23
Each of us gets a scorecard for the mingle game.
It’s timed rounds with prompts. Sister Paula explains from the front.
“We’ll start with four- to six-minute rounds.
The bell rings, you rotate. For this first round, the prompt is: What’s one way God has shown you love this year?
You’ll have about five minutes to share.
Next round, it’s five minutes to share five things about yourself that the other person might not know.
Have fun, keep it light, keep it civil.”
The rounds start, and the room fills with overlapping voices, laughter, stories, chairs shifting. I talk to several guys. Some are awkward, barely looking up or stumbling over words, but most are genuinely nice and polite, asking follow-ups, sharing real bits about their lives.
Then voices rise. I whip my head around to the right and behind me.
Caleb and Zosha are yelling at each other, both standing up like they’re ready to storm off.
Sister Paula hurries over with another elder, guiding them to the side to talk it out.
A few people giggle. The bell rings soon after, ending the round.
I’d seen Seo-jun chatting with the woman to my right earlier. Now she moves down the line, and Jun slides into the seat across from me, smiling big. This round is the “five things the other person might not know about you” prompt.
I smile back. “Oh, Jun. Long time no see,” I say, already half-joking.
He leans in. “Okay, something you don’t know. I broke both my arms at the same time when I was a baby.”
I blink. “Wait, what?”
He holds up one finger, grinning. “Hold on, I’m not done.” He starts counting off on his right hand, bending each finger slightly as he lists them. “I have six older siblings. They all hate each other.” Another finger bends. “I’m afraid of heights.”
“I hate being cold. I had sex with an old lady and yes, I was sober,” he finishes, clapping once and leaning back like he just won something.
I burst out laughing, unable to stop. “That was a lot. Geez.”
“Oh my gosh, what? I don’t even—”
“Dude, it’s your turn,” he says, smirking.
I shake my head, eyes wide, still smiling in shock. “Okay, anyway, before we unpack that…” I start. “I’m an only child. My childhood nickname was Bloodhead from bullies.”
Jun starts laughing. “Really?”
I hold up a finger. “Hold on.” Then I continue. “My mom is super religious. My gold eyes are real.”
Jun’s eyebrow perks up at that.
“I used to take toilet water and put it in a cup and drink it when I was little.”
Jun cracks up hard, and I laugh too. He says, “I bet that shit was good.”
I laugh even harder, partly because I wasn’t expecting him to curse, but mostly because of how casually he said it. I’m bellowing now, laughing so loud it’s hard to breathe.
That’s when I notice a head of white hair nearby. The guy with it, who was talking to a black-haired woman who looks really happy to be chatting with him, turns toward me, probably startled by how loud I’m laughing. It’s King. He’s staring right at us.
“Yeah, I was taking it to the face, man, and I didn’t even check to see if it was flushed or anything,” I manage through more laughter.
Jun laughs harder. “What the fuck?”
The guy next to him says, “Hey, language.”
Jun and I keep cracking up. King’s white hair keeps catching my eye, distracting me, and he’s staring hard at both of us. Jun’s laughter starts dying down. “What kind of answers are these?”
I laugh. “I don’t know, Mr. Baby-Who-Broke-Both-Arms-With-No-Explanation.”
We both start cackling again, trying to stifle it. The bell rings.
Jun looks like he doesn’t want to move. “Okay, go,” I say, pushing his shoulder lightly so he shifts down the line.
The rounds keep going. Eventually King reaches my table.
My heart starts beating faster every time I see him getting closer on the conveyor belt of people moving.
The men are the ones rotating at this setup, and on the other side, it’s the women.
He talks to the woman beside me first, elbows on the table, fingers interlaced in front of him, lightly resting his top lip against them.
His eyes flick over to me every few seconds.
Then he’s in front of me. I’m nervous.
Fuck it all to hell, I’m nervous, and I shouldn’t be, but I am.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hi,” he replies, a bit shy. His face gets really red fast, but he stares at me with intensity.
Why is he so red? Oh my god, it’s making everything flutter inside me, and I’m trying hard not to remember his fingers on my clitoris. This is hard.
It feels like we haven’t talked in forever, because we haven’t. The couples on either side are deep in conversation, laughing, so we lean in too.
This round is five questions each, five answers each. I lean forward, arms overlapping on the table with my elbows down.
“Why are you so against relationships?” I ask.
He licks his lips. “I’m not against relationships,” he states, composure coming back.
“Do you still talk to your parents?”
“I don’t know my father. I barely talk to my mom.”
Man, he’s answering so clinically, like he just wants to get through it. I hum, thinking. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
I smirk at him. He stares back, narrowing his eyes slightly, like he’s challenging me, saying there’s nothing I can ask that’ll throw him off.
I don’t like how short he’s being, not giving anything away.
This is how people get to know each other, you’re supposed to share a little more, but he’s answering like a machine.
How can he answer deep questions truthfully and still reveal nothing?
He doesn’t know his dad, that’s new to me.
So his mom raised him alone. That makes him interesting, at least, but I need more.
“What is a deep dark secret that you’re hiding?”
He narrows his eyes further, smirking smugly as he leans forward a bit. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a deep dark secret.”
Before I can respond, he cuts in. “Why are you so chaotic?”
“What do you mean by that? If you mean fun—well, that’s kind of self-explanatory.”
“Why don’t you want a family?”
“Who says I don’t?”
“Your actions say that.”
Blinking, my mouth turns up in a smirk. “I’d like to one day.”
“How do you expect to get one if you’re wasting all of your youth with fun ?” He says the last word with sarcasm, drawing it out to make his point.
My lips curl. “I don’t see myself as wasting my youth by having fun. Quite the opposite.”
“Why don’t you see that as wasting it?”
“Depends on who I’m doing it with,” I murmur after a quiet inhale. “I had fun with you, didn’t I? I didn’t see that as a waste.”
His face goes bright red. His eyes flick left to right. It’s so fucking hilarious. I’m fighting to hold in laughter; my cheeks are bursting. The bell dings.
“Oh, look, there’s the bell,” I mock.
He switches, moving to my left to the next woman, glaring at me as he goes.
This is actually pretty fun.
By the time we switch back around, the next round is favorite foods and stuff like that. King ends up in front of me again.
“What’s your favorite music aside from Christian music?” I ask.
“I only like Christian music. Old-time Christian music. It’s safe and it makes my spirit feel pure.”
Leaning forward, I say, “But your spirit isn’t pure, is it, King? Or else you wouldn’t have to fight so hard.”
His face is almost directly in front of mine, maybe three inches away. Giving him the same smug smirk he gave me earlier, I watch him closely. Even though it’s loud in here, I hear him swallow. I see it, his eyes fluttering, jaw set like he’s trying to stay stoic but failing.
The last question, right before the host calls time:
“... Are you the devil?”
I lean in closer. “If I was , would you leave me alone?”
He says nothing.
Time to shuffle again.
It’s the last shuffle.
King and I don’t end up across from each other again. The other rounds are quicker. Even when Jun ends up back in front of me, it’s not as interesting as when King was there. I want to know more about him, even though I know it won’t lead anywhere.
After the whole Valentine’s Day hall thing, everyone floods outside, talking and leaving. The wind picks up as soon as we step out. I look up at the sky, terrified. I feel a cold chill, my heart starts beating fast.
An arm drapes around my shoulder. I flinch and look left. It’s Jun.
“I think we hit it off,” he says.
“Yeah. Well, that’s not going anywhere,” I flash a smile.
Right behind the hall, they’ve set up a big bonfire for the dinner afterward, even though it’s pretty late. The kids have their own tables, and not as many are here tonight as usual. Everybody eats together, laughing and having fun. Jun sits next to me, still making me crack up.