Six weeks left.  And still no sign from fate.  I still hadn’t told Jae Hyo either.  He was going to be so mad, but I was still positive I did not want to go.  I wasn’t going to go!  I just hadn’t told anyone yet.  So technically I was still going I guess.  Not to mention, I hadn’t heard from Jae Hyo for two days.  It wasn’t unusual for him to go AWOL for a few days, especially when they were recording and promoting, the four of us girls had gone days before without talking to the guys, but I hadn’t gotten a text message from him either.  I was getting a little anxious, but I’d decided on waiting until tonight before I started blowing up his phone like a lunatic.

            I sat at my desk, wallowing in self pity, when I heard my bedroom door swing open.  Assuming it was Beki, I stayed face first on my book.

            “Sure, hang on a second, she’s right here.”

            Jordan?  I sat up and when I turned to face my visitor, a cell phone was shoved into my face.  “I…what?”  She smiled a little and pushed the phone into my face more.  I scrunched my nose and pulled back another inch.

            “It’s my mom,” Jordan said simply.  Her mother?

            Mouth still gaped open, I took the phone.  “Hi, Mrs. Carlson,” I greeted her quietly.

            “Amelia, love, how are you?  Jordan tells me you’re in the middle of a bit of a predicament,” she chuckled. 

            I glared at Jordan.  She held her hands up and hopped up onto my bed, opening her latest trashy romance novel.

            “Please don’t tell me she bothered you at work to tell you about my stupid issues,” I said apologetically.  Mrs. Carlson laughed all over again.

            “Not at all!  I called to tell her something interesting I came across here at the university.  I wanted to ask her if I should talk to you about it and when I told her, she got all excited and told me about what was going on with you.”

            “Something interesting?” I repeated.  I put my elbows on my desk and automatically glared at the binder I’d left there.

            “First, can I tell you something?  As a mom of a young girl, I feel like I have some experience in this.”

            I giggled.  “Sure.”

            “Your parents love you, Amelia.  I know they do.  All good parents do, you know, even if they don’t show it clearly all the time.  Just ask Jordan.  Her father and I, sometimes we get so excited and caught up in something, we forget she’s got a mind of her own now.  She’s old enough to know what’s best for her.  Even if we disagree a bit.”

            “Mrs. Carlson, I don’t think my parents would agree with any of that,” I murmured.

            She sighed lightly.  “You need to talk to them.  I shouldn’t be saying this because I’m pretty sure it’s against a rule or two in the parent handbook we were given when you guys were born.”  I giggled softly.  “It’s your life now, Amelia.  You’re not a little girl anymore.  It’s not like you want to live off them forever or runaway and live in the Amazon eating berries and not speaking to anyone for the rest of your life.  That aside, please talk to them.  They need to hear what’s in your heart.  What it is that you want.  You understand me?” 

            I nodded.  “Yes, ma’am.”

            “It would help if you already had a backup plan, I bet.  Would you feel more confident talking to your parents if you had a plan to strengthen your reasoning to stay here in Seoul?”

            “Absolutely, but I have nothing.  I just don’t want to go to Rome.  When Jordan graduates, she’s going to continue with her studies.  She’s staying here, right?  So are Beki and Maddie.  Beki is going to work with her parents.  Maddie is going to intern at the embassy where her dad is.”

            “All four of you, it’s called being settled.  You girls are lucky that you’ve gotten into a comfortable routine so early in your life.  You have family, friends, boyfriends.  Ah, that reminds me, I know you think it’s wrong to want to stay – even just partially – because of a boy, right?”

            “A girl shouldn’t revolve her whole life around a boy,” I stated, quoting what everyone and their brother has told me in the past.

            “Yes, that is true.  A boy.  But the boy you love?  The boy who loves you very much?  It’s ok to make some sacrifices for true love.  Jae Hyo does love you, doesn’t he, Amelia?  Just like Ji Ho and my crazy Jordan, right?”

            The laugh erupted before I could stop it.  I clamped my hand over my mouth.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jordan eye me suspiciously.

            “We want to get married one day,” I admitted.

            “You’re lucky to have found your soul mate so early in life, too, you know.  Most girls wait half their lives to find him.”  I sighed longingly.  Talking to her wasn’t helping.  “Taking a boy into consideration when making life changing decisions, that’s stupid, but taking your soul mate into consideration when making those decisions, that’s understandable.  Do you understand?”

            “Will you be my mom, Mrs. Carlson?” I whined.  She laughed.

            “Amelia, please talk to your parents.”  I hesitated.  “After you hear what I have to say, ok?  Deal?”

            “Something interesting you said,” I mentioned.

            “Very interesting.  Amelia, you know Jordan’s dad and I have that English academy, but I got tired of teaching bratty little kids,” she began.  I laughed.  “So I work at the university now.  It’s not a huge university, but I love it here.  The staff are wonderful and they offer surprisingly good benefits for foreign professors.  With your education and your potential, when I found out about this new assistant professor’s position that just opened at school, I immediately thought of you.”  I gasped.  “I know!  It’s great, right?  I put in a good word for you.  You’re lucky I’m so awesome, the head of the English department here likes me.”  She paused to laugh at her own joke.  “Anyway, if you want it, it’s yours.  It’s not as exciting as the position in Rome, I guess, but it’s a good job.  Full time, benefits, the pay isn’t as good as Rome I think, but you’ll get more money when you’re promoted to official professor from assistant.  Which I know you will because I know how smart you are and how good you are at this.”

            “Would they really hire me?” I choked out.

            “Absolutely.  If you want it, it’s yours.  Really.  No questions asked.  You’ll have to come in and speak with the director to make sure she likes you, but I wouldn’t even worry about that.  She’ll love you.  Plus, you have time.  I don’t want you to give me an answer until you talk to your parents.  And to Jae Hyo.  Alright?  Is it a deal?”

            “Mrs. Carlson, thank you.  I don’t know how to thank you for this.”

            She scoffed.  “I didn’t do anything.  This is all you.  If you were a slack off or unfit, I wouldn’t have told you.  Well, you wouldn’t be friends with Jordan if you were all those things anyway,” she chuckled.  “Now, when we hang up, you’ll talk to your parents?”

            “Yes, ma’am.”

            “Good girl.  You call me in a few days.  If you want this job, I’ll give you the director’s phone number so you can call and set up a time to meet with her, ok?”

            “Yes.”

            “Good.  I’m glad.  Now, could you please put my daughter back on the line?  I wanted to speak with you first, but I wasn’t done giving her a hard time for not calling me enough.”

            “Sure, thank you again, Mrs. Carlson.” 

            That’s some sign, Fate.

            “Think nothing of it, honey.”

            “Jordan!” I called away from the phone, loud enough to startle my friend.  “Your mom wants to rip you a new one.”

            Jordan groaned loudly and slithered off my bed, leaving her book on my blanket.

            “Mom,” she whined loudly before taking her phone back.  “I totally call enough!  Way more than most kids my age,” she complained into the phone.  She pulled away a little and I could hear her mother’s voice loud and clear.  Jordan turned, but wouldn’t look at me.  She patted me on the back, but there was something wrong.  I could see it in her face.  I grabbed her hand, but her mom was still on the phone.  My phone buzzed on my desk.  I turned for a second to glance at it and Jordan ran from the room.  What the hell.

            I quickly forgot about Jordan’s weird behavior when I saw it was Jae Hyo calling.

            “Jae Hyo!  I missed you.  You guys have been busy, right?”

            “We need to talk, Amelia,” he said.  His voice was low.  Quiet.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “Were you going to tell me you were moving to Rome before you left or did you just not care enough about me to say goodbye?” he demanded.