CHAPTER 008
[ Burn, baby, burn. ]
Ferica and I stand in the lobby as we wave goodbye to Luna and ChoogJae. MinWoo was upstairs with JungHyuk, helping with dinner. We call for an elevator once ChoongJae stopped making faces to the security camera and leaves along with Luna to meet up with Sam at some restaurant a few blocks away.
I hear a dong as the elevator doors open to reveal somebody standing inside-- Daniel...with this perky-looking girl hooked onto his elbow. The girl couldn't have been much older than us, perhaps by a few months. She and Daniel smile at us as they step out of the elevator and leave through the lobby doors.
On the ride up, Ferica shoots me a questioning look; I don't do much but shrug. It isn't any of my business, after all, he was just my neighbour 2 doors down. But in the end, my curiousity still gets the better of me. But while thinking to myself about who the girl could be, my thoughts wouldn't stop drifting towards that letter again. Perhaps it's just because I'm on my way homehome and it was...there.
"Dinner was great, Mrs. Lee."
"Thanks, dear, but your mom must cook much better, Ferica. You look really well fed," MinWoo starts to laugh at Ferica, thinking that it meant she looked fat. "Be quiet, MinWoo. You know that's not what I meant."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Lee, I know," Ferica gave MinWoo a playful punch in the shoulder.
Umma and MinWoo's mom met when they were both pregnant, at one of those excercise classes for pregnant women or something. So I've known MinWoo since I was born and our families knew each other pretty well too, meaning JungHyuk as well. As for Ferica, she tranferred to our public school in grade 2, she was kicked out of her private school for being too destructive or something.
Everyone collects their own plates and placed them into the sink, since they weren't considered to be guests anymore, and head for the living room. Ferica and JungHyuk began to set-up the PlayStation2, so I took the chance and pull MinWoo to my room.
"I thought you threw it away along with all the other stuff," MinWoo looks at me, a bit disappointed.
"I know...but I didn't because I couldn't find it! I don't even know where she found it when she was vacuuming."
"Well, what are you going to do with it?"
"I..don't know. You tell me, that's why you're here."
"You don't know?! Why don't you just throw it away now...?"
"I..I..don't know," MinWoo looks straight into my eyes, demanding me to come to my senses. "Okay, fine. We'll...we'll throw it out."
"No, you throw it out. Actually, lets burn it." He looks at me, expectantly.
"Okay. Let's go burn it then."
I felt uncomfortable going onto the balcony since we were no longer cooled by the conditioned air. The sky was pretty dark and amazingly, we could see stars tonight. Usually, all the lights that were emitted from the city were too bright to view the stars with, and it was rare that stars covered the night sky. We lean over the balcony edge and I pull out a lighter when MinWoo handed me the letter.
"Just do it now. The more you wait, the harder it'll be."
I nod, take a deep breath, and put the blue letter to the flame. The fire seemed to devour the paper faster than normal. I watched as the fire travelled up the blue rectangle, burning it away slowly with a trail of brown edges that left no proof at the end.
"Okay, is that everything now? Or did you misplace some more stuff?"
I put some serious thought into it. "Umm...other than my yearbook, that should be it. And there's no way you're gonna talk me into burning my yearbook."
"Alright, I won't. Let's go back in though, too humid out here for me," MinWoo gives me a smile, for what I don't know. So we go back in, and join Ferica and JungHyuk in some good ol' StreetFighting.
I look to the clock as Ferica and MinWoo put on their shoes, getting ready to leave, and realize that it's 3 in the morning. I walk slowly up the stairs with JungHyuk after we close the door and retire to our own rooms. I take my shower and get ready to go to bed, but the moment I fall into the comforts of my pillow, my cellphone starts vibrating on my side-table, causing me to become alert of my surroundings again.
Posted by xARGH at 12:11 AM | Spill it out.