

Jae Jin continued massaging his swollen ankle as he looked up at the girl. She had jet-black hair down to her shoulders and her dark, bottomless eyes were staring back at him. She had taken off her cardigan and was wearing only her dress, her fair skin glowing in the moonlight.

“You made me twist my ankle!”

“Here let me see it.”

She started to pull off his disguise but Jae Jin stopped her.

“What are you doing? My ankle hurts, not my face!”

“Ow! You’re hurting me!”

Her fingers were being crushed under the applied pressure of Jae Jin’s fingers. He let her go and she moved away from him instantly.

“I’m sorry. I just want to see what you look like.”

Through the slit, Jae Jin glared at her and folded his arms. “It’s alright. Now do something about my ankle.”

The girl gave him a confused look. “Uh…what can I do about it?”

“At least take me to a doctor or something! You can’t leave me here in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night!”

The girl gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. Here, let me carry you to a doctor.”

She knelt down and offered her back to Jae Jin. He stared at her back. He didn’t really think that she would do anything to help him since it was his fault in the first place but he wasn’t going to refuse her offer either.

“Thanks!” he exclaimed as he hopped on her back.

“Oof!”

Jae Jin’s sudden weight had been too much and they both toppled over. The girl fell on top of him and got off right away, her face furiously blushing.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t ready!”

Jae Jin had turned a decent shade of red himself. He had never been this close to a girl before so when her supple body lay against his, he was frozen still and wasn’t able to move at all. He turned his glance away from her.

“It’s okay. I should have said something.”

“Here, let’s try it again,” she said, offering her back to him again.

This time Jae Jin got on with more success and the girl took him in the direction of town.

“No, no! The other way!”

Jae Jin nudged her face the other way and pointed towards the path ahead. The girl turned her head and looked at him with a curious expression.

“But leading through that trail is nothing but a couple of houses. Are you sure?”

Jae Jin nodded. “My uh, friend lives there. It’s less than 2 miles away from here and he can drive me to the doctor.”

The girl nodded and carried him back the other way.

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