Chapter 64 - 62: Lying Boamei

Chapter 64: Chapter 62: Lying Boamei

In the early 21st century, the cell phone was absolutely the hottest new thing, a symbol of being on the cutting edge of fashion.

Ever since Nokia launched its candy bar phones in 2000, their low price, variety of color options, and ability to break from the traditional landline for making and receiving calls led to them selling like crazy all over the world.

By the end of 2002, this trend had reached its peak.

Mostar Town had just gotten its first cell phone shop in the last few days.

After the shop appeared, many people tried out the phones and quickly bought one.

Modric was one of them. He got a black candy bar phone. The price wasn’t high, well within what he could afford.

Getting his first phone ever, Modric found it hard to put down.

Many people around him looked on with envy. Stelk, for example, was wondering if he should use next week’s pay to buy one and try it out.

Suk didn’t buy a phone. For one, the functions of current phones were too simple. For another, he didn’t really have anyone he needed to contact regularly.

Therefore, a cell phone was a bit useless to him.

Modric was always writing letters to Zagreb, so having a phone would make things more convenient for him, but Suk really didn’t need one.

Even if he were to buy a phone, Suk would wait another year or two and get the model hailed as a classic: the Motorola Razr.

After getting his new phone, Modric couldn’t wait to start fiddling with it.

"I remember this is how it works... but how do I write a text message?"

"Where do I type? Where’s the send button?"

Even though he’d watched the clerk demonstrate it, Modric was now completely stumped.

’I have no idea how to use this thing!’

"There’s a button on the side, maybe you press that!" Stelk chimed in, trying to help.

Suk sighed. "That’s the volume key!"

"Then what about this red button? It has a phone symbol on it!"

A moment later, the classic Nokia shutdown jingle played.

Suk walked over, annoyed, and snatched the phone from him.

He long-pressed the "end call" key to turn it on, waited for the screen to light up, and then navigated to the text message composition screen.

"Type what you want to say up here, enter the recipient’s phone number down here, and then you can send it."

Realization dawned on Modric.

"Suk, you know so much."

Suk sighed once again.

Soon, Modric sent a message containing his phone number.

"You know, you could have just sent ’This is Modric,’ and they would have seen your number automatically," Suk said faintly.

"Really?" Modric scratched his head. "I don’t really know much about cell phones."

Suk waved his hand. "Forget it. It’s all a process of discovery. Where are we off to next?"

Stelk rubbed his stomach. "Let’s get something to eat. I’m getting hungry."

Young men get hungry easily, especially athletes like them who burned through energy so quickly.

The three of them instantly agreed and soon found a hamburger shop in Mostar Town.

It was a shop run by a middle-aged Black couple.

"Three hamburgers and three fried chicken legs!"

Suk walked up to the front of the shop and called out loudly.

Seeing Suk, the middle-aged couple looked surprised. "Hello, Little Suqi."

Suk turned his head, surprised. "You know me?"

"Of course! You’re a celebrity in Mostar. And Modric, and..."

Stelk said awkwardly, "Stelk."

"Hello, Stelk!"

The middle-aged couple served the three of them warmly and even gave them an extra portion of chicken nuggets.

When the food was brought over, the man pointed to the sauce on top. "This is a special dipping sauce we brought from our hometown. You should give it a try."

Suk grabbed a chicken nugget, dipped it in the sauce, and popped it into his mouth. It was a little sweet, but also had a slight spiciness that seemed to open up all his pores, quickly followed by a warm sensation.

It added a bit of warmth on such a cold day.

"This is great!"

Suk gave a thumbs-up, which made the middle-aged couple very happy.

After they had eaten their fill, the couple asked, "Could you sign an autograph for us?"

"No problem."

After saying that, Suk, Modric, and Stelk signed their names on a sheet of white paper. The man quickly posted the signed paper up inside the shop.

"Now all we’re missing is a poster of you guys," the man joked.

Suk grinned. "We’re working on it, we’re working on it. Once we become big stars, you can follow us around selling chicken nuggets!"

Suk’s words made the middle-aged couple chuckle.

Just then, Stelk nudged Suk in the side. "Is that Boamei?" he asked, surprised.

Hearing this, Suk and Modric turned to look.

They saw Boamei walking alongside a young Black woman. Between them, a child of about six or seven held both their hands, skipping happily forward.

!!!

The three of them were shocked.

They say Black people mature early, but this is a bit too fucking early, isn’t it?

’His kid is already that old?’

"That can’t be his kid, right? Boamei is only 20. That child looks at least five. Did Boamei have a kid at 15?"

Modric said, shaking his head.

Stelk: "Having a kid at 15? It’s not impossible!"

Suk rolled his eyes in annoyance. ’These two are getting their gossip on.’

"Why don’t we just go ask him?"

Before the other two could react, Suk shouted, "Boamei!"

Up ahead, Boamei and the other two, who were out for a walk with the child, turned their heads and saw Suk’s group.

Boamei’s face showed surprise, but it quickly turned to panic.

The woman next to him also looked startled at first, but then a smile appeared on her face.

"Hey! You’re Suk, the substitute, right? I’ve seen your picture," the little girl shouted in a clear voice, pointing at him.

Suk was completely bewildered.

The little girl balled her fists and continued shouting, "Keep it up! You’ll become a starter! And when you get bullied, you have to fight back bravely!"

Suk was totally confused.

’What the heck is she talking about!’

When Suk looked over at Boamei, the latter was clearly flustered. He lowered his head and scolded, "Lina, that’s enough."

Lina tilted her head up innocently. "Is that wrong? I’m encouraging him!"

"Sorry, Suk." The older woman walked over, expressing her apologies to him.

"My name is Mani. I’m Boamei and Lina’s older sister. Can we talk over there for a moment?"

...

As an apology, Mani bought Suk a fruit juice.

As Suk sipped his juice, Mani stood beside him and explained.

"Lina didn’t mean any harm. She just doesn’t understand the situation."

Mani said bitterly, "Boamei works very hard every day. But one day, he suddenly told us that he’d become a starter on the team. That happened to be the same day our parents were laid off from the factory. He wanted to tell us in his own way that he was doing fine and that we didn’t need to worry about him."

"But a lie is still a lie, and one lie needs another to cover it up. I don’t know when it started, but Boamei gradually began to enjoy lying. He told Lina that he started in the match against the Banja Luka Warriors and played exceptionally well."

"A few days later, he told Lina that he also played brilliantly in the match against Tuzla Slobo?a."

"And then Sarajevo..."

’This sounds like my story,’ Suk thought.

Mani said with a helpless look, "Boamei pays a lot of attention to you. Or rather, he’s very envious of you."

"Envious of me?"

Suk looked at Boamei’s 6’1" height. ’I’m the one who’s envious of him.’

"We all know it’s not Boamei’s story. He thought that because we don’t have a TV at home, we couldn’t get this information. But my parents were just laid off, and my income and Boamei’s are all our family has. So we thought that even if it’s a lie, we shouldn’t expose him. Maybe this is his way of coping."

"If this has bothered you, we apologize!"

As she said this, Mani bowed to Suk.

Suk turned to look at Boamei and Lina by the creek. Lina was squatting on the bank, tossing stones into the water.

Boamei, on the other hand, was cautiously glancing at Suk. When their eyes met, he immediately whipped his head away, looking guilty as sin.

"No need to apologize. It’s not a big deal!"

Suk waved his hand.

Seeing that Suk genuinely didn’t seem to mind, Mani breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"But... how long is he going to keep running away like this?" Suk turned to Mani. "Facing your problems, solving your problems... fantasies are nice, but figuring out how to make them real is what’s key."

"Oh, right. Good news for you guys. Oliveira, the one who was bullying Boamei, is finished. Though, according to Lina, I guess I was the one being bullied," Suk said with a grin.

Mani’s expression was a mixture of happiness and embarrassment.

"Alright, let’s leave it at that." Suk drained the last of his juice and smiled. "Thanks, the juice was delicious."

"I’m glad you liked it."

With the misunderstanding cleared up, Mani was also very happy.

Suk nodded and looked toward the creek bank. "Help me tell Boamei something. Fantasies are nice, but you can’t keep deceiving yourself. That will only hurt you and the people around you."

"Face yourself, work hard to find a solution—that’s what a real man does."

...

That evening, Boamei suddenly burst into Suk’s dorm room.

"What do you want?!"

Suk snatched up the washbasin and a shoe from the floor, ready to throw them at any moment.

He thought Boamei, furious from the humiliation, had come to settle the score.

Boamei’s expression was conflicted for a long moment. Then, he said in a muffled voice, "Sorry! I had to apologize to you!"

With that, the guy turned and left.

Suk blinked, watching Boamei’s retreating back. Only then did he put down the washbasin and the shoe. "Apologizing makes you a good kid."

"You know, holding a washbasin and a shoe isn’t very intimidating," Modric quipped from the side.

Suk turned his head, surprised. "The mute speaks."

Modric cursed, "You’re the mute!"

It had to be said, Modric had really opened up a lot recently.