Gun-Ho was sitting at the café inside New Otani Hotel. He kept checking the hour by looking at his Omega watch. He felt like time goes very slowly today.
“It’s already several minutes past noon. Why is she not here yet?”
Gun-Ho was waiting for Mori Aikko and she hadn’t showed up yet.
“Maybe I am not an appropriate sponsor for her since I am a foreigner and I can’t even properly communicate with her in any language. It was my fault insisting on being her sponsor just because I have money. She is the most famous geisha in Japan after all. I was being thoughtless.”
Gun-Ho regretted to suggest Mori Aikko and Mama-san that he wanted to be Mori Aikko’s sponsor.
Gun-Ho felt sorry to Mama-san Segawa Joonkko from the bar and the Korean restaurant owner—Ji-Yeon Choi from Akasaka who tried to help Gun-Ho to become Mori Aikko’s sponsor.
“I acted just like a nouveau riche. I used to hate the nouveau riche from Gangnam when I was in Noryangjin studying for the government job exam while working as a factory worker.”
Gun-Ho kept thinking that he shouldn’t have asked to be Mori Aikko’s sponsor in the first place. He felt like an idiot.
Gun-Ho looked around the café in the hotel.
He could see a few men in the café, who looked like businessmen wearing suits. He also saw a young lady who was wearing jeans with a blue silk blouse. She looked like a college student, and she entered the café.
“A college student who could afford to have a coffee in a café, located in this expensive hotel… Her parents must be very wealthy.”
That college student-looking young lady was looking around the café with her hair blowing. She seemed to be looking for someone.
“She is a very pretty student. She has a gorgeous face, maybe because she is from a wealthy Japanese family.”
When that young lady saw Gun-Ho, she smiled and walked towards him.
“Koko ni suwatte mo īdesu ka? (Can I sit here)?”
Gun-Ho couldn’t understand why this student was talking to him. He looked at her closely.
“Oh! Mori Aikko!”
Gun-Ho had only seen her in Kimono before. He had never expected to see her in jeans with her long hair down like that. He almost couldn’t recognize her.
“Hai!”
Gun-Ho gestured for her to sit on a chair at the other side of the table by pointing the chair.
“Okuretesumimasen (I’m sorry that I’m late).”
Mori Aikko bowed to Gun-Ho politely before sitting on the chair. Mori Aikko smiled slightly at Gun-Ho.
“She is absolutely gorgeous and bottomlessly cute.”
While appreciating Mori Aikko’s youth and her beauty, Gun-Ho suddenly became self-conscious about his own appearance. He felt like he was fat and being out of shape. He looked down at his belly while holding a cup of coffee. His belly seemed to have bulged a bit.
“Oh my gosh, what am I doing here? She is only 20 years old and I am a 35 years old man!”
Gun-Ho felt sorry for Mori Aikko.
Gun-Ho started talking with Mori Aikko by writing. They both knew how to read and write Chinese characters. Gun-Ho studied in China and Mori Aikko was born and raised in Japan. Chinese characters became the medium for them to communicate with each other.
“Did you have lunch?”
“Imadani (Not yet), Madadesu (Not yet).”
This time, Mori Aikko wrote a Chinese character on a piece of blank paper. When Gun-Ho understood what she wrote, she became so excited and clapped silently. Whenever she laughed, Gun-Ho could see her snaggletooth that was commonly seen among Japanese women. Her snaggletooth was slightly covered by her lips, which only added to her charm. She was very cute with her snaggletooth.
Gun-Ho looked at Mori Aikko’s neck, who was laughing. Her fair skin was dazzling.
Gun-Ho took her to a steak restaurant located inside the hotel and ordered steak and wine.
Mori Aikko was not good at cutting up the steak.
“I will cut them for you.”
Gun-Ho cut her steak into small pieces so she could easily eat.
“Here we go.”
Gun-Ho speared a piece of steak with a fork and handed it to Mori Aikko. She chewed the piece of steak that Gun-Ho cut for her. She looked extremely cute.
After lunch, they walked out of the hotel building and took a walk at Yoyogi Park.
“Mori Aikko, I will protect you and take care of you for the rest of my life.”
“Really?”
Gun-Ho held Mori Aikko’s hand; it took Gun-Ho a lot of courage to do so. Gun-Ho’s hand was rough with calluses—caused by his previous and prolonged manual work in a factory. On the other hand, Mori Aikko’s hand was very tender and silky.
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom in Yoyogi Park. Gun-Ho was walking while holding Mori Aikko’s wrist when he thought that the flower would look good on her. Gun-Ho plucked a cherry blossom and put it in her hair.
“Hold on, Gū daitōryō-san (President Goo).”
Mori Aikko pulled out a small hand mirror from her purse and looking at herself in the mirror to see the flower on her hair.
“You don’t have to check it. You look beautiful.”
Mori Aikko smiled at what Gun-Ho said. Gun-Ho was not sure whether Mori Aikko understood his Korean or not. Mori Aikko was a bit different from other young people of her age. It seemed that she didn’t have a chance to properly socialize and learn about society in general since she had stayed mostly in Gion and spent most of her time learning dancing there. She didn’t go to school and that made her more pure and innocent. She seemed extremely pure to Gun-Ho.
Gun-Ho and Mori Aikko sat by the pond in Yoyogi Park.
“Are you okay? Aren’t your legs tired yet?”
Mori Aikko shook her head from side to side while laughing.
They started talking by writing again.
“Mori Aikko, I love you.”
“I do like you as well, Gū daitōryō-san. I like the fact that you are a self-made successful man.”
Gun-Ho put his arm around her shoulders.
“Can you write down the lyrics of the song you sang last time at the bar?”
Mori Aikko started writing the lyrics. Gun-Ho looked at Mori Aikko who was sitting by the pond while writing something on a paper. He thought that she looked more like a college freshman who was sitting on a college campus, rather than a geisha.
‘Whew. She could be a college student at her age. Why did her destiny lead her to the life of a geisha and let her dance until late at night in a bar.’
Mori Aikko handed the piece of paper to Gun-Ho. It seemed that she was done writing the lyrics.
Gun-Ho read the lyrics. Gun-Ho could read Katakana and Hiragana in Japanese. He might not fully understand what it means but he could read.”
“Can you sing it like the last time you sang?”
Mori Aikko stared at the pond for a moment, and she started singing softly. It was a sad melody just like her sad fate.
“Anata no unmei ni meikakuna owari wa arimasenga, anata no kaori o sōzō shite kudasai… (There is no definite end to your destiny, but conceive your scent…).”
Gun-Ho started singing along with Mori Aikko while looking at the lyrics that she wrote down for him. Before they realized, they were singing together. Mori Aikko quietly held Gun-Ho’s arm.
“It’s about to rain. Let’s get out of here.”
Mori Aikko nodded.
The couple walked out of Yoyogi Park and headed to Shibuya. They bought an umbrella on the way and kept walking towards Shibuya.
They felt a bit cold as it was raining. They held each other as they shared one umbrella. Gun-Ho thought he could hear Mori Aikko’s heart beating.
“Are you feeling cold?”
“I’m fine.”
“Do you want to go somewhere and get some warm food?”
“It’s okay. Let’s just walk to Koendori.”
