Magical Tea

A Promise to Look Forward To

February fourteenth of year 2024. It had been almost two years since Mina and Min Ki went back to Korea. Maya was not so active in the world of social media as before. The world had more or less came back to normal or had become used to what we could call as the new normal.

With the global herd immunity against COVID-19 finally achieved in the last quarter of year 2022, global economy had once again flourish. The virus was just now treated as just another ordinary virus with treatment for it discovered in the earlier months of year 2023. With the vaccine against the virus forming part of early childhood vaccine like polio and hepatitis, the pandemic of 2020, was just now remembered as one of the nightmarish parts of human history.

Maya and Mina remained steadfast friends. Making it a habit of chatting every night around eight to ten o'clock in the evening, the two women held on to a friendship that bordered into a bond closer to sisters despite the distance and the age gap.

Min Ki went back to boarding school and when he could not video chat with Maya, he would send lengthy messages of how his days went by. He never failed to ask Maya to also share every little thing she would do at work and at home. It was like having a husband who worked overseas to report to.

When one time Maya laughingly told that to the boy, he replied, "that's because I am," the boy replied cryptically.

Huh? Hmm, it seemed despite the distance and days that had passed them by, the boy stubbornly stuck to his belief that he was in love with Maya. There had been many times Maya thought of ignoring the boy so that he could move on with his life as a normal teenager and found a woman his age deserving his love, but one week of no communication between them was the most she could get away with before Mina would tell her Min Ki was calling her almost nonstop to find out what was happening with Maya why she was not chatting with him.

One time Maya reprimanded the boy of emotionally threatening her through his mother. She tried to make him understand that what she was doing was ultimately for his own good but to no avail. So far, Min Ki had not used the magical tea to suddenly appear in front of her out of nowhere and she was secretly happy that although he remained virtually present, his physical absence had eradicated the temptation she could not totally ignore back then.

Today, she took a needed break from her hectic schedule for the month. With just less than two months since their annual year-end celebration, their department had not scheduled any special event for Valentine's Day aside from distributing flowers and chocolates to commemorate the day. So, when lunchtime came, Maya decided to just buy takeout and went to Mina's house where she could freely come and go since Mina gave her a spare key on her birthday before they left for Korea.

She was taking a nap at the living room sofa when she felt a brush of fingers on the bridge of her nose. At first, she thought it was just a figment of her imagination. But there was no mistaking the tip of a finger tracing her eyebrows to the tip of her nose to her lips.

Maya's eyes flew wide awake. There squatting in front of her was Min Ki, in flesh and bones, looking at her smilingly widely and with such longing in his eyes, it shook her to the core.

"You time travelled, didn't you?" Maya inquired stupendously.

"Yes," Min Ki replied immediately. "I was not able to help myself this time. It's almost two years and you have been ignoring me these past few days. I am worried something might have happened because you were usually very busy around this time. You have a tendency to overwork yourself and tire yourself out," Min Ki explained.

"Hmm, it's your birthday. I will not likely forget that. I was just taking a short nap before I call you. I know you don't have classes today until later in the afternoon," Maya said, getting up from the sofa to sit properly.

"Then you should have sent me a greeting card or something earlier. I was worried you will forget to do so this year," Min Ki rebutted, his lips curving into a pout.

Maya looked at Min Ki closely. The boy had turned into a very handsome young man. She noticed a small nip on his smooth chin. Obviously he now needed to shave religiously to acquire a smooth face. Taking note of her roaming eyes, Min Ki stood up to smoothen the white polo shirt he wore, preening.

Maya smiled, looking up after taking note of the fact how the shirt hugged the contour of the young man's well-shaped physique.

"Did I pass scrutiny?" Min Ki was smirking, knowing fully well how he looked and how he could affect women of all walks in life, although he would admit there was only one woman's opinion he cared about, and that woman had just carefully inspected him inconspicuously she might think but the flush of color on her neck and ears were telltale signs she was not as unaffected as she was trying to act.

"I just cannot fully believe you are here for real," Maya said a little self-consciously.

Min Ki sat down beside her and placed a palm on her face. "I'm here and if whenever you needed to see me, you can just tell me and I will be there," Min Ki promised.

Then suddenly Min Ki's hand fell away from her face. The boy sadly looked into the distance. "I tried traveling to a time when you were still sixteen, but you were aloof and would not even spare a look at any boy."

"Huh? Did you approach me?" Maya asked interestedly.

"I tried but you just looked ahead as if you saw no one. At the age of eighteen, you treat everyone around you like siblings. You smiled at me but did not actually see me," Min Ki answered reproachfully.

"Well, those are some of the difficult years for me. I needed to focus on my studies and avoid any emotional attachments. I had to finish college on a scholarship grant so I have to more or less hypnotize myself to only see what I needed to see to finish college without any kind of complication," Maya explained with a wince.

"Please wait for more years for me. I will surely come to you when both of us are of age to accept each other and ready to take on the challenges of time. Three more years top," Min Ki promised enigmatically that left Maya wondering what he really meant even when a few minutes later, the young man was gone before her very eyes. Was that a promise she meant to look forward to?