“What are your wishes?” Eunyong asks. Her face is still red from crying, but she is now smiling.

“Taking a road trip.”

“That’s your wish?”

“Yes.”

* * *

“Alright, my princesses. Where shall we go now?” Jihyun asks from the driver’s seat. He is smiling, but his smile is vacant. I think he’s still in shock from Eunyong’s emotional outburst.

“Don’t you need to head back to work?” I ask.

“Well, I closed the office today. I posted a note that I had to go take a dentistry seminar.”

“You must be a good liar. Do you lie often?”

“Nope. But for you I will.”

“Ugh, cheesy!” Sol and Eunyong make gagging noises from the back seat. Without turning around, I can see the faces they are making. I feel nauseated too.

“Less lying, more driving.” Eunyong adds from the back seat.

“Well, I can’t start driving unless you decide on the destination.”

“Let’s get out of town. Taejong Beach, I heard it’s hard to get there by public transportation. Let’s go there.” Sol readily makes this suggestion, she must have thought about going there before.

I hesitate. “That’s in the Youngdo District …”

“What? You don’t like Youngdo?”

“No. I’ve been thinking about going to Youngdo. I’m just surprised that you and I are on the same page. I felt like you read my mind.”

“Is that right? Cool, telepathy!” Sol smiles her pretty smile for the first time today.

“But Sol, you said you have a class today, right?” I ask.

“I’m already late for it anyway. Whatever. Don’t worry about it.”

“Aren’t you worried about the class? I thought that’s why you were being moody.”

“No, it’s just … I’ve got a lot on my plate.”

“Like what?”

“I’m having a hard time keeping up with course loads, the Feminist Students’ Association is falling apart, one Sunbe is harassing me to join his band, but most of all: you, you troublemaker. And you, Ms. Preggers. You guys give me a headache.”

Sol points at Eunyong, and Eunyong protests. “What have I done? Yeoul is constantly stirring stuff up, but I didn’t do anything.” She changes the topic, “Anyway, do you know there’s a huge boulder at Taejong Beach that people keep throwing themselves off of? It got so bad that the city council had to post a sign to discourage suicide.”

Jihyun asks, “What does the sign say?”

“I heard it says, citizens, please think it over!”

“That’s stupid,” I sneer. I’m getting sleepy.