I walked back into my hotel room, shaking the snow off from my coat and winter boots. The winter hasn’t been too bad in the month I’ve been here, but today’s snow has been nonstop. Sahim and I basically ran back to the hotel once the snow began to come down; the last thing we both wanted was to get stuck in a restaurant because the weather was so bad.
My phone rings on in my coat pocket. I take it out and pick it up once I see it’s Sahim.
“Hey,” I greeted. “Made it back to your room safely?”
“Yes; frozen, but safe,” Sahim said. I laughed at his response. “How about you? You’re okay?”
“Yeah, I just have to dry my coat and boots since they are covered in snow,” I said as I moved my boots to the bathroom and placed them in the tub.
“I’ll let you relax before rehearsal tonight,” Sahim responded. “Thanks again for letting me treat you to breakfast.” Ugh. My cheeks hurt from smiling so wide.
“Thank you for treating me,” I answered back, still smiling. “I’ll see you tonight for rehearsal.” We both said our goodbyes and hung up. I look at the time on my stove to see that it’s about 11AM. Skylar should definitely still be up. I walked my way toward the small sofa and dialed Skylar’s number; this time it goes straight to voicemail. I haven’t been able to get a hold of Skylar for the last two days and it’s now annoying me. I know the time difference makes it hard for me to get in contact with my family back in America, but Skylar always makes sure to call or text me when she has the time to. I toss my phone on the sofa and let out a loud sigh. Not long after, the doorbell rings. I get up and see through the peephole that it’s Aimee. I opened up the door and greet her.
“Hey, Aimee,” I said as I let her into my room. She walks in and immediately takes a seat on the sofa. “You’re okay?”
“Girl,” Aimee said as she crossed her legs together on the sofa. “If you still drank, I would’ve had has drinking the strongest of liquor right now.”
“What happened?” I asked, walking towards the sofa to join Aimee.
“My boyfriend and I got into a huge fight early this morning,” Aimee started to say. “We weren’t on the greatest terms when I left to come here, but we were trying to work things out. He calls me this morning to pretty much break up with me and say that my career is ruining our relationship.”
“What?” I said, shocked. I briefly met Aimee’s boyfriend over FaceTime one day when we were still in New York. He seemed like a good guy and was really into Aimee from the looks of it. “Is he really blaming your career for the fallout of your relationship?” Aimee’s anger quickly turns into sadness and I immediately get up to get some napkins from the kitchen. I hand them over to Aimee and then sit back down.
“It’s not like I just woke up one day and decided this was going to be what I did for a living,” Aimee stated as she wipes her eyes with the napkin. “He met me when I was a dancer so for him to put the blame on it is really fucked up.”
“When you passed the audition, how did he react to it?” I asked Aimee, trying to comprehend the situation in its entirety.
“He was happy,” she answered, continuing to wipe the tears from her eyes. “We even went out to this fancy dinner date to celebrate and everything. He was always so supportive of my dance career so I don’t know where all of this came from when we spoke on the phone.”
“I’m sorry, Aimee,” I said as I handed her more napkins as she cried. In the back of my head, I thought about all of the conversations my mom and I had about taking dance as seriously like this. I knew it for all those years, back in Virginia, when I learned that dance was what broke my parents up in the first place. I think anything that you put above the relationships in your life are going to be challenging to maintain. I should know. “Trust me, it’s not your career that ruined your relationship.”
“I feel like all of our problems came because of my dance career,” Aimee mentioned. “We were fine when I was just at my dance academy doing small gigs and shit.”
“That’s what I mean, Aimee,” I said as I leaned forward to her. “It only became a problem when you wanted more from your career. It’s not that you were dissatisfied with what you already had in your life, you just wanted more regarding your career. You love what you do and you were wanting more out of it, and it’s not easy to maintain the relationships in your life when your career demands so much of your time.”
“Why couldn’t he said something sooner?” Aimee asked as she cried. “Why did he act like this supportive boyfriend if he really had a problem with my career?”
“Because sadly, they want to support,” I began to answer. “Until they realize that it doesn’t benefit them.” I looked at Aimee and she looked at me; we didn’t say anything after that.
…
“For fuck’s sake, pick up the phone, Sky,” I said to myself before hanging up the phone. I slammed my phone on top of the counter and sighed loudly. The moment I get Skylar on the phone, I’m directly screaming in her ear about her just going radio silent for days. Don’t let a man get you isolated from the rest of the world, girl. There’s a knock on my front door; I immediately looked at the door confused at who could it be.
After Aimee came to my room to talk about her boyfriend, I called down Maurice to come and cheer her up. Maurice always had a way to get Aimee out of any bad mood or funk. Maurice and Aimee bounce off from each other well, so I figured Maurice would be a great solution to make Aimee feel better about her breakup. Once Maurice and Aimee left my room, I wasn’t expecting anyone to come and knock on my door.
I opened the front door and my eyes immediately widen. This isn’t real; I’m totally dreaming right now. I smiled once I heard Skylar’s loud mouth as I opened the door.
“Surprise!” Skylar said with her arms open wide. I smiled and went in for a hug.
“Sky, what the fuck are you doing here?” I said, still in shock that my cousin from California is standing in front of me in my room in Korea. I look toward my front door and notice someone else standing there with luggage. Skylar turns around and extends her arm to the man standing near the front door. Shawn.
“Well, Shawn and I came out here for two things,” Skylar said as Shawn wrapped his arm around her.
“Oh no, please tell me you aren’t pregnant and did a shotgun wedding back in California,” I said, looking at them both.
“What? No,” Skylar answered. “We were planning to come and meet his family here in Korea, but since we were coming here, I wanted to come and see your show!” I was in a state of shock. It was one thing to get the support from your family by simply sending them a link to the live-stream of the performance, but to actually have someone here in person watching you from the audience; I was very emotional and did nothing but hug Skylar. Oh, and cry a bit.
“This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done, ” I said through tears in my eyes. Skylar wipes them off with her hands as I laugh, only because I’m beyond embarrassed. I look over at Shawn. “Sorry, Shawn; I didn’t mean for you to see me like this.”
“No need to be sorry,” Shawn finally spoke. “I’ll do anything that makes Sky happy.” Skylar turns around and kisses Shawn. They are stupidly in love with each other.
“I would’ve let you guys stay here with me, but this technically isn’t my room,” I joked around.
“It’s fine,” Skylar reassured. “Shawn and I booked a hotel room about 15 minutes from where the venue is. We’re staying there until after opening night and then we’re going to Seoul to stay with his family.” I nodded my head as Skylar recited her plans here in Korea.
“I’m glad that you guys are here,” I said and smiled. “Once you guys get settled in, we should go out to dinner.”
“That would be nice,” Shawn responded and looked at Skylar. “I also apologize for Skylar not answering your phone calls; I didn’t show her how to turn her services over to international until we landed.” Skylar rolled her eyes playfully.
“I’ll text you,” Skylar said as she walked toward the front door with one bag of her luggage. “I need to catch up on all of the sleep before it turns to severe jet lag.” I nodded my head, totally agreeing with her.
“Have a safe drive to the hotel,” I waved as they left my room. “I’ll text you!” I closed the door to my room and looked at the time on my stove. Shit, I’m going to be late for rehearsal.
Letters From Liz. 