Chapter 6 #2
She whips her computer screen around to show me what appears to be some sort of gossip site based on the colorful layout and the number of exclamation points in the bold headlines.
“So you’re telling me that you aren’t the hunky young executive at Task Force that Kwon Chaeji is talking about?
” she asks, gesturing wildly. “Are we hiding executives somewhere? Because I only know of one that anybody would ever describe as any kind of attractive, let alone this effusively, unless there’s a whole other team I’ve never met.
Because all those other guys? Woof. And not in the bark-because-they’re-sexy way. ”
“What?” I blurt, which is all I can manage to come up with because there’s so much going on in what she just said, I don’t even know where to begin.
Grace points to me. “You!” And then at the screen. “Chaeji!” Back and forth. “You and Chaeji! Why is she talking about you like you’re a thing? An item? A couple!”
I blink at her and the genuine outrage she appears to feel that I have left her out of some major news about my life. “No? We’re not… No. I went out with her once. What does it even say?”
Frowning at me like she’s not sure if she believes me, Grace turns the screen back and begins reading.
“When questioned about her now much calmer personal life, Kwon giggles. She is quick to mention her party days are behind her and she’s ready to settle down, looking for a stable life with the right partner.
Does she have someone in mind? While she won’t mention anyone by name, Kwon practically glows while detailing a recent romantic date with ‘a very handsome young executive at Task Force Entertainment’, one of the largest companies in the k-pop industry.
From the blush on her cheeks as she talks about skipping out on dessert at the restaurant to go back to her place for a late-night treat, it’s obvious she’s feeling very satisfied with her businessman boyfriend. ”
“What?” I repeat, having become more and more shocked by each word she’d read. “That was the one date we went on. And it was over a year ago! We had dinner and left separately, and she kept sending me nudes and telling me to come over and eat her since we didn’t have dessert. Once! I saw her once!”
“Does she know that?” Grace inquires in that very specific way of hers that’s both sincere and sarcastic at the same time.
I think back to the message she’d sent me not too long ago that I had just brushed off and never responded to.
While it’s not really my style to ghost someone, I just wasn’t interested in starting up a conversation again.
Chaeji is gorgeous, as nearly every magazine in the world has declared, but she’s the type of woman I’d have dated when I was nineteen or twenty, unconcerned that she might be a little crazy.
“I’m not as clear on that answer as I thought I was,” I tell her. I sit on the edge of her desk, contemplating as she grabs an alarmingly sharp file from her desk drawer and begins to work on her nails.
“You can do better, you know,” she mentions, her tone casual, as though the gentle rasping noise of sandpaper isn’t setting my teeth on edge.
I move to the other side of the room, trying to be nonchalant about my relocation. “What do you mean?”
“Better than Chaeji. Yes, she’s probably the hottest woman in Seoul, but that’s not what you need,” Grace says, like that’s supposed to explain everything.
Now I’m curious. What is it that she thinks I need? Do I even know what I need? Or, hell, do I know what I want at this point? My brain has wandered off in so much uncharted territory recently, I can’t be sure of anything.
When she doesn’t elaborate, I prompt her, even though I might be a little afraid of whatever she’ll say. Grace is more than slightly observant and knows me well, so the potential for a truth bomb is very high. “Go on.”
“What do I think? So glad you asked,” she begins.
“You need someone unexpected. Not the obvious choice. Not the one you think makes the most sense. Someone who challenges you. Makes you sit up and pay attention. You could have anyone you want, and you know it and so does everyone else. I’ve seen the women you date.
They’re beautiful and, for the most part, unobjectionable.
Chaeji is a wild card, but not the right kind. ”
I interrupt her. “The right kind of wild card? What does that even mean?”
“Chaeji is a wild card in the unpredictable sense.” Reaching over to poke at me with her newly shaped nail, Grace says, “You need a wild card that’s a game changer.
The one you didn’t see coming who blows up every plan you made and everything you thought you knew.
You’re a planner and a thinker. You get in your head about things and want to analyze everything.
Sometimes you have to just feel. Just go with the flow.
You need to be with a person who makes you want to let it happen. Be in the moment with them.”
My jaw is dropped, and my mouth is probably hanging open in the most ridiculous way. I’m not sure even a world champion poker player could have read me or these proverbial cards the way Grace just did. “Damn,” I mumble, awed and humbled at the accuracy of her assessment.
“Mmm-hmmm.” She slides the file back in the drawer and closes it, looking up at me with a no-nonsense expression. “I know you say you’re not looking for someone, but maybe don’t be ‘not looking’ so hard you miss something that’s right in front of you.”
With that, she pulls her keyboard in front of her and begins typing away on an email like she didn’t just nail me to a wall and hang an artist biography next to me with her name and an ode to her good work. Feeling very exposed and very out of sorts, I make my way into my office.
Does she somehow know what’s been going on? Does she talk to Yung-Sun? Or is all of that coincidence? Maybe I’m reading too much into it and nothing she just said has anything to do with what I’ve been thinking or what’s been going on, and I’m just making connections out of nothing.
I ease into my chair and open my laptop, staring at the blank screen like maybe I’ll find some answers there.
I don’t know what to do about Chaeji. She’s talking about me, speaking our faux relationship into the universe like a shaman trying to make it happen.
I need to speak to her. Set her straight.
But carefully, because I feel like she’s one wrong move away from something I definitely don’t want to be a part of.
I also don’t know what to do about Yung-Sun. He’s on my mind, in my head, and maybe some other parts, too. I should probably talk to him as well, remind him nothing can or will happen. He shouldn’t be thinking about it and neither should I. I really, really should not.
So that’s it. I have a plan.
Just be an adult.
Have adult conversations.
I’m just letting two people know that our relationships are professional. Not personal. And that’s all.
Nobody needs to get hurt.
I’ve handled plenty of difficult people before. Not that Yung-Sun is difficult. Feisty, maybe. Tenacious, certainly. Alluring, yeah, okay, maybe that too, but it doesn’t matter.
I date women, and I will continue to date women when one comes along that I’m interested in.
Yes. Right.
Good.
I’m glad I got that settled.