Autumnal Equinox (JinJi)

Fourteen

Now, it seemed like the roles had been switched.

It was an odd feeling, waking up on the day he was set to leave his childhood home, perhaps for good. Jinyoung finally got himself out of bed and changed into his outfit for the day. He followed Miyoung downstairs to have a proper breakfast, thought at this point, it was more like lunch. He looked around the house and practiced thinking of it as no longer his. The one-bedroom walk-up apartment in Brooklyn, that was his now. A strange new place that he'd never even been to. That was his now.

He checked the traffic on the roads he would need to take to drive back up to Seoul. About four hours, though Jinyoung knew a way to cut that into three-and-a-half. He would have to leave soon, though.

After scraping down his late breakfast, he hopped into his car to get a head start on his errand list. Each time he thought of all the things he had to do before he could pack up his car and leave, he got overwhelmed.

First, he had to run to the store to pick up some food to have along the journey. Then, stopped by a station to fill up his car. He picked up his tuxedo from the dry cleaner's. Once all that was out of the way, he turned to important things: there were quite a number of people to say a proper goodbye to.

He went over to the school district office first and thanked Jennie for a great summer. Jaebum was there visiting, so Jinyoung bade him a farewell, too. Mrs. Kim had also been in the office, so Jinyoung gave her a deep bow and thanked her once more for teaching him music. He asked her to extended his well-wishes to her husband.

His mother and father were a good deal more emotional than he expected they would be. They had just sent their daughter off to live in Japan a few weeks ago, though, so he imagined that they were going through another bout of empty nest syndrome.

He decided to save Jisoo for last. She would be the hardest.

Jinyoung finished loading up the car around 3:15 pm, but the sky looked like it was an hour later than it was. He was amazed at just how fast things could change in the space of a few hours. He took a look at everything he'd managed to pack into the backseat of his car and sighed.

There was just one thing left to do.

He bade his final farewell to his family, and then he began the five minute drive over to the Kims' hanok. He switched off the ignition as he pulled up in front of the house, but he made no move to get out of the car just yet. Grass grew up in the cracks of the gravel. Flat stones had been laid on the ground as a makeshift path to the front door, which had finally been fixed and replaced. The tiled roof used to be a vibrant blood orange color, but years of sunlight and weather had turned it brown.

He spent so many afternoons here as a kid, learning to play piano and read music. He remembered that once had to help sneak Jisoo back into her room through a window because she was too drunk to use the front door. They once set off some fireworks right here in the front yard.

This, too, was home, he thought.

The front door slid open and Jisoo emerged from inside the house. Jinyoung stepped out of the car and walked over to the stone base. Jisoo met him there.

"All packed up?" she said when he got close enough. He looked back at his car and then nodded.

"Looks like that's everything," he said. "Except the bed and the furniture and the kitchen sink."

She grinned. "I guess it's really happening," she said. "You nervous?"

Yes.

He shrugged. "A little," he said. "Mostly stressed, thinking about how much work is going to be waiting for me once I land. I'm hoping I did enough this summer to make the moving-in smoother."