As soon as Miles got out onto the streets of Seoul, the night air hit him hard and cool like a reset button. He had so much on his mind, plus the disturbing ache on his ankle that left him limping from the Chairman's house.
He needed to relax so he could tackle them one after the other and there was only one way to do that. He walked half a block before stopping and pulling out his phone.
He called Elijah.
"Mimi!" Elijah's voice shot through the phone like he'd been sitting by it waiting for Miles to call. "Finally! I was starting to think you'd been kidnapped or something. Everytime I called your phone was switched off. How are you doing? How's the job? How's Korea? Are you eating? You better be eating. Are you..."
"I'm eating well, Elijah." Miles started walking again. Though he was smiling. It was good to finally hear from his best friend. "The job is... it's good actually. And Korea is well ...Korea. haha!"
"Yeah? I didn't expect much when I asked that."
Miles chuckled. Thankfully a bus was still waiting at the bus stop as he arrived there. He got on, found a free seat by the window and planted himself there, exhaling like he'd run a thousand miles.
"Wow, you sound tired. Is the job that stressful?"
"You don't know the half of it, babe."
"Wow. What's it like? Who are you working for?"
Miles hesitated. How much was too much and how much was not enough. He sighed. He needed to offload after all. What better way than with Elijah.
"Well, I'm a housekeeper Elijah. It's a private household," he said carefully. "Live-in staff situation. Nice place though. Ten story building with rooms and offices everywhere. It's like nothing you've ever seen."
"Ooh fancy. What about your boss? Man or Woman?"
Miles swallowed. "...Man."
"Yes!!" Elijah jubilated and Miles rolled his eyes. "My prayers were answered."
"You're crazy. It's not all glitter and gold. He's... intense."
"Intense? How?"
"Just..... Intense." Miles cleared his throat. "You know the type....uh, bad boy."
"Miles don't make me laugh." But Elijah was already laughing. "Is he old?"
"No."
"Is he ugly?"
"...No."
Elijah's voice shifted immediately. Miles could hear the smile. "Miles Conner. So what's the problem? He's a ten!"
"Don't."
"I'm not doing anything."
"Elijah."
"I'm just asking questions! How dangerous are we talking? Like stern-boss dangerous or like...."
Miles lowered his voice even though he was on a bus in Seoul at ten at night. "He's a mafia boss."
Silence.
Then Elijah absolutely lost it on the other end. Not a scream but a sustained high pitched noise that went on for so long Miles had to check if the call was still connected.
"Miles! Miles!"
"Keep your voice down!"
"You're working for a freaking mafia boss?!"
"Elijah people can hear yo..."
"Is he hot?"
Miles closed his eyes. He knew what Kim Hee-soon looked like but no. He wasn't going to say anything.
"That's not...you know, I'm surprised you're not worried about my safety and instead you're asking if he's hot."
"Hahaha...no don't get the wrong idea, Mimi. I absolutely care about your safety and this is a part of it. I want my brother-in-law to be capable and.... hot!"
Miles giggled. "He's my boss asshole. You're suggesting I make out with my boss?!"
"Duh! I mean if he's single that is. He's single yes? Miles?"
"Just wow!" Miles shook his head, still laughing softly.
After a long pause. "So what's the problem. You sound a little upset about something. Is the job causing you any problems?"
Miles opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
This was the part he'd been rehearsing for six blocks. The question. The one that had been sitting in his chest since day one like a stone he couldn't swallow.
"Okay so." He rubbed the back of his neck. "This is going to sound weird."
"I love weird. Go."
"You know how sometimes when you read something and then you're going about your life and things just feel....familiar? Even though they're new?"
"...yeah?"
"And it's probably nothing. It's definitely nothing. It's just your brain connecting unrelated things because that's what brains do." Miles swallowed. "Does that make sense?"
Elijah was quiet for a second. "You mean like.....deja vu?"
"Kind of. But more specific than that. Like....it's intentional almost."
"Miles are you sure you're sleeping enough."
"I'm sleeping fine..."
"Because what you just described is either deja vu or sleep deprivation and both of those have the same solution which is.... probably hallucinations."
"You think?"
"Yup! And I think," Elijah said, his voice gentle, "that you are overworking yourself. Your brain is exhausted. You moved countries, you started a new job, you're stressed. Your brain is just finding shapes in noise."
Miles blinked. That was exactly what he'd been telling himself for a week and a half, word for word. Hearing it from Elijah's mouth should have been comforting. But it wasn't. For some strange reason, it made him feel stupid.
"Yeah." He stared out the bus window. "Yeah you're right. I know. It's dumb."
"It's not dumb you're just tired. Don't be hard on yourself like that. It's happened to everyone at one point in their life, okay?"
Miles was quiet for a moment before responding. "Okay."
"Alright. And speaking of webnovels..."
"No!" The word came out loud. Very loud. A woman sitting just a few meters away from Miles on the bus flinched. Two men seated right in front of him turned to look.
Miles froze.
"...no," he said again, much quieter this time. He bowed slightly at the woman who was still staring. "S-Sorry. I'm sorry. W-Work... Phone call."
She gave him a judgemental stare before looking away.
"Miles," Elijah said, "was that an outdoor voice."
"It was a mistake."
"You yelled no at the mention of webnovels on a bus in Seoul? You've got balls haha!"
"I panicked."
"You're so normal." Elijah was laughing now, warmly. "Okay okay no webnovels. I'll drop it."
"Thank you."
"For now."
"Elijah...!"
"I'm dropping it! I dropped it. It's on the floor." A pause. "I'm coming to visit you by the way."
Miles stopped again. "What? For real?"
"Yup. I'm coming soon. I've been looking at flights."
Miles was delighted. "When?"
"Soon. I'll send you dates. Don't book anything."
Soon after he hung up and dropped at his stop.
He stood on the pavement for a moment, smiling at nothing in particular. The Seoul night hummed around him. Somewhere down the street somebody was playing music from a convenience store and it drifted over, light and easy.
He started walking home.