Chapter 5: Taming The Lion

“I don’t think I’m ready to be tamed. A few have certainly tried before but never succeeded. I still want to run wild and free. So why do I have the sudden urge to try to run at your own pace when you’re not even trying to tame me?”

CHAPTER 5

TAMING THE LION

“Aigoo, why did I give birth to a son who couldn’t keep still in one place long enough to make his mother happy?” Keun Suk’s mom complains as she serves him a hearty breakfast. In two days, he would hop in another plane yet again to head to somewhere warmer where he could frolic under the sun and get his much-deserved R&R. He can actually taste the sweet smell of the beach and feel the warmth of the sands already. Even just for a few days, he knows he can be rejuvenated by a short vacation away from the limelight, from his hectic schedules and from prying eyes.

He walks over to where his mom is standing by the sink and embraces her. “Omma, stop making me feel guilty. You know I need to recharge right? And I can’t have a decent vacation here. I need to go somewhere warmer. This Korean winter is killing me. Please understand,” he speaks in the little baby voice which he knows will always melt his mom’s heart.

His mom gives a soft laugh. “This boy! You always do what you want. I couldn’t even get a hold on you and to think I’m your mother.”

Keun Suk lets out a hearty laugh. “Yah, Omma, I only listen to you, you know that! And you know I love to run free. You know me best.”

She tousled his head lovingly. “I know. But sometimes I feel that you run too freely I can’t even keep pace with you anymore. You’re growing too fast. I just miss the little boy I can carry around wherever I go.”

He teases, “Why the sudden cheesiness, Omma? Must be the cold weather, huh? I ought to bring you with me to warmer climates, eh?”

His mom shakes her head in resignation, heaving out a sigh. “That’s why sometimes I think you really need someone to tame that restless lion in you. If I, your own mother, can’t tame you, there must be someone out there who can.”

Keun Suk gives a soft yell. “Wo-ho! I knew you were going to that! I just knew it. But, who could be that someone who can finally tame me, Omma?” he playfully asks, humouring her.

He sees a mischievous glint in his mom’s eyes and he suddenly knows she has been up to something again. “Yah, Omma. What have you been up to this time? Please don’t tell me you set me up for a match-making!” he shouts, suddenly afraid. Sometimes when his mom is bored, she can really do outrageous things that would end up having him as the victim. Him or his dad, she just had to choose.

“Of course not! You certainly don’t need to go in blind dates, do you? But if you want to, I can quickly arrange for one!” she teases which agitates him more.

“Omma, cut it out! What did you do this time? Please tell me it’s not something scandalous!”

She laughs, clearly enjoying herself. “It’s nothing serious. I was just bored the other day and I happened to pass by a fortune telling stall downtown on my way to the grocery so I thought I would check it out.”

Keun Suk’s mind starts racing. Oh, whose friend’s daughter is up this time? The last time she went to a fortune teller seeking a match for him, it was with an old friend’s daughter she just met at a wedding party. The match didn’t go well, their stars were at opposite ends but still it amused his mother. “She was actually a lot older than you. I just wanted to find out if your stars would match with a noona’s. I’m glad it didn’t,” she later revealed, again making fun at his preference to noonas.

“Are you curious yet? I tell you, it’s a match this time!” his mom asks, picking out a paper from her apron’s pocket. “I have the results!”

Keun Suk’s gives her a poker expression, “Okay, Omma. You win. I’m curious now. Tell me, who’s the lucky girl this time? The ahjumma at the grocery store?”

“Aniyo. It’s someone you know personally. It’s that sweet girl, Park Shin Hye.”

Keun Suk feels his head swells a little. “And you said that it’s a match?” He wouldn’t even dare to ask how she got hold of Shin Hye’s birth date and sign. What really piques his curiosity is --- “Why Park Shin Hye all of a sudden? Have you run out of your friends’ daughters?” he jokes.

“Now someone is getting a little too curious,” her mom keenly observes, eyeing him with laughing eyes. “I like her. She is pretty and she seems to be a very nice girl. And the fortune teller said that someone with a birth date and sign like hers complements the fiery nature of yours. She can tame you.”

Ah, so that’s where the taming and running wild and free talk came from. “So what do you think I should do now, Omma?” he nudges her, a playful smirk toying on his face.

“There’s no harm in trying, that’s all I’m saying. Why don’t you take her out one of these days, treat her to dinner, get to know her more. Or bring her here. I would love to meet her. I have always been a fan.”

Getting my mom’s approval just like that, without even trying? Your stars must really be lucky. He drinks his cup of coffee, plants a kiss on his mom’s head and says, “Let’s see what I can do, Omma,” he smiles at her, his eyes shining and heads out of the dining room.

The conversation with his mom has stayed in his mind the whole day through. Was it just coincidence that his mom took a liking to Shin Hye enough to have her consult a fortune teller? He shakes his head incredulously. Omma is never the type who meddles in his personal affairs. She pairs him up with virtually every girl’s birth date and sign she could have her hands on all right, but it was always behind his back. She never shoves it to him like what other moms do to their sons. And she does that just for fun, he knows that. His past girlfriends had all been welcomed by his mom without much ado. His preference towards older women was never made an issue although she would make occasional comments about it from time to time, poking a fun at him. But that was it. “I trust you enough to know that you will always make the right choice, whether with girls or with your life,” his mom once told him. And he vowed never to prove her wrong.

It’s like something a fan would do, he thinks. But he has to admit, it looks cute. And who would ever think Shin Hye and him are fated to match, at least by fortune teller’s standards? He lets out a wide grin at the thought as he proceeds to another interview session with a magazine.

With his mom’s latest trip to the fortune teller on his mind, it is no wonder that when the interviewer asks him something about Park Shin Hye that day, he tells them the story about how his mom adores his co-star and how she found out that they are well-matched for marriage. It is a cute gesture he thinks he should share for their fans and he didn’t give it much thought until he gets online the following day.

Online forums are flooded with discussion about what he just spilled the day before, zeroing to the cute, seemingly harmless story of his mother’s trip to the fortune teller. Now both his fans and Shin Hye’s are dissecting and analyzing that interesting part. Are they or aren’t they? the fans speculate. He smiles at their astuteness, how creative they can be in their imagination, and laughs at some of their theories and fantasies.

“I think they are already dating!” writes one fan. Hmm, getting there, he says out loud at the computer screen.

“Just date already!” squeals another. Give us sometime, buddy, he answers silently to the request.

Ah, if only he could let all the fans know what he is really feeling right now, maybe they can help him get the girl. Which reminds him of her. What would she think when she reads these news? Would she feel uncomfortable, threatened or awkward? Dumb-ass, you should have thought of that when you opened your big mouth, he chided himself when realization dawns on him. What must she and her manager think of him with this news? Aaargh!

“Oppa, are you playing with my feelings?” Shin Hye asks the screen as she reads the news article on Jang Keun Suk’s latest interview. Is this just a fan service? She asks herself. But surely, if it is for the fans, he would at least consult her first with the idea, right? Not like this. Surely he must know how news like this could antagonize some fans out there who would then turn their vengeful eyes on her. The last thing she wants right now is to have antis.

But why involve your Omma if it is just a fan service? She ponders on. The thought of his mom liking her further fans the embers of her growing emotions a little more but she knows she must take the news with a grain of salt. The bit about the fortune teller really got her giddy when she read about it, though. If that part is true, she could die happily just right now.

Should she clarify this with him? Surely, the press would also ask for her reaction before long. What would she tell them? How could she properly react to something she doesn’t have the slightest idea about? And her manager is already getting suspicious about her and Keun Suk. That was absurd but she couldn’t blame him for thinking that way. What with the private meeting they just had and now this kind of news from Keun Suk. If I were my manager, I would start getting suspicious, too. What to do? What to do?

Her answer comes in the form of a phone call.

“So, have you decided where to spend our honeymoon?” the distinct voice playfully asks her even before she can say hello. “I think someone mentions about Africa. Are you up to it?”

“Oppa! What was that about?” she blurts out, relieve to know that it’s him on the other line.

He laughs, a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry if I didn’t tell you beforehand, Shin Hye-ssi. My mistake. I know I should have just kept my mouth shut about that thing with Omma. It just came out in the interview because they asked me about you and the first thing that came to mind was that and I thought it was hilarious and I wanted to share it to the fans,” he explains lengthily. Why are you blabbering, Keun Suk?

“So that part was true? Your Omma really went to a fortune teller?” her voice sounds small all of a sudden.

“Uh-huh. Funny, right? I don’t even know how she got your birth day or your sign. She must have been lurking in online forums, too, yeah?” he jokes, more to himself.

Shin Hye laughs at the thought of his mom lurking in online forums like a devoted fan. “I hope she got my data right, though. Must be a waste if she got it all wrong.”

She hears him laugh again. “It was right. Exactly like what you shared with us when we were asking each other’s signs and stuff with the guys last time.”

“So that was not just fan service, then, Oppa?” she can’t help but ask him about it. She has to.

“You actually think I just made that up, huh?” He asks, a little startled. How could she think like that?

“It’s not like that, Oppa. It’s just that I – well, who would have thought about your mom doing something like that? I mean, like in the movies?”

“Yeah, I know. The part where I decided to share that bit of information to the public, maybe that’s fan service. But my Omma’s participation? Oh THAT really happened. That was real.”

Stop! I’m nearly out of breath, she pleads silently as she listens to him. This is too much information she can handle in one phone call. Don’t keep my hopes up.

“I called to tell you I’m sorry for any confusion or inconvenience the news may have caused you. Please forgive me. Next time, I will see to it that you’re in with the secret before I leak it to the press. Ahrasso?”

“Ahrasso, Oppa,” she answers warmly.

“But you have to admit that our wedding photos online are hilarious, yeah?” he reminds her again and they both burst out laughing.

I’m going for my holiday tomorrow, Keun Suk tells the phone on his hand long after they said their goodbyes. When I get back, I hope to spend time with you again. Not before the cameras. Just Keun Suk and Shin Hye. Do you think we can do that?