Chapter 18 The One #2
Julia’s mother looked over her shoulder at Julia, trying to look completely innocent. But she couldn’t hold it in any longer,
a huge smile spread across her face. She rushed up to her side, wrapping both hands around Julia’s arm, eyes dancing.
“I was going to wait till dinner to tell you. But I can’t hold it in. We found him, Julia. We finally found him.”
“Who?”
“The One. We found The One.”
The One? Was it a long-lost uncle Julia hadn’t known about? Some K-drama star whose show finally was available to stream in
the States?
“The man that is perfect for you.”
Julia dropped her head and groaned. Thirty years of bad dates punctuated by two terrible, failed setups. Julia was at her
wit’s end. “Mother, listen to me. There is no such thing as The One. There is no man perfect for me. I’ll be lucky to find
Good Enough.”
Julia turned to see the corners of her mother’s mouth turned down. All the light in her eyes, just seconds ago, vanished.
Damn it. Julia let out a sigh. “But maybe this guy is different . . .”
“Oh Julia, he is, he is. He’s . . .” Her mother took a deep breath in, clasping her hands at her heart. Julia knew exactly
the next words that would come out of her mouth. These were the only ones that could cause this much hope, delight, euphoria.
“He’s a doctor.”
Bingo.
“Who’s a doctor? Is he any good?” Tae walked up looking none the worse for wear after his meeting with Julia’s grandmother.
“I’ve been having some muscle aches in my back . . .” Tae put his hand to his lower back dramatically and bent a little bit.
He glanced up at Julia and winked. He was here to rescue her. God bless him.
“Really? Oh, Taehyung-ah. Sit here. Let me go get a Salonpas patch. Take your shirt off.”
“Mom.”
“Oh, thank you, but please don’t fret. I think a hot shower tonight will help,” Tae said.
Julia looked over at Tae and tried to push the thoughts of him in a hot shower out of her mind. She was failing.
“Mom, can I call Appa and Halmoni for dinner?” she said, quickly changing topics.
They all sat down to dinner, and Julia reached into the many dishes to fill her plate. Her mom watched her in awe.
“What? I’m trying more Korean food lately. Tae helped me figure out some stuff to taste, and I like it.”
“But, Julia, that’s spinach,” her mom pointed out, brows raised, mouth dropped.
“I know, it’s a miracle. Go figure.” Julia shrugged. “Dad, can you turn up the volume on the TV? Tae, look, it’s SEVENTEEN.”
The television was always on in Julia’s parents’ house and always playing some kind of Korean programming. Julia just never
paid attention. Now, surprisingly, she found herself recognizing things on the screen.
“That’s a Korean music group, Julia. I don’t think you know them,” her dad said.
“Oh, Julia is a big fan of Korean music now. Julia, sing them that trot song you love so much,” Tae said, eyes dancing at
Julia. She narrowed hers back at him. But she had no shame in this game.
“Oh yes, it goes like this. Jin jin jin jin jin e-ya . . .” she sang. Suddenly, her mom, dad, and grandmother all joined in, filling in the lyrics Julia didn’t know. Tae jumped in
as well, all of them singing and shimmying at the dinner table, laughing.
“Oh, this is so fun. Thanks for teaching our Julia so many wonderful Korean things, Tae,” her mom said.
“It’s good to try new things. Food, music, or even people you might never have considered you might come to really like, maybe
even love. What was once something you barely noticed may become your very favorite,” Halmoni said.
Julia looked over to her grandmother. Sage words. And true. Julia never would have known how tasty eggplant could be if Tae hadn’t encouraged her to try it.
Her grandmother met Julia’s eyes with a steely gaze, held them as if trying to convey a very important message, and then broke
the connection. Julia watched as her grandmother’s eyes scanned the table and landed on Tae with the same laser focus.
“What’s most important is that you have fun and feel good about yourself,” her grandma said, still staring at Tae. That was
odd.
“So, Julia, as I was telling you, we found The One. Joshua. Joshua Park. Dr. Joshua Park,” her mom explained.
Well, there went Julia’s appetite.
“He’s a famous surgeon in Korea. He’s still very young, though. He went to Yonsei University.”
“You are not flying a man to California from Korea to go on a date with me,” Julia insisted.
“Oh no. We have the very good fortune that he is here in Los Angeles for a few weeks for a consultation. Can you believe it?”
Her mom could barely contain her excitement.
Julia tried to smile, she really did. She could feel the skin around her mouth stretch, so maybe she was succeeding.
“Julia, I talked to my friend, you know Elder Chung at church? He knows this young doctor and spoke highly of him. He says
that he is very nice and smart. Well-respected in his field.” Great, her dad was in on it too. “And tall.”
“Why would I go on a date with someone who’s from Korea?” Julia asked.
“We’re all from Korea,” her mom said.
“That’s not what I meant. I could never be in a long-distance relationship with someone who isn’t even in the same country
as me.”
“Well, he’s considering taking a position at Cedars-Sinai hospital. So he could be just a short drive away. A doctor!” Her mom could barely contain her excitement.
“What do you think, Tae?” Tae and Julia both jerked their heads up as her grandmother turned the question to Tae. “You know
Julia best.”
“Um, I think maybe I know myself best,” Julia interjected.
“Why would Tae have an opinion on this? We don’t need to bother him with Julia’s love life,” her mom added.
“I’m asking Tae what he thinks. I’m curious. Should Julia go out with this famous doctor from Korea?” her grandmother asked
again.
Tae set his chopsticks down and placed his elbows on the table, his intertwined hands at his mouth in thought.
Please save me, Tae, Julia begged silently.
“It wouldn’t hurt to meet him,” he said. “I mean, since you still have a third setup date to experience.”
That traitor.
Julia let out a frustrated growl. “Fine. But this is the last one. After this, I’m done. I’m free. Unless . . .” Julia directed
her attention to her grandmother. “Unless there’s something that would make me feel guilty enough to decide otherwise. Any
such thing, Halmoni? Anything at all?”
But her grandmother simply looked down and continued to stuff her face with heaping spoonfuls of food, content as could be.
“Julia, we feel very good about this one,” Julia’s dad said.
“Oh, but there’s one thing. He doesn’t speak English,” her mom added.
“I’m sorry, but how is this not going to end up a disaster?” Julia dropped her chopsticks. “I don’t speak Korean very well.
How are we going to even communicate?”
“Well, I thought maybe I could go with you?” Julia’s mom suggested as if it were completely normal to have your mom chaperone
and facilitate discussion on a first date.
“Absolutely not. I have some sense of self-respect and pride. I’m not taking my mother on a date. No way. I’ll just use Papago, or I just won’t say a word.”
“Tae will go.”
All eyes turned, yet again, to Julia’s grandmother.
“Halmoni, you can’t just throw Tae’s name out there like he’s on call for this family. He has his own life. He doesn’t need
to babysit mine.” How could Julia even focus on anyone else if Tae was there too?
“Tae, will you go? Will you go with Julia on this date to interpret and make sure she has a good time?” her grandmother asked
him directly.
Tae’s throat moved as he swallowed what she was certain his lifelong regret of ever having met Julia’s family.
Julia looked at Tae, her eyes wide and wild, head shaking furiously. You can do it, Tae, she encouraged. Just say no. Just say no.
“Tae, you don’t have to . . .” she said.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“Sure, I’ll go.”
“Are you nuts? You are not coming on this date with me. No way. I can’t even believe my family asked this of you. I know you
always say yes to everybody, but to this? Stop letting people walk all over you, Tae. You’re not doing this.”
“Don’t make this about me, Julia. Your family is trying to do a nice thing. They’re doing this for you. And just because you’re
dead set on believing you’re going to mess this up, you won’t even give it a try. Maybe this doctor is The One. How can you
know if you don’t meet him?”
The words stung. If Tae was this up for trying to get Julia with this doctor, it clearly meant he had no interest in her himself.
She hadn’t anticipated how much that realization would hurt.
“There’s no such thing as The One, Tae. There’s just a whole lot of people out in the world, and if you get lucky enough you find someone you can stand to be with the rest of your life.”
“That’s bullshit. And I know it’s not what you believe,” Tae said.
“I can’t believe you didn’t have my back in there.” Julia sighed, shaking her head. Why did it feel like he was on their side
instead of hers? She didn’t like it.
“What do you want from me, Julia? Do you not want me to come as your interpreter? You’d rather have your mother?”
They were standing back where they’d originally reconnected, in the middle of the neighborhood park by the swings. Julia didn’t
even remember walking here, she was just so frustrated and angry and let her feet lead the way.
“I don’t want you to see firsthand how bad I am at this. If you go on this date with me . . .” She hesitated.
“I’ve been on dates with you, Julia. Two so far. And they’ve been the best times I’ve had in a long time. You’re fun and funny
and smart and observant. You can dish it out with the best of them. But you can take it too. And I love that. I love spending
time with you. I love—”
He’d stopped himself. And that pause snapped Julia out of the warm bubble Tae’s words had put around them.
Pop.
“But that’s with you, Tae. I’m not like that with anyone else. You’re the reason we have fun, not me.”
Tae reached over and gently lifted her chin with his finger. She tried to avoid his eyes. She hated being this vulnerable
in front of anyone. But she hated Tae seeing, hearing, how pathetic she was.
“Julia,” he said, his voice so soft, she could barely hear him. But her heart was screaming for him to say her name again.
He put his hand on her cheek, and she wanted to lean into its warmth. But she couldn’t move. She was planted in this moment, rendered unable to react. Why couldn’t it be like this with the men she dated? Why was it only with Tae?
“I need you to go on this date so that you can see.” Tae was almost pleading with Julia.
“See what?”
“See yourself. See . . . me.” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I need you to see that it could be . . .” He wouldn’t finish
his sentence. His eyes stared down into Julia’s, his face drawing closer.
Julia held her breath. The tenderness of his eyes made her knees weak. She drew herself up as he lowered himself to meet her.
She closed her eyes and—
“Tae?”
An unfamiliar voice cut through the air.
Tae jumped back and the coldness slapped Julia immediately in the face. She opened her eyes and looked at the beautiful woman
walking across the park. She’d never seen her before in the neighborhood. Julia didn’t know this woman, but this woman knew
Tae.
Julia looked up to see Tae’s surprised expression.
“Kari, what are you doing here?” he asked.
Julia looked back at the stranger as she approached them. She took a close look and knew it immediately, the face of someone
in love, the face of someone determined, the face of someone here to win back her man.
The face of Kari, the ex.