Page 58 of A World Apart (Between Worlds #1)

But there was nothing on the screen, and if there had been – I was not that kind of technician.

That didn’t stop me from clicking open a bunch of windows, and tapping away at the keyboard like I was doing something when TK strolled past. He looked over at the desk, trying to catch my eye, but I kept my focus on my ‘task’, until I heard the lift doors closing, the reception lobby suddenly silent, save for the quiet whir of the industrial aircon.

“Thank you.” I said quietly as I tried not to cry.

“Be smarter, you.” Donna clapped me on the shoulder, her nails digging into my shoulder in a firm, but strangely comforting way.

“For the final time, Becka,” I banged my head against the kitchen counter, “I am not going to open the door to strangers wearing costumes. I am not going to leave my phone at home. I am not going to walk down alleyways as a shortcut, and I am not going to go down to the basement to investigate any strange noises.” I’d added that last one as a goof, but if she made me repeat the other list of ‘do nots,’ one more time…

“I lived in London for three years on my own, just fine, and Londoners can be feral, so give me some credit, yeah?” I peeled my face off the stone counter-top to look over to where her suitcase had exploded all over the living room floor.

And by ‘exploded,’ I mean where Becka had pulled everything out of it again, for the third time.

“Becka, you’re going for a weekend, not the whole month. And it’s your parents’ house!” I cried, “I’m pretty sure they’ll have a hairdryer!”

Becka chewed her lip as she looked over the eviscerated suitcase. Then, moaning loudly, she flopped forward on top of it, like a sacrifice flinging itself onto the rocks.

“Ow,” came her muffled groan.

“Hairdryer?” I winced.

She pulled herself up, wielding the appliance. “Yup.”

“Help me close this thing before I put anything else in it!”

I obliged, getting up off the stool and walking over to her, taking the hairdryer and throwing it back in her room. Together, we managed to close the hard-shelled bag and, with me sitting on it, we got it zipped up.

“There,” Becka huffed a strand of hair out of her face, “no big deal.”

I swallowed my retort, mentally repeating a mantra of ‘inner peace,’ until I could safely respond. “When’s your Uber getting here?”

She looked at her watch. “Any minute now. Help me get this downstairs?”

I closed my eyes for a count of five, trying to remember that she gave me a place to stay in LA and that I loved her.

The Uber driver had pulled up outside our building by the time the two of us managed to get her case downstairs. I cringed as I watched him struggle to put it in the boot.

As the driver got back into his seat, considerably redder in the face, Becka turned to me, grabbing me in a tight hug.

“Ooft,” I grunted, “you’re only going upstate for the weekend. ”

She only grabbed me tighter, whispering in my ear, “In my bedside drawers, there’s a whole box of Trojans. Promise me you’ll use them.”

I wriggled out of her tight embrace as she laughed. “Get in the damn car, Mother.”

Becka held up her hands. “I’m going, I’m going.”

As I watched her drive away, I stored the information, just in case.

I spent the rest of the day fitfully cleaning the apartment, doing my laundry, clearing out the fridge, doing a food shop; just picking up the errands and tasks I’d added to my list all week, so by the time evening had rolled around, I had dinner in the oven, the whole apartment sparkled and smelled like cinnamon apples ? because try as I might, not one single cleaning product in the store had anything that didn’t smell like some kind of Autumnal treat.

I had a stack of clean clothes ready to put away and I’d even washed the shower/bath curtain.

But still, nervous energy thrummed through me, the constant buzz of my internal alarm clock, reminding me that tomorrow morning Jihoon would be here. In our little apartment.

Today was his birthday and I knew that somewhere, right now, here in the city, GVibes had gone out to dinner to celebrate his 25th birthday party.

I’d spoken to him today, around lunchtime when the whole crew had paused filming for lunch.

He’d said they weren’t doing anything too crazy, just dinner downtown before going back to their hotel to film a Live, which is something all of the members did on their birthdays as a way of including Vibers in the celebration.

I’d tune in later, just for a little bit.

I decided to shower while dinner was cooking, and even though I played it down, didn’t even dare think it through in my head, I still made it an everything-shower. Just in case.

I ate dinner in front of the TV, hair wrapped in a towel, catching up on Married at First Sight.

Then I painted my toenails a pretty cerulean blue I’d pinched out of Becka’s room.

Then I put away the leftovers. Then I took out the trash.

Then… I was at a loss, that nervous thrum still going through me.

There really was nothing left to do, but the feeling persisted.

Finally, I just decided to lean into it and took myself to bed so I could watch the birthday live in comfort.

It was already in full swing by the time I signed in, the cake already cut.

As always, the chat was scrolling by so fast from the thousands of viewers typing messages, mostly in Korean, some in English.

Jihoon was sat on the floor, wearing a birthday crown on his mop of newly dyed dark blue hair, cake smeared around his face as the others laughed.

I couldn’t catch what they were saying. Whilst I had been diligently doing my Korean language lessons on the app every day for weeks now, I wasn’t beyond catching the occasional word in casual conversation.

It was frustrating and I once again marvelled at how anyone managed to learn a different language, much less fluently.

Minjae was reading aloud something off his phone that made the other guys laugh before he translated to English.

“Someone asked what you’re doing for your birthday weekend in LA, Jihoon-ah.”

I laughed, until Jihoon looked straight into the camera and said in English, “Going Trick or Treating.”

Now I was certain I wouldn’t sleep a wink all night.