LIFE’S ALWAYS OFFERS A NEW LESSON.

Malaika’s POV

I entered the café Ji-ho had called me to and spotted him sitting with Yasenghwa. He saw me and waved me over. I rushed towards him and gave him a big hug having missed him for the last two weeks.

“How was Egypt?” He had just come back from Egypt, we were part of a gospel worship group and were supposed to go to Egypt together but because of recent circumstances I had stayed.

“It was fine, how have you been.”

“Good, hi lovely lady.” I said turning and addressing Yasenghwa.

She is the most complicated friend I got when I came to Korea. I had met her through our church and I had immediately disliked her. It wasn’t her fault though, Ji-ho is my brother we might be related by blood but he is my brother. We had met when I was 12 years old under difficult circumstances and had formed a bond that was unbreakable.

Ji-ho was my whole world, mostly because he was all I had. So when I finally came to Korea and saw the blooming romance between them, it felt like someone was snatching the only thing I had from me and I wasn’t happy in the slightest. People thought that maybe I had feelings for him and even advised that he distance himself from me. In their defence I wasn’t doing a good job at hiding my jealously.

Only that wasn’t the case.

“How is the new job going?” Ji-ho asked.

“Great!”  He saw straight through my lie but let me be.

“Is it as life changing as it is said to be.” Yasenghwa knowing my former love for the group was taking the opportunity to be extra.

“It would have been years back, now that I am viewing it from a new perspective its actually not everything I thought it would be.”

As we continued to converse I looked at Ji-ho and Yasenghwa smiling at each other I wondered how I had ever hated her. If Ji-ho was happy, then I was happy. I had never had romantic feelings for Ji-ho, no offence to the guy, he was actually very good-looking, but I viewed him as a brother.

When I was at the lowest, the only person who was there for me besides God was Ji-ho. It's hard to find someone who says they will be with you every step of the way and keep that promise. This man had seen me through the lowest of my lows and had been there picking me up each time, when my faith was failing he was there telling me not to give up hope, that God still loved me and would never leave me. He had become my rock and to see someone who threatened that peace was kind of upsetting.

Even when I was being irrational he assured me, “Just because someone else comes into my life it doesn’t mean  I love you any less, it just means there is someone more to love. No one can ever take away the bound we have, you will always be my family.”

Anyone who had grown up close to their siblings could understand. You think it’s you two against the world until it’s not. Letting go of people I love has always been hard for me, when you finally realize that you guys will some day live your separate lives and have your own families, and it comes at the worst possible time when you're not ready to accept that reality and have anyone take that peace away from you.

It wasn’t until I saw just how much his face lit up when he looked at Yasenghwa that I started to notice how selfish I was being. Ji-ho had given up a lot of things for me, sleepless nights when I didn’t want to live any more, dates when I was sick, he had sacrificed his happiness over and over for me. If you really love someone, you will do everything in your power to protect them and make them happy and if Yasenghwa made him happy, who gave me the right to take that away?

I remember the day I had finally come to this conclusion, I found them hugging outside Ji-ho’s flat door as he stayed next to my flat. Ji-ho had been so scared of my reaction and that was when I realized he was just as afraid of losing me as I was him that he restored to hiding their relationship. I didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t trust me and saw that this could cause a rift in our relationship, I put my fears behind me, blessed them and for the first time ever took the initiative to talk to Yasenghwa and get to know her.

If I thought he was happy before, I had never anticipated how much happier he would be to see me get along with the woman he liked.

“Are you okay?” Ji-ho asked as we walked to the flat after dropping off his girlfriend. “Was that too much?”

“No, you dummy it's been a year, give me a break.” I rolled my eyes and slapped his arm. “I think I might even like Yasenghwa more than you.”

“Well she likes me more than you.”

“Oh the lies women tell men not to destroy their ego.”

We bickered all the way home. Looking back, I think God removed had to put Yasenghwa in the picture. I had become too dependent on Ji-ho and God couldn’t have that happening. I had to lose part of Ji-ho to get closer to God and I know it sounds crazy, but it wasn’t until after Yasenghwa came along that I learnt to completely rely on God.

And so I thank you, God, for bringing Yasenghwa into my life.

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