Chapter 6.

The next time Ravi called it was in the middle of the night. The usual gentle tone of May’s ringtone screeched through her ears and she mumbled out a string of curse words. Without opening her eyes she carelessly fumbled after her phone. She looked at the bright screen with tightly squinted eyelids.
Chief
“Uuhuuuughhglgh”, she moaned. She thought about not answering, but decided against it. She’d never hear the end of it.
“Yeeeeeeeees?”
If I don’t get to sleep then I sure as hell won’t be polite.
“Come over. You know the address.”
“But, it’s night.”
“So?”
“It’s dark. And cold. I don’t want to.”
“Are you rebelling?”
“…No…”
“Good.”
Then he hung up.
May wanted to throw the phone across the room, but managed to hold back her anger. Then she crawled out of her warm and cozy futon.

***

Feeling barely awake, May stumbled through the doors of the same training room she had visited before. The big was dark except for a couple of small spotlights that threw large shadows on the floor. Without looking at her, a sweat-pants clad Ravi came walking towards her. He seemed to be absorbed by the papers he held in his right hand.
“You came? Will you take a look at this…?”
“Mmmmmm”, May mumbled out. Finally, Ravi looked up at her. His eyes widened in horror and he took a few steps back.
“Mom!” He shouted out. His sudden actions made the startled May look around her.
“What, what is it?”
Ravi regained his composure.
“What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to be funny?”
“What-“ May looked at herself in one of the large mirrors. Her hair was really messy, probably because of the strong wind outside, and her face was sickly pale. Not to mention, her eyes were hollow and had pitch black marks beneath them. She desperately tried to pat down her hair.
Wow, I look horrible. Mom and dad always say that I resemble a monster when my sleep gets disturbed. Guess they were right.
When her hair finally looked a little better, she turned and glared at Ravi who still looked a bit stirred up.
Perhaps he’s afraid of ghosts? May registered it to her memory. When an opportunity arose, she’d definitely use that against him. 

“Give me that”, she said and pulled the papers out of his grip. She walked up to the sofas and sat down with a thump. To her surprise, Ravi came and sat down beside her. It was silent for a while, and May felt herself tense up a bit.
Whooooaaa, tense atmosphere. Focus, focus, focus.

“Did you really sleep?” Ravi suddenly said.
May looked at him in disbelief.
“What do you think? It’s half past eleven!”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I never realized it had gotten so late.”
May’s focus slipped a bit and she looked at him.
“Didn’t your friends tell you?”
“They’re probably sleeping at the dorm right now. They know that I want privacy when I’m writing lyrics.”
“I see…”
She looked back into the papers. Ravi changed position and leaned forward a bit with his hands knitted together.
“So, I guess I never really asked you…” He began. “What brings you to South Korea?”
May’s eyes flew up to him once more.
Wow, is he really trying to strike up a conversation? Perhaps he’s not such a jerk after all.
She smiled at him.
“Well, the official reason is that I wanted to study here.”
“What’s the unofficial reason?”
“I love South Korea,”
Ravi leaned back again.
“Why?”
The question made May pause for a bit. Her impulse was to start describing how she had fallen for the country’s music, culture and food as a teenager, but when she opened , all she could say was:
“I don’t know. I just do.” And after a couple of seconds she added:
“I guess I love drawing South Korea.” She laughed a little. “If that makes any sense.”
“I think it does.”
Up until that moment Ravi hadn’t met her eyes, but now he turned his head and let his brown-black eyes meet her own blue.
“After all,” he continued. “I guess I’m singing South Korea.”

May didn’t know what happened. Suddenly she could hear a deafening sound in her ears. It didn’t take long before she understood that it was her own heartbeat she could hear. At the same time, she could feel a sudden twinge in her chest. An impulse to lift her hand and reach it against the boy beside her came over her. burned and she swallowed.
Suddenly the moment was gone. May hastily diverted her eyes and pulled up her pencil to correct an imaginary misspelling in the lyrics. She realized that she had gone over the same paper over and over again.
With a small cough, May handed over the papers to Ravi.
“There, I’m finished.”
Excitedly, Ravi reached for them and started looking them over.
“Damn, I always make that mistake!” May heard him grumble to himself. Then he quickly got to his feet and headed for the door.
“Wait, can I leave now?”
Ravi stopped and turned. He seemed to hesitate a bit.
“Would you mind staying here for a bit? There was something else…”
“Something else?”
“I… Just wait, ok?”
The earnest-sounding words surprised May and made her a bit curious. Even though she knew she was going to regret this tomorrow, she nodded.
That was when Ravi smiled at her for the second time. Then he walked through the door and disappeared.

Note:

Kind of a shorter chapter this time! But I’ll post the next one right away, so rest easily :)
Nothing more to say this time! Man, it must be the first time I don’t babble about everything between heaven and hell here.
See you in chapter 7!