【Episode 18 – Empire State Building】
The first Friday of October.
As promised, I went to the Empire State Building with Sujeong.
The building was already decorated with pumpkin-colored lights in preparation for the Halloween festival at the end of the month.
“Wow, it’s beautiful!”
It was an annual light show, but 2012 was special. Upgraded with LED lights, it caught the eye far more than before.
It wasn’t just the tourists who felt that way. When we arrived, quite a crowd had gathered, and I even saw TV reporters.
“It really is pretty. Right, Heon?”
She took my hand and wove through the crowd toward the elevator.
*
“I don’t think I ever get tired of coming up here.”
New York has many nicknames. The Big Apple, Gotham City, the City That Never Sleeps, the Empire State…
Accordingly, the symbolism of this 102-story building completed in 1931 was immense.
“Jeheon, is it your first time?”
Of course it wasn’t my first time. But the first time had been with her, too. I didn’t even want to deny that.
“Yeah.”
“Should we come again at Christmas?”
We had promised then, too. But we couldn’t come. That winter, the 2012 Nor’easter—a violent storm driven by strong northeasterly winds—blanketed New York in snow, leaving us unable to move an inch throughout the end of the year.
“Yeah.”
We wouldn’t be able to come. Only she didn’t know that…
“What should we do now? Oh, right. *The Avengers* is out. Want to watch it?”
“I need to go home.”
“Already?”
“You know I have to be in by eleven.”
“Argh, seriously. Hey, you’re not even a high schooler anymore, what’s with the curfew? Can’t you move out of that house? And what’s with eleven, not even twelve! Even poor Cinderella got until midnight!”
---*---
“I’m home.”
A little past ten, Jennifer Lin entered the apartment in East Harlem.
“You’re back? What about dinner?”
“I grabbed pizza on the way.”
“Tsk. If you’d said you hadn’t eaten, I would’ve eaten with you.”
“Order something.”
“Nah, it’s fine.”
Jennifer glanced toward Heon’s room.
“He hasn’t come back yet.”
Mia caught the look and answered.
“If he were here, I’d have already asked him to eat with us.”
“School?”
“No, I think he’s meeting someone. I heard him mention it when I saw him at school earlier.”
“Hmm…”
Jennifer didn’t head straight to her room but plopped down on the living room sofa. Normally, she would have washed up and changed first, but that day she looked tired.
“Tough day?”
“Yeah.”
“Tsk, that’s why I told you not to do the moot competition. You bit off more than you could chew.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Tell them you’re quitting now.”
“Should I?”
“Yeah. Why would you do moot court in your first year while doing a JD and MBA? You’ll have chances in your second and third years.”
“There isn’t one in third year.”
Columbia’s JD/MBA joint program differed from the regular JD track: in the third year, students usually took only MBA courses. In other words, they mainly took JD classes in their first and second years, then crammed in MBA credits in their third year.
“Ah, right. Columbia’s is a three-year program. Ugh, I feel sick just thinking about it.”
“I’m already regretting it, so don’t make it worse.”
“For all your quietness, you like working yourself to death. You never do that when you’re dating, but only when it comes to school or work.”
“Are you trying to work a relationship to death?”
“No. But when you really like someone, you might. But you’re so sharp. If one thing displeases you, you cut off guys cleanly, but you can’t do that with work or school.”
“Even by comparison, you really are something… Do we have any ice cream left at home?”
“No, none. I finished it yesterday.”
At the news there was none, Jennifer got up.
She seemed to be heading to her room, but instead picked up the bag she’d set on the chair nearby.
“Where are you going?”
“To buy ice cream. I’m craving something sweet. Want me to get you anything?”
“Are you going to Tony’s Deli?”
“Yeah.”
Tony’s Deli was a sandwich shop at the end of the street that also sold snacks and ice cream.
“Then get me a sandwich.”
“Which one?”
“Tuna melt.”
“Okay.”
“Yay—thanks, Jen.”
Before leaving the apartment, Jennifer took out her laptop and unnecessary belongings from her bag and placed them on the table. Among them were two Empire State Building observation deck tickets.
“Huh, what are these tickets?”
“Oh, right—I forgot about them. I got them.”
“From where?”
“The professor.”
“A professor gave you Empire State Building observation deck tickets? Jen, no matter how important grades are, that kind of relationship isn’t good.”
The mischievous Mia cracked a joke.
She knew it too. That wasn’t why he’d given them. Even if he had given them for such a reason, Jennifer wasn’t the type of woman to accept something like that.
“They were the prize for the criminal law quiz.”
Jennifer shook her head with a “what can you do” expression.
“Wow—your professor gives out stuff like this as quiz prizes?”
“He’d gotten them by chance and decided to use them as a prize since he didn’t plan on going.”
“Really? These must be pretty expensive.”
“Take them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I passed by a few days ago, and they’d already decorated for Halloween. Go with Mark.”
Mark was Mia’s current boyfriend.
But Mia, who had picked up the tickets with a delighted expression, put them back down on the table.
“No. You go.”
“I don’t plan on going. And I don’t have time anyway.”
“You can make time.”
“I went with you in the summer. The night view is nice, but not nice enough to make time to see it again.”
“Only tourists go there to see the night view.”
“Then what do people go to see?”
“The face of the person they go with.”
Mia wrinkled her nose with a look that said, *You didn’t know that until now?*
“I don’t have anyone to go with. Just take them.”
“Really no one?”
“Yeah. No one.”
“Then why did you take them?”
“I wasn’t interested in the prize. I just happened to do well on the quiz.”
“Wow—that sounds kind of cocky.”
“I took them to give to you. If you keep this up, I’ll give them to someone else.”
“Jen-Jen, do you perhaps have special feelings for me? I know I’m charming. And I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to love a woman. But I don’t think I’m ready yet, Jennifer Lin. And besides, as you know, I have a boyfriend right now. So, after Mark and I break up someday, then your feelings…”
“What are you talking about? You don’t need anything besides the tuna melt, right?”
Jennifer shook her head and headed for the door.
A smile lingered at her lips.
She wasn’t the type to smile easily in front of others, but she liked Mia’s silly jokes.
From behind her, Mia called out.
“Ah! Why don’t you give them to Heon?”
“Huh?”
“Give them to Heon. You owe him one from last time.”
Mia was talking about the food Heon had brought, but Jennifer recalled the day of the blackout.
It didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“He hasn’t been in New York long, so he probably hasn’t been there yet. No, wait—you two go together. That’s perfect!”
---*---
A yellow taxi stopped in front of Tony’s Deli.
“Jeheon, are you really just going in like this? It’s Friday. Let’s just stay out all night and go back tomorrow morning. Hmm?”
“Take care.”
“Ah—I really don’t like this. I’ll definitely find you a better apartment than the one you’re in before the year is over.”
“Get home safe. And thanks for today.”
Jeheon barely managed to persuade Sujeong, who insisted on getting out of the taxi, and sent her off.
He had resolved to “distance himself considerately,” but honestly, it wasn’t easy to determine where to draw the line.
*Would it be better to just put up an iron wall?*
In fact, he was practically doing that already. Even going to the Empire State Building with her today had only been permitted after refusing her request three times.
*Can she and I remain as friends?*
It might be difficult, but at least he had no intention of hurting her deliberately while distancing himself.
Having grown close over a long time, he intended to gradually grow apart.
“Heon?”
Someone called out to him as he got out of the taxi and walked toward his apartment. He turned around; it was Jennifer.
“Hi, Jennifer.”
“I was right. Are you just getting in?”
“Yeah. You too?”
“No. I went home, but then I wanted ice cream.”
In her hand, she held a bag containing a large tub of ice cream and something wrapped up like a sandwich.
“I see. Tony’s Deli?”
“Yeah. What about you? Where are you coming from? A pub?”
“No, the Empire State Building. A friend asked me to go see the night view.”
Unspoken Heart
Walking back to the East Harlem apartment after sending Sujeong off, he ran into Jennifer by chance.
“Hi, Jennifer.”
“I was right. Are you just getting in?”
“Yeah. You too?”
“No. I went home, but then I wanted ice cream.”
“I see. Tony’s Deli?”
“Yeah. What about you? Where are you coming from? A pub?”
“No, the Empire State Building. A friend asked me to go see the night view.”
“Ah… you went to the Empire State Building.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“…”
“Was it your girlfriend?”
“Huh? Ah—no, not a girlfriend. A female friend. A high school classmate.”
“I see…”
For a brief moment, a strange silence flowed between them.
Jeheon didn’t know. That she had obtained Empire State Building observation deck tickets, and that just a moment ago, following Mia’s suggestion, she had been about to ask him to go together.
“You go in first.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Come to think of it, I forgot something. I’ll head back to Tony’s Deli real quick.”
“Want me to come with?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go alone.”