G : Any progress?

S : Negative.

G : Proceed to Plan B, then?

S : Plan B is a Go, Go, Go.

G : Dork.

And so, Plan B went something like so :

I told my dad I had certificate copies to submit at the immigration office, and skipped work. He nodded and shooed me off, returning to his latest thesis materials.

Mum knew. She wanted to help but this was my battle. And mine alone.

And so I arrived at the doorstep of Stephanie's house, one early Tuesday morning, ready to temporarily dethrone my ego and pride for a couple of hours.

By a couple, I meant 24.

"Mrs. Puhn, just listen to me. This is going to be a great experience. I mean, exposure, for the both of us. In both our fields of work."

Yes, her surname was Puhn.

Yes, my best friend's mother hated me enough to still not have allowed me to call her by her first name.

"A bad influence" is what I was to her. And "Mrs. Puhn" is all she'll ever be to me.

Steph got it all so much easier. When I told my mother about the idea and that Steph would be the one accompanying me, she was overjoyed. And my mum doesn't approve of many people. But with Steph, I sometimes doubted the strength of my friendship with her, over that of her's and my mum's.

Mrs. Puhn wouldn't even look at my face as she rapidly chopped away vegetables, for the coleslaw she was making for dinner.

You heard me.

Dinner.

Mrs. Puhn had been avoiding me all day and all I did in the morning was lie idle in Steph's bed, all alone in an empty house. Steph came back, from work, by evening. We spent the rest of the evening staging my confrontation of her mother. It had gone so well in front of the mirror.
She was hiding somewhere around the corner of the hallway, eavesdropping on my losing argument.

"I even have everything jotted down in a planner for you to go through. So that you'll know each and everything about our whereabouts and schedules and such. And it's only for a year."

She looked up just then. Her knife poised in an angle that didn't look very suiting to me. I gulped, and took a step back.

"You planned it? You expect my daughter to come along on a trip that you planned? Ha, never!"

"My mother! Not me! My mother! Haha! You know me, Mrs. Puhn. I couldn't plan a toilet break if I'd tried."

That was so close. Well, my mother did help me with it. So technically, I wasn't lying.

She laid the knife down next to the vegetables, and swung around in her seat to face me. This was it, Grace.

Shoulders out, eye contact and grim determination. Confidence was the key.

"No."

I think I could hear my confidence escaping me, like gas. Not that loud but definitely as obvious.

"What? But you haven't even seen-"

"I have, Grace. I've seen my daughter go from the quiet, pious child she once was, to a rebel. Not unlike you! It all started only after you moved in next to us. She was such an innocent child till then."

She was in-no-sense innocent, Mrs. Puhn. She lost it the day she got into the Halfblood fandom.

"Now, you expect me to send her on a trip with you? More than that, it's a career related programme. It's her life! And you want her to bet it all on your whim?"

My whim?

"Mrs. Puhn, I'm sure Steph told you about how extensive this graphic designing course is. They have personal tutorials with the world's top designers and it's not just on whim. It's our dream!"

She didn't say anything. Just sat there, staring off into the space behind me.

I waited for her to reach out this time. She had to know how important this was for her daughter. Maybe it was our wishful thinking too, but on a more stronger note, this trip would change our lives in ways more than one. It was everything we've ever talked about since we became friends.

She looked right at me then, eyes shining with tears.

"I can't, Grace. She's my little girl. She's never been away from home. I've never been away from her."

I understood what her conflict was then. She was just being a mother. My mother went over this for a few weeks before she gave in. I think it's because she wanted an excuse to fly across continents, but mostly because she was happy that I was finally fulfilling my dreams. So she let me go.

I walked over to Mrs. Puhn and side-hugged her. The knife wasn't at arm's reach so I was feeling unusually brave.

"Mrs. Puhn, Lanie," she turned to me with narrowed eyes, and I inched a little away from her.

"She'll always be your little girl. And I know you love her more than anything in this world. As does she. Although, she tries to act like this savage bi-"

She tilted her head upwards, as if daring me to finish that word.

"-eing most of the time. You're the important person in her life. But you've seen how excited she had been when she got the acceptance letter the other day. You've seen how much better her designs have been getting, how original and creative they are. Don't you think the world deserves to see all of that too?"

I would have patted myself on the back for that speech, if it weren't for Mrs. Puhn's still calculative look.

I scuttled away from her. Steph surely gets her scary vibes from her mother.

She looked at me for a beat longer, before going back to cutting the vegetables.

My shoulders slumped and I nearly pulled a tantrum there. After my mature oration, she still doesn't budge? What were we going to do now? I didn't have a Plan C ready.

I let out the sigh that I'd cleverly bottled away. I kinda knew this was how it would end.

"Goodnight then, Mrs. Puhn. I'm not staying for dinner. I..uh..need to go cover my dad's shift. Bye."

I grabbed my coat off the counter, and fished out my phone to send a message to Steph.

"Grace?"

I stopped and faced her. My eyes had begun to droop, but not as low as my hopes had. I felt worn out and decided to let it show.

She was grabbing something from behind the counter. A casserole, perhaps?

It was a bag. A travel purpose cross-body bag to be be precise.

"You look like a goldfish, Grace."

I would be surprised if I didn't!

"Mrs. Puhn, you-"

"Call me Lanie." And she smiled. Like, a genuine upward curve of her lips. It wasn't one bit forced.

Someone needed to record this or Steph would never believe me when I tell her about it later.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes. And I'd like you to give it to Steph yourself."

"But Mrs. Puhn, I mean, Lanie, I can't,"

She walked over to me and placed the bag in my hands. I could see the passport and some documents, peeking out through the opened zipper.

"You're a good friend, Grace."

If I looked like a goldfish earlier, I'm pretty sure I was a grinning whale now.

Steph was sprawled across her bed, staring up at the ceiling, when I walked into her room. She had earphones plugged in, so she didn't hear me enter.

The bag was strapped over my back and I took a seat on her study chair, and rolled over to the edge of her bed.

She sat up when she saw me, an eyebrow raised in question. I didn't say anything, and gestured for her to remove the earpiece.

"Well? How'd it go? I left after the part where she called us out on our whim."

"It pretty much went down after that. Like all the way down."

I looked up to see her expression but it remained unchanged.

"I have something for you, Steph."

"What?" She was lying on her back again.

"Sit up for a minute, would you?"

Groaning, she did. And pulled out her earpieces, both of them, giving me her full attention.

I grabbed her hand and placed a cushion pin in the centre of her palm.

"There. Tonight your life changes."

"Grace, did you sneak into my dad's liquor cabinet?"

"No, silly. I'm sober and serious. This pin right here," I picked the pin and poised it in the air.

Steph followed me with careful eyes, as if afraid of my next move.

"Boop!" I poked thin air with it.

"Grace,"

"Your protective bubble has been popped. Remember this day, as the day you began to live your dream."

I unclasped the travel bag from around me and placed it on the bed between us.

"Stephanie Puhn, I am hereby bailing you out of reality."

What followered next was a whole lot of squealing and rolling around in the bed, before she tackled me with a hug.

"I can't believe Plan B worked! I thought she hated you!"

"Hey! Hate is a strong word! She doesn't hate me. She even told me to call her Lanie."

I puffed my chest out in pride and she doubled over laughing.

"Get outta here!! Grace Noel, you've got some jams!"

"I know, I know. I'll take that trophy too. Now go let your mother know how happy you are. Because after that, we've got a lot of planning and packing to do. Except there's no 'we' in the packing."

"Duh! Be right back."

Shoving me to the side, she raced out of her door and I could hear her bound down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

I pulled out my phone and opened a chatbox to my mum.

G : Plan B was a success. Seoul better watch out for us.

************************************

Hello! Yes, I know another book. But I can't help it. This one is a must-write and hopefully-will-complete one. Just like the others, but still. I'd like to dedicate this one to DreamerDia for just being you.