Page 43 of Love Hollow at Last
Emi touched the edge of her right eye with her sleeve.“You make your own soulmate,” she said stiffly.
“What?Like, out of clay?”
“It’s like making your own luck.If you live with someone for decades, take care of them, share everything with them.”
“Have a child with them?”asked Aya, hoping to cheer her friend up.
But Emi only gave a small shrug.“Sure, raise a kid with them, possibly.All of that?It adds up.And that person becomes your soulmate.”
“Well, I don’t know if Noah’s going to be quite up for a conversation about growing old together and having a bunch of grandkids we spoil abominably, et cetera,” she said, and Emi smiled again.“Especially because he thinks that his parents are spending too much time with Hana.”
That was safer territory, and Emi actually laughed.“I stopped myself from saying it earlier, but I’ll say it now.Men don’t know anything, do they?”
“No,” said Aya, glad to see the familiar sight of her mother’s house coming into view.“They really don’t.”
38
Aya
Emi and Aya were alone when they arrived, so Aya decided to seize the moment.She could head to the museum later.After two years of putting in more than full-time hours, she could use a tiny bit of the flexibility that was supposed to be one of the benefits of the job.
She was lucky, and Professor Jin answered on the first ring.
“I’m glad I caught you, Professor,” she said, almost breathless.“I’ve been thinking, and I want to go over a plan to finish my dissertation.I know my progress hasn’t been great, but I’m thankful that you didn’t give up on me.And I’m not going to throw this opportunity away.”
A moment of silence followed.“So you got my email?”
No, I didn’t, Professor.I was spending every waking moment with the same celebrity who earned me a mention in all of America’s trashiest publications.
“I haven’t been getting good internet,” she said.“I’m sorry.Could we go over it now?”
Professor Jin sighed.“The blessing and the curse of not being near campus,” she said.“Our new president is cutting the entire department.”
Aya just managed not to laugh.It wasn’t the kind of thing Professor Jin would joke about.
“Even American History?”she asked weakly.
“Especially American History.Seems he doesn’t take too kindly to anything negative being said about the United States.So Japanese American internment, naturally, is not his favorite topic.He would rather all talk of the Second World War be limited to D-Day and, perhaps, Rosie the Riveter.”
Aya’s heart fluttered.She had been blissfully going through her life, thinking the only place where she would face racist suppression of her research would be in Love Hollow.As it turned out, far away at a well-regarded Eastern university, the same thing was about to happen.
“So what happens to my doctorate?”
“If you come back to campus, you can try to finish it in a year.You won’t get any more time than that.Ten months from now, I will be out of a job.”
“They have to find something for you!”cried Aya.Professor Jin was a coup, a genius.She had turned down a great deal of attractive offers because she was loyal to their university, thanks to a scholarship she had received as an undergrad.And now this?
“I would prefer that you not worry about me, Aya,” said Professor Jin, her voice steely.“I have a great deal of research and teaching experience under my belt.But it is very important that you decide on your own course of action.”
Aya went back to what she had just heard her mentor say.“I’m sorry.You said if I come back to campus.I can’t work remotely?”
“Absolutely not,” said Professor Jin.“That’s been made very clear.To all of us.”
Finding it difficult to breathe, Aya managed to say, “Okay.Thank you.”
The harshness of Professor Jin’s voice lessened a notch.“Give yourself time to think on it, Aya.I know you have family obligations, and you may not have warm feelings toward the sort of university where this kind of thing happens.Though I fear that may be more and more places as time goes on.”
“Yare-yare,” muttered Aya.
