Page 143 of When Worlds Collide
I found Hana when I went to collect my rucksack from my locker.
“Hey, England,” she chirped at me, “wanna grab lunch? Someone said it’s bulgogi on the menu today.”
“Sure.”
I slammed my locker shut, after ensuring I’d left nothing in there.
I didn’t speak as we made our way downstairs to the GECK – not it’s actual name, but it’s what we all called it, after the Garden of Eden Creation Kit. It was kind of an inside joke.
I figured I was still allowed in the building for at least a little while yet, so even though I wasn’t hungry, I loaded up my tray with all my favourite banchan and followed Hana over to a table, where she proceeded to bring up more tabloid nonsense, this time apparently about Sol8. I listened distractedly for a while, but when gossip about Min Taeyang apparently dissing Jihoon’s dancing failed to get a rise out of me, she finally seemed to notice my distance.
“What’s wrong with you?” She scowled at me.
And lord help me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care.
“I’m leaving.”
She looked at me speculatively. “You’ve decided.”
I nodded. “Yes.
“For what it’s worth, England, I think you’ve made the right decision.”
It wasn’t worth much, I decided. But I didn’t say that.
“Yeah. So, I’m leaving. Going back to the UK.”
“When?”
“In the morning.”
“What about this place?”
She leaned over the table slightly, and I had the urge to lean back.
“I’ve handed in my resignation.”
“Ah, shit. Just like that?”
She seemed genuinely surprised, and I wondered if maybe I’d been seeing her in an unfair light.
“Just like that.”
“What about ‘John’?”
She put air quotes around the name, and just like that I was back to being mildly irritated.
“Hana…” I said, a low warning tone in my voice, and not one I’d ever used with her before.
She waved me away, not seeming to have taken it to heart.
“I’m just asking, don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m sorry about your mum, okay? It sucks you have to leave. I mean, this is a hell of an opportunity,” she gestured around us, “but family first, y’know?"
“It’s probably for the best.”
She scooped a spoonful of rice into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
I frowned at her.
