Chapter 20 No Job, No Pay #2
Julia swallowed. She couldn’t think straight while Tae was touching her. She cleared her throat, which got the attention of both men. “Um, excuse me. I just had a tickle.” She reached for her water and drank the entire glass.
Tae passed her his untouched glass of water.
Julia was starving. Her stomach growled, and she quickly pressed down on it with her hands, hoping nobody noticed. Tae spared
a glance her way, and the corner of his mouth lifted again.
The server finally came and dropped off a bread basket and butter. Yes, thank God, Julia thought as her mouth watered at the
smell. Joshua and Tae could continue chatting all they wanted. Julia just needed that beautiful, warm dinner roll to make
her happy.
As Joshua continued to talk while Tae dutifully listened, neither made a move for the bread. Julia didn’t want to reach across
the table and be rude. But desperate times . . .
She lifted her hand toward the basket just as Joshua picked it up. She smiled in gratitude, even though he wasn’t actually
looking at her, and raised her bread plate. Without missing a beat in their conversation, with the tongs in hand, Joshua picked
up a roll and put it on his plate. He then passed the basket to Tae. Julia let out a little whimper.
Tae turned to glance at Julia. “Did you want some bread, Julia?” he asked.
Julia narrowed her eyes at Tae. He knew she damn well wanted some bread. “Yes, please,” she said with a strained smile, mouth
possibly drooling.
Tae put a dinner roll on Julia’s plate . . . and then another . . . and winked.
She recorded that wink in her memory to pull up and fantasize about later. Right now, she only had one thing she lusted after.
Julia took a big bite of the warm roll and stifled the blissful moan she wanted to let out. Saved.
She looked up to find two sets of eyes on her.
“Julia, I was telling Dr. Park about some of Starlight’s recent accolades. You should tell him how you got inspired to start your own company, especially in the beauty industry. It’s impressive,” Tae said.
Aw, Julia loved this question. She was ready to tell him about all the hard work she’d put into building Starlight. Except . . .
her mouth was stuffed with a fluffy dinner roll at the moment. She looked at Tae and then at Joshua and then back at Tae.
She tried to chew as fast as she could, but she had put almost a half a roll in her mouth. She wasn’t expecting to be asked
a question.
Tae must have noticed the panicked look on her face and turned back to Joshua and said something that made them both laugh.
And just like that, she was no longer the center of attention.
Tae reached over and wiped something off of Julia’s mouth with his thumb.
She almost choked on her bread at the contact.
“Crumb,” he said and then turned his attention back to the chatty doctor.
Julia grabbed the menu and raised it to try and hide her certain blush.
“Jules, looks like they’ve got a good pasta on the menu that’s vegetarian,” Tae mentioned. It was, in fact, the exact thing
Julia was considering ordering.
“Yeah, I think I’ll get that.”
The three of them placed their orders, and conversation continued on, mostly the good doctor talking and Tae nodding politely.
Tae, to his credit, got with the program and turned to Julia often, interpreting what the two of them were talking about .
. . music, the food, sports (yuck) . . .
and looked to Julia to jump into the conversation.
Julia tried asking some questions for Joshua too.
But by the time Tae translated the question, Joshua answered (the man was verbose), and Tae translated back (she appreciated his CliffsNotes versions), she always felt two steps behind.
And frankly, the good doctor could not seem less interested in anything Julia had to say anyways. Despite Tae’s best efforts
to direct the conversation topic to Julia, Dr. Park could not muster the attention to listen about her work, her family, or
hobbies . . . nothing.
When their dinners arrived, Julia made quick work of her pasta and turned longingly to see the side of au gratin potatoes
that Tae had ordered only half-eaten. As Tae nodded with interest at whatever the good doctor was talking about now, Tae removed
Julia’s empty plate from in front of her and traded it with his.
He was an actual angel. She devoured the potatoes.
The night went on with Dr. Park commandeering the conversation, Tae politely nodding, and Julia getting increasingly depressed
at yet another failure of a date.
Julia couldn’t see herself having any kind of relationship where communication couldn’t be a two-way street. It wasn’t the
language barrier. It was the lack of interest. Joshua Park did not seem the type who wanted a partner. And if Julia had been
worried in the past about being too much, a future with Dr. Park would be one where she was likely erased entirely.
What a shame. He was strikingly handsome.
But then again, so was Tae.
Tae, the one shielding her, protecting her, sacrificing himself for her all night so that she’d be spared. He was her knight
in shining armor in this battle of bad dating. Tae with his sword lifted high, running across the battlefield, fighting the
enemy of boredom to save Julia. And when he’d made his way through the army that captured her, he untied the ropes around
her hands, dipped her low as he kissed . . .
“Julia? Julia.” Tae’s hand waved in front of Julia’s face and brought her out of the scene playing in her head.
“Huh? Oh, sorry . . . I was just thinking about . . .”
“Do you want dessert?” Tae asked.
Heck yeah, she wanted dessert. She nodded, and Tae ordered both the chocolate cake and the berry crumble. Julia fought hard
not to clap with excitement.
“Tae-ssi, we never talked about what you do for a living. What is your job?” Joshua asked.
Julia worked through Joshua’s Korean to make out the question, understanding some of the words as the inquiry was one of the
ones Tae had tutored her on. He’d prepped Julia to be able to speak in Korean about her company a little bit. All that prep
had been for naught, considering how little she spoke tonight. But she hadn’t planned on the question being turned to Tae.
And, by his expression, neither had he.
Tae hated this question, Julia knew. It was one of those hard-to-explain ones. Tae was a superhero to many. He offered help
and support in ways that didn’t even have to be listed on a résumé; in fact, a résumé could never do him justice.
Just say you’re in business, Tae, Julia pleaded in her head. Men like Joshua cared about prestige and titles. He was a top surgeon. Michael Lee was a lawyer.
Mr. Trot was, well, Mr. Trot. But none of them held a candle to the man that Tae was. But they wouldn’t see it that way. Sometimes
taking the easier way out in a conversation was the best way. Julia was now learning this.
Tae sat up straighter and answered, “I’m actually unemployed at the moment.”
“Not really. You’re just taking time off to help your family,” Julia corrected. She didn’t like Tae selling himself short.
Tae gave a small shake of his head. “No, I’m unemployed. I exhausted my time off. And since I can’t go back to Chicago yet,
they had to let me go. I guess I’ll just look for something new. I still have some things to figure out first,” he explained.
“Tae.” Julia laid her hand on his.
“It’s okay, seriously. Let’s talk about it later,” he said under his breath.
But Dr. Joshua Park was not going to let it go.
“Korean words work Korean words money Korean words bad.” Damn, Julia really wished she’d paid more attention during Saturday Korean school as a kid. But it didn’t take fluency
or a translator to get the gist of his raised voice and incredulous tone.
Tae’s jaw ticked as he tried to hold himself together with patience and a prayer.
“Tae has a lot of talents like design and carpentry and . . .” Julia tried to explain in an ineffective combination of English
and Korean words.
Tae touched Julia’s knee under the table. But it wasn’t a sexy, stolen touch. It was a request. Stop. He didn’t want Julia answering for him.
But she could see the judgment on Joshua’s face, and she wasn’t going to stand for it.
“He takes care of his—”
“Julia.” Tae’s voice carried a warning.
Joshua narrowed his eyes at Tae, his entire expression changing. The easy hey, buddy smile had shifted into a disdained smirk. The chin that had nodded at Tae’s opinions before rose in haughtiness now.
The one thing that successful Korean doctors could not tolerate, apparently, were people they believed to be lazy and unsuccessful
for no reason.
Joshua’s attention shifted to Julia. He asked her a question and then flippantly waved his hand to Tae as if ordering him
to interpret.
Heat rose to Julia’s cheeks as the anger grew. She was going to tell this doctor what an arrogant asshole he was, and she’d
make sure he wouldn’t need to understand her words to get the message.
The server came to drop off the check, and Julia thought the good ol’ Dr. Park had better leave a fat tip considering the timing just saved his life. Tae reached for his wallet, but Joshua raised his hand to stop him, passing his Black Card over to the server.
“You did not eat much,” he said. “I pay.”
Julia thought back to the meal. Tae had only ordered a salad and side of potatoes. This was one of the most expensive restaurants
in the city. She hadn’t even thought about Tae paying for his own meal. She hadn’t even considered how Tae was scraping by
to get his dad’s medical bills paid. She was an asshole and had put Tae squarely in a position that would make him uncomfortable.
“I can pay.” He tried to hand his card over to the server. “Please split the check between the two cards.”
“I’ll pay,” Julia offered.
The two men were in a stare-down and didn’t even acknowledge her. The server gave her an apologetic expression.
“No job,” Joshua said to the server, pointing at Tae. “No pay.”
Julia watched as Tae’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He clenched his jaw. She’d never seen him this . . . angry.
“Tae, just let him pay, please,” Julia said, gently touching Tae’s hand.
Tae lowered his attention to where Julia’s hand lay on his. His eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared, lips pressed tightly
together.
He pulled his hand away from her touch and put his credit card back in his wallet.