“Great! I think we’ll do a solo interview and then get you in there with Ari once Apollo’s done in the kitchen. Okay with you?”
“Yes! Can’t wait!”
The producer scurried away. Eunjae said he’d better get going as well. “The boss sent me out to find something and I never came back. Don’t remember what it was, anymore. I’m in for it.” He went on to apologize for not being able to hang out longer.
“No worries, buddy. I’m out here for the whole weekend. Thought I might as well, since I’ve never been to Monroe. Heard the farmer’s market is epic.” Arthur whipped out his phone, swiping to a calendar app. Meetings, appointments, and social events were arranged in color-coded blocks up and down the grid. “Let’s see. That’s on Saturday. Hey, if you’ve got a couple hours free, we should go! The stalls stay open until 8:00.”
“Ah, I could try. Think we’re only filming in the morning.”
Pleased as punch, Arthur tried to wrap an arm around Jiyeon. “You too, Emmie. Come with us. It’ll be fun.”
“Can’t, sorry.” Sidestepping out of reach, she explained, “I take over for Denny on the weekends.”
“Whaaaaat? So I’ll end up missing him?”
This was unacceptable. Arthur marched to the kitchen, determined to at least say hi to Dee-dubs. “Oh, quick question. I meant to bring this up when I ran into you at Gloria’s, but youwere getting a haircut, and then I was getting a haircut, and then the aunties… yeah.”
“Sure. What’s the question?”
“I just have to know if you changed your mind about that place because of me.”
Jiyeon frowned. “That place… what place?”
“The salon. You were thinking of signing a lease, right? In that new shopping center? Your dad told my dad. Then I started worrying that you turned it down just to avoid me, since that street is on my Monday-Wednesday-Friday running route.”
Arthur prattled on about his daily jog, the sanctity of his morning routine, and that one time Jiyeon switched gas stations because they bumped into each other there. So dramatic! She heard just a fraction of what he said. The pounding of her pulse was suddenly so loud, even louder than Apollo’s raucous laughter in the other room. And up ahead, Eunjae faltered in his steps. He forgot himself again, forgot that the cameras were rolling, turning to Jiyeon with a dozen questions in his eyes.
There had been so many chances to confess. Busy at the shop, she’d missed her shot at that retail space when the leasing agent called in August. Someone else snapped it up within the week. Other units were available, with more square footage, but that wasn’t what she wanted. She let it go. Every time she tried, Jiyeon couldn’t bear to break this news to Eunjae.
“It didn’t work out,” she made herself say, because Arthur was still waiting for a response. “That wasn’t anything to do with you, though.”
“Oh, okay. I feel better. Ari, did you know she wants to open a salon?”
“Yeah,” said Eunjae, quietly. “I did know that.”
Memories of summer rushed by in reverse. It was September, August, July. It was the second week in June, and they were at Lowell’s for the evening grocery run, waitinganother five minutes while her dad combed the aisles for steel-cut oats. Eunjae had a map pulled up on his phone. Typically so mindful of maintaining space, he’d never chosen to stand so close to her before. Within seconds, she forgot every item on the shopping list.
See? It wouldn’t have the best view, but it faces west. You could watch the sunset.
She’d felt the shift when it happened, like a tremor in the earth, like the first breathless drop on a roller coaster plummeting from the sky. Something had changed.
How stupid of me, Jiyeon remembers thinking. What would she do when he left? Because he would leave, of course. There was no Ryan Kim. He was a story she made up inside her head. His secret would catch up to him eventually, regardless of what it may be. Secrets had a way of doing that.
How stupid of me, she thought to herself now.Why didn’t I just tell him?
18
Theyfilmedfortwelvehours straight, 7am to 7pm, on opening day. Eunjae learned that he preferred waiting on tables to working the register. Kei discovered a newfound talent for flipping pancakes onto the ceiling, and everyone realized that Jungwoo had more fluency in English than he'd ever let on. Overall, the producers called it a resounding success.
The cast and crew piled into the main house for a celebratory meal. Even then, the cameras kept rolling. The footage was too good to miss: Kazu’s gallant offer to pay for dinner but not delivery; the subsequent mix of applause and vehement booing; Nicky using an app to detect ghosts while Jesse cowered in the butler’s pantry.
Eunjae willed himself to forget that they were still recording. It wasn’t easy. He’d always been slow to adapt to the sensation of being filmed, like the high whine of a mosquito in his ear. Everywhere, the telltale gleam of a lens. Always, the knowledgethat every move he made and every word he spoke could be cut and pasted into a story someone else was telling.
I'm sneaking out, said Jiyeon, texting from a different room. Three dots appeared at the bottom of the chat as she typed another message, but then they'd fade as she debated what to say. Eventually, she settled on just one more line:I'll let you know when I get there.
Eunjae wanted to cut through the living room, the kitchen, the phalanx of cameras. He wanted to walk outside and catch her before she made the drive back to Lemon Grove. They'd barely spoken since Friday. She'd covered for Denny all weekend, wrapping up staff training before the diner welcomed its first batch of real live customers. Apollo was busy too. There was always something going on. Whether he could see Jiyeon from across the room or they were standing right next to each other, it didn't matter. They were ships in the night. Having a proper, private conversation wasn't possible under current circumstances.
Drive safe, he sent back. It wasn't what Eunjae wanted to tell her. But going out there to say goodbye would draw too much attention, be too difficult to explain. He needed to be Ari right now. Apollo’s Ari had no reason to leave his spot on the stairs and chase after Emma Han.
