Chapter 31
Jiyeon studied the bouquet in front of her. The colors were vibrant and the stems hadn't drooped. They looked good even after hanging out in a Fall Festival tumbler full of water while she filmed with Kazu. Not bad for an eleventh-hour grocery store purchase.
She tore the cellophane at the seam and rewrapped the flowers with the pages of a newspaper, also sourced from the grocery store.
The final touch was a length of yellow satin ribbon that she'd found in her car.
It brought an element of whimsy that couldn't be achieved with plain kitchen twine.
She couldn't remember where the ribbon came from, or why it was in her car.
Janie would call it serendipity. Life was often serendipitous or miraculous, but never merely coincidental.
Maybe magic exists, Yeonnie. Ever think of that?
She tied a bow, then examined the results. More time was spent adjusting the loops, making them equal in size, yet not so large that they lost their shape. The ends turned out too long, but Jiyeon left them as they were. Those would be pretty as they fluttered in the breeze.
Back when she was Emma all the time, part of her success came from paying attention to the little things: tying a bow, adding a braid, mixing a hint of caramel into a client's brunette balayage.
Details often made the difference, drawing the eye and holding attention.
Caring about them could set you apart from others posting similar content.
Jiyeon didn't mind the extra effort, even though it might be overkill here.
She doubted anyone else would be uploading a post like this one.
The idea came from Star-Connect. Fans weighed in daily, and ever since taking over the Sunshine 24/7 page, she'd been careful to sift through the avalanche of comments.
Somewhere in the lengthy chain of responses to Jungwoo's post was a Sunshine who wrote, Reminder that Hong Namgyu bought flowers for Emma AND everyone on staff?
??? When will somebody buy HIM flowers?? ??
Jiyeon thought this was a valid point. Knowing Apollo would film a segment at the high school that morning, she woke even earlier than usual and raced to Lowell’s.
Thank goodness they had a store in Monroe.
It opened at 6:00am just like the Lowell’s in Lemon Grove.
As long as she hurried, Jiyeon could catch the guys before they left.
She'd love to get two posts out of one morning.
She had the bouquet ready. Now she just needed Namgyu to take a break.
Did he ever run out of energy? Where did it come from?
Nicky and Kazu were no better, running races and arguing about the rightful winner, best out of five and then best out of ten.
The rest had slowed down ages ago. Max walked along the track’s outer ring, embroiled in another phone call.
A sister, most likely, or perhaps all three.
Kei, Jesse, and Jungwoo were draped over the bleachers in attitudes of despair.
That's where Eunjae had been when she arrived. The others kept their distance while he talked with Ezra, surpassing Jiyeon’s expectations.
And she understood how difficult it was, to take that step back, to give space despite wanting nothing more than to run in and help.
But he needed to connect with Ezra on his own. No one else could do that for him.
She checked the parking lot. Eunjae had gone driving with Denny and the film crew, more footage for the show.
They weren’t back yet. In the meantime, Namgyu showed no sign of slowing down.
Jiyeon decided it was time to call in reinforcements, setting a course for the bleachers.
This brought her past the spot where Simon and Ezra sat in the shade.
The former had a book lying open in his lap.
Jiyeon paused to say hello. She’d been meaning to talk to Eunjae’s dad, anyway.
Opening with the weather was a safe bet, even for someone as high on the reticence scale as Simon.
Then she cut to the chase. “We’re looking for Mrs. Romero.
Do you have any contact info for her? Even if it’s not recent, it could still be useful. ”
After a beat, Simon nodded. “Vivian sent an email, years ago. I can find the address she used.”
She hadn’t really dared to hope, and this seemed much too easy, but a lead was a lead. Jiyeon left her number and continued to the bleachers. Ezra caught up to her.
“Are you doing another video?”
“Well, I’m trying,” she replied. “Namgyu’s making it kinda hard to get this done. I might have to run some laps.”
“Which one is he, again?”
Jiyeon cleared her throat. “Awwww!”
“Oh. Purple hair. I could go get him.”
“No, it should be a surprise. Just need him to come over for a second.”
Ezra kept pace with her, lurking like a gangly, teenager-shaped shadow while Jiyeon stopped at the bleachers for some help. She knew the exact brother to ask. Upon request, Kei was kind enough to bawl out, “Namgyu-hyung! You're thirsty! Get some water, big dummy!”
From the other side of the track, a loud gasp. “Aww, I really do need some water!”
Jiyeon leaped into action. She held the bouquet at arm’s length, then recorded herself holding it while walking from the bleachers, her hand and the flowers centered in the frame.
Later, she’d speed it up and add a title.
POV: Namgyu gave you flowers, so you gave him flowers, too.
Jiyeon could see the post unfolding in her mind’s eye.
The most important part was his reaction.
He didn't disappoint. Initially, Namgyu scanned the area with a baffled smile on his face, searching for the bouquet’s lucky recipient. The smile remained until Jiyeon explained that the flowers were for him.
“Ha! But why? Did I win a game? I do win a lot, but I usually notice when it happens.”
“No reason. Sunshines just thought you should have some flowers.”
Namgyu took the bouquet. “Flowers for no reason? That's what these are?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And they're from Sunshines?”
“Yeah. It was their idea.”
“But that's so nice! It's the nicest thing ever!” Namgyu leaned closer to the camera, misty-eyed. “Sunshines, you’re the best. This is my favorite day. Aww, I wish I could buy flowers for all of you! But I need to save up because I spent so much money on Keiichi-kun’s birthday present, and it was Max’s birthday two days before that, they’re almost twins, so I really went overboard on my financials this month.
That’s what Zuzu says and I believe him—”
Namgyu took a breath and Jiyeon rushed to get a word in. “Can I ask you a question? It’s easy, I promise.”
“Aww! You can ask me any question in the world! It could even be a hard question!”
You’d need a heart of stone to resist Namgyu’s mix of sincerity and enthusiasm.
She found herself smiling, and although he couldn’t understand what was being said, Ezra crept in like a traveler drawn to the fire’s glow.
Jiyeon pretended not to notice. “Was this always your dream? Did you always want to sing?”
“I didn’t dream of singing. Wow, that would be so silly of me.
I knew I would sing no matter what!” Namgyu motioned at the members of Apollo.
“I dreamed of not being by myself anymore. Did you know my mom and dad both came from big families? Isn’t that so amazing?
But they didn’t have any more kids, after me.
That’s why I wanted to debut with a group like this.
And look how many brothers I got! It’s the best. Nobody’s life is better. I hope we'll always be together.”
The response was unexpected and somehow within the scope of her expectations, all at once.
Jiyeon ended that clip and started another.
She recorded a message from Namgyu to the fans, basically a laundry list of everything he hoped they’d have, wherever they might be: delicious meals, good friends, warm laughter.
Since she’d filmed every piece needed for the post, she let him return to the track for a few more laps.
Ezra stuck around. “I got some videos of the lake yesterday. Can you show me how to make them go in the right order? So it’s not boring.”
“Sure. Let’s see them.”
He played the clips for her. She suggested ways to edit the footage, tricks she'd learned and more shots he could add.
“We can split it three ways, like this, and put the title in the middle.
It's not a busy clip, since you're just panning across the water.
Stays readable and won't distract from the text you put on top of it. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah.” But his excitement dimmed, and he searched the lot the same way she’d done earlier, looking for Eunjae. “Will he be mad? He doesn't want me messing with this stuff.”
“He's just worried. Social media isn't always safe, and it's not always a good place to be.”
Jiyeon spoke from experience. Parts of that experience had been painful. Recognizing this, Ezra asked, “Are you mad?”
“No.”
She was concerned, but wasn’t it better for her to be here?
There were dozens of things Jiyeon wanted to change about being Emma, things that were too late to fix now, but it wasn't too late to act as a guide. On this path, intrusion often intertwined with genuine connection. Cruelty coexisted with the incredible kindness of strangers, the stories they told, the joy of being able to help people she might never have reached otherwise. Ezra didn’t have to learn that on his own.
“Did you know about Miss Vivi? Am I the only one who didn’t?”
Jiyeon wasted a moment trying to find the right words, a configuration of sentences that might soften the blow. But there were no right words, and this would hurt regardless. “I knew,” she replied. “Not right away. Eunjae took a while to tell me all of it.”
“It took even longer for him to tell me. Everybody knew before I did. It’s this big, terrible thing that happened and I didn’t know.”
“He has a hard time talking about Vivian.”
“I get that. And I get why he never wants to talk to Mum, and I get why he left.” The bitterness faded. Ezra looked away. “But why’d he stay gone?”
She read the longing in his face, a wish to know and be known in turn.
Hadn't Jiyeon seen this before, on an evening in June?
Wasn't it the same thing she'd sensed behind a stranger’s shy smile?
Maybe those books about Molly Merriweather were right to describe time as water, a liquid expanding to fit its container.
It ran through your fingers, gone forever.
It pooled in the palm of your hand, a mirror so clear that it was possible to see straight through.
“He’s here now. You’re both here, Ezra.” She gave him her warmest smile. “You’ve got so much time.”