Boundless

제 23 장

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ATHENA'S POV

"Josiah? Is that you?"

A familiar voice floated through the air like the scent of childhood summers.
I turned—and there he was.
A face stitched into the fabric of my teenage memories.

"Athena? No way—is that really you?"

Without hesitation, I threw my arms around him. The embrace felt strange now. We had grown older, stretched by time and distance. Yet his arms wound around me as if no years had passed at all.

"My God, Athena... you're huge," he laughed, stepping back and running his hand gently over the curve of my belly.

I smiled, the warmth of the moment softening the edge of everything I'd carried. "You haven't spoken to me since you moved schools after freshman year."

"And you—wow," he said, spinning me around like we were still in gym class. "You're glowing. Radiant, even."

"I've been back two months," I teased. "Why haven't you come to see me? I thought you knew everything already."

"If I had known you were home home? I would've come running." His laugh still held that same honeyed tone from years ago.

Just then, my mother rolled her shopping cart between us like an elegant conductor orchestrating fate.

"Well, since you two seem to have a lot to catch up on," she said, smiling as if she'd just pulled off the heist of the century, "why don't you help me out and finish this list? I've got to drop some things at the church."

I blinked. Josiah took the list from her hand with a grin. She was already gone before I could protest.

I sighed and glanced at him. "I'm so sorry. You know my mama's a little crazy."

He laughed, shaking his head. "There's no 'sorry' needed. I think I've always kind of liked your mama's brand of crazy."

I smirked, picking a can off the shelf. "You sure? You know this was all a setup, right? The call, the church run, this cart? She planned this."

"Good," he said, shrugging. "Because I've missed you."

His words quieted the space between us, like a hush over water.

He glanced at the list, then back at me. "So... where's the dad? I mean—if your mom called me, I figure there's no guy in the picture."

He always saw straight through me. Always had.

I took a breath. "He's in South Korea. Things didn't work out the way we'd hoped. We... had to let go."

"Why?" he asked, no judgment in his voice—just curiosity, deep and genuine.

I paused. "There were obstacles. Heavy ones. The kind that don't budge just because you're in love."

He tilted his head like a puppy trying to read emotion. "What kind of obstacles? His job? Was he one of those workaholic types?"

"Actually, no. Jae was a—"

"Jay? What kind of Asian dude goes by Jay? That's a Black name, come on now."

I rolled my eyes. "You're so ignorant, Josiah. His name is Jae Eun. And stop saying Asian. He's Korean. You wouldn't want someone calling you just African, would you?"

He laughed as he tossed pasta sauce into the cart. "Listen to you, defending your man. You still love him."

"I don't just still love him," I said, my voice stronger than I expected. "I'm still in love with him."