I was back in school and when I shut my locker door and looked up, I saw Ryan walking down the hall. He was chatting and laughing with one of his friends and even though he wasn't looking at me, I felt a smile creep up to my face. The more he laughed, the more I smiled. Gosh, how cute was he? Then I realized what I was thinking and wiped that thing of my face. God, what was wrong with me?
"Hey," he said, waving at me. He said something to his friend then jogged over.
For some reason, the image of him in his towel shot through my mind and my tummy did a very quick flip flop. My legs suddenly felt weak so I leaned against my locker to steady myself. I'd never hated Jonathan as much as I did at that very moment. If he hadn't barged into my room would that image have ever got the chance to torture me? Okay, this had got to stop.
Was there a pill I could take to end the madness? Now that I'd decided to fight whatever was going on inside of me, all I'd done was think about him. All. The. Time. And now that I saw him walk towards me, the internal fight between joy and despair was taking a physical toll on me. Snap out of it, Su Jin!
"Are you okay?" He put his hand on my head and brushed my hair.
I slapped his hand away then turned around. "I'm fine." I really didn't want him to see me blush.
"Hey, are you okay?" The worry thickened in his voice. "What's—"
"Congrats to you two!" a female voice interrupted him.
I turned to see a girl from one of my classes giving us the thumbs up. I looked at Ryan. "Congratulations for what?"
He shrugged. "I have no idea."
"Hey, am I interrupting?" Gina, the girl who owned the locker Ryan was leaning on said. I hadn't even noticed that she was standing there.
Ryan apologized then stepped away from her locker.
She unlocked it, took out her books then winked at me. "Okay, you guys can get back to doing what you were doing."
"We weren't doing anything."
She laughed. "I bet you weren't. But don't mind me. See you later."
For the next few minutes, as we walked towards the classrooms, most people kept congratulating us or sending us knowing looks.
As I tried to figure out what the hell was happening, a thought occurred to me. "Do you think there's something about us on the notice board?"
He thought about it. "I don't know but why don't we check it out?"
Even though the school bell sounded, we still decided to make a quick stop at the board. Amongst the ads, gossip, permanent classified ad from Pete, we found this:
Congratulations to Brighton's newest 11th grade couple. Word on the street is that Su Jin spent the night in Ryan Cho's bed. Why else would she have been seen creeping out of his hotel room in the middle of the night? And they say Paris is the city of love. Congratulations and you guys make such a cute couple.
***
"So what exactly were you doing in his room?" Lisa asked. Like I often did, I was having lunch with Ali and her friends and after explaining that the rumor was false, for some reason, they all refused to believe that absolutely nothing had happened.
"Why don't you ask your friend," I said, pointing at Ali, "what Jonathan was doing in our room? Then maybe you'll understand that I got kicked out of my room in the middle of the night and had to go to Jonathan's. So technically, I was creeping out of Jonathan's room and not Ryan. Why did they have to skew it like this? I'm sick of this stupid school!"
I was beyond annoyed by the whole shenanigans. There I was, trying my best to forget the way I felt about Ryan but everywhere I went, they just had to bring him up. And for what? It wasn't like I'd gone to his room on my own freewill. I'd been kicked out and in the end, no one had written anything about Ali and Jonathan, which, as far as I was concerned, was far juicier. No-o. They preferred to fabricate some bulls.hit about me! I removed my couple ring from the keychain and forced it on my finger.
"Look, look," I said, displaying it for them to see, "I have a boyfriend. And he gave this to me. His name is Min Ki and not Ryan so you all need to stop saying this crap!"
"Hey, don't be so mad," Ali said, "it's just that they see your chemistry. So everyone assumes that you're dating. But what's the big deal? You know you guys look good together," she said with a smile and a wink.
"Why don't you just shut the fu.ck up, Ali? You're not helping matters much. You know I have a boyfriend; you know that Ryan and I are nothing but friends; you know that he pretty much spent the entire week with Holly but instead of standing up for me, you're fanning the flames. What kind of friend are you anyway?"
Not interested in a response, I picked up my tray of uneaten food and stood up. "You know what? I'm not even hungry anymore so whatever. Bye."
***
Not having anything to do and trying my best to stay out of everyone's way, I went to the computer room to check my email. After reading some messages from my friends, I clicked on the one sent by Min Ki.
Date: 15 Jan 23:18:47
From: "Ha Min Ki"
Subject: Guess
To: "Oh Su Jin"
Jinnie,
Are you sitting down? Well, I guess you are since you're reading this. Take a deep breath. Are you ready?
I am coming to America.
Did you get that? I'm coming to America. I think I might have mentioned it in passing before but I've been applying to several schools in the U.S. and I am coming to one!
My heart thumped as my head raced with a million thoughts. He was coming over? What about his dreams of attending Korea University?
And it gets better. My father managed to help me get a scholarship at his friend's company so they'll be paying for my first year. Depending on my grades, they'll sponsor the remaining three years but the catch is that I'll have to work with them for at least four years. But that's great, right? I already have a job secured after graduation. I still don't know which school I'll be attending because I've only been accepted by one school but from what I read, it's not very good.
Oh, the only problem is that I don't think their monthly stipend will cover my room and board so I still need some additional funding. Now, here's the other news: I'm going to be in the States at the end of February! I just got my acceptance letter today! I signed up with an agency here which helps place students interested in working abroad. I'm going to be working at a boy's boarding school in Fremont County, Wyoming and even after school closes, I still get to work there because they host a summer camp every year.
So guess who's coming to town? Hahaha. I am so happy!
I can already imagine your face right now. You're a little scared, perhaps worried that I might be taking a drastic step but the truth is that I really miss you and want to be with you. Not everyone is as lucky as us to have found each other at such a young age. Plus, I think it'll be a good experience to study abroad. I really don't want to go to the school that's accepted me (and I won't tell you which because I feel it will be embarrassing) but even if I don't get into one I want, I can come back to Korea. Instead of disenrolling from Korea University, I deferred my entry by a year just to keep that option open.
So don't worry – I've already thought of everything and even if things don't go on as I planned, we'll at least be able to see each other a bit. How far is Wyoming from Virginia? Not too far, I hope.
Missing you as always,
Oppa.
"Boo!"
I jumped out of my chair. I'd been so engrossed in reading Min Ki's letter a third time that I hadn't heard any footsteps behind me.
"Are you okay?" Ryan asked, sitting next to me.
At that moment, my stomach growled and seeing him reminded me of why I was so hungry. I frowned as I looked away from him. "Don't sit next to me. Go and sit somewhere else."
"Why?" he asked while staying put. He logged on to the computer and waited for the screen to change.
I clicked on the reply button and tried to figure out how to respond to Min Ki. "Ryan, aren't you sick of the rumors?"
"There's nothing we can do so just ignore them."
"Ignore them? Ignore them? How can I ignore them when everywhere I go, people are giggling, giving me the thumbs up, winking at me and all that crap? In all my life, I've never been the subject of gossip the way it's been here. And it's not like it's good gossip like…" I tried to think of something good but nothing was coming to mind. "… good like, whatever, I won the lottery or whatever but it's all linked to guys! Me, of all people! Jonathan this, Ryan that and the whole time, I've been dating the someone else. It's just so ridiculous."
"Hey, lower your voice."
"I'm just so sick of everything. It's a good thing, Min Ki oppa is coming and hopefully, when everyone sees us together, this will all stop." I really couldn't wait for all the gossip to end. And for my heart to settle.
"You're coming to America? I'm very surprised, Oppa. I can't believe you didn't tell me!" I typed.
"He's coming here?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"When?"
"I think next month."
"He's coming to our school?"
I shook my head. "No. He's going to be working at a school in Wyoming."
"Wyoming?"
"Yeah…"
I deleted the sentences I'd written and wrote, "Wow, Oppa, that's some amazing news!" Then I deleted it and sighed.
"Oppa! You're coming? How long have you been planning this for? Why didn't you ask me what I thought? Don't you think it's a bit much? What if we don't work out? Are you willing to take that risk??"
I felt a lump in my throat as I re-read the last two sentences then erased them. Then I erased everything else.
"Su Jin, are you listening to me?"
I glanced at him then looked back at the computer screen. "Sorry, what did you say?"
"I said that it's great news and that I'm sure you're very happy."
"Yeah, definitely." But was I really? I was still yet to digest the news. An hour earlier, I didn't think I'd get to see him for years but suddenly, he was coming in a few weeks?
I minimized the page, opened up another Internet Explorer browser and opened the Google page. Where in the world was Wyoming, anyway?
***
I waved at Yvette as she pulled her car into the parking lot. Operation Get-Ryan-A-Girl had begun and she was my one and only candidate. Luckily, she was up for anything so it hadn't taken much to get her to agree to the set up.
With Min Ki coming to the States, I really needed to sort out my feelings quickly because that guy just had a way of reading me and if he saw me, he'd be able to tell that my heart was unsettled. I was never the kind to lust after someone else's guy so if Ryan was taken, I was certain that all my confusion would disappear.
As soon as Yvette stepped out of her car, I gave her a quick hug. She hadn't dressed to kill but she did look cute. She was wearing dark brown high heeled boots under dark jeans with a dark red trench coat to keep her warm. Her hair was in loose curls and her face bare other than a hint of eyeliner and some lip gloss.
"You look nice," I said, giving her my stamp of approval. "Nice bag."
"Thanks," she replied, holding the faux snakeskin purse up. "I borrowed it from my mom."
"Cool." After locking her car, we walked towards the back entrance of the mall. "Ready?"
She nodded. "But," she said, grabbing my hand to get me to stop walking.
"What?"
She leaned in conspiratorially. "You're sure about this?"
I nodded. "Of course."
"And you're ready for the repercussions, whatever they might me?"
"Pssh," I scoffed. "What do I have to worry about? You're the one who should be worrying about falling in lurrrve. In all seriousness, he's a really nice guy."
"Alright," she said as she started to walk again. "I hope it ends well. It had better not end like Mujhse Dosti Karoge where Rani begged Kareena to date Hrithik but later on, Hrithik caught on because it was Rani he really loved. And in the end, Hrithik and Rani got married on Kareena's wedding day. You're not going to show up at my wedding and marry my groom instead of me, are you?"
I was about joke that she was nuts till I looked at her facial expression and saw that she was dead serious.
I sighed to myself and prayed that Ryan liked slightly off girls. "Don't worry, Yvette. I promise not to do that."
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