The next day, Maria wakes up from her bed with happiness. She just met the woman of her dreams and is going out with her tomorrow. How could this hometown visit get any better? As she gets ready for her teaching day, she’s humming the songs Shelby sang last night. She fell even more in love with the woman’s voice every time she heard it. She wants to ask her parents about Shelby, but she had to save that conversation for later because she had a long day ahead of her.

When she gets to the high school, she’s greeted by everyone in the whole place from the faculty to the students. Everyone is excited to learn from the incredibly talented Maria Ahn, South Korea’s most successful musical actress and performer from Jeonju. As masterclasses go, the day is split into two parts. Two hours of hearing some of the best middle schoolers from various schools and two hours of high schoolers who were from other schools including the one she once attended. All of this included a one hour break in between each session.

During the sessions, she taught the students how they can improve many things from their auditioning skills and getting the most out of their rehearsals to their stage presence and performance. There were no dumb questions and Maria used her thirty minutes with each student to teach as much as possible without overwhelming them. She even had someone record the session and take notes so that the students had resources to look back at for future reference. Before she left, she hung out with the students she taught as well as the administrators and took pictures with them as well as the rest of the students who attended.

Throughout the day, Shelby was still on her mind. During the break, she was thinking about calling her, but she decided not to because of how they left each other last night. She knew that she had seen Shelby somewhere. It felt weird to Maria and she didn’t know why. She wanted answers from her parents.

As soon as she got home, she was greeted by her parents who had dinner on the table. She sat down without saying a word and focused on her food. After she finishes her food, she begins to speak. “Who’s Shelby? Why do I think I know her?”

“You mean Shelby Jung? The one who sings at the bar?” Her mother has been worried about her daughter and was glad that she was finally speaking up.

“You know her? How? Do you go to the bar too,” Maria asks with pain in her eyes.

“We went to see her years a couple of years ago because you two were friends back in middle school,“ Eomma explains.

“Wait. She was my friend?!” Maria stands up.

“Okay. Wait, sweetheart. Listen to Eomma while, let’s see, I get the yearbook and photo album,” Appa says jumping into the conversation. He gets up and goes to the bookshelf in the living room.

“What are you talking about, Eomma?”

Eomma continues to explain: “You and Shelby were best friends back in middle school. You always told me that she was your girl crush. Of course, I know what that means now, but I didn’t at the time. Anyway, I remember when she used to come home with you sometimes and you two would talk about how you’d study together in Seoul. But when you got accepted to the music school, I couldn’t say no to that because we had been waiting for that audition for so long. I let you make the decision and you said that you wanted to go there. Of course, you and Shelby cried, but you promised each other that you’d call and keep in contact which I’m, coming from this conversation, guessing didn’t really happen. After her grandmother passed away, we took her in and she slept in your room. She would play the guitar and write music. We thought you’d come home to see everyone, but you were always busy. And every time you called, Shelby wasn’t home. She moved out as soon as she turned nineteen. She only visited us when she was gonna play at the bar that day. She came twice and we never heard from her again. She told me and Appa that when you left, she lost a piece of her soul. When her grandmother passed away, she lost even more of her soul, passion, and livelihood. She only started playing in the bar again about a month ago when everyone found out that you were coming home.”

“Here are pictures of you and her in middle school. This is a copy of the picture. I kept the actual one in frames on the desk in the living room. Right where you kept it. Here, look through it too.” Appa handed Maria a copy of the pictures and her yearbook.

When Maria sat back down at the table, she looked through the yearbook and it all came back to her. It’s like the painting of a memory was being revealed for the first time. Her “girl crush” was finally coming back to her mind. Her best friend. Her first love.

With tears in her eyes, Maria says, “I can’t believe it. After all these years, I left her. I left her! I wasn’t there for her when she needed me! She wanted me to go to Seoul because she wanted me to succeed. She gave me everything she had and I gave her nothing in return! Why? Why is it all my fault?”

“No, it’s not your fault, flower,” Appa says as he and Eomma hug their crying daughter.

“Besides, it’s never too late. You can still get her. It’s almost 9’oclock. You still have time to see her at the bar if you hurry. Tell her what happened and how you feel. Speak from your soul,” Eomma says as she wipes Maria’s tears with the sleeve of her long shirt.

“Okay, I’ll go, but I need to dress up first,” Maria says with confidence.

“That’s our girl!”

Maria gets dressed, runs out the door, and drives to the bar.