I leaned against the door of one of the stalls in the dorm bathroom as I brushed my teeth that Friday night.  Jae Hyo was in front of the mirror, fussing with his hair.  Zico and Kyung were in Maddie and Jordan’s room but Beki was over at the boys’ dorm tonight with Yu Kwon, so Jae Hyo and I had my room to ourselves tonight. 

            Studying Jae Hyo as he studied his hair, I wondered what my life would be like without him.  What would I be doing if I were in Rome right now?  I’d be alone in my apartment.  Watching TV probably.  Desperate to learn the unfamiliar language.  No, I’d be online, video chatting with Jae Hyo.  And my friends.  I’d get ready for bed and then cry my eyes out in total and complete loneliness.  A chill ran down my spine just thinking of it.  Suddenly, Jae Hyo’s chest appeared in my line of vision.  Blinking, I refocused and looked up at him.  He chuckled and wiped a finger down my chin.

            “You’re drooling, Amelia.  Go spit,” he told me, showing me the foamy toothpaste on his finger.  “You alright?” he asked as he followed me back to the sink.  I spit and rinsed my mouth.  Putting my toothbrush away and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I met his eyes in the mirror. 

            “I’m fine,” I told him.  “Why?”

            He laughed lightly.  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”  He stood behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.  “Something bothering you?”

            I took his hands and pulled his arms around my shoulders.  “Just stressed.  Finals are coming up.  I’m just…getting stressed.”

            He knew me too well.  I could tell by the way he held my eyes in the mirror a moment longer that he was doubting me.  “You’d tell me if something was really wrong, though, wouldn’t you?” he asked softly.  One last attempt.  One more chance for me to come clean.  I nodded and smiled at his reflection.

            “Of course,” I answered, my throat tight.  “But really, I’m just stressed out.”

            I was finally able to pull away from his gaze.  He slid his hands back to my shoulders and squeezed.  Bending at the neck, he began kissing down my neck to my collar bone.

            “Ah, stressed?  I can help with that,” he murmured against my skin.  His breath tickled.  I began to giggle when he ran his fingers down my sides.

            The bathroom door swung open.  “Jae Hyo!  Get off her for a second, damn man, I have to pee!”  I stiffened and felt my face grow hot.

            Zico shuffled past us and into one of the stalls. 

            “Ji Ho, we weren’t even doing anything,” I whined.

            “I had to announce my arrival someway.  In case you guys were thinking about starting something,” he called back.  “Since I know Jae Hyo, I know that’s what was going on.”

            “I learned a new word in English, Zico, it’s ‘,’” Jae Hyo called back.

            I swatted at him, but then used my hands to cover my face when Zico cracked up from inside the stall.

           “Goodnight, Ji Ho,” I grumbled, taking Jae Hyo by the hand and dragging him out of the bathroom.

            With a slight bounce, Jae Hyo hopped easily up onto my bed in my room.  With a grunt, I clawed at my sheets and scrambled my way up onto the bed.  “Shut up,” I muttered.  “Not all of us can be tall and all leg like you.”  Just for good measure, I dropped my legs into his lap.

            He snickered.  “I wasn’t going to say anything.”  I glared at him.  “Do you want to watch a movie?  Or did you have something else in mind to pass the time we have alone?” 

            Even though I could feel myself becoming engulfed in flames, I stuck my tongue out at him and put the bottom of my foot against his neck.  “Movie!” I declared.  “You go pick one out.”

            “Alright,” he replied, calmly.  His eyes narrowed and with lightening speed, he grabbed my foot and dragged his fingertips over the bottom of my foot.  I squeaked and yanked my legs away from him.  My most ticklish spot.

            I curled into the fetal position as he jumped off the bed and went over to Beki’s and my collection of DVDs on floor near the TV.  He shuffled through them quickly before he picked one and put it on.  He waited until the main menu came on before he used the remote to start the movie and then turned off the light before he scurried back to my side of the room.  He stopped right in front of me.  He his lips slowly as he shimmied out of his sweatpants.  I cracked up and covered my head with my blanket.

            Match Up was hardcore reality.  Jae Hyo really does sleep in just a tee shirt and boxers.  No pants.  Not that I was complaining.  Oh, and he had something like eight pairs of these red boxer briefs.  They were lucky or whatever.  Or so he said.

            He sprung back onto the bed and crawled over me under the blanket and flopped down behind me.  Resting his head on one arm, he draped his other over me with his hand laying on the edge of the mattress.

            I couldn’t really pay attention to the movie.  I had other things on my mind.  Then I noticed the marker I’d abandoned on my night table.  It was purple.  Stretching my short arms, I reached it.  Snuggling closer to him, I took the hand that was at the edge and held it in my non-writing hand.  The table lamp on my desk was still on and cast a soft glow around the part of the room.

            “What are you doing?” he laughed.  He peered over my shoulder.

            “Drawing on your hand.  It’s washable, don’t worry,” I replied, not taking my eyes off the back of his hand as I began doodling.  When I finished, I held his hand out for him to see.  I wrote my name and then I drew a big heart and then I wrote his name.  He smiled, looking at it as he pushed up onto one elbow.  He leaned down and kissed me.

            “I heart you too, baby,” he stated.  I laughed.  “Me too, let me draw on you!” he exclaimed with his eyes wide.

            “Ok,” I agreed.  I capped the marker and handed it to him.  He bounced up and sat on his legs.  Pushing away the hand I held out to him, he straddled my waist.  “Uh, Jae Hyo…” I began unsurely.  He shoved my shirt all the way up, exposing my entire stomach.  A laugh escaped my mouth.  “Jae Hyo!”

            “What?” he wondered innocently.  I laughed more when stretched his arms over his head and shrugged his shoulders, cracked his neck.  As if he were readying himself for a difficult mission.  “You said it’s washable.”  He had a point, I thought as he began scribbling on my stomach. 

            “It tickles,” I giggled.

            Not looking up from his art work, his face became serious with concentration.  “Don’t laugh.  Your stomach moves and you’ll mess up my work,” he told me.

            I bit down on my lip when he peeked up at me from under his eyelashes.  When I tried to sit up to take a look at his work, but he growled and used his free hand to push my head back onto my pillow.

            “Ok,” he sighed after a moment.  He capped the marker with a satisfied smirk and handed it back to me.  Excitedly, I sat up to see what he had drawn.  I laughed so hard, I fell back onto the bed.  He’d scribbled all over my stomach.

            No Trespassing.  Private Property.  Forbidden.  Then he drew a circle with a line through it and the word Entry in the middle.  And under my belly button just above the waist of my pajama bottoms, he wrote: Ahn Jae Hyo Only.

            Even Jae Hyo started laughing.  Before he started kissing me.

            And I forgot all about the terrible scenario I’d created in my head earlier about what I’d be doing if I were in Rome.  This was definitely better.

            The next morning, Jae Hyo had to leave early with Zico and Kyung to get ready for their schedule.  After I said goodbye to him, I decided to get ready for class.  In the shower, I looked down at my stomach.  Some of the marker had washed off and with a little soap and some scrubbing, it would come off completely.  But I chose not to.

            The actual deadline for the internship was approaching.  If I were going to, allowed to, back out.  I needed to do it within the next couple of weeks.  So they could pick someone else.  But I couldn’t back out.  So it was me that would be going.

            After my last class of the day, I took my time gathering my books and my stuff together.  The professor had even left.

            “Oh!  Amelia?  Amelia Jackson?”

            I looked up to the doorway.  An older Korean woman around my mother’s age stood there staring at me.  “Yes?”  I stood up and after shouldering my bag, hurried over to her.

            Her face lit up.  “Wonderful!  I’m so glad I happened to glance in here.  I’m Dr. Kwon.  I’m the Dean of the English Department,” she introduced herself.  Oh, what the hell.

            “Oh?” I sounded.  I adjusted my expression to be a happy one.  “Hello, Dr. Kwon.  It’s nice to meet you.”

            She shook my hand excitedly.  “It’s nice for me to meet you,” she corrected.  “I was going to track you down before the end of the semester.  I wanted to congratulate you on being selected for that internship with the University of Rome.  You know you’re the first to ever do that from this university.  We’re all so proud of you.”

            Kill me.  “Thank you, Dr. Kwon.”

            “Your family must be so excited for you,” she continued with a wide smile.

            “So excited,” I agreed.

            “You should be very proud of yourself, too, Amelia.  This is a wonderful opportunity for yourself.  You worked so hard throughout your university career and it paid off.”

            “So excited,” I repeated in a mutter.  Shaking my head, her words registered in my head.  “Ah, um, I mean yes I am.  Proud of myself.”  I nodded for emphasis.

            She just watched me for a second, like a proud mother before realization hit her and her eyes widened.  As if she remembered something.  She glanced at her wrist watch.

            “Oh, my goodness.  I’m going to be late.  Well, I’m glad I got to meet you and speak with you, Amelia.”

            I bowed my head slightly.  “Thank you very much, Dr. Kwon.  It was nice to meet you.”

            I managed to keep myself together until I got outside to the courtyard.  I sat on a bench off to the side, away from the other students.  And I cried my heart out.

            Hugging my knees to my chest and hiding my face, I thought I was doing a really good job of acting like I wasn’t crying, but I guess I wasn’t.

            Something touched my shoulder, ever so lightly.  I almost didn’t even notice it until a voice came with it.

            “Are you ok?”