Chapter 8
Your brother’s the one who found him . Jiyeon wrestled with a moment of dissonance so strong that it threatened to undermine her composure. This, even though it had been her idea to change the story, to make this crucial revision to the evening when she first met Eunjae.
Retell, reframe. She'd wanted to give the press and the fans and every other prying eye just one less thing to latch onto.
There would be no avoiding the speculation, which was logical on top of being inevitable.
But if it was Denny who found Eunjae instead of Jiyeon, the story took on a different cast. People jumped to unexpected brotherhood instead of summertime romance.
And that was safe, because no one could know the truth.
“An idol,” Gloria mused. “That's a tough job.
Same for your boyfriend, Miss Emma. Customer service!
All day, dealing with crazy people. We get some coming in here now, they want a haircut, then they say they don't like it. ‘I want a refund!’ How? You want me to give back your hair? Too late! We threw it in the trash!”
Lizzie giggled at this, loud enough to be heard above the dryer’s dull roar. Angie rolled her eyes. “And she said that, too. Thankfully the lady thought she was joking.”
“I wasn't!”
“I know, Mama.”
Gloria clucked her tongue. “I'm too old to be talking to stupid people.”
“Our Ryan Kim, so good at that!”
“He’s good at talking to stupid people?”
“You know my meaning, Yeonnie! Ryan says nothing and they tell him everything.” She crossed one ankle over the other and told Gloria, “When you meet him, you'll see.”
Her mother wasn't wrong. However, Jiyeon would be happier if she'd copy Ryan Kim and switch to saying nothing.
Read your book, she pleaded with Lizzie telepathically.
What if I can't bring him here? What if they have to wait years before they can meet him?
While she didn't think Gloria and Angie would trumpet the truth about Eunjae’s identity to the world at large, it felt wrong to burden more people with a secret like this.
Besides, the risk increased with every person who knew. The fewer in the loop, the better.
It hurt, though. Jiyeon hadn't anticipated how difficult it would be, keeping quiet about someone who meant this much to her.
She checked her phone. There was a message from Eunjae, asking if he could call.
Almost done, Jiyeon wrote back. Everything okay?
I guess? Don't worry. No rush.
Talk had turned to gas prices, grocery prices, the rising cost of rent.
The salon needed new flooring and half the pipes were on the fritz.
Angie bemoaned the astronomical quotes they’d received from contractors.
“I can’t decide which is cheaper,” she said, unwinding the cord on a hair dryer.
“Getting everything fixed? Moving someplace new? Who knows.”
Jiyeon forgot about the text she’d been typing to Eunjae. “You’d leave? But you guys have been here forever.”
“Well, there’s nothing we’ve built here that we couldn’t bring with us,” said Miss Gloria.
“It’s the people, sweetheart. Not so much the place.
” She pursed her lips. “What a lot of junk we’d have to pack up, though!
I think we should stay put. Who cares if it’s falling apart?
I’m falling apart. We can do it together. ”
Jingling sleigh bells filled the salon with a burst of unseasonal holiday cheer.
Gloria had these tied to the door handle year-round, fastened with a red bow, and now the chiming announced the arrival of another customer.
He stood on the threshold beaming at them, cutting an impressive figure in his slate gray suit.
Jiyeon turned to look, then just as abruptly turned away, back to the mirror and her own strained expression staring back in the glass.
“Oh!” Angie cried out. “You’re here! And Emma’s here!” Her face fell. “Oh, no. Okay, let’s calm down. Let’s just take some deep breaths and figure this out.”
Of course her ex-boyfriend would come in for a haircut today, of all days. And of course Arthur would come to this salon, because he’d been coming here for almost as long as Jiyeon.
“You won’t make any trouble for my girl, will you, Mr. Hong?” Gloria inquired. “We didn’t know she’d be here today. I would’ve rescheduled you.”
Arthur only grinned. “What? ‘Course I won’t,” he replied. “Ouch, Miss Gloria.”
“Ouch! That’s what you’ll say if you make her mad!”
“I’m not mad,” said Jiyeon. She bit back a sigh. “Hi, Arthur.”
Happiness brightened his face, which wouldn’t be out of place in any Korean drama searching for a leading man.
He’d grown into the chiseled good looks of an orphan hero, morally upright, stricken with a tragic backstory.
Not that Jiyeon could picture Arthur and tragedy on the same page.
She’d spent years of her life watching sadness roll right off him, repelled by his radiant positivity.
“Hey, Emmie,” he replied, upping the wattage on his grin. “Look at that. I knew I was getting here early for a reason. How’s everything? It’s been forever!”
“It’s been two weeks.”
“That was just a text, though. I haven’t seen you in forever. When’s Dee-dubs back from his big adventure?”
Angie’s expression turned quizzical. “Dee-dubs…?”
“He means Denny. D for Denny and W for Woosung.”
“Yeah,” said Arthur, as if this should’ve been patently obvious from the start. “Dee-dubs.”
“Back on Sunday,” chirped Lizzie.
“And Ari too, right? Man, I really hope I get to meet him this time—”
Gloria narrowed her eyes at both of them. “Ari? Who’s that?”
“A friend. Denny’s friend. He’s coming for a visit.”
It took a second, but Arthur got the hint. “Yeah! Great guy. Can’t wait to see him.” He angled himself toward Miss Gloria, lowering his voice as if imparting a secret. “Ari’s my pen pal.”
“Your pen pal.” That was the first Jiyeon had ever heard of it. “Really.”
“Well, we send emails. Same difference.” He went swiping through the calendar app on his phone. “Dinner! Next week, maybe. I’ll take Ari to that new place with the giant basket of zucchini fries. It’s cool if I borrow him, right? Denny won’t flip out? I know they’re best buddies and all.”
She blinked at this. “Oh, sure.”
“Wait," said Arthur, bouncing into the chair next to Lizzie's. "I’m being a jerk. You can come too, Emms. You get along with Ari, right?” Pleased with these arrangements, he moved on without waiting for her to confirm or deny.
He chattered with her mother until Gloria returned to the original subject.
“Okay, we met the old guy already,” she said, gesturing at Arthur. “When will we meet the new guy? Soon?”
Arthur swiveled back to Jiyeon so fast that there had to have been some danger of whiplash. “New guy?” he exclaimed. “Who?”
A fist rapped on the front window. Gloria waved to the couple who ran the bakery next door, on their way home for dinner. “You could’ve gotten a big, big divorce from this one,” she whispered, pointing at Arthur. “Why didn’t you just wait? Marry first, then break up. Didn’t I tell you that before?”
Angie shushed her. Jiyeon tried to decide between laughing or crying. Her hair was dry, so she shrugged free of the cape, standing up to shake clipped strands onto the floor. “It’s nobody you know, Arthur.”
“I might,” he argued. “Try me.”
“Why? You’ve been out on dates, haven’t you? And I’ve never been in your business about it.”
Primly, Miss Gloria reported that Arthur had, in fact, gone out for drinks with Felicity Wen. She’d heard it from Felicity’s mother while they both waited in line at Lowell’s. The grocery store: a whirling nexus of Lemon Grove gossip, second only to either of Wanna Waffle’s weekly mahjong nights.
Lizzie made a tutting noise. “Felicity Wen! Much younger than you! Why take a baby for drinks? Arthur, you are a very nice boy most of the time—”
“Most of the time? It’s not all of the time?”
“Most of the time. Not this time. Our Woosung, he graduated the year before her, eh? Find somebody your own age!”
Jiyeon hugged Angie and then Gloria. She promised to come back for a haircut in six weeks instead of sixteen.
Arthur couldn’t wheedle her for information anymore, since his own haircut had begun, but he’d texted twice from the chair by the time she reversed out of her parking space.
There was another message when she pulled away from Ivy Lane, her mother waving from the front door.
Jiyeon dismissed the notifications and called Eunjae from the car as she headed home at last.
He answered on the third ring. “Yeon-ah.”
“Hey,” she replied. “Can you hear me? I’m driving. You’re on speaker.”
“I can hear you.” A significant pause. “What’s wrong?”
“Hmm?”
“Ah, you sounded a little upset…”
“I’m fine,” Jiyeon lied. Not upset, just annoyed. Her irritation with Arthur wasn’t even worth mentioning. “I thought something might be wrong over there, since you wanted to call.”
Another pause. “Sort of,” said Eunjae, with a sigh. And then he told her about the show.