Now my mother and sister are back, and yes... no one stopped me. I could have if I wanted to. Miriam and I are alone in the elevator. The small woman looks at me, purses her lips and shyly asks:
"Were you serious?"
"Hmm? About what?"
"Marriage."
"Yes, I am."
"Who would marry you, your secret affair."
"You would marry."
I looked at her, feeling superior because I knew the drawn paper was Miriam's.
"You wrote the secret of yourself, asking if I would marry you, and I said yes."
The small woman says nothing, just leans against the elevator wall. I, oddly, am more surprised because Miriam doesn't seem curious or shocked that I knew the secret was hers, as if she knew beforehand.
"Why did you dare write something like that on the box? Weren't you afraid that a friend would catch it?"
"No, I wasn’t afraid, because I knew the only person who would get that paper was you."
"You knew I would get it… you knew…"
"You made a wish to get my secret."
"How did you know that?"
I was about to ask, but then the elevator arrived at our floor. Miriam stepped out with a smile, and I ran after her, my heart pounding.
"Because this has happened before."
"No wonder… it feels so much like déjà vu."
"But it’s weird, when we were doing all those sweet little things last night, you didn’t feel like it was familiar, like it was the first time."
"Wasn’t it our first time?"
I got no answer. Miriam opened the door, and before I could follow her, she ran over to a friend who was giggling as she looked at the pictures on the camera. The little girl quickly snatched the camera back with a scream.
"Where is your sense of decency?"
"On Mars, I planted rubber trees with it,”
Jubjang joked, clearly amused, as Oa blushed.
"Oh my God, do you have to keep evidence of everything? You little perverts."
"What's going on?"
I acted like I had no idea, but no one explained anything, so Miriam interrupted, telling everyone to leave bluntly.
"Go home, everyone. The lovebirds want some alone time."
"So sure of herself. Oh, by the way, I had a dream last night."
Oa said, slinging her bag over her shoulder and shaking herself slightly.
"I dreamed that you and your partner were making all these little noises, hiding under the covers, right under our noses."
"Get out!"
Miriam snapped again as I turned away, unable to face Oa after that.
"Okay, okay. I just thought I'd tell you. Someone like you wouldn't do that, right, Jub?"
Oa left as Jubjang turned and smiled at the two of us.
"But you know, I wasn't dreaming. I watched all night until I heard you say... 'I love you.'"
"Get out!"
Bang...
And peace returned to us again, with our faces red. Miriam, still holding the camera, looked around unsure of what to do, then decided to sit on the couch and invited me to join her.
