Starry Night

twenty-nine (final chapter)

"I'm telling you, the members of Flamingo mixed their own blood into the red ink used to print the first Flamingo comic book," Jin says. "Bet you a cupcake I'm right."

It's nearly dark outside, and I'm standing in Egoistic Toys next to Jin, who is lording over a stack of boxes near the front window display. His face is animated as she talks to us. "It was in the seventies, and one of the big publishers, Marvel or DC Comics, put out a Flamingo comic - you know, makeup artists, being superheros, or whatever. And they used the band's blood in the ink. I swear it's true."

RM rolled his eyes. "Who starts these demented rumors?" he says in his British accent. "That is so not true. And it's disgusting."

Eomma crosses her arms, nodding at RM. "Can you imagine how many STDs those guys had? Who would want their tainted blood in a comic book?"

"Plenty of people, apparently, because it's a fact," Jin insists. "Ask Jungkook."

I tug a belt loop on the back of his jeans. He's bent over, half of his body inside the back of the shop's window display - a group of carved Halloween pumpkins and a black cauldron overflowing with condoms and bottles of massage gel instead of the witch's brew. Halloween was last night, so we're swapping out the jack-o'-lanterns for a Thanksgiving cornucopia.

"Did you hear all that?" I ask.

He emerges from the window display, standing up to full height. "Jin's right. A nurse drew their blood, and they flew to New York and had pictures taken at Marvel's printing plant, where they dumped vials of their blood into a vat of ink. A notary public witnessed and certified it."

"Eww," we all say in chorus.

Jungkook shrugs. "Flamingo was always doing silly, shocking gimmicks like that to sell their merchandise. They were more interesting in making money than music."

"And that's why you owe me a cupcake," Jin tells RM, his face lifting into a delighted grin.

RM shakes his fists at the ceiling. "Curse you, Rock Star Legend Game."

I'm not sure why he bothers siding against Jin. He always loses. Or maybe that's the point. All I know is that a cupcake sounds pretty freaking good about right now, and I"m wishing this window display were filled with actual candy instead of condoms. I think I've been eating too much junk food lately, which is something I didn't know could happen. But Eomma and I have been too busy to go to the grocery store for real food. Our only home-cooked sustenance has been Sunday dinners at the Jeons'.

It's been a couple of months since my dad left. He's still in Korea, and he's already in full-on Diamond Daniel pivot mode, doing something impulsive. He enrolled in a certification course for - I kid you not - equine massage therapy. That's right, he wants to move to the countryside and give horses back rubs. Hey, it's his life, I suppose. I've talked to him on the phone a couple of times, but I haven't seen him. A good thing, probably. I'm not as angry as I once was, but I don't need any more disruptions in my life.

And Eomma doesn't either. She's been busy too. Bae Wellness Clinic is now WYWS Spa. Yes, she's the one who decided to changed the name, but I was the one who suggested a moon in her new logo. Jin and Namjoon found her a new masseuse - a friend of a friend who was moving out here to Daegu, because she couldn't afford to rent in the city anymore. Seoul got Dad and exchanged him for Anna, a young Vietnamese who has an adorable fashion sense and likes to draw. Win-win.

While Eomma is busy rebuilding her business, my focus is on school. At first, I was hyperconcerned with college applications, but now Jungkook and I are starting to think about taking a year off between high school and college - a so-called gap year. It would allow me to build my astrophotography portfolio and take a Korean language class at the local community college so I can communicate better with Halabeoji. Jungkook wants to work full-time and save up some money. He wants us to go backpacking in Europe. I'm definitely amenable to this idea.