A LEAP OF FAITH

Ninth Step

Ninth Step

May 7, 2002

9:00 a.m.

Jung Jin

"Ethan?" Shawn asked. I heard a tapping noise coming from somewhere and I turned my chair around, a half smile on my face. My friend waved at me when our eyes met. "Hello? Penny for your thoughts?"

I blushed when I realized I had been caught daydreaming, something I hadn't done until Gia came into my life. The time we spent in the hotel room seemed so surreal and so far away now, though it just happened less than 48 hours ago.

I can't remember the last time I made out with someone for hours. The whole concept of physical intimacy had been... well, merely physical in the last few years, and there had been nothing intimate about those encounters. But that night was... interesting. We kissed and laughed and laughed and kissed and just kept doing it, like we couldn't help ourselves. We talked too, mainly about mundane things, but that didn't quite matter.

I now know what her favorite color is (black) and her favorite season (spring, like me.) I now know her sister's name (Maria,) and that she practically raised her. She asked me how long I played piano for, and why I stopped, what my favorite subjects were in school, and what my last meal would be if I had to choose one. In between cuddling and kissing.

It was perfect.

Who knew that I liked those things?

"Man," Shawn said, annoyed. "If I had known you were just going to ignore me, I wouldn't have come."

"Sorry," I said, though I was not sorry at all. I would relive that night over and over if I could. It was a conscious effort just to force myself out of the house this morning, knowing damn well that had I not I would probably have mooned over her for the rest of my day, something she would have laughed at me for.

That's okay. She can laugh at me if it meant that she was laughing.

Maybe that trip up the mountains had been good for her, after all. I had never ever seen her looking so lighthearted, and in truth it had been worth all that effort. Even my passing out, though that had been completely unintentional.

"I hadn't been able to reach you the last couple of days," Shawn explained. "Or I would have told you that I was coming. I even called your older sister, but she didn't seem to know where you were, either."

"I was out of town," I said, a little hesitant to share that I had been with Gia, though I wasn't sure why. The door opened and Ha Neul entered, two cups of coffee on a tray. "It happened very quickly and only Ji Soo knew where I was."

Ha Neul had been in the process of putting the cups down, but at the mention of my sister's name, his hands shook and his ears turned bright red. I shook my head. Do I need to have a repeat of that conversation again?

"Thank you," I said as he scurried out of the room, wordless. Shawn had been watching him, as well, and raised an eyebrow as soon as he left the room.

"What the hell is wrong with him?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Not sure yet, but I think Ji Soo may have herself a new crush."