Chronicles

"Sohee," I choke as I pull free of Kang.

"You're my guest." She runs at us. Her rose-print robe falls off one narrow shoulder and she hauls it back over herself. Kang's earring glints on her lobe—she's returned it to her ear. "You're my guest!"

"Soh—"

"Shut up!" My cheek explodes under her palm. "Shut up, shut up, you !"

White blurs my vision. I press my hand to my burning cheek. I've never felt so small and low, all my guilt blazing on my swollen lips.

But I thought you didn't want him anymore. I thought—I thought—

Her arm whips back for a second blow.

Then Kang seizes Sohee's wrist.

"It's my fault! I kissed her."

The part of me not overwhelmed by horror is stunned by how swiftly he's stepped to my defense. Sohee flinches as if he'd struck her and wrenches free. She clutches the front of her robe. Her dark brown eyes are a lost puppy's, so vulnerable and hurt that, even knowing she's played us both, my heart aches for her.

The her lips twist. "Oh, so now you've got a spine?" she spits at Kang. She whirls as if to go, but pauses as her gaze sweeps the floor. Swooping down, she snatches up a sheet of paper. works like she's trying to speak but can't find the words.

"You." Crumpling it, she flings it that Kang. It bounces off his chest to the floor and unfurls, refusing to keep its secrets.

Another sketch: Aunty Yumi's blue porcelain cup raised to my lips.

With a sob, she bolts toward the stairs, her robe rustling around her like crumpled butterfly wings. An eternity later, I hear the slam of her door.

Kang's hand finds my waist. "You all right?"

I pull away, as if he's burned me. I honestly believed Sohee was done with him, but I should have known better. I'm back in the moment when Wendy told me about Nick, only what I've done is a hundred times worse. What kind of friend am I?

"Suzy, please talk to me—"

With a small cry of me own, I pull free and flee down the hallway to the fancy suite.

ʕु-̫͡-ʔुྉ*ᴸᵒᵛᵉᵇᵒᵃᵗ✲ﾟⁱⁿ*。⋆ 서울。⋆ *

I awake to the pair of  amethyst curtain drapes fluttering over their windows. The sun is high—it's nearly midday. Groggy-eyed, I slip from my bed and pad into the bathroom, still trying to shake the weight of last night. Aunty Yumi's beautiful mosaic tiles echo with my unsteady footsteps. In the shower, as the water blasts, a gray frog leaps from the corner and my short scream reverberates off the glass.

"Oh, Annie," I sob. "Frog—go away." It ignores me, and I leave it ribbiting maniacally while I drown myself in the hot spray, letting its sharpness ship at the ache in my heart, until at last, cold water chases me back to my bedroom, toweling off my hair and face. I feel heavy, like I'm draped in one of those lead blankets under an X-ray machine. I'll have to face Sohee again back on campus. And Kang. And Joohyuk—

My foot lands on a soft, paper-wrapped bundle on the floor by the door. Pink tissue paper tied with a matching ribbon. What's this? I detach a note and unfold a thick sheet of paper filled with think handwriting.

Dear Suzy,
         I didn't want you to go to sleep tonight without my apologies. You've done nothing but help me this weekend, and yet I overstepped boundaries. I have no excuses. Only that I never want to jeopardize our friendship, which has been a surprise and gift to me this summer.

Your friend always,
JH
P.S. I found this in the market tonight and couldn't resist.
Hope you'll get a kick out of them in the winter.

He must have dropped this package through the room service slot last night. My eyes sting as I unwrap a pair of cuddly sky-blue socks, printed with male and female dancers, spinning, whirling, pirouetting. I slide my hands into their wooly warmth. After this lavish weekend, after Kang, these socks. They're so goofy, so dear.

But he showed me Rosie's photo the first hour I met him. This note is a reminder we're just friends, and once Sohee gets ahold of them, his family will beat down his door with an heirloom ring and beg him to put it on Rosie's finger already. I've succeeded beyond his wildest imagination.

And what could I say? I'm sorry for not-cheating on you; I'm sorry for cheating on your cousin but things aren't what they seem; I know you told me to stay away from Kang, but—

My toes connect with a satin box. My pink pointe shoe flies right, ribbons splaying in careless loops over the rug.

My heart lurches into my throat and my eyes dart to my alarm clock, which never rang.

"My audition."

I've missed it.

ʕु-̫͡-ʔुྉ*ᴸᵒᵛᵉᵇᵒᵃᵗ✲ﾟⁱⁿ*。⋆ 서울。⋆ *

Two minutes later, letter, socks, and clothes crammed into my dance bag, I race down the hallway toward the stairs. My heart is too crowded to make sense of anything but the need to get to More than Youth Ballet Studio.

As I near Joohyuk's room, I hear him in English, Aunty Yumi hysterical in Korean, each reverting to the language they're most comfortable in, like my relatives when excited or stressed. I don't hear Sohee's voice, but maybe she's in there, hands on her hips as Joohyuk sits up in bed. Shame claws through my chest.

At least I've cleared his path for Rosie.

"We were just pretending," Joohyuk says as I pass his door. "Please don't blame her. She was helping me—"

"Joohyuk, no!" I whisper. You've ruined everything.

And then I'm leaping down the curved staircase two steps at a time.