Homeless Vain

Finale

Skipping along the way towards the elevator from the entrance of the building felt like I was owning a runway nobody ever approved.

I felt alive.

It felt like everything had fallen into its right places these days, everything had worked out.

Who wouldn't be happy when such a thing happened, right?

The elevator door opened with a soft dinging from the speaker hidden somewhere I couldn't see but why the melody sounded different from the other day I came here?

Shrugging, I ignored it and went inside, pushing the button at the wall.

Ding..

Wait, it rang again and it sounded familiar.

"Silly Ivy! It's your phone," I groaned, rummaging inside my bag for the device.

Funny how I hardly could remember my ringtone. Did it normally sound like the elevator door?

What a creep taste I had.

Unlocking the phone, it wasn't that surprise by now to see this name appear on the screen. Like no one except him would be texting me.

I was about to type the reply to his text which was asking whether I was home. However, before I could even touch any button, he called.

Kevin was all about promises. He would make sure that anything he'd said would be proven. I already knew about it.

But what I didn't know during this time we were friends was, the effort he made to prove it.

It was undeniably amazing and he deserved all the respect in the world for that. He did almost everything to prove that he really really wanted me.

I wondered what would happen by now if I had restored all the feelings I had over him. Would we be a pair today?

Chanhee told me to cut him some slacks and just accept him as my person, but the very small part of me kept screaming that it was way too early.

I felt bad for Kevin but somehow I wanted to see more of his efforts to have that spark in me again.

"Ivy! Where are you? Are you alone? Or are you with someone?" he rapped in a breath, the first thing I heard as soon as I picked up his call.

"I'm outside... no, inside actually. Inside the elevator," I said and he breathed out. "What is this call for?"

"You're not replying to my text and I'm worried."

My face was judging. Though he wasn't able to see it, I was pretty sure he could've imagined.

"Bro, I was about to reply," I said blankly, scanning the LED screen which was displaying a moving upward arrow. 11th floor - it stopped there and another ding was heard. "I'm hanging up. Got a serious meeting to attend."

"Oh... okay," his tone sounded disappointing or was I just hallucinating? "Umm, Ivy, let me know when you've finished."

"Why? It's not like you're my boyfriend for you to know everything," I retaliated as I stepped out, halting my movement right there and then.

Was I too harsh?

"Hah! Correction Ms. Ivy," he yelled over the phone, startling the inside of me. "It's 'not yet' instead of 'not'."

I chuckled.

I'd been dealing with this almost every day now. He kept reminding me about that 'not yet' almost every 10 minutes. I could've expected those words to come rolling out through his tongue whenever we talked.