Meeting Hwan

She’s standing in the middle of the bus surrounded by people. She’s trying to stay in her grip while holding the handle above her, although the force from behind pushes her forward. She’s also struggling to open her round brown eyes. She did not properly sleep well last night because she’s used to sleeping at dawn. She’s been living in Seoul for 7 months now. She was a former barista in a popular coffee shop around Itaewon. She applied for that job to enable her communication skills in the Korean language. It’s been 12 years since she and her family left Seoul to go back to Manila. She has decided to live and work in Korea for now. Today is her first day at a famous art gallery here in Seoul.

When the bus reached her destination, she tried to excuse herself through the people near the door to be able to go out. When she stepped foot outside, she took a glimpse on her wristwatch and found out that she was almost late. That made her run immediately through the streets with people walking comfortably. The gallery is 20 minutes away from the bus stop, since she ran, it only took her 10 minutes to reach the place. She stopped running for a minute to fix her color peach garment, her tight black skirt, and through the glass wall, she tried to wipe the sweat on the sides of her face. She also made sure that the baby pink lipstick on her thick lips is still on. After that, she decided to enter the building with confidence and proper manner as a newly hired foreign woman.

The gallery is structured with clear glass walls with white marble floors. At the front desk, she asked the woman if she has an appointment with Madame Choi, the supervisor of the gallery. The front desk woman politely said that she’ll call Madame Choi first so she should sit in the lobby for a while. She bowed her head and thanked her before she proceeded to a peculiar but artistic brown sofa near the front desk to wait.

It took Madame Choi ten minutes to come and meet her. She stood up when she arrived with a smiley face. Madame Choi apologized for letting her wait for a while and she said that was fine. The supervisor led the way going to the elevator while talking about what her job will be. She toured her around the gallery to familiarize it. This art gallery was established 20 years ago and also auctioned artworks. Madame Choi said most of their artists are pure Koreans with little knowledge of the English language. Since she can understand Korean, it might be better for them to speak in Korean and then just translate it into English. She needs to translate in English the facts and interviews about the displayed artworks and the artworks to be auctioned that will be posted on their website. The purpose of this is to help the artists to promote/her works internationally. This will also help the artist to be recognized worldwide. The auction can also be done online for the foreigners who are interested.

While Madame Choi is walking around the area, she’s also looking around to see the artworks one by one. There are no certain categories of the displayed artworks. They are just there on the wall with a light of their own above them. Aside from the artworks, there’s also a room full of photographs and portraits of black and white and colored. The different artworks are like rainbows of paintings with a magic touch of the artist’s soul. Some represent contemporary art with geometric structures and some are abstracts of kaleidoscope colors.

But a specific artwork has made her pause. For a second it looked so familiar like she has known it for her whole life. It’s obviously not made of brush due to the handprints on it. It has a mixture of colors of red, pink, and black as it shadows the beating of a heart. In that very moment, while she was familiarizing herself with it, a memory of the past came back into uncleared pieces. It made her eyes and her mouth opened wide. She searched for the name of the artist at the lower right corner of the artwork. When she read the Korean character named Hwan, she felt goosebumps in her entire body.

“Excuse me, Madame Choi.” she asked.

Madame Choi came towards her, “It’s mesmerizing, isn’t it?” She said while looking at the artwork.

“Hwan…” she whispered, “Hwan is Nam Ye-sung, right?”

“Yes, that’s his real name. His artworks and photographs are recognized in the Korean community.” Madame Choi said.

“Really? Whoa, I did not know that. I never thought that he'd be this known…” she said, a bit surprised. “How much is this painting?”

Madame Choi chuckled, “It is not for sale. Nam-nim* does not want to sell it.” (Mister, formal)

“Really? Why is that?” I asked.

“Because he’s not the only one who made this painting. Those handprints were from the other person. They made this artwork together, so for him it’s priceless.”

“I never knew he’d be sentimental.” She whispered. “Wait, so I’ll have to meet him soon?”

“Yes, you will be meeting him too.”

“I’m so excited.” She smiled with sarcasm.

###

The half-day of her first day was entirely made to know the gallery and to meet the people who work here. She met some and all of them are Koreans who barely speak English. Madame Choi has given her a break for an hour before they proceed to the details of her work. She’s currently in the pantry, while waiting for the time, she tried to call a friend who’s been living with her for 3 months now. Her name is Cha Hea, a classmate of hers in senior high before she left Seoul. Her cellphone rang so many times before she answered it.

“Yah!” The first word she said when she answered the call.”

“Wae*?” Hea said. (Why? Informal)

“You didn’t tell me that Nam Ye-sung is a respected artist!”

“Jinjja* ?” She asked, “I also did not know. I’m just following him on Instagram.” (Really, informal)

“You’re following him on Instagram? What’s his username?”

“Hwan underscore artworks?”

“Okay, I’ll search for that.” She said before she ended the call.

When the call was done, she immediately opened her Instagram account to search for his account. She searched the mentioned username that instantly was recognized by the system. The profile photo was a picture of him in a black and white portrait. When she clicked the account, the page was entirely posts of street photographs and paintings. Below the profile photo was a Romanized spelling of his name, Nam Ye-sung. He has over a hundred thousand followers. She selected a photo in the gallery and it has comments in Hangul and in English. While she was looking at his account her cellphone rang which surprised her and made her almost drop her phone. Madame Choi was calling so she answered immediately. She asked her if the break was over, she looked at her wristwatch to see, 5 minutes had already passed since her break was done. So, she said she was about to get back to the gallery to see her. Madame Choi mentioned that she’ll introduce her to one of their artists who will be having an exhibit for the upcoming months. Right away after that call, she walked fast going to the gallery in front of the painting of Hwan that she recognized. Madame Choi is with a man who wears simple black pants and a white t-shirt with black Chuck Taylor shoes. The man was currently looking at the painting when she arrived.

“Mayumi-shi*, kindly meet the artist of the painting.” Madame Choi said. “He will be having his photo exhibit next month. You’ll be working with him.” (Miss, formal)

“Ne* ?” she asked. (Yes? Formal)

She’s not sure if she heard her right. Meeting the artist means meeting him soon.

She looked at the man as he turned his body towards them. “Nam-nim, this Mayumi Acda-shi, our new writer.”

When she saw his face, she thought her heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened. Meanwhile, he murmured her name while thinking with his slanted round brown eyes. After that, he looked at her with confusion while pondering and mumbling her name that ends with a question mark.

“Mayu?” Then suddenly she almost had a heart attack when he finally realized who she was. He opened his mouth due to shock. “Mayu?!”

“A-a-annyeong haseyo*.” Mayu said unsurely while being polite. (Formal Greeting)