Lies took the elevator.
Truth took the stairs.
Both arrived and met Revelation.
Jane killed a family in a car accident. Depressive and accustomed to self-harm, she decides to go back to where her life toppled upside down. Jane doesn't know what to e...
Perhaps that's the reason he knows how trashy I am, and because of that, I can't let him love me.
"So what have you been up to?" Brad says while peeling an apple, which he cuts into half-moons and places them before me.
"Drifting."
I don't know how Brad can be so indelicate; his gesture embarrasses me.
Mona pours herself some orange juice and gulps it down before attacking the scrambled eggs and bacon on her plate.
The smell of the bacon is off-putting, but I don't say a word as I'm aware Brad would probably fling her plate out the window like dynamite if he learned the effect the odor has on me.
"What do you wish to do, Jane? We've got a month and a half before we return to college, so I'm free to hang out and drive you around in my new G70."
"You had to do your product placement in the sentence, didn't you?" Mona says, rolling eyes like bowling balls about to make a strike.
Brad always does this thing, where he continually seeks to impress when it's unnecessary; it makes him seem vain when he's altruistic. Even I'm tempted to play bowling with my stare.
"I'm not comfortable in cars," I say while fidgeting on my chair. Is it me, or is the place hot?
No, the sound of the air con almost drowns our voices, so it's me breaking a sweat as the idea of sitting in a car implodes in my brain.
Brad's expression plummets as he must perceive what I mean, whereas Mona furrows her eyebrows in interrogation.
"Jane, you love cars; you drive like you're in Fast and Furious."
"Well, I don't drive anymore."
My eyes are on my plate; Brad cut the apples entirely. It's almost art; Mona recuperates me before I start to write a mental ode of love to the pieces of apples which fascinate me.
"How did you get here?"
"I took the metro."
Big mistake.
"Oh, Mai gat, no wonder you were late, you've never taken Korean metro," Mona says, her eyebrows knit together, she's thinking, soon her brows will be a sweater as she'll come to some conclusion.
What Mona says is true; chauffeured around till we were 16 where we all got cars as birthday gifts, we never took public transportations.
I don't know my way in the Korean tube, and I have panic attacks when surrounded by too many people, but I'll get used to it since it's my only means of locomotion. Hey, I made it here, didn't I?
"No, seriously, Jane, you won't get in a car?" Mona asks again, eyes blinking in a no-way motion.
"I will, but I can't drive."
"Why?" Mona says, glaring at me; it must be a tremendous shock to her. She knows how I loved cars; I used to fly to Formula 1 Grand Prix worldwide just for the vehicles. One of my dreams was to marry a pilot. All those memories must flash before her now.
"Okay, how about we go to Namsan tower after the brunch?"
"Jane isn't a tourist, Brad," Mona says while waving her fork full of bacon.
3.2.1, breathe. Jane, don't let the smell get to you.
"Yeah, but she loves the Tower. I mean, you missed it, huh, Jane?" Brad says, eyes pleading in my direction.
He knows me too well. I love the Tower, Gwangjang market, Bongeusa Temple, Insadong. They're just must-see areas for a tourist, but for me, those places are filled with a particular kind of aura and warmth.
The Namsan tower with its rails weighed with padlocks is a place that breaths love, and the view of Seoul is impressive. There's also another view spot I like close to city hall, which I'll visit later.
I know I'm smiling because Brad and Mona are too. Like me, they probably remember all the mischiefs we got up to back then.
One memory flashes in my eyes. I see Mona sleeping in my car. Brad and I drunk running up the Namsan to catch the sunrise after having danced the night away at the L'Exlir.
In front of the sun, Brad asked me if I thought I could love someone for life for better or worse. I replied, I inevitably would if I met the right person.
Brad smiled and said I shouldn't look too far but close to home. He then added that he knew it was possible because the right person was standing by his side.
Somehow the activity Brad suggests doesn't seem all innocent but more like someone who desires to renew a vow. I'm relieved Mona can't catch on to what the Namsan Tower represents.
Secrets.
If there's something I hate is someone with a trunkload of secrets. Right now, I'm the one overflowing with them, and I despise it. Hiding and keeping secrets is disgusting, for one is always pushed to lie a little more to cover up.
Before you know it, you find yourself coated with your fiction, a form of paranoia moves into your mind, and there you are in the depressed zone.
3.2.1, I count backward to chase the negative thoughts, and we finish eating.
"Okay, Mona, your car or mine?" Brad says when they finish eating; I contented myself with making the food roll from one side of the plate to the other. No one noticed, or at least they pretended not to; people always pretend everything is okay not to wrinkle the depressed person's ego.
"Eh, guys, I'll meet you there. I'll take the tube," I say with haste while standing up.
"Jane, please, you are freaking me out; come on, you can't be serious?" Mona says, grabbing my hand with both of hers while making a sad emoji face.
"Guysㅡ."
"Jane, we'll take my car. I'll drive carefully," Brad adds, giving me a stare to warn me that Mona is becoming suspicious.
My eyes dart from one to another, I don't know what to do, but then my conscience reminds me of one of the reasons why I wanted to come back.
I wished for our trio to be together again.
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Chloe x Halle-Kids are alright
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