Page 126 of A World Apart
“There,” Becka huffed a strand of hair out of her face, “no big deal.”
I swallowed my retort, mentally repeating a mantra of ‘inner peace,’ until I could safely respond. “When’s your Uber getting here?”
She looked at her watch. “Any minute now. Help me get this downstairs?”
I closed my eyes for a count of five, trying to remember that she gave me a place to stay in LA and that I loved her.
The Uber driver had pulled up outside our building by the time the two of us managed to get her case downstairs. I cringed as I watched him struggle to put it in the boot.
As the driver got back into his seat, considerably redder in the face, Becka turned to me, grabbing me in a tight hug.
“Ooft,” I grunted, “you’re only going upstate for the weekend.”
She only grabbed me tighter, whispering in my ear, “In my bedside drawers, there’s a whole box of Trojans. Promise me you’ll use them.”
I wriggled out of her tight embrace as she laughed. “Get in the damn car, Mother.”
Becka held up her hands. “I’m going, I’m going.”
As I watched her drive away, I stored the information, just in case.
I spent the rest of the day fitfully cleaning the apartment, doing my laundry, clearing out the fridge, doing a food shop; just picking up the errands and tasks I’d added to my list all week, so by the time evening had rolled around, I had dinner in the oven, the whole apartment sparkled and smelled like cinnamon apples − because try as I might, not one single cleaning product in the store had anything that didn’t smell like some kind of Autumnal treat. I had a stack of clean clothes ready to put away and I’d even washed the shower/bath curtain. But still, nervous energy thrummed through me, the constant buzz of my internal alarm clock, reminding me that tomorrow morning Jihoon would be here. In our little apartment.
Today was his birthday and I knew that somewhere, right now, here in the city, GVibes had gone out to dinner to celebrate his 25th birthday party. I’d spoken to him today, around lunchtime when the whole crew had paused filming for lunch. He’d said they weren’t doing anything too crazy, just dinner downtown before going back to their hotel to film a Live, which is something all of the members did on their birthdays as a way of including Vibers in the celebration. I’d tune in later, just for a little bit.
I decided to shower while dinner was cooking, and even though I played it down, didn’t even dare think it through in my head, I still made it an everything-shower. Just in case.
I ate dinner in front of the TV, hair wrapped in a towel, catching up on Married at First Sight. Then I painted my toenails a pretty cerulean blue I’d pinched out of Becka’s room. Then I put away the leftovers. Then I took out the trash. Then… I was at a loss, that nervous thrum still going through me. There really was nothing left to do, but the feeling persisted.
Finally, I just decided to lean into it and took myself to bed so I could watch the birthday livein comfort.
It was already in full swing by the time I signed in, the cake already cut. As always, the chat was scrolling by so fast from the thousands of viewers typing messages, mostly in Korean, some in English. Jihoon was sat on the floor, wearing a birthday crown on his mop of newly dyed dark blue hair, cake smeared around his face as the others laughed. I couldn’t catch what they were saying. Whilst I had been diligently doing my Korean language lessons on the app every day for weeks now, I wasn’t beyond catching the occasional word in casual conversation. It was frustrating and I once again marvelled at how anyone managed to learn a different language, much less fluently.
Minjae was reading aloud something off his phone that made the other guys laugh before he translated to English.
“Someone asked what you’re doing for your birthday weekend in LA, Jihoon-ah.”
I laughed, until Jihoon looked straight into the camera and said in English, “Going Trick or Treating.”
Now I was certain I wouldn’t sleep a wink all night.
Chapter 39
Thankfully, my prediction turned out to be wrong, as when I awoke the next morning, I felt rested and more clear-headed than I had the previous night.
It was still early. Jihoon and I had agreed he would get here around mid-morning, so I took my time having a shower and blow-drying my hair.
I’d just sat down in the living room to read a book when a knock at the door sounded, echoing so loudly in our small apartment that I startled, dropping my book on the floor as I jumped to my feet.
It couldn’t be − no one had buzzed from the street.
The knock came again, and I hurried towards the door, remembering at the last second to check the peephole, hearing Becka’s stern voice in my head, but a moment later, opening the door with so much force it was a wonder I didn’t pull it off its hinges.
I threw myself at Jihoon, who caught me with a winded ‘oof.’ I buried my head in the crook of his neck, inhaling deep, shuddering breaths. He chuckled quietly as he wrapped his strong arms around me more firmly.
“Did you miss me, jagiya?” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the side of my head.
I could only nod, no space yet for words.
