“It’s been months and Mrs. Le is still talking about seeing your brother on the news,” said Angie. “Mentions it every time she comes in. And she asks why the famous girl doesn't work here anymore. Why can't she have the Instagram girl cut her hair? Famous Emma Han. That's what she calls you.”
“I think I said two sentences on camera,” Jiyeon pointed out, laughing. “Denny had more screen time than I did.”
Gloria whistled. “What a story! Just imagine, finding a movie star on the sidewalk like that. I’d marry him on the spot. Take me back fifteen, twenty years—”
“An idol, Mama. The boy they found, he’s an idol. A pop star.”
“Movie star, pop star, idol star, who cares? I know an opportunity when I see one. If not him, then the other guys. Didn’t his band have something like six or seven members? Eight?”
“Nine,” said Lizzie. “So many! Very good boys, most of them.”
“Most of them?”
“You know which ones I’m saying, Yeonnie!”
“See?” Gloria sang out. “Lots of choices! Marry one of them, then get a big divorce, make some cash.”
Angie chose to ignore the bit about big divorces, although she did mouth an apology at Jiyeon. Out loud, she said, “Your brother's the one who found him, right? Dennis Han, adopting an idol off the street. I almost fell off the couch, hon.”
8
Yourbrother’stheonewho 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’dreceived 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.
