Keiba about-faced and started heading toward the dorms. “I’m on the way.” She told him. “Are you in front of your room?”

“No. Don’t come.”

She stopped again. “Why not?”

“I won’t be here much longer.” He said. “The officers told me to go to class when it was time, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“You’re going to class?”

“There’s nothing else I can do.” He said. “They think a little normality is what I need right now.”

“Is that what you think?”

“No, I’d rather stay and watch, but I just walked out of Crestmoore, so I might as well follow through.”

She sighed. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you at lunch then.”

“Definitely. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Bye.” Keiba hung up. Her hand tightened on her phone.

Steven was just a name without a face for her, and that really bothered her. She wanted to be able to face trouble head-on, but how could she do that without knowing what trouble looked like?

She turned around again and resumed her walk to the music building, arriving a minute or two after class had started. The first available seat she saw was in the very back row. She ran her hands through her hair and tried very hard to focus on the lesson.

At the end of class, Keiba played her song for Ruth, but the music sounded flat: there wasn’t any feeling in it at all. And Ruth was frowning by the time she’d finished.

“It’s a good, strong piece Keiba, but where’s the emotion?” She asked.

She sighed. “Sorry, Ruth, I guess I wasn’t really into it today.”

“What’s wrong, sweetie? Got a lot on your mind?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that why you were late?”

She nodded.

“I hope it’s nothing more serious than our current situation.”

She shrugged. “I’ll tell you about it after I get more details.”

“Okay.” Ruth sat on her desk and crossed her legs. Was it just Keiba, or did Ruth seem to glow more than usual? “So how did the meeting with Sun-Hee go?”

“Oh, it went well. I’m supposed to meet with Aina tomorrow.” Keiba laid her cello gently into its case.

“Good. Maybe now we can get some answers. You better be careful though. We don’t know what this girl’s capable of.”

“Agreed.” She hefted her case and set it into the storage room.

“Tell me how the conversation with Aina goes.” Ruth said. She thought about adding the fact that she and Ben had some good news, but decided it wasn’t the time yet.

“Okay, I will. See you, Ruth.”

“Bye. And remember to get some practice in, Keiba. I don’t want to stress you out too much, but this competition is important for you.”

“I know.” She couldn’t take that lightly.

Keiba exited the music room as Min was entering. He’d been waiting for her on the bench outside for several minutes.

“Sorry.” He said, stepping back so she’d have room to let the door close. “What took you?”

“I was playing the piece for the competition for Ruth.”

“Right, we talked about that. Sorry, I forgot.”

“After what happened today, I can understand why.”

He sighed. “Yeah…”

 “I’m sorry this happened, Mini.” She said. “I feel awful about it.”

“It’s not your fault.” He kissed the top of her head. “It’s just a relief to see you right now.”

Butterflies tickled in her stomach and a small smile lightened the pensive expression on her face.

 “Where do you want to go for lunch?” She asked.

“Let’s just order Jimmy John’s. I don’t really feel like going anywhere today if that’s okay.”

“Sounds good. To be honest, I didn’t really feel like going anywhere either.”

Since neither of them had the number for Jimmy John’s saved, they decided to use Min’s phone to order online. Afterward, they went to sit on one of the benches next to the parking lot to wait for their food. Min wrapped his arm around Keiba’s shoulders and she automatically leaned her head against him. She stared at a group of students across the parking lot without really seeing them. Her right leg bounced up and down restlessly.

“Keiba?” He began after a few minutes of silence.

“Hm?”

“Are you okay?” He asked. “You seem distracted.”

“Oh.” She stopped bouncing her knee. “Sorry. It’s nothing.” She pointed to a white Pontiac Grand Am pulling into the parking lot. It had the Jimmy John’s logo on the hood. “Look, our food’s here.”

Min wasn’t convinced that it was just nothing, but he decided not to pursue it. He went with her to get their sandwiches and followed her up to their dorms to eat them. Min walked a little ahead to his room and knocked on the door.

“Police search.” One of the officers grumbled. “Come back later.”

“It’s Min.”

He heard some rustling, and then Officer Bank pulled the door open.

“How’s the search going?” He asked.

“Good. We’re doing another sweep just to make sure we got all of the cameras.” He looked over Min’s shoulder down the hall. “Hello, Keiba.” He said with a nod.

“Hello, officer.” She returned with a smile. She unlocked her door and went inside.

Officer Bank looked back at Min. “We should be out of here in five minutes.”

“Okay.”

“Call us if you find anything else. It doesn’t usually happen, but it’s possible that we didn’t get everything.”

“Will do.”He agreed and went to Keiba’s room.

“Are they done?” She asked.

“Might as well be, I guess.” He closed the door.

“That’s good.”

“Were you able to talk to Sun-Hee?”

“Mmhm.” She took off her shoes and sat on the bed with her sandwich. She set the drink on the floor next to her backpack. “And she does know Aina; she set up a meeting for us tomorrow to meet.”

He put his shoes next to the door and dropped his backpack beside them. “Where and when?” He asked as he sat across from her, setting his drink on the table where he’d found her letter that morning.

“Campus Central at five.”

“Good; I doubt she’d try anything since so many people hang out around there.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.” She unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite of it. As she chewed, a question popped into her mind, one she knew she didn’t really want to know the answer to. But after she’d thought it, she realized that she had to know—otherwise it wouldn’t leave her alone. She sipped at her Sprite, thinking about how she should phrase the question.

“Sun-Hee was really nice.” She began.

“Yeah?” Min asked around a mouthful of his sandwich.

Keiba nodded. “I liked her, which was a little surprising.”

“Why?”

“Well, it’s not like I suspected she’d be an or anything; she didn’t seem like one when I first saw her.”

“Right.”

“But I was a little worried she’d be like the girls you see in the movies. You know, it’s not really that she’s a in general, it’s the fact that the emotions are still raw after the break up.” Keiba shook her head. “She wasn’t like that though.”

“Sun-Hee never was the spiteful type. Besides it’s been a little while.”

She nodded and took another bite. That really wasn’t what she’d wanted to say. After the trash was thrown away, Min lied down next to her and put his head in her lap. Keiba rested her hand on his chest. She decided she needed to stop beating around the bush and just ask him what she wanted to know.

“Mini?”

“Hm?”

“Do you ever… miss her? Sun-Hee, I mean?”

He looked at her in surprise. “Where’s that coming from?”

She shrugged. “It just came up.”

Min thought about it. He really wanted to say no, but something made him think that that wouldn’t be true. After that scene in Subway, he’d wanted to forget everything about Sun-Hee and everything about Ricky, but he knew it wasn’t possible for him to do that—not when they’d played such a huge role in his life. Also, due to recent circumstances, he hadn’t been given much a chance to think about how he currently felt about Sun-Hee. Now that he was thinking it over, he remembered something he hadn’t thought about in a long time.

Sun-Hee was with him the first time he’d gotten drunk. Ricky was supposed to be too, but he’d been grounded the night before for breaking curfew. So Min-Kyung and Sun-Hee snuck into her father’s wine cellar and stole a bottle of champagne without him. It was the summer before their senior year of high school, and it’d only taken a few swallows of the sparkling wine for them to get intoxicated. Of course, he couldn’t remember everything from that night, but he’d always had fond feelings about it—even now. They hadn’t been together then, but it was from that moment that he realized she was the one for him—or so he’d thought.

“Min?” Keiba’s voice brought him out of his reverie.

He blinked, looking up into her curious face. “Sorry.” He said guiltily.

“Where’d you go?” She asked.

“I was remembering some of the fun things I did with Sun-Hee.” He admitted.

“I see… So I guess your answer’s yes, then?”

There was a slight pause, and then Min sat up so quickly she jumped. He took her hand and stared earnestly into her face. “I can’t lie to you, Keiba. I do miss Sun-Hee a little bit, but it’s not like I still love her. I— well, it’s more like I… Wait, why are you laughing?”

“Because You’re so cute, Mini.” She giggled.

“Cute? Wae? I don’t do cute, Keiba.”

“And yet…” She trailed off with a wink.

He rolled his eyes and put his head back down on her lap.

Keiba replaced her hand on his chest, making circles around his heart. “It’s okay that you miss her, Min.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, I mean, wasn’t she your first love?”

He nodded.

“So it’s okay.” She insisted. “I’m not mad.”

“Keiba.”

“Yeah?”

“I do miss Sun-Hee, but not in a romantic way. I miss her friendship, not her love, which I guess I never really had in the first place.” He placed his hand over hers. “I love you, Keiba. Arasso?”

She smiled and kissed him. “I love you too, Mini.”

“I know.” He went t kiss her again but his phone buzzed in his pocket. He looked at it then cut it off.

“What was that for?” She asked, watching him sit up.

“It was to remind me to go to the gym.”

“You go to the gym?”

“Of course.” He patted his chest. “A body like this needs upkeep.”

She laughed. “When do you go?”

He shrugged. “Whenever I feel like it. Usually it’s when you’re in class, but I decided to go later because of the camera thing.” He got out of bed.

She pulled a pillow into her lap and hugged it to her chest. “Maybe I should go too one of these days.”

He looked at her as he stuffed his feet in his shoes. “I wouldn’t mind if you went with me, but you know you’re fine just the way you are, don’t you?”

She nodded.

 “Good.” He went back to the bed and kissed her cheek. “See you in an hour or so, baby.”

“See you.”

Keiba lied back on her bed as the door shut behind him. “What to do, what to do?” She sang randomly. “Oh,” She sat up. She didn’t have time to be idle.

She reached over the side of the bed to pull out her French book and her computer. She needed to catch up on those note, and after that, she needed to practice. Ruth was right; that song had to be perfect for Saturday. Her future depended on it.