“Oh my, what are we to do …” The thin voice becomes even thinner, as if sapped of strength. “I’m Teacher Kim … in the class next to yours, Grade 6 Class 2 … You don’t remember?”
“I’m not sure.” So “Teacher” meant elementary school teacher, she thinks to herself.
The thin voice becomes urgent. “Teacher Choi, she taught Grade 5 with us, and then quit after getting married … She followed her husband out of Seoul. You were invited to their housewarming, so you came along… You really don’t remember?”
“I don’t know.”
“This really is serious.” The fingers touch her left hand again. Like before, their grip is firm. “We should get up.”
“What?” She is up on her feet before she knows it.
The thin voice is adamant. “Teacher Lee, I think your injuries are more serious than we realize. We shouldn’t waste any more time—we should get up and find a hospital.”
“Oh.”
“Are you very tired?”
“What? Oh, no, not—”
“Then let’s go.” The fingers gently tug at her left hand.
She begins to follow.
As she walks, she asks, “So, how did we get into this accident?”
The thin voice sighs. “I don’t know either … I drank too much, which is why you were driving.”
“Oh.” Her guilt blocks her words for a while. After a pause, she asks again. “Then that … that car. Is it yours, Teacher Kim?”
The voice doesn’t answer.
Feeling rebuffed, she stops asking questions.
But after walking in silence for a moment, she can’t help asking again. “Where … where can we be, do you think?”
“Well …” The voice seems reluctant to answer.
She persists. “Teacher Choi’s house, where is it exactly? Is it close to here?”
“Well, the thing is, I don’t know either … I fell asleep as soon as we left …” The voice’s answer trails off.
She thinks a bit more.
She asks, “Do you happen to have a phone?”
The voice does not answer for a moment. Then, “A phone? No. Do you have one, Teacher Lee?”
“I don’t either.”
The voice asks, “Did you not look for it when you were searching for your ring?”
Sensing a shade of reproach, she answers, “There was nothing in the front seats … What about the back?”
“It was too dark to look. It could’ve flown out the window.” But the voice seems uncertain.
The conversation stops again.
She has no idea how long they’ve been walking since leaving the car behind. All around them, it is still complete darkness. No risen moon, no stars. How long do we have to wait until daybreak, she wonders.
“Where … where exactly are we going?” she tentatively asks.
The voice doesn’t answer.
She asks again. “Do you… do you even know where we’re headed?”
For a moment, the voice doesn’t speak. Then, instead of answering her question: “Teacher Choi, I feel sorry for her.”
“Excuse me?” She’s taken aback.
The thin voice mumbles as if it isn’t meant for her to hear. “So happy when she got married, like the whole world belonged to her, but then divorced within a year, quitting her job at the school …”
She waits. But the voice does not continue.
So she asks again. “Um … what are you talking about?”
The thin voice mumbles again. “It’s not her fault that her husband had an affair … Don’t you think it’s unfair? They say a teacher must always set an example, but she’s a woman, after all. A divorced woman, at that …”
“What are you talking about … Didn’t you just say Teacher Choi was a newlywed?”
The thin voice laughed a thin laugh. “I suppose she is, if it was only a year ago she got married—”
“But, just now, you said Teacher Choi just got married, we were at their housewarming party …”
“Oh Teacher Lee, you must’ve hit your head rather hard.” Patiently, the thin voice explains. “Teacher Choi got divorced, went alone down to the countryside, and we were visiting her in her new room, as both a housewarming and consolation…”
After a moment of silence, the thin voice starts mumbling again. “Living alone turned her into such a lush, all that drinking she did …”