Adventure of a Lifetime

January 20

Summery dresses, oversized t-shirts, jeans of all hues thrown carelessly across my room as I try to cram everything into one single piece of luggage. Jin always says that I am a bad packer and I'm determined to prove him wrong. I avoid bringing high heels with me, except for a subdued pair of patent black kitten heels that I believe will go with everything I am taking on my trip—in case we decide to go to a fancy restaurant or a place that requires black tie attire. Instead, once I end up with half my closet's possessions on top of my bed, I decide to sort through the pieces to make final decisions. If it were up to me, I would bring everything. However, luggage fees are ridiculous these days and I need to pack light because we will be moving around a lot.

Jin materializes next to the door frame in a pair of jeans that are accentuating everything delightfully wrong about him. His black V-neck t-shirt clings onto his abs and I pretend he is not there. I do not need distractions. I am trying to prove a point here, people.

"You're not taking all of that with you, right?" he comments as he assesses my makeshift Mount Everest.

Since my closet is arranged by colors and then by textures, the garments actually resemble a mountain with greens at the bottom and lighter hues until it reaches from blues to grays and then to whites. I'm furiously working on the other side of the closet, where the warm colors reside. "For your information, no," I begin, "I am not taking all of this with me. I need to select my clothes carefully. I will be taking pictures with these and heaven knows I won't visit Europe with a pair of Uggs and a puffy vest."

"Sounds charming, Mia," Jin says. "Needless to say, you're running late."

"No I'm not. The trip's tomorrow!" I am all out of breath by the time I reach the pinks in my closet. This trip will be the death of me and I'm not even there yet. I desperately try to maintain my composure, but my façade is cracking and I think Jin can sense I'm not coping well by now. This will be my first adventure without him. My first journey without the man that encouraged me to explore the world. I hate that it makes me sound co-dependent to him. This thought gives me enough fodder to get through the rest of my wardrobe quest.

"I meant you're late to the farewell party that Abby and Jake are throwing for you," he explains.

How could I forget? My best friends insisted in taking me to a popular local restaurant that Abby had been dying to visit. Their wait list is eternal and she made reservations about two months ago, only managing to score those after an engagement party was cancelled. Apparently, both the soon-to-be bride and groom were cheaters and a scandal broke between both sides of the marital union before the rehearsals took place. The entire town learned about it as it happened; Abby saw the chance and took it.

Jin laughs one of those throaty, guttural laughs of his that in theory should sound creepy, but he makes it sound attractive and I cower inside the clumps of hair that are falling onto my face from a deteriorating top bun I hastily made before I got down to business. He flashes his teeth at me bemusedly.

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"Jin, please. I'm working here!"

"Have you called your employer yet? I'm sure senior citizens will start protesting that their favorite customer service representative won't be working next month," he babbles.

When he mentions my job, I cannot help but to feel a pang of guiltiness. We have been roommates for two years now and I still can't bring myself to tell him what I actually do for a living. I always make sure to take my calls when Jin's not at home and sometimes I don't think he's aware of my phone operator job, but sometimes suspicion creeps on me and I feel he knows. I'm not a customer service representative for an insurance company... not even close.