*lundi - Monday
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            I begin to pack my things as Mr. DuBois continues to talk. “Come to class with a few sketches of your next project on lundi.” I look over at Linda as she makes her way past me and out of the door. I follow behind her, eventually finding the guts to catch up with her. “Linda! Hey,” I say. “Do you want to go out for some coffee or something?”
            She hesitates for a moment, her face in complete shock. She nods and gives me a smile. “Yeah!” she says. Suddenly, she drops her smile and clears . “I mean, yeah. Sure.”

            “French vanilla latte.” I order as the waiter pulls out his pen and pad. Once he finished writing, he turns his attention to Linda.
            “Make that two, please.” she smiles. He nods and walks away. And so here it is again. I inhale deeply, shaking my head as I exhale.
            “Why do you want to be like me so bad?” I ask bluntly. She looks taken aback, her brows furrowed.
            “What are you talking about?” she asks. I roll my eyes.
            “Come on,” I scoff. “You even asked the counselors if there could be two valedictorians when we were in high school.”
            She stays silent, looking at me for a moment. Her eyes, then, drop to the table. She shakes her head lightly, giving out a breathless, spiteful chuckle. She looks at me again, her eyes full of dejection. “You’re Aubrey Sinclair.” she replies. “You have the perfect home, the perfect family, the perfect future, the perfect face, the perfect brain, the perfect body, and the perfect guy.”
            Everything that came out of struck me in the heart.
            Because I wish it were all true.
            “Everything about you is just so unique and perfect.” she continues. “And that’s all I ever wanted to be.”
            I give out a little laugh, bitter and distasteful. “Trust me,” I say, avoiding her eyes. “I’m everything you don’t want to be.” My eyes latch onto her confused face. “In all honesty, I’ve never really liked you and it’s because you’ve always wanted to be like me. I know, it sounds narcissistic, but it’s not. I just don’t want you to become like me.” I begin. My emotions start to pour out of my mouth, like an endless waterfall. “It’s hard to become your own person when you have two parents who are this country’s favorite, that country’s best. I try doing the things I do to try to separate from their shadow—and even though my mom’s a fashion designer, we have completely different styles. But you can become your own person because your parents aren’t socialites. You can easily become the woman I’ve always pictured myself to be. And that’s why everything you do, that I do, makes me mad.”
            She looks at me, astounded. “I-I’m sorry.” she says after a moment. “I didn’t realize you were so…”
            “Jealous?” the word plays on my lips. I give off a little smile—bitter—and nod. “Yeah. I didn’t realize it until now either.”
            Suddenly, the waiter comes back with our drinks. “Do you just need anything else?” he asks. I take a sip of my coffee, looking at Linda as she just stares at her coffee. I set my cup down and give a smile to the waiter.
            “I think we’re good, th—“
            “Actually, can I get a hazelnut macchiato?” Linda cuts me off. I look at her, my eyebrow raised. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”
            “It’s no problem.” the waiter says, picking up her cup. I give out a little smile—genuine—as I take another sip of my coffee.

            “I’m really excited to start my world tour tomorrow. Malaysia, get ready for me.” G-Dragon winks. The video ends. I exit out of my browser and close my laptop, sliding it to the side. I hop out of my bed and walk into my closet, stopping in front of the mirror. What does he see that I don’t see?
            Suddenly, my mom peeks her head through the door. “Dinner’s ready,” she says. She raises an eyebrow at me and makes her way in, toward me. “What are you doing?”
            I look back at the mirror at my reflection again. “Trying to find out what’s right with me.” I sigh.
            “What do you mean?” she asks, looking at her own reflection.
            “My shoulders are huge, mom.” I roll my eyes.
            “They’re not huge.” she says. “Mine are, though.” I raise an eyebrow, looking at her reflection.
            “Mom,” I say, looking at her as if she was insane. “Your shoulders look perfectly fine.”
            “Well, to you.” she shrugs. “It’s probably not noticeable to other people, but it’s noticeable to me. Maybe it’s because I see my own body all of the time so I tend to pick at things that are wrong with it.” she says. “So to you, my shoulders are probably okay because you don’t see the things that I see. Like to me, your shoulders are perfectly fine. And that makes me feel a little better about myself because you ended up getting my shoulders, so…”
            I think about everything she says. I look over at my mom’s reflection once more, specifically her shoulders. Maybe my shoulders aren’t as bad as I thought, after all.
            “Alright, well dinner is ready.” she says, bringing my attention back to her. I give her a nod.
            “Yeah, I’ll be down in a few minutes.” I say. She makes her way out of my closet and out of my room. I walk over to my bed and grab my phone, calling Jiyong. One ring. Two rings. Three rings.
            “Hello?” he answers, loud noises of girls screaming in the background.
            “Hey, what time is your flight tomorrow?” I ask him. “And which airport?”
            “It’s to-ight at nine-thirty,” he replies, the phone sounding a little fuzzy. “Inch-on.”
            “What?! You said your tour starts tomorrow!”
            “It does,” he replies. “But I le-ve tonight so I can be in Mal-sia to rest before the con-ert.”
            I look at the time, fear playing with my heart. 8:42 PM. “Okay, I’ll be there.” I say. “Just wait.”
            “I can’t he-r yo-ou.” he says, the phone fuzzier than before. “You’re br-ak-king up.”
            “No I’m not!” I say. Suddenly, my phone beeps. Call ended. .
            I run into my closet and grab a pair of jeans. Sure, I’m in a rush, but I am not going to the airport in booty shorts. I grab a pair of socks from the drawer and my Nike sneakers. If I was going to catch Jiyong, I was going to have to run. I take a look in the mirror. Loose tank top, jeans, and sneakers—if I was going to catch Jiyong, I had to at least look decent when I see him.
            I run out of my closet and my keys, heading out of my room. As I make my way down the stairs quickly, I see my dad walking down the hall toward the dining room. “Hey, where are you going?” he asks. “Dinner’s about to start! Mom made galbi, kimchi fried rice, and—“
            “That all sounds good, so please save me some!” I say, reaching the bottom of the stairs. I give him a kiss on the cheek before running toward the front door. “But I have to go say goodbye to Jiyong before he gets on the plane and tell him that I love him and I don’t have time to explain everything so I’ll see you later, love you, tell mom I said sorry and I love her too, okay, bye!”
            I close the door behind me and run to my car, hopping in and speeding out of my driveway. 8:52 PM.
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guys... one more chapter.
and yes, i did just do the typical airport-scene-anxiety to you guys ;)
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