#ursaseulgi

3. She feels very motherly about a lot of people and is very protective of them. “Maman poule”, they’d call her, as early as halfway through her secondary school years. Boa would insist on being sure all of her friends were well and had eaten breakfast, because “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, she would repeat like a mantra, usually in unison with others who knew said famous quote and that aimed to mock her just a smidge. As she hit her twenties, her mother was already asking when would she finally accept her then boyfriend’s marriage proposal and threatened that if she didn’t put that well-developed maternal instinct of hers and popped a baby or two before her thirties, mother dear would drop dead. Her close Catholic friends were also wondering who she’d make a godfather or godmother, but when Boa broke off the engagement with her fiancé, all bets were dropped. Needless to say, a lot of dreams and hearts and futures were broken at the announcement of them parting ways. But Boa was, strangely enough, the one helping her circle of friends and her family to mourn the loss of a potentially bright future.

4. She will persevere until she gets what she wants. A job, an answer, that sofa her mother eyed when they last roamed about in IKEA – she’ll find it, dig it up or buy it. Without ignoring respectable boundaries, Boa will find a way towards this goal she set for herself. It would probably make her seem really nosy and irritable, but with a motive in the back of her head, it was truly hard for anyone to convince her of another alternative. However, a few exceptions do exist, often at the excessive demands of people that were far from willing to see her take extra translation contracts to pay for a gift. She is not one to turn down a challenge, as she knows herself to be driven enough by the prospect of winning or to better herself that she could rarely let herself refuse this pleasure. As she doesn’t believe in giving up, she often believed others were just as capable as her of accomplishing everything they desired. Her encouragements to continue on their dream path sometimes came as a remarkable support, but sometimes fell on deaf ears that did not have the same self-confidence as her.

5. She is generous. She’s fortunate, with a roof to live under, a more than reasonable income, and a diverse education. Her parents taught her Catholic values, most of which she forgot. The one she remembered most was to help the ones in need, whether it be the beggar at the corner of her favorite coffee shop or her brother that took a century to understand how to isolate his dear friend “x” amongst fractions. No one really knew how Boa ended up being, more often than not, the shoulder to cry on when they needed to release tears or the one that comforted them at 4:00AM when they couldn’t sleep. They would find her at their doorstep when they would request her to spend an evening with them while they ate popcorn and cried over Lee Jongsuk’s impeccable acting. Her efforts in trying to help every single human being that needed her required more than a cup of black coffee in the morning, but she considered everything to be worthwhile.

6. She is curious. Intellectually, more than anything, but also culturally. She is the one people see with her nose in yet another book written by Agatha Christie or in the next issue of an American science journal. The employees from the nearby public library obviously knew her name and endless interests, much so that they felt the need to put aside that book about Freud she was looking for ages ago in a pile of novels and magazines reserved for her. For daily news, she would consult I Fucking Love Science on their Facebook page before reading up about Japan’s first legalized gay marriage. Boa has an unending thirst for knowledge and, fortunately for her, having wi-fi spread about in South Korea kept her updated on the latest news and latest discoveries that she could look up instantly or save for later. This worldwide connection also gave her the opportunity to continue talking and practicing using her different known languages, as well as attempting to develop others, mostly in an effort to gain access to content in their original language.

7. She is not vulnerable, but empathetic. Tell her about being weak and she’ll scoff at you. Boa is a pillar in herself. A short one, perhaps, but one whose base is solid. And she needs to be one, and always needed to be one. How could she be of help to people that request her aid and support them if she couldn’t be in control of her emotions? However, she doesn’t have a heart of ice; she knows herself to be sensitive to other’s pain, which is how she could be the friend that a lot require her to be. But her problems are her own and rarely will anyone see her confess to being hurt by someone or catch her crying her eyes out. She has always been the one that held people together and would mend relationships – friendships, couples, marriages – so that people would find their inner peace once again.