My blood ran cold.  Tightening my grip on the phone, my eyes were wide and unblinking.  “Jae Hyo,” I breathed.  “How did…”  Oh. My. God.  “We do need to talk,” I said, already jumping out of my seat.  “Are you in your dorm now?  Do you have time?  I’ll come to you.  Please don’t be mad at me until you hear me out, ok?”

            “I’ll wait here for you.”  Then he ended the call.

            His voice was so cold, so distant.  He was mad.

            I burst out of my bedroom to find Jordan on the couch.  Her eyes widened at me.

            “Mom, I really better go now.  I’ll call you later,” she said into the phone but didn’t take her eyes off me.  “No, Mom, I swear.  I will call you back.”

            “Oh. My. God,” I growled through gritted teeth after she’d ended the call.

            “Listen, Amelia,” she began, standing.  I reached out and pushed her back onto the sofa.

            “You told Jae Hyo!” I shouted.  Her eyes bugged out.

            “Amelia, listen,” she repeated.  I knew how surprised she must have felt.  I’d barely ever spoken louder than a whisper.  I tried to remember the last time I’d been mad.  I couldn’t remember, I doubted she did.  “I’m sorry, but look, it worked out.  How crazy that my mom found out about that job at the university.”

            True.  Fate did sort of save Jordan, but that wasn’t the point.  “You lied to me!  You told Jae Hyo I was leaving!  How could you do that!?  I begged you guys not to tell anyone!”  I flopped down next to her.

            “Wait, Amelia, I did not tell him you were leaving!  I told him that you were offered an internship in Rome and that you really didn’t want to go but you were afraid to talk to him.  I was just hoping he’d talk to you about it, but...”  I glared at her.  “I told him the other day.  I kind of guessed he was angry when he didn’t get in touch with you right away.  But I swear, I was going to tell you tonight if he still hadn’t said anything!”

            “Jordan!” I hollered.  “He’s mad at me now!  He thinks I’m leaving!”

            “Wait, now, you can’t blame me for him misunderstanding!  I explained it to him!” she shouted back.  “I made him promise not to get mad at you.”

            “Like how I made you promise me you wouldn’t tell anyone?” I hissed.  She sighed and slumped over on the couch.

            “Look, I’m sorry this blew up, but I’m not sorry I told him, Amelia.  You weren’t telling him and it was making you crazy.  Everything is going to work out now.  Go talk to him.  Explain it all to him.  He needs to hear it from you.”

            I covered my eyes.  “I don’t want to deal with this,” I mumbled.

            “Damn it, Amelia!  It’s not just going to solve itself!  You need to go talk to him and you really need to go talk to your parents.  If you don’t want to go then stand up and say so.  Take control of your life!  You’re my best friend and I love you, but damn girl, speak up for once!  No one can read your mind!”

            With that she jumped up and stalked to her room.  I jumped when the slam of her door echoed through the dorm.

            Wow, just another person I can add to the long list of people who are wiser than I thought.  Not to mention another person who pointed out how stupid I’ve been.       Springing from the couch, I texted Jae Hyo.  Begging him to wait a little longer for me, that I’d be there soon.  He didn’t text me back, but he’d wait for me.  He was just angry.  I knew him better than that.

           The subway ride to my parents’ apartment wasn’t long.  I sped through the lobby and up the stairs, ignoring the elevator.  I tumbled into the apartment after keying in the code.  My dad was just coming out of the kitchen and my mom was at the dining room table on her laptop.

            “I need to talk to you guys,” I panted.  Hm, five floors is a lot harder than I thought.

            “Amelia, did you run here?” my mom asked.

            I flopped down in one of the chairs at the table and huffed, trying to catch my breath.  My dad reappeared with a bottle of water.

            After guzzling half of the bottle, the entire story came pouring out of my mouth.  Every thought, feeling, every notion I’d had about this whole thing.  Every reason why I wanted to stay.  Every reason why it was better for me.  Including Jae Hyo.  I told them about how I would take the job at Jordan’s mom’s university.

            By the end, I was out of breath again and crying a little.  I was just so frustrated and it felt good to get it all out.  I heaved a sigh and sagged in my chair.

            My parents met eyes for a minute, silent.  “Amelia, are you sure this is what you want to do?” my dad asked.  I sniffled and nodded.  He smiled softly at my mom and then nodded at me.  “Then that’s it.”

            “What?” I asked, blinking.

            He chuckled.  “Honey, you know we just want what’s best for you, but we want you to be happy, too.  Just because it’s not what we would do, doesn’t mean we aren’t going to support you.”

            “Really?”  He chuckled again and nodded.  “So you’re not mad?”

            “Of course not,” he answered.

            “Can I live at home then after I graduate while I work at the university?”

            My dad hummed thoughtfully.  I pouted.  “Oh, Amelia.  You know we love you and you could live at home forever if you wanted.”  I smiled at him and hopped out of my seat to give him a hug.  Then I looked to my mom.  She looked a little crestfallen.

            “Mom?  Are you mad at me?” I wondered, tip toeing over to her chair.  If she was mad, it wasn’t going to change my mind, but it didn’t mean I wanted her to be upset with me.  I love my mother.  I wanted to keep the close relationship we had.

            She sighed and stood up.  “No, honey, of course not.  You’re right, it is your life, like you said.  And I’m proud of you no matter what,” she answered.  I hopped on my toes and hugged her.  She rubbed my back.  “I’d go to Italy though,” she mumbled.

            I giggled.  “Sorry, Mom.”

            “It’s fine.  You’ll do great at the university here in Seoul, I’m sure.”

            “Sandra, don’t worry,” my dad piped up, patting my mom on the shoulder.  “Let’s all go to Italy for a family vacation.  Maybe next summer?  How about it?”

            “Hm, I suddenly feel better,” my mom joked.  Her face grew serious and she looked at me, smoothing her hands down my hair, brushing it off my shoulders.  “All other reasons aside, you’re going to marry that Jae Hyo boy, right?  Because I don’t want you to regret not-”

            I hugged her tightly again.  “It’s Jae Hyo, Mom.  Trust me, there will never be another boy.”  My mom sighed again and looked to my father. 

            “Don’t look at me,” he said, stretching his arms over his head and then plopping down in the seat I had occupied before.  He uncapped the bottle of water he’d given me.  “I like that boy.  I’ve seen him on TV.  He’s funny.  He’s outgoing.  That’s good for Amelia.”  He then nodded at me before taking a swig of water.  “You’re too quiet.”

            My mom sighed and resumed brushing my hair with her fingers.  “At least he’s handsome,” she reasoned.  Then hugging me again, she added, “And he’ll probably be really wealthy one day.”  I laughed. 

            Quickly explaining to my parents that I had to run, I practically skipped from the apartment.  Feeling almost weightless.  That wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  On my way to the subway station, I called Mrs. Carlson to tell her I wanted the number of the English director.  I’d call and make an appointment on Monday.  Right after I told the study abroad department to chose another person to intern in Rome.

            It was a great opportunity after all.  For someone else.

            I then called Jordan to reluctantly apologize and tell her that I was going to go talk to Jae Hyo and if he accepted my apology and didn’t hate me forever, I wanted to meet her and the other girls for dinner.

            She laughed at me and told me that whenJae Hyo heard my explanation, there was no doubt in her mind that he would be happy and forget the whole thing.  She also said that she was speaking for all three girls when she told me I should stay with him tonight.  To be a good girlfriend.

            And make it up to him.

            I loved my friends.

            My next stop, Jae Hyo.  It was only actually a little less than an hour since I’d left my dorm.  I stood outside Block b’s dorm for a second.  My good mood from talking to my parents faded a little.

            I didn’t like mad Jae Hyo.  Sure, he was y, but he was hard to talk to.  I just had a yelling match with Jordan, I didn’t want another one with him.  I wasn’t good at that kind of thing.  It was why I’m always so mousy.  Confrontation makes me itch.

            I lifted my arm to knock when the door swung open to reveal Ji Hoon.  Who then gasped and ducked.  “Damn girl!  You scared me!”