A familiar voice

A familiar voice from the telephone line, but I couldn't remember who he was. I said, "Oh, are you a student returned to school after military service." The tall, It was the voice that I heard behind me in class. A single part of the class more than three decades ago came to mind.

"How can you get my phone number?" "There's a way to get it from the Internet." It has become a world where I can't hide and live. "Do you know who I'm married to? "I know." As soon as my long talk goes out, "We'll meet and talk." "Why? Can't we talk more on the phone now?" "A little inconvenience."  I dazed. "So, how about my house at three tomorrow?"

I was suddenly excited that I am going to see a former college classmate who I had not met since graduation. I worked hard to clean and prepared some dishes. Time ran out and the curtain was pulled back and looked out, but he didn't come. I've been looking around three or four times outside the door. He showed up with his wife at almost four o'clock. Four years of college, it was a brief encounter in my life. Even though it was more than 30 years ago, it was nice as if know each other's situation.

As soon as we sat down at the table, I asked about our classmates living in Seoul. He said, he was so busy eating and living that he couldn't meet them often.  Rather, he asked me if you know better. So, I told him about my friends who have came to New York. But isn't he's wife speaking in his ear from time to time as if she were interpreting what I said? I didn't speak English, but I asked because it was weird. He said, he can't hear well, so I couldn't even talk over the phone. I talked aloud as I approached him more and more. He only nods his head but has no words. I suddenly wondered whether he had heard or not. I became quiet too.

As if to turn the quiet mood around, "You are still cute, but you used to be popular because you was so cute. Do you know a big guy returned to school after military service?" He asked my husband. "Who?" "The guy followed your wife around?" Are your eyes bad, too? I'm going to be 60 years old soon. I can't believe I'm cute.

We are already so old that our ears are deaf and our eyes are dim! we can't drink because we are not feeling well. It's hard to eat meat because of a bad tooth. The conversation didn't go well because we couldn't remember our friends' names. Expectations before the meeting was slowly melted away.

Eyesight is poor, so does he see me as a woman in the fog? It's not so bad to hear that I'm cute because he can't see tiny wrinkles in detail as if photoshopped function works, but I felt sad for some reason.

At eight o'clock in the evening when the drinking table is ripe, He pointed his head at the clock and stood up. I didn't hold him anymore. My husband and I saw our friend off in the sunset until he was out of sight. Then we sat down at the table again and drank in silence. How time flew! The wine tasted bitter.