Chapter 101.2

Chapter 101.2

“Unni!”

― It’s late. I’m hanging up. We’ll talk later.

With that stubborn, firm voice, the call was cut off.

Miran tried calling again, but all she heard was the busy tone, a flat beep-beep-beep, as if the line had been unplugged. When she set the receiver down, her hand shook so hard that it clattered against the base. It wasn’t just her hand that trembled; her insides were quivering too.

She sat there in a daze, then wiped her tears and suddenly jumped up, moving around aimlessly in a flurry.

“Calm down, Kang Miran. Calm down… What do I do first?”

After a moment’s hesitation, she ran into the dressing room and pulled the trunk from the corner. She started throwing things inside in a rush.

She knew that if she left for Korea now, it would really be the end of her and André. But how could she stay here, pretending to study and live comfortably, when Juran’s life was on the line?

She didn’t even bother wiping the tears running down her face. She swept everything she could see into the trunk. When she picked up one of André’s shirts—the one he had left draped over her shoulders—she hesitated. Then she pulled it back out and hung it neatly on a hanger.

If she was never going to see him again, leaving behind everything he had given her felt like the only way to make peace with herself.

She took the cuff links from the shirt sleeves and went to the island cabinet in the middle of the dressing room. Under the transparent cover, she saw his neatly arranged ties, watches, and cuff links. She placed his pair carefully on top where they would be visible.

André had told her once, after she’d pestered him about it, that those cuff links were his eighteenth birthday gift from his late mother.

Even without asking, she knew the stones weren’t imitation. The way they caught the light made that obvious.

Miran reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace.

She looked down at it in her palm, then closed her hand and crouched on the floor, stifling her sobs. If she started crying out loud, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop.

After sitting there for a while, she stood up and placed the necklace beside the cuff links.

She dragged the trunk out of the bedroom and went to the study. On his desk was a notepad with his name printed elegantly at the top. She tore off a sheet, picked up the pen lying neatly beside it, and, after a moment’s pause, scrawled a short message. Then she turned quickly and left, shutting the door behind her before she could change her mind.

The gust of air she left behind lifted the corner of the note and sent it fluttering under the desk, but Miran didn’t notice.

As she slipped her passport and plane ticket into her bag, she spotted her cellphone. “Ah, right,” she murmured, taking it out. She was about to set it down on the table but stopped. There was someone she had to call before leaving.

Miran scrolled through her contacts until she found the number she was looking for and pressed the call button.

― Hello?

“Oppa, it’s me. Miran.”

― Kang, what’s up? We haven’t even set the final shoot date yet.

“That’s actually what I needed to talk to you about…”

After finishing her brief call with Seunghyuk, Miran set the phone down on the table. Then she took the apartment key from the front pocket of her bag and placed it beside it.

Just before pulling her large trunk out the door, she murmured under her breath, her voice fading.

“Farewell, André.”

When she arrived at the language academy, Miran went straight to the office instead of class. Mixing English with gestures, she explained her situation. They told her that a refund wasn’t possible, but issued her a voucher for three months of classes, valid anytime within the next three years.

Will I ever use this?

She tucked the voucher carefully into her bag and left the academy with a faint, bitter smile.

On the subway to JFK Airport, she stared blankly out the window. Her reflection in the glass was blurred by tears. She blinked and swallowed them back down her throat.

“Fraud. Lousy fortune-teller.”

On Thursday, August 22, 1996, in the afternoon, Miran left New York behind.