CHAPTER 196: MONDAY MORNING DECISIONS

Nina sent the email at seven in the morning. She sat at their kitchen table with her laptop open, coffee going cold beside her. Kofi was still asleep in the bedroom.

"Dear Fellowship Committee," she read aloud to herself. "Thank you for this incredible opportunity. After careful consideration, I have decided to decline the fellowship."

She hit send before she could change her mind.

"You did it?"

She turned around. Kofi stood in the doorway wearing pajama pants and nothing else.

"You were supposed to be asleep."

"Hard to sleep when your girlfriend is typing aggressively in the kitchen."

"I don’t type aggressively."

"You absolutely do. Especially when you’re making big decisions."

He walked over and looked at her laptop screen. The sent email was still open.

"You turned it down."

"Yeah."

"Are you okay with that?"

Nina closed the laptop. "I spent all weekend thinking about it. The fellowship would have been impressive on my resume. But that’s all it would have been. An impressive line that led to more impressive lines."

"And that’s not what you want?"

"I want to write stories that matter to people I can see. I want to build something here. With you, with our friends, with this community we’ve somehow created."

Kofi poured himself coffee. "Your parents will have opinions."

"They always do. But they’re not living my life."

"What will you do instead?"

"Kevin’s graduating this year. The campus paper will need a new editor. I’m going to apply."

"That’s a big step down from the New York fellowship."

"Or it’s a step toward something I actually want. Running a publication, training new writers, covering stories that affect our community directly."

Someone knocked on their door. Kofi looked at the clock. Seven-thirty in the morning was early for visitors.

He opened the door to find Jake and Ruby standing there. Ruby was crying.

"What happened?"

"Yuna’s flight got moved up. She’s leaving tomorrow instead of Thursday."

They came inside. Ruby sat on the couch still upset.

"Why the change?"

"Something about the program schedule in Japan. They need her there earlier."

Nina sat next to Ruby. "Tomorrow is really soon."

"We were supposed to have more time. I was going to make her a going-away present. Jake was writing a reference letter for her future instructors."

"We can still do those things. We just have to do them today."

"It’s not enough time."

Kofi’s phone buzzed. Text from Yuna: "Training room. One hour. Important."

"She wants to meet."

They all went to campus together. The dojo felt different knowing Yuna would be gone in twenty-four hours. She was in the smaller training room, packing her equipment into boxes.

"Sorry about the early meeting. I have a lot to handle today."

"We heard about the flight change."

"Yeah. The program director called last night. Someone dropped out, so I can start immediately if I get there by Wednesday."

"That’s good though, right? You get to start your training sooner."

Yuna folded her practice uniform carefully. "It’s what I wanted. But leaving is harder than I expected."

"You’ll be back to visit."

"Not for at least a year. The program is intensive."

Ruby stepped forward. "I was going to make you something. A drawing or maybe a small sculpture. But now there’s no time."

"You don’t need to give me anything."

"I want to. You’re important to us."

Yuna stopped packing and looked at them. "You’re all being very sentimental."

"Someone’s leaving for Japan tomorrow. We’re allowed to be sentimental."

"I guess."

They helped her pack. Each piece of equipment had a specific place in her luggage. Everything organized perfectly.

"Who’s taking over your spot on the team?"

"No one. I wasn’t officially on the university team since I was auditing classes."

"But you were our best fighter."

"Kofi’s good enough now. He doesn’t need me to push him."

"That’s not true."

"It is. You’ve developed your own style. You don’t copy anyone anymore."

The morning passed quickly. They had classes to attend, responsibilities that didn’t pause for goodbyes. But everyone’s mind was on Yuna’s departure.

At lunch, they gathered at their usual table. The conversation was subdued.

"We should do something tonight. A proper goodbye."

"I told you, no parties."

"Not a party. Just dinner. Our core group."

Yuna considered this. "Where?"

"That Korean barbecue place you like."

"That’s expensive."

"We saved the dojo. We can splurge on one dinner."

"Fine. But no speeches or crying."

"Ruby’s already crying."

"I’m not crying. My eyes are just watery."

That afternoon, Kofi had his American History seminar. Professor Chen was lecturing about immigration patterns in the early twentieth century.

"People leave their homes for many reasons. Opportunity, escape, adventure. But the act of leaving is always significant. It changes both the person who leaves and the place they leave behind."

Kofi thought about Yuna. She was leaving for opportunity, to pursue mastery of her art. But her absence would change their group’s dynamic.

After class, Professor Chen stopped him.

"I heard Ms. Yuna is departing for Japan."

"Tomorrow morning."

"That’s a significant journey. To study traditional kendo?"

"Yes."

"I spent three years in Beijing for my doctoral research. Leaving was difficult, but the experience shaped everything that came after."

"Did you regret going?"

"Never. Growth requires movement. Staying still is comfortable but limiting."

Kofi went to the dojo for afternoon practice. The team was working on forms, but everyone seemed distracted.

"Focus. Yuna’s leaving doesn’t mean standards drop."

They tried, but the energy was off. David kept glancing at the door like Yuna might walk in. The newer members whispered about whether practice would change without her intensity pushing everyone.

After practice, Kofi found Tanaka-sensei in his small office.

"You’re concerned about tomorrow."

"Yuna leaving feels like the end of something."

"Endings are also beginnings. She goes to Japan to learn. Eventually, she’ll return to teach. The cycle continues."

"But our group is breaking apart. First Jessica, then Ren, now Yuna."

"Groups don’t break. They evolve. New people will come. Different dynamics will emerge."

"I liked how things were."

"Attachment to the past prevents growth. You saved the dojo to preserve opportunity for future students, not to freeze time."

Tanaka-sensei was right, but it didn’t make losing people easier.

That evening, they met at the Korean barbecue restaurant. Kofi, Nina, Jake, Ruby, and Yuna. The table had a grill in the center where they cooked their own meat.

"Remember freshman year when we didn’t know how to use these grills? Jake nearly set his sleeve on fire."

"That was one time."

"You also dropped meat directly onto the heating element."

"I was learning."

They ordered too much food. Plates of marinated beef, pork, vegetables. Side dishes covered every available surface.

"This is excessive."

"It’s a special occasion."

They cooked and ate and talked about nothing important. Ruby told a story about her art history professor’s terrible toupee. Jake explained a new optimization theory he was developing for course scheduling. Nina complained about her journalism ethics professor who had never actually worked in journalism.

Normal conversation. The kind they’d had hundreds of times.

"I’ll miss this."

Everyone looked at Yuna. She rarely expressed emotion so directly.

"The food?"

"The normalcy. In Japan, I’ll be the foreign student. Everything will require effort and attention."

"You’ll adapt. You always do."

"I know. But this was easy. Comfortable."

"Since when do you like comfortable?"

"I don’t. That’s why I’m leaving. But I can still miss it."

They stayed until the restaurant started closing. The staff cleaned around them, clearly wanting them to leave but too polite to say so directly.

"We should go."

They split the bill five ways despite Yuna’s protests. Outside, the night was cool and clear.

"My flight’s at eight in the morning."

"We’ll drive you to the airport."

"You don’t have to."

"We’re going to anyway."

They walked back toward campus together. At the point where their paths diverged, they stopped.

"This isn’t goodbye. You’ll be back."

"In a year. Maybe longer."

"We’ll still be here."

"Will you though? Nina turned down New York, but other opportunities will come. Jake and Ruby will graduate. Things change."

She was right. By the time she returned, everything could be different.

"Then we’ll stay in touch. Email, video calls, whatever."

"I’m bad at long-distance communication."

"We’ll make you better at it."

Yuna almost smiled. "You can try."

They hugged, awkward and brief but genuine. Then Yuna walked away toward her apartment.

"That was very restrained. I expected more drama."

"The drama comes tomorrow at the airport."

They went home. Nina immediately started writing an article about students pursuing international opportunities. Kofi read for his classes but retained nothing.

"You’re worried about tomorrow."

"Everything’s changing."

"That’s not necessarily bad."

"It’s not necessarily good either."

Nina closed her laptop and moved to sit next to him. "Remember when your biggest problem was being alone in your parents’ apartment?"

"That was simpler."

"It was also miserable. You were isolated and purposeless."

"Now I have purpose but everyone keeps leaving."

"Some people leave. Others stay. New people arrive. That’s how life works."

"When did you become philosophical?"

"When you started needing philosophy."

They got ready for bed. Tomorrow would come whether they wanted it or not.

"Set the alarm for six. The airport’s an hour away."

"Already done."

They lay in the dark. Outside, they could hear drunk students returning from parties.

"Nina?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for staying."

"Thanks for being worth staying for."

It was sentimental and cheesy, but sometimes that’s what people needed.

Tomorrow they would drive Yuna to the airport and watch her leave for a new life in Japan. Another goodbye in a series of goodbyes.

But tonight they were still together, and that had to be enough.