He let out a laugh, shaking his head. “You’re strange, Mina,” he said, giving my hand a gentle squeeze before pulling away and sliding a few inches away from me. The distance that friends sat, not boyfriend and girlfriend.
“I’ve been called worse,” I said, shrugging.
Jihoon nodded like he didn’t really hear me, staring at a family of ducks bobbing down the stream. After a moment, he let out a sigh and his gaze dropped to his lap. “It’s because of Yejun, isn’t it?” he said.
I grimaced. “Yes,” I said.
Jihoon nodded, like he’d expected it. “I hope he’s good to you, Mina.”
I turned my gaze to the sky that for once wasn’t covered in smog, the stars so stark and perfect against the velvet night. There, mockingly bright, was Horologium, Hong Gildong’s favorite constellation. Maybe I would always see it etched into the sky, as if he was watching over me, hunting me down no matter where I went. My mind traced the empty space between the stars, filling out the pendulum, the six prickly stars curved into an L. Almost like a scar…
Or a signature.
I sat up straight. “I have to go,” I said. I had to find Yejun and get to headquarters. If I couldn’t find Hana in the past, there wasonly one more place I could find her—in the descendants’ records. The kind of records that only Hong Gildong could unlock. That was, unless someone else knew his signature.
“Okay,” Jihoon said, standing up stiffly. “Do you want me to walk you home?”
I shook my head. Even now, he was too nice. Before I could forget, I took his bracelet out of my bag and held it out to him.
He shook his head. “It’s for you, Mina.”
“But I’m not…” I looked down, a thousand thoughts blurring in my mind.I’m not the person you deserve. I’m not who you thought I was. I’m not even Mina Yang.
“It’s not like I could give it to anyone else,” he said, smiling softly. “‘Beautiful jade,’ remember? It’s yours.”
I closed my hand around the cool beads. “Thank you,” I said, for what felt like the thousandth time.
Jihoon moved to hug me, then hesitated, taking an awkward step back. He pressed his lips together as if contemplating something, then held out a stiff hand.
“A handshake?” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“Should we just bow instead?” he said with a laugh. “I don’t know how to say goodbye to you.”
“Then don’t,” I said. “Goodbyes are sad anyway.”
“Right,” Jihoon said. “Not goodbye, Yang Mina.”
“Not goodbye, Kim Jihoon,” I said.
He bowed stiffly, then pushed his bike the opposite way down the path. I slipped his bracelet back around my wrist, a relic of the life I once thought I’d have. I closed my eyes and felt nothing but the coldness of the beads, tight against my racing pulse.
Police had blocked off the main road to headquarters for the political rally, so I had to weave through side streets, cutting down on whatlittle time I had left. I fought through the crowd but came up against a metal barricade. I would have to go through the rally to reach Yejun at the meeting spot.
I ducked into a clothing store and scanned the shelves for a sweatshirt I could steal. I needed something with a hood so the supervising agent wouldn’t spot another Mina and realize something was amiss. As the employee at the counter headed to the back, I reached for a pink sweatshirt. It looked baggy enough to hide me and had an oversized hood that would cast shadows over my face.
As soon as my hand closed around the fabric, I froze.
I remembered Hana, a gun in her hands, wearing a baggy pink sweatshirt. Was this the same shade? It was hard to say, since Hana had been standing in the dark when she shot me.
But had it really been Hana at all? If I’d left myself the note in my apartment, maybe the shooter had also been one of my Echoes. My fist clenched tight around the sleeve, stretching the fabric. That moment was all I had left of Hana, and now it might not even be real.
I drew my hand back, then turned and pulled a blue sweatshirt off its hanger and hurried out the door.
I set down my bag outside and tugged the sweatshirt over my head, letting out a breath once I was safely swathed in blue—not pink—fabric. I might have tricked myself into writing Hana’s note, but there was no way I could accidentally shoot myself. I didn’t even have blank rounds on me.
The flow of the crowd carried me near the stairs where the other Mina and Yejun were standing. I didn’t want to get any closer and alert the supervising agent, but it was the only way through. Maybe I would even get a better look at Hana this time before she ran off. I wanted to catch her and never let her go, but it was dangerous for her to show herself at all, much less in front of a supervising agent, and the last thing I wanted was for Hong Gildong to apprehend her because of me.
The crowd grew denser so close to the front, and I couldn’t force my way through no matter how hard I tried. I would have to wait until everyone started running to make it to the other side.
