I'll never forget the day I met Lina. She was alone, seated at the booth in the corner of this cafe I used to frequent. It was love at first sight.
I wonder what she's looking at. Oh, she's watching a video.
She seemed to be enjoying whatever she was watching and I couldn't help but stare. At this point, I was sitting at the booth across from hers and had been staring at her for about twenty minutes straight. Who cares if I looked like a creep? Judgmental stares be damned.
After about ten more minutes of borderline ogling, I knew it was pointless to just sit around and wait for a reaction because it looked like she wasn't going to stop watching whatever was playing on her laptop anytime soon.
It was like my feet had a mind of their own because the next thing you know, I was sitting in front of her and she was looking at me like I had grown an extra head. Even in her confused state, she was still gorgeous.
"Can I help you?" She has the voice of an angel. Think of something to say, quick!
"Umm. Uhh. Okay. Are you my appendix? Because I don't know what you do or how you work, but I feel like I should take you out." Really? That's the best thing you could come up with? Way to go, Brian.
"I don't know about appendixes, but I do know I can eat your liver." She's so– Wait, what?
"Excuse me?" I heard that right, right?
"I said, I eat men's livers." I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
"I'm sorry, but I don't quite understa–" She's joking, she has to be.
"I'm a Gumiho. You know, seductive, nine-tailed fox, can transform into a human and–" Gumiho? Gumiho. Why does that sound so familiar? Wait a second. Gumiho!
"Eats livers." It's like that Korean drama my little sister was watching the other day. What was it called again? My Girlfriend is a Gumiho or something like that?
"Exactly!" Of all the people I could have fallen in love with, it had to be a psychopath. "Are you scared? If you are I'll be gracious and give you the chance to run away. Now." She's crazy.
"NO!" But I love it.
"No?" Gumiho or not, she's still my new found love!
"I don't care what you are, I still want to take you out on a date. You are welcome to eat my liver after we watch a movie and you decide that you hate me." When did I start sweating and why are my eyes squeezed shut? Wait, is she, laughing? "Are you laughing at me?" I peek one eye open.
"You're cute," she's says while giggling. "And I like cute."
Later that evening, Lina told me all about how Gumihos were mythical creatures derived from ancient Korean legend. A Gumiho is said to be a fox that lives for a thousand years and then transforms into a Gumiho. Apparently, Gumihos freely transformed, usually into beautiful women, and often seduced men with the goal of obtaining their liver to consume. Of course, she also assured me that she was only joking about being a Gumiho in hopes of scaring me away because she said that she knew I had been staring at her and was genuinely freaked out by me doing so. I appears that, while I was staring at her, mesmerized, she was thinking of a million and one ways to run away from my gaze. I apologized for scaring her and admitted that I was just a little too entranced by her face. Naturally, she was flattered.
Three years later, I asked her to be my wife.
"That reminds me, Lina, what were you watching on the day when we first met? You looked so engrossed in it." I was always curious, but as time passed, the question eventually faded.
"Oh! It was a Korean drama. If I recall correctly, it was called My Girlfriend is a Gumiho."
Well, that explains it.
Brian the brain.
