Who are you?

One hot afternoon after the bell ringing. My friend and I went out of class. It was a happy day for me because I got a high score on my English test. I laughed with my friends because one of them was telling a funny joke. While laughing, I saw another friend standing a bit far from me. I hadn't met her for a long time. I waved at her instinctively, but she didn't see me.

I was really happy to see her. So I run into her, confidently slapped her back and said, "Hey Dillal How are you? I missed you so much!" Then she returned around to face me and asked, "Who are you?" Oh My God! She wasn't my friend! My face felt so hot and I'm sure it was blood red. I was so embarrassed, then I said, "Sorry", to her and ran back with a red face to my laughing friends.

Jaka Tarub and the Seven Fairies

Once upon a time, there lived a handsome and dashing young man named Jaka Tarub. He lived alone in his small hut near the forest. Days by days he cultivated his rice field and looked for fire woods in the forest.

One day, when he passed the nymph lake from looking for fire woods in the forest he saw seven beautiful ladies bathing in the lake. He was curious, he peeped them trough the bushes. Accidentally, there was a pink scarf belonged to one of the fairies floated near the bushes. He instantly took and hid it.

Not long after that, the fairies had finishing bathing they wanted to go back to the paradise. They found and wore their own scarves. One fairy, however, could not find her scarf. She was Nawangwulan, the youngest fairy. The six fairies, the, flew up to the sky following the way of the rainbow leaving Nawangwulan alone on the earth. Nawangwulan saw them leaving in tears. She could not fly and go back to the paradise because she could not find her pink scarf.

Next, Jaka Tarub, appeared from behind bushes. He gave a fabric to cover her body and offered to come home with him. At first, Nawangwulan refused the offer. Since she did not know where to go, Nawangwulang decided to follow Jaka Tarub. And Nawangwulan stayed an Jaka Tarub's hut whit him.

After staying for almost a month together in the hut, they decided to get married. And after a year they had a beautiful daughter named Kumalasari. They lived happily and peacefully in the hut. Days by days Jaka Tarub worked in his field planting rice and other crops while Nawangwulan did the house jobs while looking after Kumalasari.

One day, Jaka Tarub did not go to field. He stayed at home. He wanted to take care of Kumalasari on that day. Nawangwulan wanted to wash their clothes in the river. She asked her husband to keep an eye on Kumalasari and told him not to open the pan cover in the kitchen before the rice was done. This made him so curious that it led Jaka Tarub not to obey what Nawangwulan told. He opened the pan cover. how surprised he saw that his wife cooked only single paddy rice. And since then the rice in the barn was slowly lessen because of Jaka Tarub's carelessness.

Month by month the barn was completely empty. Nawangwulan stepped slowly into the barn to get rice to cook. She found only a few paddies left. And suddenly she was very suprised to find her loosing scarf when she took one of the paddies. And after dinner Nawangwulan showed the scarf that she found in the barn. She told Jaka Tarub that she had to leave for paradise. Jaka Tarub felt very sorry and asked for forgiveness, but it was too late. Nawangwulan flew to paradise and her scarf leaving Jaka Tarub and Kumalasari behind.

MOTHER AND SON

My mom only had one eye. I hated her, she was such an embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell, anything for the money we needed she was such an embarrassment. There was this one day during elementary school. I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school... "Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted me.

I wished that my mom would just diappear from this world so I said to my mom, "Mom, why you just dont't you have the other eye?! You're only going to make me a laughingstock. Why don't you just die?" My mom didn't respond. I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think that I had said what I'd wanted to say all this time.

Maybe it was because my mom hadn't punished me, but I didn't think that I had hurt her felling very badly.

That night... I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. My mom was crrying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might wake me. I took a look at her, and then turned away. Because of the thing I had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at me in the corner of my heart . Even so, I hated my mother who was crying out of  her one eye. So I told myself that I would grow up and become successful, because I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty.

Then I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied, and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence I had. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my town. Then I had kids, too. Now I'm living happily as a successful man. I like it here because it's a place that doesn't remind me of my mom.

This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see me "What?! Who's this?!"... It was my mother... Still with her one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom's eye.

And I asked her, "Who are you?? I don't know you!!" as if I tried to make real. I screamed at her "How dare you came to my house and scare my daughter! Get out here now! " And to this, my mother quietly answered, "oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address, "and she disappeared. Thank goodness... she doesn't recognize me. I was quite relieved. I told myself that I wasn't going to care, or think about this for the rest of my life.

Then a wave of relief came upon me.. one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. I lied to my wife saying that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went down to the old shack, that I used to call a house... just out of curiosity there, I found my mother fallen on the cold ground. But I did not shed a single tear. She had a peace of paper in her hand... it was a letter to me.

My son, I think my life has been long enough now. And... I won't visit Seoul anymore... but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to come visit me once in a while? I miss you so much. And I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I decided not to go to the school... For you... I'm sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an embarrassment for you.

You see when you were very little, you got an accident, and you lost your eye. As a mother, I could not stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye... so I gave you mine... I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place , with that eye. I was never upset at you for anything you did. The couple times that you were angry with me. I thought to myself , "it's because he loves me." I miss the times when you were still young around me.

I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world to me. My world shattered! Then I cried for the person who lived for me. My mother.