Chapter 20

My eyes are glued to my phone. Eura is back from her honeymoon, but I wonder if I should call her now. However, I don't want to interrupt her if she's sleeping off her jet lag. What to do?

"Guess I'll leave a text…" I message her a very long paragraph detailing my concerns and how I need advice. I ended it by welcoming her home from her trip.

Let's say that she does see my text and wants to meet up. Where do I go? I already had ramen with Jay. I don't think I'd want to go again today. I guess I'll let Eura decide since she's a huge foodie.

Looking back, I don't even remember when Eura told me she got a boyfriend. She had always been the type that hated the concept of dating; I remember her childhood dream was to be a crazy cat lady. One day, she came back home with the goofiest, dumbest smile plastered on her face—an expression I had never seen on her: she had fallen in love.

I had never expected her to be the committed type. She was fervently assertive in pursuing and keeping her relationship. Seeing the usual apathetic and nonchalant sister evolve into this new creature was a terrifying sight. Perhaps, deep down, seeing her change scared me. I was most likely afraid of change.

𝘉𝘻𝘻𝘻𝘻𝘻𝘵

"Oh gosh…" I utter under my breath as I react poorly to the sudden sound of my phone's vibrations. I check it to see that Eura has responded to my text message.

She wrote, "Let's meet up this instant."

I can hear her demanding voice resonating in my head. If she tells me to do something, I must do it.

I reply, "Where do you want to meet up?"

She quickly responds, "Get ready. I'll pick you up."

I am baffled. She wants to meet up now? Because Eura is quite scary if crossed, I get prepared in lightning speed. Once I got dressed and got everything I needed, I rush out and lock the door.

"Eugene, hi!" Wendy greets me. Gustav is with her, wearing a teal colored harness and leash. He looks adorable with his panting and how his tongue is sticking out. I lean down to reach a hand out for him to sniff.

"Are you going somewhere?" She asks.

"I'm meeting with my sister."

"Your sister?" She seems intrigued. I don't think it's time for me to introduce her to Eura.

"I'm sorry. I need to hurry." I stand up and bolt towards the stairs like I am a track-and-field athlete. I feel like I am going to pass out with all this running and exercise.

I use up all my energy by the time I reach the lobby that I lay my head down against the reception counter. My heart feels like it's going to burst out of my chest. I just changed into clean clothes, but I can already feel my neck sweating profusely. I am taking heavy breaths like I am a fish that got fished out from a body of water.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asks me. She looks at me with worry. I did not have my sketchbook on hand, so I just nod in response.

"Here, have some water." She hands me water in a small ornate paper cup. I graciously take it and gulp in down in one go.

The water eventually calms me down. My breaths decrease and my heartbeat slowly returns to normal. Once I calmed down, I take a look at the person who helped me. Rachel, the receptionist, always seems to be working at the front. She's a Caucasian woman with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair. While she is someone I see constantly, I know very little about her. Thinking deeply, I only know two things about her: first, she's a relative of the apartment's landlady; two, she's friends with Wendy. There's a lot I don't know about her, but I don't really think it matters. She and I are just acquaintances. She doesn't need to be involved in my life.

"Are you feeling better now?"

I nod again. She gives me a bright smile, which makes me feel bad. She's kind, but all I do is try to step over my boundaries. Rachel gets along with everyone here, except for me. It's not fair that she gets the silent treatment from me. I'm sure that Wendy wouldn't like it if I kept being like this towards her friend.

"Are you going somewhere with Jay today?"

I shake my head. I feel a surge of frustration crashing into me. I wanted to open my mouth and thank her, but I'm so used to writing and nodding. Is this all I am capable of? Am I going to wallow in these habits that I am going to nod and write a response to Wendy's confession?

Wendy doesn't deserve to get a response like that at all. I should do better. I take a deep breath. All my concentration is poured onto finding the right words to say to Rachel.

Unfortunately, that concentration breaks the moment I hear Eura's car horn repeatedly blasting in the background like some mad musician using the horn to compose a staccato piece.

I can hear "EUGENE, GET YOUR ASS INTO THE CAR THIS INSTANT!" in the midst of the honking. I sigh. Eura has always been an impatient driver.

"I'm sorry…" I mutter to Rachel.

"No, it's fine…" Rachel responds.

"Thank you for the water." I throw the cup into the nearby wastebasket and rush off before the security guard gets to us.

I belt in my seatbelt and await a fast driving experience. I look out the window and see Rachel's eyes bulging out in my direction. I've never seen her have with such an expression before. Did something just happen?

It just hit me: I spoke to her with words. I couldn't believe what I just did. I usually never talk to anyone outside of my boundaries. The bewilderment I feel slowly turns into joy. I can talk to others. I can do it.

A small glimmer of confidence ignites within me.

~

Eura drags me into an Italian restaurant in the deeper part of the city. She loves pasta. I don't mind pasta, but it's something I wouldn't eat constantly. I can see Eura's eyes glued onto the menu. She always had a hard time picking what she wanted to eat.

I like lasagna, so my choice is that; it's always my first choice whenever I go to an Italian restaurant. I just love how it looks. I just like how there are rectangular pasta noodles stacked on top of each other. It always reminded me of a sketchbook.

Eura decides to order a shrimp scampi. Once the waitress walks away with our orders, Eura leans back against her chair and crosses both her arms and legs. "So, little brother, tell me the deets." I gulp.

Her eyes are drilling into my soul. While Eura is kind, she can be quite aggressive. I have no other choice but to tell her everything. After I finish, I take the utensils into my hands and start eating my lasagna; it's still warm.

Eura seems to be in deep thought. She suddenly asks, "When are you going to confess to her?"

"I don't know."

Eura gasps. "That's unacceptable. You should give her an answer ASAP."

"How?"

"Just go for it!"

The thought scares me. "You know what sort of person I am."

"But you should still go for it."

I do not think frontal assault is a smart strategy. Since Eura is an attorney, frontal assault has always been her forte. I can't do it; I just can't. Maybe I can get an idea of how to confess if I ask her about her love life.

"How did you confess to Henry?"

Eura remarks, "I did not confess to him. He confessed to me."

I find that surprising since Eura is the assertive type. She always makes the first move and she can't have it any other way. "How did he confess to you?" I become interested because how on Earth did one man's confession manage to melt Eura Kwak's heart? I want to know.

Eura's usual confident expression starts softening. A goofy smile glues itself onto her face. It makes her look weird; I've never seen Eura look so odd.

"Henry and I met in college. He and I were rivals in a way. We both had been extremely competitive towards each other since we had the same major. From the moment I saw him during freshman year, I knew he was a force to be reckoned with. We were both the type to occupy ourselves with our studies and involvement in and out of campus. We both wanted the best opportunities for our futures. One day, in our junior year, we were competing for an internship that we both wanted to participate in. Henry got the spot while I didn't. He told me "No hard feelings, okay?" and we shook hands."

She kept rambling on about details that seems irrelevant to how she fell in love. Eura, please get to the point; if I say that to her, she'd kick my ass.

"And then one day, Henry gave me a ride to the place where I got an internship from. Henry congratulated me on getting the spot, saying he knew I could do it and that my internship was a highly coveted one. He kept praising me on how lucky I was to get such a spot. His shower of praises eventually moved my heart. I always assumed he was putting up a front like me, but he's genuine."

"How do you know when a man's honest?" I ask this because Eura is a woman. Not that all women can't read men, but it's more about curiosity. How does this woman perceive men that she fell for one? Maybe it can help me get a deeper understanding of my growing feelings for Wendy.

"Woman's intuition." She says this with the utmost confidence. I just gawk at her, flabbergasted at the blasé answer she gave me. While asinine, it does make sense. While it makes sense, I become more confused.

"And what happened afterwards?"

"While I did develop a crush on Henry, I tried my best to be subtle about it until he confessed to me. The moment he said those three words, I accepted his confession. Woman's intuition was my savior as this man became my end game."

From Eura and Jay's perspectives, love just happens once they see another side to their respective partners. Love just happens then? Is that how Wendy fell for me? Is that how I fell for her? It's just something that happens out of the blue.

I don't get it at all, but, one day, I will.

"Do you have any advice on how to confess?" Hearing her story makes me a bit confident. I hope I don't screw this up.

Eura becomes excited. "You have to confess in a romantic setting! What kind of places does she like?"

"Ramen restaurants."

"Anything else?"

"Boba stores."

The excitement quickly fades. "That's no way romantic. You have go bigger!"

"Like where?"

"The aquarium! The museum!"

Those kinds of places have much more people than restaurants do. I am definitely going to become terrified if I go there to confess. People are going to stare and I know for a fact I am going to flub it. I don't like her suggestion.

"No."

Eura pouts. "Yes!"

"How do you know it will work in those places?"

"Woman's intuition!"

"Again with that? How is woman's intuition going to help me with confessing?"

"Well, it was woman's intuition that helped me find my forever love. Woman's intuition was also what most likely drew Wendy to become attracted to a hermit like you." Does she have to say it like that?

The idea of women's intuition is inherently silly. However, I trust Eura. So, I'll take her advice and think about the anecdotes both Jay and Eura gave me."

"Eura, can I ask one more thing?"

"Ask as many questions as you want!" She leans forwards and rests her chin on her hands.

"How much do aquarium tickets cost?"