No one talked about it.
It seemed like the right thing to do, that everyone mutually agreed not to bring it up.
No one talked about it but everyone knew:
Han has changed.
So did everyone really.., just not like he did.
It wasn't anything drastic; it was still the same Han.
Once, when Dom adamantly refused to let anyone leave home, we noticed that Han would stare at this table. It was just a table placed far enough from the dining table but near enough to hear everyone.
He'd stare as if something might turn up. He'd look away later, frustrated.
It was only later, much later, when we understood:
That would've been Gisele's place.
It was still the same quiet Han.
Only now his silence is less peaceful and more somber.
Later we heard about his misadventures in Tokyo with a yakuza's nephew. Something he wouldn't normally do.
But Tokyo was for Han and Gisele.
Now it was just Han with a couple of million dollars in his bank account and nothing left to do. Why even bother?
It was still the same cool Han.
Only now he's less carefree and more careless.
No one talked about it but everyone knew.
That Han's silent but steady calm, a perpetual reassurance that everything will be alright, is gone the night Giselle slipped through his grasp.
No one talked about it but everyone knew.
That Han's cool and quiet was never the same.
And he was never truly home.
Now he finally is…