Day of the Invasion
Ji Hye tapped her pen on the stack of papers in front of her staring at the chicken scratches of some freshman student. She read the answer over again for what felt like the millionth time not really taking them in.
She sat alone in the large lab room. Class didn't start for another couple hours and apparently none of the young students felt like they needed to get there beforehand despite several of them being behind on their lab work.
And that's why you all keep failing, she thought as she wrote a 60 at the top of the student's paper. Granted, their parents would probably just pay off the university to give their child a passing grade so what was the point in them trying.
She threw the paper to the side. It slid across the black countertop hitting the jumbled pile of assignments she had already graded. Pulling the next paper from the top of her neat stack, she let out a frustrated groan, fingers digging into her hair. One glance and she could already tell it was going to be another failing grade. She let out a heavy exhale of breath, telling herself it was unprofessional to throw all the papers out the window, that is, if the lab had even had any. Maybe she could light them on fire instead. The lab certainly had the right chemicals for the job.
Seriously contemplating the idea, she decided it was time for a break.
She gathered the papers on the desk putting them back into one neat stack. Separating the graded and ungraded with a colorful sticky note, she slipped them into her backpack. It was now more full of papers she needed to grade than her own actual assignments.
Pulling out her phone, she left the large classroom. She pulled up the text thread she had with Ye Joon.
What are you doing?
I need a break.
Usual spot? She sent one message after the other in rapid fire. She then tacked on the messager's cat emoji haircut in a similar fashion to her own, staring at a computer with flames engulfing the whole image in rage, just so he would know how dire the situation was.
She tucked the phone back into her bag, only to immediately take it out again as her phone let out a sharp bing.
Sure. I can be there in 20 minutes.
This time she chose the cat doing a happy little dance and sent it back to him a new spring in her step.
She entered the small convenience store, the door dinging as it slid open. The guy at the register was so glued to the small television they had on behind the cash register he didn't even acknowledge her. Curious, she glanced at the television and saw that it was turned to a news channel. On it in a large banner at the bottom of the screen with the program's headline read "UFO spotted? Fact or fiction." A panel of three people sat behind a large desk talking away.
She rolled her eyes, heading to the back of the store where they kept the cold food. The voices of the panelist following her down the aisle.
"- real question is whether this is another case of the United States crying wolf. How much longer are we going to put up with these ludicrous rumors," a thin reedy voice was saying.
"They aren't rumors," a deeper voice laced with barely controlled anger said. "There is actual proof."
"Show the picture," said the deep voice.
Curious, Ji Hye turned back to the television, seeing an image of a large gray cube, high in the sky peeking through the gaps of a cluster of skyscrapers in some big city.
"Photo editing," said the reedy voice belonging to a bespectacled man so thin he could have been mistaken for a talking skeleton. Next to him sat a large man that looked like he could easily crush the skeletal man from the sheer weight of him. Ji Hye assumed that had been the man arguing for the proof of the photo.
"With technology nowadays, faking an image like this is so easy a child could do it," the scrawny man said, unwaivered by the hulk of a man across from him.
Turning back to the cooler, she picked out a triangular gimbab and cheese sausage as the panelist continued to argue. Heading back to the register, she passed the small section of office supplies and paused. Based on how much these kids were making her write while grading their papers, she would run out of ink soon. She grabbed a pen from the stack then shrugging proceeded to grab a handful. It was that kind of semester.
"This first image went viral," the scrawny guy said exasperated. "It makes sense others would copy it for their own photos." The screen was filled with images in varying locations all showing the floating gray cube in the sky.
Ji Hye placed her items on the counter, the pens rolling every which way. The sound of the cascading pens was apparently enough to get the cashier's attention as he turned towards the items and started ringing them up.
A new voice entered the fray of arguing, this one high pitched and melodic, "we've just received footage of several live videos that were recorded during the event." The lady sitting between the two men on the panelist table nodded to someone behind the screen.
The screen began playing a video of someone filming the giant cube moving over the city that was in the first image. There were several cries of alarm in the crowd, many people pointing up at it.
"Would you like your receipt?"
"No, thanks." He handed her the bag of items, turning back towards the television.
A smaller cube had broken over from the main cube and hovered to a stop above the crowd. The camera jostled as people in the crowd began to push through the crowd hoping to get away.
She exited the store, but not before seeing the cube glow a bright white, the camera suddenly falling to the ground looking up at a clear blue sky.
Stepping outside, she looked up to their own sky. It was a beautiful blue day. Fluffy white clouds dotted the sky, and a chilly breeze blew by, bringing in the beginning of fall.
Could there really be aliens hiding up there? It was improbable but not impossible. Did she really believe the video she had just watched?
She slid the pens into her bag, unwrapping the cheesy sausage. All thoughts of aliens quickly vanished as she bit into the delicious cheesy meat and soon after she was licking the final bits of the gimbap seasoning from her fingers.
The picnic tables on the way back to her building were full and several groups of students lounged on blankets. She wondered how many were skipping class right now, instead choosing to enjoy one of the final days with good weather left in the season.
Entering the engineering building, she climbed up the stairs to the rooftop.
Ye Joon sat there, legs splayed out, arms propping himself up. His head was lifted to the sun, eyes closed, and, in that moment, he was the picture of serenity. Hearing the door, he turned his head to look at her, giving her a wide lazy smile.
He patted the concrete next to him as if he had reserved the spot specifically for her.
Dropping her bag, she sat legs splayed out, matching his pose.
"Rough day?"
She groaned, "if I have to grade another paper, I'm going to go crazy." Arms sliding out from under her, she flopped back so she was lying on the cool concrete. The roughness of the concrete snagged at her black tights, and she was probably going to end up with gray streaks on her black jean shorts and hoodie, but she didn't care. She wanted to lift her arms to the sky and scream out her frustration.
Ye Joon soon followed, lying next to her, their shoulders almost touching. He didn't seem to mind that his all-white pants and top were going to get dirty from the concrete. She guessed his pants would already be dirty from him sitting there so what was a little more.
She laid there looking into the sky, trying to relax into the beautiful day, except next to her Ye Joon kept fidgeting, breaking her out of her relaxation.
She sat up and looked down at him, annoyed, "will you stop?"
"I'm sorry. Little pebbles keep digging into my back."
"Of course, they do when you're wearing a sweater like that." She picked at the "sweater" he was wearing. It was a complex weaving full of little holes that created various patterns. She didn't see how it would keep him warm exposing his skin like that. He wore a tank top underneath so that must have provided a little warmth, but the white shirt didn't allow for the pattern of the fabric to fully come through.
She shook her head. She did not understand his fashion.
Grabbing his arm, she hauled him up, so he was sitting. Leaning behind him, she brushed at the concrete, making little pebbles skitter across the rough surface.
"There," she said, brushing the dust from her hands. She again flopped back to the relaxation of the concrete.
She sighed, closing her eyes, "this is so nice."
"This is how you landed in therapy in the first place," Ye Joon said, settling back down next to her.
"Shut up," she said, "don't ruin my happy place."
A chilly breeze blew overhead but the roof's parapet protected them leaving only the warm sun rays. She basked in the warmth of the sun, like a sea lion laying out to dry. Next to her she could feel the warmth radiating from Ye Joon's body and it took all her willpower to not curl up into that warmth and start purring. The only sign that there was anything chilly outside their bubble of warmth was the slight whistling of wind as it passed by.
"That cloud looks like an elephant," Ye Joon said.
"What cloud?" Ji Hye asked, opening her eyes.
"That one," Ye Joon raised his arm pointing to a cloud directly overhead.
She stared at it and tried to picture it as an elephant. She squinted and tilted her head a bit, little pebbles scraping against the concrete as she did. It didn't help.
"I don't see it."
"What do you mean? It looks exactly like an elephant." Ye Joon sat up and rummaged in his bag until he pulled out his small sketchpad and a pencil.
Laying back down, he lifted the sketchbook and began to draw while explaining each line to her. By the time he was done she was looking at an elephant, albeit a little wonky shaped, but an elephant, nonetheless.
"Well shit, you're right. It is an elephant." She searched the skies. The clouds moved lazily overhead, bringing in a new wave of cloud formations every couple of minutes.
"That one looks like," she paused, pointing to one to their left, "a duck?"
"A duck?" he asked her skeptically.
"Yes," she said, more sure now, "a duck. Here, let me show you."
She grabbed for his sketchbook, but he pulled it out of her reach.
"No way. I'm not letting your drawings mar my beautiful pages."
She let out a sound of indignation, "fine." Pointing back to the cloud she began tracing the edges of it, "see that's where the head is, and the beak is that little piece sticking out." While he was distracted by trying to puzzle out her logic, her other hand shot out, snatching the journal off his chest.
"Hey," he exclaimed, reaching for the journal.
"Just one drawing," she turned away from him, arm outstretched in front of her. His chest pressed against her back as he grasped for the book, but it was no use. She rested the sketch book on the ground, her hand propping up the side she was going to draw on. She made her first line, a slightly wobbly but bold line that stood out against the other small sketches on the page.
"This is its back, see?" She felt the tension leave Ye Joon's body seeing that the damage was already done. His outstretched hand retracted, but he made no move to move away. His chest still pressed firmly against her back. His breath was hot against her neck as he looked over her shoulder at the small book, head propped up on his hand.
She continued to draw, "this is the head," she pointed back up at the cloud tracing the cloud with the pencil, "and this," she made a little "U" on the duck's head, "is its beak."
She held the book higher for him to see, "see? A duck."
"It made more sense when you were just tracing it in the sky."
"You try drawing lying sideways. It's harder than it looks."
"Oh, I don't know. I think this is an improvement from your bunny in a flower field."
She turned quickly, using her back to push him over. He fell back to the concrete laughing.
"You show me better," she threw the little notebook onto his chest.
"Fine, I'll draw you a masterpiece," he turned so his back was to her, matching her pose she drew in. She turned to look over his shoulder the same way he had done.
They lay there in a comfortable silence, their only company, the wind whistling overhead.
How many more days will it be like this? She wondered. She would be staying here for some time trying to finish her master's degree, but nothing was keeping Ye Joon here. He had his teaching job and helped at the art school when needed, but otherwise he stayed in his apartment painting. He could go anywhere. Surely, he would be offered a job somewhere else for much more or maybe he would go on tours displaying his art.
She laid back staring into the sky and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Ye Joon asked absentmindedly. He always knew the difference between her contented sigh and stressed sigh even when she herself wasn't fully sure.
"What do you want to do?"
Turning away from his drawing, he looked back at her, "what?"
"What do you want to do?" she asked again. "You know," she waved her arms in the air, "with life."
"I hadn't really thought about it," he paused, thinking, "I guess I can pretty much go anywhere. All I really want to do is have the freedom to create art. Why? What do you want to do?"
"Well, I have to finish my master's degree and this city has some of the best research facilities in the country, so I'll probably end up staying here."
"Well then," he grunted as he laid back, so he too was facing the sky, his shoulder slightly brushing hers, "guess I'm staying here too."
She rolled to face him, head propped up one hand, "what?"
He stared up at her, his brown eyes open, honest, and unwavering. She felt her heart speed up slightly under his gaze.
"Meeting you was one of the best things to happen to my life. I'll go wherever I need to, do whatever I have to if it means staying by your side." He gave her a small shy smile, but his eyes showed the pure depth of his emotion that his smile held back.
She stared down at him, dumbfounded.
"I mean," his cheeks flushed a bright pink, "if that's okay with you, of course."
It was. Of course it was. Meeting him, knowing him, had been one of the best parts of her life. The funny moments, the sad moments, the peaceful moments, every memory where she had been most alive had always been with him. And every memory that was still to come, she realized she wanted him in them. She wanted him and she never wanted to let go.
Before she could open her mouth to answer, a shadow fell over them as a cloud passed over the sun. She shivered at the sudden chill. She saw Ye Joon's eyes widen as he stared at her.
No, not at her, past her. She turned her head up to the sky and felt her own eyes widening, lips parted in shock.
Overhead, dark and looming, floated a gray metallic cube.