Chapter 14 Demo Days #2
Her grandmother wiped some drool off her chin with the sleeve of her sweater and took another sip of champagne, apparently already her second glass based on the empty one Julia saw at her station.
“Let’s try this pink bottle here,” Halmoni said to Esther.
Esther looked pale and shaken by the scare.
But to her credit, she nodded, straightened her spine, and grabbed the pink bottle.
Julia had to remember to keep her eye on that one.
She was going to do well in this business.
Suddenly, at that moment, all of Julia’s adrenaline crashed and she swayed, feeling unsteady on her feet. A second ago she’d
been scared shitless that her grandmother had had a heart attack or something. But she was just champagne-sleepy. Great.
Tae grabbed Julia’s elbow and steadied her. Julia leaned into him and closed her eyes.
“Easy, Julia,” Tae said softly into her ear.
“Taehyung-ah, go take Julia to sit down. Seems I gave her a little scare. Take hold of her hand in case she gets dizzy again,”
Julia’s grandmother suggested, raising the pink bottle up to her nose to smell the contents.
“I’m okay, I’m fine,” Julia said.
“She’s right, Julia. Come sit down,” Tae insisted.
“Her hand, Tae. Take hold of her hand,” her grandmother said, “for balance.”
Tae grabbed Julia’s hand and led her to one of the empty stations. His was warm and slightly roughened, likely by all the
work he’d been doing as of late.
Julia plopped into the chair. She looked back over at everyone, curious eyes all on her, and just smiled and nodded, encouraging
them to go back to what they were doing. “Everything’s okay, everyone. Continue on. Let’s bring in the masseuse as well,”
she said, trying to get the attention off her and her overreaction earlier.
When she turned back around, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She looked pale and clammy. Great.
“Hey.” Tae held her chin gently and lifted her face to meet his. “Are you okay?”
Julia held his gaze. It felt like an electrical socket that she could plug into and take energy from. She felt steadied by
his presence. She was strengthened by it.
“I thought she was having some kind of episode or was sick,” Julia said. Tears welled in her eyes.
Tae’s eyes never left hers, even when the first tear finally dropped, and even when his thumb moved across her cheek to gently
wipe it away. The motion so familiar for some reason, like Tae had been wiping away her tears . . . and her fears . . . her
whole life. He had her.
“She’s okay, Julia. She’s just . . .” He pressed his lips together and the sides of his eyes crinkled as he tried to hold
back a sudden laugh. “Your grandmother is just . . . tipsy.” His shoulders moved up and down, and he finally broke eye contact
as he dropped his head, hiding his laughter.
“Fine, fine, laugh all you want. I probably should have known when she burped. But it wasn’t until she hiccupped that I caught
on.” Julia caught the bug and started laughing too. It was all so ridiculous.
“You okay, boss?” Annette came over to check on Julia, passing her a bottle of water.
“Yeah, I’m good. Just a little false alarm. Thanks for rushing over. I panicked and wasn’t sure what to do.”
“No problem. I saw Tae meeting with the concrete supplier in the main conference room. So, I grabbed him too. I ran behind
him the whole way,” Annette said, turning to Tae and giving him a wink.
Julia started to respond, but she gave up and shook her head instead.
“Oh, I meant to tell you, they have the gel glass skin face masks ready if you want to have them tested today too,” Annette
said.
“That’s great, yes. Can you bring a box in?”
Annette nodded and left to grab the product.
“That’s my cue to leave, I think,” Tae said.
Julia grabbed Tae’s arm before he could get away. “Oh, no you don’t. I need you, Tae Kim. You aren’t going anywhere.”
“Gahdisfeelzmazing,” Tae mumbled through the face mask now dried and tightened on his skin.
Julia had spread the gel mask all over Tae’s face, and they sat and waited as it hardened. After fifteen minutes, the masks
could be peeled off, removing excess dead skin cells and dirt, also cleaning out pores. It was like a Bioré nose strip, except
for the whole face.
Julia laughed as Tae’s expression froze under the hardened mask. He could barely move his mouth to talk.
“Wazindis?” he asked. He raised the tube up to look at the ingredients list.
Julia, of course, knew exactly what was in it. Charcoal, aloe vera—
“ZNAIL?” Tae screeched. “Zherezsnailindiss?” His eyes shifted to look at Julia. They were wide and wild.
Julia barked out a laugh, followed by a snort. She quickly covered her mouth. Oops.
“Yes, there’s snail mucin in the gel. It’s all the rage in Korean beauty products. Didn’t you know this?”
Tae shook his head wildly. He seemed like he might get sick.
Julia grabbed his hand and squeezed. “It’s gonna be fine, Tae. Snail mucin is essential for skin nutrients and is the much-needed
ingredient for attaining the Korean glass-like complexion. It also repairs skin damage from the sun. It’s good for you, considering
how you work outdoors so much these days.” Julia smiled, trying not to laugh.
“Glazlikecomprection? WhydoIneeddat?”
Julia let go of his hand and patted his shoulder. She fussed his hair a little and smiled. “You’ll get to peel it off in a
couple minutes, and that’s the fun part. It’s satisfying to watch it peel away all the yucky stuff, you’ll see,” she said.
She left him there with snail sludge on his face to go and check on her other guests.
Sonia’s mom was chatting with Julia’s. Her grandmother was talking to the aunties all about how good the face mask felt, while poor Esther was trying to get Halmoni to settle down and let the mask actually set.
Sonia and Rachel were refilling their champagne glasses and talking, heads together, over by the refreshment table.
“What are you two whispering about?” Julia asked as she walked up to check on them.
“These new products are all so great,” Sonia said. “I peeled my mask off in one full piece, and Sunny, my attendant, said
it’s a sign of good fortune.”
“Yeah, she lied. But I like that as a marketing angle,” Julia said.
“I’d say the day has been a success, yes? Other than your grandmother’s unfortunate little quickie nap earlier,” Rachel said,
eyes dancing.
“Har har har. She scared the shit out of me. I thought it was a sign she was dying . . . like right here, right now. I cried,”
Julia whined.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. That had to have been scary,” Sonia said. “But my God, can that woman burp like a sailor.”
The three of them nodded in agreement.
“By the way, I caught that long gaze you and Tae shared,” Rachel said.
“I mean, it was this close to being inappropriately long,” Sonia said, pinching her forefinger and thumb together.
“No, it was way past inappropriately long. It was like rip-my-clothes-off long,” Rachel added.
“I had just had a big scare, okay? I’m so thankful Tae was here. I needed a friend to settle me down,” Julia said, giving
a side-eye guilt trip to each of her best friends.
“I’m just sayin’ . . .” Rachel started.
“Nothing good comes from when you start a sentence with I’m just sayin’,” Julia interrupted.
Rachel shrugged. “It was kinda hot how he raced in here, checked on your halmoni first . . .”
Sonia sighed loudly, clasping her hands together at her chest.
“And then doing a very thorough once-over to make sure you were okay,” Rachel finished.
Julia had noticed how Tae checked on her grandmother right away. She was incredibly touched by that. He was such a good guy.
A real family guy.
She looked over her shoulder to the makeup station where he was sitting. He was trying to peel off the mask, but instead of
gently doing it in one large piece, he’d impatiently peeled off tiny flecks and strips. He was a mess.
Julia turned to go and help him.
“Get it, girl,” she heard Sonia say behind her.
Damn those snail face masks and long gazes.