I Hope Love Is... [On Hold]

Thirteenth Verse

Thirteenth Verse

There you are
so far away from me
I'm looking across the ocean
to where you are
so far away
I cannot see you...

-translated from “Across the Ocean”
from Future Colors' fourth album Summer Love

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Present day...

Bea rummaged through her school bag. She wanted to go downstairs and work on her thesis proposal some more, but Minha was still outside and she didn't want to run into him when he came in.

He's going to ask questions.

I don't want to answer them.

I don't want to rake up the past anymore.

 I have my future to think of.

 Why did he come here anyway?

 I missed him so much for a long time.

 And now that I've learned to not think of him, here he is again.

 Someone knocked on her bedroom door. Thinking it was Manang Ading, she opened it, and immediately tried to shut it again. Minha put his hands on the door jamb and refused to remove them, even when she tried to close the door on his fingers.

 “Go ahead and break them, Bebeh-ya. I'm still not going away.”

 “What do you want?”

 “To talk to you.” His eyes met hers beseechingly.

 “We have nothing to talk about.”

 “Yes, we do.”

 She wavered, wanting to slam the door on him, fingers be damned, but couldn't bear to do it. When her hand dropped from the door handle, he pushed the door open and leaned against the jamb.

 “May I come in? Or do you prefer to talk somewhere else?” he asked.

 “You're already inside, aren't you?”

 “Well, I thought you wouldn't want me in your room,” he said.

 “Just talk and then go.” She crossed her arms.

 He looked around, then crossed the room and sat down on the couch by the window.

 “This is the first time I've been in here,” he said. “The last time I was here, I didn't get to see it.”

 She glared at him, not bothering to answer. He sighed.

 “You're not going to talk unless I ask questions, aren't you?” he asked. No answer.

 “Didn't we have an agreement to always be honest with each other?” he continued. “How can I know what went wrong if you don't tell me? You never did tell me.”

* * *

Less than two years ago...

Bea opened her eyes, looked at the clock and gasped. It was 7:00 a.m. She would need to hurry to make it to school before 8:00 a.m. on the first day of enrollment. And she had to be early-- the slots for certain classes filled up very fast.

She hadn't gotten to bed till after midnight, and even then she had been unable to sleep. She'd been supposed to chat with Minha after his show ended that night, but he hadn't shown up. She'd waited for almost an hour before logging off and going to her room.

And now she'd overslept and woken up late! She scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom.

* * *

colorfulminstar: Bebeh-ya. Answr me. Y r u so distant l8ly?

katbee_respect: undrst8ment, considerng m ovr 2000 km away.

colorfulminstar: haha. funny.
colorfulminstar: u always seem 2be mad @ me l8ly.
colorfulminstar: problems w/ school?

katbee_respect: u cud say tht.

colorfulminstar: wanna tell me abt it?

katbee_respect: oh idk...
katbee_respect: I might b takng away d tym u cud spend w/ tht girl u wer hving dinnr w/ last weekend

 colorfulminstar: if u mean Jangmi
colorfulminstar: u knw vry well she ws doing an MV w/ us
colorfulminstar: we guested on the show together
colorfulminstar: & she's an old friend

katbee_respect: u nvr told me tht b4

colorfulminstar: I didn't?
colorfulminstar: guess we didn't get arnd 2 talkng abt it
colorfulminstar: she's a friend ok

katbee_respect: hw wd I knw
katbee_respect: I'm not there
katbee_respect: 4 all I knw u might be d8ng her like d news said

colorfulminstar: I told u
colorfulminstar: dn't bliv evrythng u see on d news
colorfulminstar: not all of it is true
colorfulminstar: I'm not d8ng Jangmi ok
colorfulminstar: just where exactly s dis conversatn going

katbee_respect: idk
katbee_respect: u tell me

colorfulminstar: bea
colorfulminstar: m nt a mind reader

katbee_respect: I hv 2 go
katbee_respect has logged out.

* * *

katbee_respect is offline.

* * *

colorfulminstar is offline.

* * *

colorfulminstar: Bebeh-ya
colorfulminstar: I always seem 2 miss u online
colorfulminstar: when do u get online

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