Back Where It All Began
Meiji - Jingu Shrine
Upon entering the giant torii gate of the shrine, she was welcomed by the familiar tranquility of the forest.
Dana heaved a ball of anxiety from her chest after taking in the fresh air. She walks slowly counting her slow breathing this time, letting her mind be an empty shell. She fought with her mother again, and the fights are getting uglier.
She linked her fingers behind her back and bent them pushing her upper body forward as she looked up the canopy of multi-colored leaves. This is her most favorite thing about autumn.
Dana saw the throng of foreign visitors probably escaping the chaos of Harajuku, since visiting this shrine would only take you ten minutes' walk from the Southern entrance of the station.
She took a left, away from the crowd to go inside the Inner Garden in order for her to reach the famous well of the shrine, believed to be a source of premium luck.
The well is easy to miss if you aren't familiar with the place, but you can always find the long line of people waiting to take a photo of the well that bubbles out a steady flow of pure water all year round. This well is whispered to bring good luck if you carry a photo of it on your phone.
This is the spot where she saw the boy in flaming orange hair, bowing earnestly making a wish. The memory brings a bittersweet smile to her lips.
She stands near the well on the ground, waits for the moment where her reflection can be seen on the clear water, then snaps a photo.
As she stepped back to give way to the person behind her, she opened her WeChat, searched for Grand's name, sent the photo she took with the message, - Good luck on your game.
---
Seoul, Korea
He is reclining on one of the sofas in the waiting room for players, along with his team. He has his arms crossed over his stomach, listening to his before game playlist that mainly consists of Epik High songs when he felt his phone vibrate in his left jeans pocket.
He reluctantly fished it out of his pocket because he doesn't want his mind to be disturbed before a game, especially a very important one. This is his first game as a team captain of his own team, he badly wants a win. He wanted to prove to Mr. Wan that he is deserving of the trust and responsibility handed to him.
But he promised his grandmother that he would reply to her messages whenever she sent one. The name of the sender isn't what he expected to see. He stares at his phone monitor, musing if he should open the message or not.
His finger hovered on the pop-up messages on the screen, decided to press it open and it showed a hole of water on the ground… with a message of wishing him luck. But really, a hole of water as good luck, he thought smirking, what a weirdo, turning his phone off.
---
"You up for a celebration for your first win as a captain of your own team?" Mr. Wan asked giving him a soft punch on his shoulder
"Boss I can still go for another five hours game, with how much adrenaline my adrenal glands are releasing," he said grinning proudly as they exit the Seoul Convention Center, the venue for this year's CTF Asia Elimination Game.
"I already booked a restaurant!"
A cheerful noise of agreement was heard from the team, as they all piled up inside the rented sports team bus.
They were shuttled to Myeongdong, the famous shopping and food street area in Seoul.
When all of the members of the team seated down and huddled up in front of the table with all kinds of meat ready to grill, Mr. Wan stood up and gave them much better news than a free meal.
"We don't have a match in the next three days, since you guys make me so proud to enter the final match as early as now, as a prize for a job well done, after your dinner you can all go shopping and have fun as you don't have a curfew tonight. Each of you will be given a $1000 shopping allowance."
The ruckus of utensils bang on the table with intangible sounds from people speaking simultaneously was heard after the announcement of no curfew and a shopping spree.
"Don't cause disturbance to other customers." Grand reprimanded the members of his team.
"The noisy ones will be in charge of the grilling," he said with a sly smile, that was received with grunting of complaint, yet no one speaks up to avoid being the griller.
Grand turned on his phone while waiting for his meat to be cooked, and saw a lot of miscalls from his grandmother.
"Excuse me, I'll have to call someone first." he excused himself from the table.
"Hey, do you think there's something between Ms. E and Grand?" Kai Hern asked, nudging Ling Chee who is busy stuffing his mouth.
"Ugh?" the only sound he was able to produce with his mouth full.
"Well, you see she quickly followed Grand as he went down," he said in a gossipy manner.
Before Ling Chee could answer, a glass of water was slammed in front of his plate.
"Drink before you choke to death." DT said, "And you stopped making stories on your own." pointing at Kai Hern.
Then he stood up, and said, "Toilet." in a grumpy voice.
Grand was about to go back to the restaurant after calling her grandmother when Ellise stopped him and asked to have a talk in private. He furrowed his eyebrows but followed her without a word.
They crossed the street to a small alfresco coffee shop, with cute red and white striped umbrellas on their table and chairs.
"What do you want to talk about?" he asked first, because Ellise just kept on twirling around the straw of her mango shake, not talking.
"Are you in a speaking term with Dana?" she asked tentatively.
"Hmm, no," he answered curtly.
"Does she always send you a message?"
"Mn."
Ellise sighs and scrunches her face in annoyance, "Then why did you give her your WeChat if you're not going to talk to her?"
Grand was rendered speechless with the question because, in all honesty, he didn't really know why he gave his WeChat with Dana when he saw Bobby getting her ID.
He was about to explain himself when Ellise's phone rings.
"It's Dana." she mouthed, before answering the call.
"Hello."
"Where are you?" Dana asked in a voice full of dread.
"I'm in Seoul."
"Like right now?"
"Yes. Hello?" she asked because Dana stopped talking, and she is just hearing some noises in the background that could be heard in an airport.
"Hello, Dana? Are you still there?" she asked once again.
"How long will you stay in Korea." Dana finally speaks up.
"Until the end of next week."
Silence.
"Uhm, I'm in Narita right now, I'm flying to Shanghai in about two hours."
"Is there something you need?" she asked quietly.
"A place to stay, since I'm running away from home!"
"Would you like to come here in Korea? Ting isn't in Shanghai right now, he's on vacation."
"I don't think I should. I'll just check in a hotel and you call me when you're back."
"No need to stay in a hotel. Send me your flight details and I will have someone pick you up at the airport."
"Okay, thank you. Sorry for bothering you."
"No need for thanks! See you when I get back!"
"Bye."
"Is she okay?" Grand asked when she dropped the call.
"Yes, she's fine. You haven't answered my questions yet," she reminded him.
Grand for the second time was caught off guard, and he doesn't think he'll be able to guess the actions of this girl ever. I mean, in this situation, his previous ex-girlfriends would probably shed tears and whine with the problem at hand, and totally forgot the previous topic.
But not Ellise.
"What's your reason why you gave Dana your contact when you don't have a plan to talk to her?" she asked, agitated.
The phone call must be a serious matter for Ellise to suddenly be in a sour mood. Grand from all his experience with girls, you tell them the truth when they're angry but silent.
"I felt guilty that Dana got lost last time because of me."
"Explain."
Now being interrogated so seriously, he feels like pouting.
"I saw Dana following me, and I deliberately took lots of turns to confuse her, then hid."
"That's very childish of you."
He blushed in embarrassment and didn't dare to explain himself.
"Dana will be in Shanghai, and I have a feeling that she'll be staying in for a long time. Don't be kind to her out of your guilt feelings. Don't return her honest and sincere feelings for you, with your half-baked emotion. She doesn't deserve that, no girls deserve that," she said and walked away.
He was left dumbfounded in that cute alfresco cafe, under such beautiful umbrellas.