Page 100 of Signed, I'm Yours!
“Don’t you think I know that?” Mario cries into his hands, and Seojun looks from him to Bob to me.
“Why would you use it then?” he asks Mario.
“Because…” he sniffs. “My nonna. I miss her. It’s the only way I can stay in touch with her. To let her know how much money I’ve made. How many dates I’ve been on. Which is zero, by the way. Always zero.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Seojun crosses his arms and mumbles.
“That’s fair.” Mario sighs. “But I only get sixty seconds when I use my power. And we were so tight, I can’t help but conjure her at least once a week.”
Seojun grimaces.
“That’s a little deranged. How long ago did she pass away?”
“Twenty years ago. But she meant a lot to me.”
“My God, dude! Move on already. I can’t believe you’d do that to people?—”
“Dead people,” I correct him. Not sure why.
“Even so. They’re supposed to be resting in peace, and you what? Steal their bodies and use them for a coffee chat with Nonna? That’s…that’s fucking weird.”
“She’s family.”
“Yeah, but that’s extreme, isn’t it? Defiling dead people for family? You’re a little obsessed.”
“I know.” Mario drops his head and cries into his hands again. “I tried to stop, but…I’m addicted. I can’t. That’s why I kept reporting the crimes to the police.”
“That was you?” Bob asks.
“Yeah. I was hoping you’d get me sooner. But better late than never, I suppose.”
He puts both hands in front of Bob, who hesitantly cuffs him. I turn away and call for backup to pick Mario up. Someone else can deal with the wrongness of The Phantom’s actions. I’ve got a whole stack of paperwork to fill in on the case.
“That went…so not the way I thought it would,” Seojun says, standing next to me, watching Mario get taken away from his apartment.
“Me neither.” I put my arm around him and hold him close as my SPAM colleagues work around us.
We sit there in silence, but I’ve never been more at peace.
Seojun sighs.
“What’s up?” I search his eyes.
He glances at the floor next to him and pouts.
“Nothing. I was just thinking…”
“Thinking what?”
I wonder if Mario’s story has made him a little more introspective about his life of “crime.”
“I was just thinking…I want a fucking pool!”
I laugh. I’ve been holding it in for too long, so I laugh. And it feels good.
“Have at it,” I tell him and push him in. Before he can complain, I jump in right after him. Because signed or not, we go together now.
CHAPTER 21
