*-*-*-*-*-*-

Selina got home around midnight. Her grandpa was sound asleep and his dishes were washed and put away. Selina crept into her bed and lay under the covers curled up. Her eyes never shut and thoughts ransacked her mind. Selina’s heart started beating faster as she recalled Chun taking hold of her hand then when Jiro took hold of her hand. Were two handsome guys fighting over her? Selina doubted it. She wasn’t as gorgeous or sophisticated as Ella.

Still she couldn’t let the thoughts fly away. Jiro was putting on an act during the day, he didn’t really like her. However, the story with Chun was different. Did he feel jealous or angry when Jiro lied that she was his girlfriend? She wanted to ask for an answer, but felt dumb if she did so. Chun did seem quite angry especially in the tone he talked to Jiro with. Would they hate each other now? What if they never spoke to each other again? And it was all because of her? They were just using her as an excuse so if they stopped speaking to one another would she take the blame because she didn’t defend herself from being used?

“That’s crazy,” Selina said aloud to herself.

Nothing that happened earlier felt real. She’d never got into such messes before and now? Selina figured Ella must be feeling worse and Chun and Jiro were in such a mess.

*-*-*-*-*-*-

Ella got back to her lonely apartment and set her purse down on the kitchen table as she got a glass of water. After Chun had broken up with her no one had come over to visit. Simply the house had been empty with only her coming in and out all those three years. She could still recall the memories of her and Chun sitting on the couch, watching a movie, eating, sharing jokes, or just trying to annoy one another.

Ella sat down and drunk her cup of water slowly. She needed to rehydrate herself and rejuvenate her energy. She felt like just lying down and never waking up, but how many times had she thought that before? Plenty.

Rubbing the side of her cup she could recall everything during the day. Selina seemed like a really smart, simple, pretty girl. Something she had never been. Maybe Chun preferred those kinds of girls? She didn’t know. When Jiro had announced that she was his girlfriend she had a lost expression on her face as if she didn’t know. Or was it that Jiro hadn’t talked to her beforehand about announcing their relationship? What made her wonder even more was why Chun seemed to overreact…or could it even be considered as overreacting? He seemed to be glaring at Jiro the whole time? What was actually going on between them? Why had they kept arguing and yelling the whole day? Why was it that Selina seemed to be involved, but also seemed as if she was clueless about everything?

Ella got up and set her cup in the sink then grabbed her purse walking to her bedroom. She dropped onto her comfy bed deciding she would think things over and get someone to clarify everything some other day.

*-*-*-*-*-*-

Selina cleared the table the next morning and washed them. She found her grandpa watching an old TV series afterward.

“Grandpa haven’t you seen this before?” Selina asked as she sat next to him.

“Yes,” her grandfather replied, “it reminds me of the love life I would have liked to have.”

Selina laughed, “Didn’t you have many problems with the guys going after grandma?”

“That’s not the same,” her old grandpa said, “drama is drama. I wanted girls to go after me, but your grandma, I tell you, she was never jealous.”

“Grandma must have been a confident person,” Selina commented.

“Exactly and it was never fun,” her grandpa told.

“Grandpa how about we go to the park today?” Selina asked. “We can go feed some bread to the birds there.”

After grabbing her grandpa’s sweater and wrapping it warmly around him Selina helped him slowly down the stairs. Every Sunday when she was still in elementary school her grandpa and grandma took her out to the park. Either they would have a picnic, ride bikes together, feed the birds, or fish. It had been years since she had actually gone to the park with them. With her grandmother falling sick everything had changed drastically. There was no time to do this or that. She sacrificed time with her friends, school dances where she could have met boys, and social events to spend time with her grandparents. Even if she’d lost some things she would only experience once in a lifetime she didn’t regret any of it. Her grandparents were her life. Those people who helped raise her up to be the kind, responsible young woman she was today.

They sat quietly on a bench throwing bread into the water for ducks and onto the ground for other birds. It was a kind of peaceful silence neither of them had felt for a while.

“Your grandmother was actually a very attractive woman,” her grandpa said. “I knew that even though she didn’t show she was jealous she was certainly feeling so. She even threatened to break up.”

“What did you do to make up for it?” Selina asked.

“I got down on my knees and begged for her not to leave me,” her grandfather told.

“You really did?” Selina questioned. “Wow grandpa I never thought you were so witty.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment ok? A compliment,” her grandpa said and after a pause of silence continued, “there was a playground behind the trees, but it’s not there anymore. I brought your grandma there during Christmas for our first date. Boy did she love it especially with all those glittering lights around us. We went there every year until it was taken down, but your grandmother and I would still go there to have picnics together.”

“You’re talking about grandma very much,” Selina said. “Do you miss her?”

Her grandpa tilted his head up at the sky and nodded. Living so long without the person you love most by your side was torturous.

“Having an empty heart with much loneliness for a long time makes a person want to go crazy,” her grandpa told putting his hand over his chest, “I already feel as if we’ll be together soon."

*-*-*-*-*-*-

Selina almost had to drag herself to work. She was feeling nervous. Going to work meant meeting Jiro. How would he be after that dramatic Saturday? Would he tell everyone that they were going out? Selina lightly hit herself on the head to knock some sense back into her.

To her relief everything had gone the same as it usually would have in the morning. The curiosity of wondering how Jiro was doing kept hacking the back of her head. Her cell phone started ringing startling her from her thoughts.

A minute later Selina hurried out of the elevator to find Jiro already eating in the cafeteria. Selina grabbed a sandwich and a bag of chips as she hurried over to him. Getting a closer look she could see he had bags under his eyes.

“Are you tired?” Selina asked.

Jiro nodded as he chewed on his food busily.

“How was your weekend?” Selina questioned.

“It was ok I didn’t do anything much,” Jiro told. “You?”

“I took my grandpa to the park,” Selina replied.

“Oh really?” Jiro commented. “What did you two do?”

“Talked, fed the birds. It’s the first time in a few years we’ve done something together,” Selina talked openly. “After my grandma got sick we didn’t go outside much.”

Jiro smiled understanding. Selina could sense that something was amiss.  

“Is something wrong?” Selina questioned.

Jiro was quiet for a bit then fiddled with his empty cup.

“Sorry,” Jiro apologized. “I didn’t mean to get you so involved. It just happened…I just needed an excuse…I don’t mean to be using you or anything…sorry if you got hurt…the stupid lies just kept on coming…”

Stupid. He’d actually said the word “stupid” which surprised Selina. She thought he’d never be one of those persons who would use those kinds of rash words. She almost wanted to laugh, but held herself back because it wasn’t appropriate during the moment.

“I bet you’ve been bothered by that situation the whole week huh? You must have rehearsed your lines over and over in your head to get them right, right? I also bet you’ve said sorry to everyone already, correct? And you’ve already apologized,” Selina told. “It’s just a waste of energy if you say it again. I’m already over it and I know how you feel.”

They were silent for a long time just looking at each other. Jiro felt so thankful strangely and felt as if he wanted to cry he almost thought he wanted to hug her.

“Thank you,” Jiro told. “I almost thought…I’d lost my relationship with you…”

Selina smiled warmly and Jiro felt his heart rate increase.

“I’m not those kind of people who’d stop contact with someone for such rash reasons besides I think I know your reasons for doing something like that,” Selina told.

“You’re a really nice person,” Jiro said. “I don’t think Ella will ever speak to me again…”

“She definitely will because it’ll be a really big mistake if she chooses to ignore such a good friend like you forever,” Selina said confidently boosting Jiro’s confidence a little. “On the other hand I can deal with Chun so don’t worry that he’ll never speak with you again.”

Jiro was amazed at Selina’s offer. He’d never expected her to do something that sounded so little, but meant so much to him. He felt as if he’d mistreated her somehow.

Jiro began to say something when Selina checked her watch, “My lunch break is almost over I’ve got to go. See you later.”

Selina waved and quickly left the table with her tray. Jiro watched her leave with a certain kind of smile that hadn’t shown on his face for a while. Pure happiness.