Three months later…

Victoria sits at the café sipping her iced tea, waiting.  She feels bad for being out of touch for so long with her best friend, but the wedding, honeymoon, and moving into her new house had taken most of her time.  They rarely speak now on the phone; it’s just texts and emails now.  Thinking back, Victoria smiles as she remembered during her formative years, how her mom would bang on her bedroom door to demand that she hang-up the phone immediately.   Her mom would constantly complain about her “boiling telephone congee”  (A/N:  In Chinese there is a saying that when you talk on the phone for a really long time you are boiling telephone congee, because congee takes a long time to cook.).  Eventually her dad had to add an additional line so the family could use the phone. 

Victoria thinks hard as to what they would use to talk about for hours.  But nothing specific or of an importance comes to mind.  Her mom had always expressed that she never understood how 2 people who spent  time at school every Monday through Friday from 8am to 3pm together would need to talk on the phone for hours at night.  Thinking back, Victoria smiles and shakes her head at the memory because she couldn’t agree more with her mother. 

“Sorry I’m late”, Kyuhyun apologies.  Victoria looks up and sees her best friend looking crisp and confident walking towards her.  She smiled widely as she stands to hug him.   It felt good to physically connect with Kyuhyun.  She hates to admit it but she truly had missed Kyuhyun’s embrace.  It was strong and comforting, very different from her husband.  Not that she didn’t love being held by Nich, but being in Kyuhyun’s arms was different, indescribable in both words and feeling.

“I’ll let it slide this time since I’m in the wrong for missing our dinner reservation a few weeks ago.” Victoria winked.

Kyuhyun scoffed at that comment, “I guess that what happens when I am not the most important man in your life now. Look up the word ‘has-been’ in the Victoria Song dictionary, and there will be my picture.”  Kyuhyun attempts at an exaggerated frown.  The joke makes Victoria cough and spit out some of her ice tea.

Grabbing her napkin to wipe off her blouse, “Yah!  Cho Kyuhyun, I was drinking.  Now it looks like my shirt is drinking.”

Kyuhyun bursts out into his hearty laugh seeing her trying to clean up, “You mean drinking from your nose.”  Kyuhyun picks up his napkin and proceeds to reach across the table and dab her nose and lips.  But he stops himself after Victoria, with her eyes closed and tilts her chin up at him to allow him to clean her face.  She looked like a child waiting for a parent to wipe her face, so angelic.  Kyuhyun catches himself in his act, and proceeds to throw the napkin at her.  “What am I?  Your servant?” he exclaimed.

Victoria opens her eyes and with a confidant giggle she opens her right palm and bring his to Kyuhyun’s face, “hee hee, you’ve forgotten?  You signed you life to me in the 4th grade.” 

Kyuhyun looks at her empty palm and then at Victoria, “There’s nothing there.”

Victoria points at her palm as if there were words there and reads, “It’s in invisible but PERMENANT ink.  See here?  It says, I, Cho Kyuhyun, will forever and ever and ever do the biddings of Victoria Song, for as long as I live. No Backsies.”

“No Backsies? What are you? Twelve?” Kyuhyun folds his arms across his chest.

“Nooooo, I was eleven and you were ten.  Anyway, it’s a done deal. Your life is mine and will always be.” Victoria said nonchalantly as she looks at her nails.

Kyuhyun thought to himself, “Wonder how she would react if she only knew how true that statement really was… his heart will forever be hers.