*** COMPLETED *** Until the World Explodes (Han Seoul-Oh)

Chapter 2: "Until the world explodes."

"Don't you look beautiful this morning?" Han said as he looked up from his bag of chips, popping one into his mouth.

"Stop it. I look like this every morning. A train wreck," I laughed as I walked over to the fridge, opening up a bottle of juice. "I see you couldn't wait until I woke up."

"I can never wait. I have to keep my mouth occupied," he smirked at my eye roll as he set the chips down next to him on the counter, holding his arms open for me to walk into.

After shutting the fridge, I held the juice bottle in my hands and walked over to Han with a sleepy smile on my face as he engulfed me in his arms.

"What's the plan for today? What do you wanna do?" He asked as he slipped his hand up the back of my baggy t-shirt, rubbing my back.

The question made me turn and look up at him. With an eyebrow raised, I opened my mouth to question him. "You have a free day? No business deals?"

"No business deals. I promised you that I'd be here today. I'm a man of my word." He said as he met my gaze. "What do you want to do?"

"You'll do anything I want to do?"

"Anything."

"Now I have to think. I wasn't ready for this," I laughed as he untangled us and picked me up, setting me on the counter and standing between my legs.

"I'll do whatever as long as it's with you," he smiled as I brushed his hair from his face, leaning in to kiss me. "I love you."

"I love you. Until the world explodes."

"Until the world explodes."

Xoxoxo

Until the world explodes was our way of saying forever. We were going to move out of Tokyo, somewhere new where we didn't know anybody. Somewhere quiet. We were going to start a family and settle down. The world exploded, because my forever wasn't here anymore.

While playing with the ring on my finger, my phone started buzzing on the pillow next to me. Like any sudden movement or noise these days, it made me jump.

"Mia Toretto. Accept or Decline."

With a slight hesitation because I didn't feel like doing much talking these days, I answered. Plus, I was curious to see what Mia wanted. We hadn't talked much since the funeral.

"Hello?" I answered, putting the phone to my ear.

"Hey...did I wake you? I forgot about the time difference. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. I haven't been sleeping well," I said as I adjusted the pillow I was laying on and sat up, leaning on my elbow. "What's up?"

"We haven't spoken in awhile and we're all worried about you. How have you been holding up?"

I hated that question. I knew Mia meant no harm, but everyone else who asked it expected me to say I was fine with a smile on my face.

"I'm alive. I get up every morning, I eat, and I watch tv most of the day. I've been thinking about going back to school, but I don't have much interest in anything right now," I said honestly. I was alive. That felt like more than enough at the moment.

"Going back to school sounds like a great idea," she said with a smile in her voice for encouragement. "Are you going to finish the end program or try something new?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "At the moment, I think I'm going to enroll in a couple classes to keep myself busy during the day. I haven't really decided what I'm going to do."

Her next question caught me off guard because I wasn't expecting it. At least not from Mia.

"Are you going to stay in Tokyo? Han occasionally brought up that he didn't particularly like the idea of you living in a not so safe part of town."

"For now, yes," I said slowly, in disbelief that the question came out of her mouth. "And before you ask me, money's not the issue. You and I both know Han left me millions. I just don't know if I want to leave or where I want to go."

"You could come back to the states and stay with me and Brian or Dom until you figure it out. Staying in that part of town by yourself —"

Now I was just getting angry.

"Look, Mia, I know you mean well because we're family, but truthfully, I am not ready to go anywhere. I've been living here alone for a little over a year now since Han passed away, and nothing has happened to me yet, so I think I'll be alright. If and when I decide to pack up and move, you will be the first to know," I promised to the other end of the phone.

"Okay," she said after a couple seconds of awkward silence. "Okay. It was good to hear that you're doing your best. Call me if you need anything."

"Will do," I said before we disconnected.

I didn't mean to get angry with her because I knew she just truly wants the best for me, but I need to heal at my own pace, and for me, that's staying here until I'm ready to move on.

It seemed like it was going to be yet another quiet night for me. After laying on the couch for another hour, I drug myself back to the bedroom and climbed in on Han's side of the bed, getting cozy before pulling out my phone.

Something I started doing after the funeral was doodling. I wasn't an artist or anything, but it was something to keep my head busy for a bit, and I found it to be very therapeutic. I opened up the drawing app I had downloaded on my phone and began to sketch something out. I sketched out the Earth, and around it I drew marks and debris flying, like it was exploding. And then on top of the Earth, I wrote "Until the," and on the bottom curling into a U-shape, I wrote "world explodes." After I colored it in, I decided I was happy with my design and saved it, pulling up Tori's contact information in my phone.

Tori was one of the first friends I met when I moved to Tokyo. She's a tattoo artist, and her work is incredible. She's tattooed a number of high-profile people, and she's difficult to book, but I was relieved to know she was going to get me in immediately tomorrow morning after showing her my design.

"Until the world explodes," I said out loud as I laid on my side, pulling the covers up around me. After tomorrow, I was going to have our saying tattooed on my forever, and that gave me a small piece of closure I'd been craving since the accident.