Priceless

5

Bringing Nam Joon home on the bus elicited much more verbal conversation than I wanted. The majority of the trip to the airport had been in blissful silence, but the trip back was shrouded in details of his life in Japan.

Nam Joon seemed to miss the message of how bad we were and told me he had gone to Japan to start over but "old habits die hard". I smiled politely. Expecting nothing but to just pretend to listen, but as I watched his face as he spoke of his struggle to find stability in Japan and how he always thought he'd come back, I was reminded of the days when Nam Joon would tell me stories on the roof of the library. Back when we were in sync with each other thrill-seeking souls hoping to catch a chance at some fun on a school night.

I shook my head as Nam Joon and I got off the bus and walked the four city blocks back to my apartment complex.

"What's wrong, Yessi? You seem stressed."

"No, it's not stress so much as uncertainty. I've change so much from the past and I-," I stopped and looked at him.

"What? Are you...married?"

"Haha! No. I'm not ever going to get that close to-," I stopped and told myself, Not now. Why would you even think of him right now in front of Nam Joon. You're strangers, remember?

"But there is somebody else, huh?"

"No. Not exactly. I have a new roommate though so I may not be able to accommodate you now- or anytime soon?"

He just looked at me with those coffee-black eyes, a sense of feeling abandoned flashed in them.

"No, don't look at me like that Nam Joon. I hardly think it's my fault we've separated our lives like this. "

Nam Joon sighed at looked at the concrete, "I don't blame you. I just- want to resume where we left off. Most likely not in the same care-free shameless troublesome way.... But back when I could talk freely to you and you told me all your secrets too."

I stared at him, noticing how cliche this all seemed to be.

I didn't answer because I din't know how, but instead I began walking again, my hands in my pockets.