An Exception to the Rule

“… in New York, New York, New York.”

I put off the alarm of my phone. Since I arrived here in New York, I assigned Empire State of Mind as my alarm tone. Maybe to neutralize the home sickness I’m feeling. I got up my bed, and went to the shower. Despite the cold weather here, I still see to it that I take one before I go out. I sniff. I’m having a cold because of this practice.

I finally got ready. I went out to the kitchen and found a note on the table. From my Dad.

 I'm out early Janine.

Call me if you need anything.

Take care. Love you.

I got the note and slipped it inside my bag. “Well. Another day of job hunting Janine. Good Luck.” I say to myself.

After hours of making inquiries from almost all the local tabloids and spreadsheets, still I found nothing. I was starting to consider a job in a restaurant or a fast food chain. This is the United States after all. People don’t care about what job they do, as long as they have a handsome pay.

I was walking to nowhere in particular when I saw a coffee shop with lots of books inside the premises. Out of instinct, I entered the shop.

I was sipping my second coffee cup, and reading probably the nth book, when someone suddenly entered the shop and a mob followed her closely. Then she seated herself on the table near to counter at the front of the shop. Then people started crowding over her. I gave in to curiosity and peeped through the people.

I was so shocked when I saw who it was. It was one of my favorite authors – Joy Fielding.

I don’t know what got into me, but I suddenly grabbed a pen and paper inside my bag and stretched my hand out to her. I felt the smile on my face grow wider as I made my way through the crowd. When I was already in front, I remembered I left something on the table – my phone and my organizer. I was startled at the thought and made my way again out of the crowd. I heard someone complain but was too worried to argue with him.

Then I found him sitting there, as if he was watching over my things. He had the features of a young boy, but I could tell he was older than me. He just looked so innocent.  I approached him quickly.

I cleared my throat to announce my presence.

“Oh. Am I sitting on your spot?” He asked shyly, and then got out of the chair immediately.

“Uhm. Yes.” I sounded so lame.

“I thought your things needed someone to attend to them so I volunteered myself.” He smiled.

I hate him. His smile could melt the sanity out of you.

“Yeah. That was so careless of me. Thanks anyway.” I was silently praying that the look on my face wouldn’t give me away.

“I’m Vince. And you are?”

“I’m Janine.” I finally sat on the chair he just vacated.

He obliged himself and sat on the opposite chair. I was surprised at how good he was in dealing with strangers.

Then as if reading my mind, he said ”I believe you’ve been here for about an hour now.”

“Is it already that long?” I asked before I could stop myself. Then I realized I sounded so off guard that I didn’t even wonder why he knew that. Maybe he was watching me, I thought. I held my guard up.

“Oh. Thanks again for watching them for me,” I gathered my phone and organizer, “I’ll keep my eye on them from now on.” Then I got up and made my way through the crowd again.

I was too absorbed at the book signing when I suddenly realized that I didn’t have a book of hers. I frowned. How could I be so impulsive? I was about to turn and buy a Joy Fielding novel when suddenly Vince was there just behind me.

“I think you’ll need this.” He held out my favorite novel.

“Aren’t you going to need it? I think you’ll ask for her autograph too.”

“I have two of them.” He held out another one. “This is for my sister. You can have mine, I’m really not fond of reading novels.” He smiled again. I can’t help but smile back.

Then we kept seeing each other after that. I was just happy to have a friend in the Big Apple. My first one.

“I assume you’re such a good brother to do that favor for your sister.” I said as we sat on the park one afternoon after doing the errands my Dad asked me to do. He tagged along.

“What?”

“That afternoon in the coffee shop. The book signing.” I took another bite of the burger I was enjoying.

“Oh. Not really.” He stuffed a couple of fries to his mouth.

I looked at him, waiting for the story that was about to spill out.

“I owe her a favor. She got the autograph of my favorite coach a week before that. I had a game when the Coach was here so I asked her to get it for me.” He was a professional basketball player in a local league.

I nodded. “I see.”

“Why do you like Joy Fielding books? My sister said she writes weird stuff. Don’t you like Romantic novels?”

“Romance? Nope. They don’t interest me. Just some of them, if they’re really interesting.”

“I thought all you girls liked Romance?”

“There’s always an exception to the rule.” I smiled.

Then he was silent for a moment.

“Do you still have that fascination about Korean stuff?”

“Yep.” I said proudly.

He just nodded.

“Why?” I asked.

“Nothing. My sister loves to watch their movies too.” He was feigning a disgusted expression.

“See. I’m not the only one who loves them.” I smiled proudly.

“You’re not the only one who was fooled by them. They’re not really nice.” He said uninterestedly.

“Really?” I looked at him intently.

“Yes.” Then he threw the wrapper of his burger at me.

“Ow!” I tried to return it to him but missed.

“Boys just can’t appreciate how romantic their movies are.”

He rolled his eyes. “I thought you didn’t like romance.”

“Another exception.” I smiled.

Then we talked about ourselves a lot. Though there were some things we didn’t agree upon, at the end of the day we still respect each other’s differences and instead we focused on what interested us both.

He kept calling me and we spent time more often. I finally found a job not long after that.

Then one day when I was waiting for him to fetch me from the office, I felt a funny feeling that he would not come. But I ignored the thought. I still waited for Him to come. But hours passed and I was starting to get hungry. I gave up. I went home alone.

Then a couple of days passed. He never called me. Well, maybe he found another stranger to spend time with. I sighed and slumped on the chair. Why am I affected?  I thought. He’s just a stranger.

Then on my way home one day after an overtime, my phone suddenly rang.

Out of habit, I said, “Dad?”

“Janine!”

I was shocked. I couldn’t speak.

“Janine? It’s Vince.”

“Yeah. I know.” I sounded so dumb again.

“Where are you? I have something to show you.”

Then the next minute he was approaching me. I couldn’t remember how I told him where I was over the phone. I was still so shocked. I wanted to shout at him but I couldn’t. I hate myself.

We were walking on a familiar street and turned on a familiar corner. My mind was starting to recover from the daze I was in.

I blinked. “Where exactly were you for the past days, young man?” I was starting to feel the anger fill me up.

“Sssshh.” He hushed.

“What?”

Then we entered a familiar establishment. It was too dark to recognize it.  But I knew it that I could recognize the place with proper lighting.

He made me stand on a spot with a dim light and left me there. I was starting to panic.

“Vincent Fenton. This isn’t funny. Put the lights on!”

As if on cue, he put on the lights and I was standing there right on the same spot where he handed me the Joy Fielding book. We entered the coffee shop where we first met.

“Before you could argue, let me explain first.”

He stood in front of me immediately.

“The pay I was receiving as a player wasn’t enough to have this place booked for today so I decided to have another job so I could pay the owner and have this place all to ourselves for this day.”

I was about to say something but he spoke again before I could start.

“My job took up all my spare time so I wasn’t able to meet you or walk you home.”

“At least you could’ve called!” I finally managed to say.

“But…”

“But WHAT?!”

“That’s not what Koreans do in the movies…” He almost whispered.

“What?”

“That’s not what they do!”

“Since when did you started seeing those movies?” I wanted to laugh out loud but I was supposed to be angry with him.

“Since… Since that afternoon when I asked you if you were still interested in those movies.” He said shyly. I was suppressing my laugh with all my might.

“Hey, there’s always an exception to the rule.” He shrugged but was still embarrassed. He was looking down so I walked around the place to hide my smile. Then I found a rope that was attached to a cloth that was hiding something behind it. It was huge, it covered the whole wall.

“What’s this?” He tried to stop me from pulling it but was too late.

            HAPPY HUNDRED JANINE!

“Hundred?” I faced him.

“Hundred days?” He smiled.

I finally let out a laugh.

“I guess I was wrong when I said boys don’t appreciate Korean romantic movies.” I chuckled.

“I’m an exception.” He smiled broadly. Then gave me the tightest hug I’ve had in my life.

MVJLO 06.02.2010