Chapter 4
Dating Coach
Julia
Julia had a killer hangover.
She wasn’t a big drinker in the first place, but mixing alcohols and using liquor to dull the stress of bad decisions was
not a good idea. Noted.
She’d woken up in her childhood bedroom with her clothes from yesterday still on, her makeup melted down her face, likely
taking residence in all her pores, and the taste of death in her mouth. She barely remembered anything from the night before.
“My dying wish . . .”
Julia groaned as she rolled out of bed, wishing she had forgotten all of it.
Despite having a to-do list a mile long and needing to get back to LA to take care of it, Julia was up and at ’em at eight
in the morning on a Sunday, ready to take her grandma to the herbalist before church, per her request. She wasn’t going to
miss out on any other appointments regarding her halmoni’s health. She would be at every single one to hear the details and
plan next steps.
Dying wish. As if. Not on her watch.
Julia’s shower was cut way too short by the blast of cold water against her skin.
Her parents hadn’t gotten the water heater fixed like they were supposed to.
Julia would have to be the one to call someone tomorrow, as it was clear just handing a phone number of someone to her parents wasn’t going to get it done.
“Julia, good, you’re awake and ready. Let’s go outside.” Her grandmother was dressed in her Sunday best, a floral linen top
over pink polyester pants, the elastic waistband rolled over two times to shorten the length. She had on mismatched socks,
and one of the gift-wrap bows from a birthday present she’d unwrapped last night was pinned to her lapel. She was perfection.
Julia gave her a kiss on the head before heading out.
As they walked through the front yard, Julia took out the keys to her new Porsche and beeped it unlocked. She dug through
her tote bag, looking for her sunglasses and lip balm. She’d need both to get through this day.
“Thank you so much for driving me today,” her grandmother said.
“No problem,” Julia said.
“No problem,” a male voice said at the same time.
Julia whipped her head up at the unexpected sound of another person in their conversation—just in time to see her grandmother
crossing the quiet residential street heading straight for their neighbor’s house and the car parked in the driveway. And
standing there waiting for her was a tall, broad, very handsome man in a gray T-shirt and jeans.
Julia pulled down her sunglasses to get a better look and then quickly crossed the street to chase down her halmoni.
“Good morning, Tae.”
“Good morning, Halmoni. How’s it going, Julia?”
“Uh, hi,” she answered. Tae. Tae. Tae Kim. Taehyung Kim. The kid across the street. The man in the playground in her dream
last night. Wait, what?
“Halmoni, we need to get going if we’re gonna hit up the herbalist before you all leave for church. Where is his store?” Julia walked up and took hold of her grandmother’s arm, gently trying to direct her back across the street toward her car.
“Tae’s driving us,” Halmoni said.
She bent down to whisper into Halmoni’s ear. “Why? I thought I was taking us?”
She looked back up at Tae who leaned against the car, waiting with the door open.
“Thank you, but you don’t have to come. I’ve got this,” she said to him. She hadn’t seen Taehyung Kim in years. But Julia
had the oddest feeling, almost like a hazy memory, that she’d just talked to him recently. She was truly hungover.
“Good to see you again, too,” he said with a smile. “And your grandma asked me to take her, so why don’t you guys get in and
we can go. As you mentioned, we don’t have a lot of time, and it’ll take us at least fifteen minutes to get to Garden Grove.”
No fair, he already knew where the herbalist was located.
“Tae will drive, and Julia will come along and pay for the herbs. It’s settled. I need you both. Let’s go.” Her grandmother
shuffled past Julia and sat in the car behind the front passenger seat as Tae shut the door. He grabbed the handle of the
front door and opened it for Julia.
Julia was not at the top of her game this morning and did not have the energy to argue. But this all seemed a little overkill.
Why would Halmoni ask the neighbor to drive her when Julia was right here?
Julia got in and put on the seat belt.
“Good morning, Julia.”
She yelped as she realized there was another person in the car in the back seat with her grandmother.
“Oh, uh, annyeonghaseyo” she said, bowing awkwardly to Mrs. Kim, Tae’s mom. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were in the car.”
“Yes, it was fortuitous that Tae was taking your grandmother to the medicine store today because we needed some things too. I read in the Korean newspaper about a tea that helps with constipation. I’ve been wanting to try it.
And, of course, we have to get our herbs that help the body fight the cancer for Tae’s dad. ”
“No need to recite our shopping list, Mom,” Tae teased. He reached his right arm behind Julia’s seat, leaning her way as he
looked over his shoulder and backed out of the driveway. God, he smelled good. Fresh, clean, like soap and a perfect spring
day. Julia needed to figure out what the combo was for future product testing. She wanted to bury her face in his neck and
take another whiff.
Julia probably still had the smell of makgeolli and regrets coming out of her pores, despite the shower she took this morning.
She leaned away from Tae, just in case.
As the two women talked in the back seat, it suddenly occurred to Julia that maybe her grandma’s urgent need to get to the
herb shop today might also have to do with the something the doctor found at her last visit. The increasing tightness in her chest signaled an oncoming panic episode. She placed
her hand over it and rubbed.
“Hi.”
The deep voice and kind greeting pulled Julia from her darkening thoughts. She looked over at the driver, Tae, amazed at how
much he’d changed. His body had definitely filled out, and the softness in his face had been replaced by sharper, chiseled
lines and angles. Grown. Different, yet so familiar, as if she’d just seen him yesterday, though it had to have been years
since they last talked.
“Hi,” she said back. “Sorry about the mix-up this morning. I don’t know why Halmoni would bother you on a Sunday to take her
when I already planned to.”
“No worries. We were already planning on going, so it’s no inconvenience.” He spoke with authority and confidence and warmth. He seemed so much older than she’d remembered.
“I can’t get over how much you’ve grown.”
Tae cocked his head and furrowed his brow, as a confused but amused smile spread across his face.
Something about this whole conversation felt . . . familiar. Did he feel that too?
“I was so sorry to hear when your dad got sick again. But my mom tells me he’s in remission and doing well? It’s so good to
hear,” Julia said.
“We got your flowers and the amazing gift basket. That was really thoughtful. But yeah, he’s doing okay. Pretty proud to call
himself a two-time cancer survivor. Not gonna lie, though. I’d be happy if he left it at that and lived the rest of his life
healthy.”
Julia listened and nodded. She wondered what it took to survive cancer not just once but twice. She looked back at her grandmother
talking animatedly with Mrs. Kim. She’s a fighter. She’d survive whatever it was she was facing. Right?
Julia needed to get on the phone tomorrow with the doctor’s office and see if they could get the follow-up appointment scheduled
sooner rather than later. All this waiting around and not knowing was rough.
“Is there really something at the herb shop that works on cancer?” Julia wondered out loud.
Tae shook his head. “Pain management and just general health. My mom swears by some of the concoctions the herbalist puts
together. I just think whatever keeps them positive and hopeful when they’re sick is worth it.”
Julia didn’t expect the lump forming in her throat. She would need to brace herself for whatever came their way. And try to
stay as positive as Tae. “That’s a great way to look at it,” she said.
She liked him. She made a note to herself to make sure to be better at keeping in touch this time.
The dark, dingy little store tucked away in the corner of a run-down strip mall surprised Julia. “Are you sure everything they sell here is legal?” she whispered under her breath.
She not only heard the deep chuckle from behind her as she walked through the front door . . . she felt it.
“Hello, my friend. Welcome, good to see you,” the tiny old man said as soon as he saw Julia’s grandmother.
“No time for chitchat, Mr. Choi. We’re in a hurry and need a lot of things.” Halmoni passed over a wrinkled piece of scrap
paper with Hangul characters scribbled haphazardly all over every inch. “I’ll need all of this,” she instructed.
“And I’ll need this.” Tae’s mom passed over her own list, hers much neater and seemingly more organized.
“Yes, yes, I’ll get on this,” the old herbalist said.
“What are you getting?” Julia asked her grandmother.
“Just some usual ingredients. And a few new ones to try.”
Her grandmother, once a famous herbalist herself back in Korea, still dabbled in medicinal recipes apparently. Growing up,
Julia would listen to her stories about how she’d healed many illnesses by coming up with just the right concoction to help
people. Julia often wondered how much regret was buried down deep in her grandmother’s heart having given it all up to marry
her grandfather.
Julia walked around the small store, peeking at jars filled with dried and preserved plant life. She gently dragged her fingers
across the small drawers of the apothecary cabinets against the walls. The place reminded her a little of their storage shed
where Halmoni stored a lot of her things. Julia remembered as a child spending time with her grandmother, grasping the bronze