UNTOUCHABLE - FREENBECKY

BREAKUP

"Freen...?"

"Hey, honey. What's up? I'm sorry for not returning your calls right away. We got up three in the morning and just got back here in the room."

"That's fine... Were you able to eat dinner...?"

"Becc, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Freen... my dad..."

"W-what happened?"

"W-we rushed him to the hospital this morning. Stroke..."

"Oh, my." Freen slides down against the bed frame. "How is he?"

"He's unstable. Half of his body is paralysed now. I don't know what to do, Freen..."

"Honey, your dad's a strong man. He'll make it."

"B-but the doctors said his chances of survival are slim. We're not even sure if he'll ever wake up again..."

Freen massaged her head with her hand. All the stress from the morning is finally taking its toll on her. However, she can't show any sign of weakness or tiredness as her girlfriend is in a bad situation right now.

"Becky, baby, you have to stay strong. Your dad wouldn't want you to see like that."

"I don't know what to do if he won't make it, Freen. I... I'm not ready for this..."

"It's going to be fine. I promise you that. He's going to make it."

---

"The man was able to make it the next morning. However, after three days, he died," said Freen sadly. She's stroking Emily's side with her thumb while the little girl is taking a nap on her shoulder. "It was tough for her to take. She's her dad's baby girl. She asked me to file an early leave so we can be together. But the earliest schedule I got was three months after her dad's burial."

"In other words, you didn't make it to the burial?" asked Nam.

Freen shook her head no. "I couldn't leave. It was a busy year for AEF at that time. We were working eighty hours a week. I rarely talk to her. And there were times she's not in the mood to talk to me. I understood. I knew she's grieving for her loss. I gave her time because I knew that's what she needs."

"Then what happened?" asked Mind.

"Two days before my scheduled vacation leave, the list of SAU passers arrived."

---

"W-we passed." Noey trembled.

"Yeah." Freen is staring intently at the paper in front of her. "I can't believe it. The exams were crazy, especially psychological tests."

"It says here that all SAU members who wish to continue will be deported to Brazil the day after tomorrow," said Noey, looking at the instructions. "There, the new SAU members will have intensive training for two years."

"Two years..." Freen stepped backward to sit on the bench. "That's a long time."

Noey sat beside her. "Yes. It's uninterrupted training. Our families won't see us for two years."

"Will you go for it?"

"It's now or never. The next exam will be after two years again."

Freen huffed. "Why is this happening to me?"

"You want to come, right? But you can't."