High Hopes by Jaclyn Jhin

Author:Jaclyn Jhin [Jhin, Jaclyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Jaclyn Jhin
Published: 2018-11-06T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“I’m glad you decided to stay.” Ian leaned back on his hands. His eyes were shut, and he wore a look of contentment. We were both sitting on a stone bench in the middle of campus, tilting our heads back, letting the sun play warmly across our faces.

This campus square and lawn had become my favorite part of Columbia University. There were multiple, miniature grass quads, each partially blocked off by little, black poles with connecting chains curving to the ground. Like outdoor classrooms, each quad possessed a tight circle of students pouring over textbooks or creating mnemonics for their next exam. The sun, a pleasant breeze, and the scent of freshly mowed grass lightened everyone’s mood. People here were definitely more relaxed than the hyper-focused coeds in the school library. I loved sitting here, people watching, listening as they chattered about molecular biology as if it was the most exciting thing in the world.

The main walkway ran past the bench where Ian and I sat. Made up of red and gray brick squares looping inside each other like an artistic maze, at the center of the walkway stood a concrete fountain with a circular base and a wide, water-filled basin. Here, I watched as a girl paused, put a penny to her lips, gave it a kiss, and flipped it into the water.

“Do you think they had that in mind when they designed the fountain?” I asked.

“Could be,” Ian said. “Columbia students are wound so tight. Maybe someone thought they could stand to have a little bit of fun.”

“Let’s give it a try,” I said with a giggle. Taking a penny from my wallet, I stood up from the bench, walked over to the fountain, paused for a moment, then tossed it in. “Let’s hope it works.”

“What did you wish for?”

“If I tell you, it won’t come true!”

“Come on,” he teased. “I hope you didn’t waste it wishing for good grades.”

“No. I wished that all the days this summer will be like today. Beautiful weather. Relaxing and carefree.” I returned to where we were sitting and stretched out my arms, hoping the sun might turn my flesh golden tan. Maybe I didn’t need a magic fountain, because already I could tell this summer in New York City was going to be glorious. I looked up at the sky. It seemed like some cosmic-scale artist had mixed dozens of different shades of blue, from robin’s egg to royal, and splashed them across the heavens. Wispy clouds hung there like spun sugar, and a jetliner’s contrail made a straight white slash.

“Ian, I’m glad I decided to stay, too.” I put my hand on Ian’s. “But how you managed to convince Halmuni ...”

Ian laughed. “Now, that was a team effort.”

I nodded. “Quite a team we make.”

Ian turned and gave my hand a squeeze.

A week earlier, Ian had sent Halmuni a basket of gourmet goodies and a pricy bottle of Soju along with a note saying, “I look forward to meeting Kelly’s Halmuni.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.