Nearly two weeks passed, and Jinyoung kept his word: Jisoo hadn’t seen or heard from at all in the days that followed their confrontation.

His words rung in her ears all day and all night: maybe you should be alone. 

Jisoo reached behind the computer monitor and shut it off with the push of a button. It was evening, and she was getting ready to head home. Tomorrow was to be the big day.

As she made her way to the elevator lobby, Jisoo thought of what Jinyoung said. She could remember everything about the confrontation, right down to the inflections in his voice as he delivered those heavy words, right down to the grave look on his face as he shook his head and walked away. 

What Jinyoung mean was that, as much as Jisoo attributed her perpetual singleness to having ridiculously high standards and forever shopping around for the perfect man, deep deep down, maybe the real reason she was alone for so long was because it was better for her to be alone than to hurt people with her selfishness. That she was too selfish to have a relationship with anyone.

And what made it hurt even more was that Jisoo felt, deep down, that he was right. As usual.

But is it selfish to have a dream? Jisoo thought as she boarded her train and sat down for a long journey homeward. Is it selfish to pursue a dream as wholeheartedly as she pursued hers?

You’re an idiot, said the voice in Jisoo’s head. This is wrong and you know it. This is Song Mino all over again, and you’re falling for it. Just tell someone. Tell Dara. Do something.

You can’t, said another voice. It’s too late anyway. Everything is going down tomorrow, and you’re not invited to the meeting. It’s all in Julie’s hands now.

You can still stop it. Tell Dara. Tell someone. You’ll be a fraud and you’ll lose Jinyoung forever if you don’t.

But if you do, you’ll lose Embrace. You’ll lose your dream. You can’t turn Julie in without dragging yourself with her. 

Jisoo was so lost in her troubled thoughts that she almost missed her stop. She jumped out onto the platform and accidentally bumped into a girl who shoved her away. She made her way through the station and back up to the street on shaky legs and started to walk in the direction of her apartment. She felt drained and tired, as she had ever since Julie Kiyoko had recruited her for her sick plan to get revenge on Dara. 

The moral battle taking place in her heart was consuming her. She lost her appetite and was always too restless to sleep at night but then too tired to work in the morning. Her irritability had gotten her into more than one cat fight with two of her roommates, and she had headaches all the time. She didn’t know if she wanted to just turn herself in a long with Julie or just wait until it was past tomorrow. 

And she missed Jinyoung. There were several times in the two weeks that followed their confrontation that she wanted to call him or show up on his campus again and tell him that she was sorry. But she held herself back each time, telling herself that it was over. That she’d disappointed him for the last time. She remembered the cold disgust in his eyes when he told Nawon to go to hell. If she tried to apologize now, Jisoo knew what kind of reply she would get from him. 

He’d never take her back now. Even if she did decide to call this whole plan off. It’s all over.

Jisoo waved her card key in front of the sensor and let herself into her apartment. Jennie was sitting on their blue couch watching something on her laptop when she walked in. Her friend sat up and gave Jisoo a suspicious grin.

“So, there’s a surprise for you in your room,” Jennie said as Jisoo shut the door. Jisoo shrugged her bag off her shoulder and set it down by the shoe rack.

“A surprise?” she said.

“Mhmm,” Jennie said, giggling. “I didn’t know when you’d get back from work, so I told him he could just wait in your room.”

Jisoo froze. 

“Him?” she said, eyes wide. A boy? Jinyoung?

“Yupp,” Jennie said. “He’s been waiting a while, so you’d better go—,”

Jisoo didn’t even wait for Jennie to finish before dashing down the hall toward her bedroom. Her heart started pounding as her legs brought her closer. She grabbed the door knob and burst into her bedroom to find a man sitting at her desk, dressed in worn out jeans and a khaki jacket, his balding head resting against her chair. Jisoo gasped.

“Appa,” she whispered in surprise. A smile broke across her father’s face as he rose to greet her with a hug. Jisoo threw herself into his embrace.

“Why’d you come up so early?” Jisoo said. She had taken her father out to a restaurant for dinner so they could talk. She thought of taking him someplace fancy to impress him with her new city lifestyle, but they ended up at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant without a name that served typical Korean street fare. It was small and humid and intimate. They sat on low stools with chipping paint, and Jisoo decided that she liked this option better. It felt more like a place she and her father might eat at if they were back in their hometown. 

“There’s still two weeks until graduation,” she said, taking a napkin and laying it in her lap. Her father chose to tuck his into his collar. 

“I thought I’d surprise you,” he said, smiling with his slightly yellowed teeth. “Nothing much is happening back home, and I missed you.”

Jisoo smiled. Although she didn’t want to end up stuck at home her entire life, she did still miss her father. She missed his easy smile, his terrible jokes. She missed his awkward dancing and his trot music blasting in the living room on Sunday mornings. She missed his earthy smell and his gruff voice. He was familiar and comfortable, a soothing presence. 

“Well, you know I do still have work,” Jisoo said. “And I have to study for finals and then take exams. I won’t have a ton of time to show you around.”

There were quite a few sights that she wanted to show him. Her father wasn’t in the city very often, mostly because he hated the city with a burning passion. In fact, she was surprised he showed up this early and opted to spend two extra weeks there. It couldn’t have been cheap, either.

“That’s alright,” he said as a wait brought them a pitcher of water and cups. “I’m not that interested in seeing it. Frankly, I don’t know why you’re so drawn to it.”

Jisoo laughed gently. She remembered how he had stared at her blankly when she announced that she wanted to go to college in the city and fulfill her dream of being a cosmopolitan city girl. After years of being Kim Peachu, Jisoo wanted to be someone else.

“I like what I like, Appa,” she said, taking a drink of water. “It’s not so bad.”

Ordinarily, she didn’t like to bring the topic up. It was sensitive territory, and the last thing she wanted was for him to try and talk her into coming back home for good. God knew that she had enough on her mind without having to feel guilty about neglecting him, too. It wasn’t as if she was going to abandon him completely, she thought. Lots of children move out of their childhood homes when the time comes to chase after their own prospects.

A waiter brought a pan full of noodles, soup, and vegetables and placed it on the electric stove-top between Jisoo and her father. They waited for the brew to come to a boil.

“I guess I’ll have to get used to it,” her father said, looking into the soup. “Since you’ll be working here and all.”

Jisoo looked up at him with a puzzled expression. She held her breath. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

“Do you mean… you’re okay with me staying here?” she said. 

She watched as he gave