“I won't distract him—”
“Correct. You'll comply with the directive unless you want Miss Lim to know your exact location. I'm talking latitude, longitude, and approximate miles above sea level. Full coordinates. Don't test me, Lee.”
Max clamped his mouth shut. Eunjae took his foot off the brake, but then the doors opened again, and four additional brothers squashed into the SUV. They wanted a ride into Monroe. They wanted a ride all the way to LA. They wanted to stop for donuts, coffee, scrambled eggs. No, they wanted tacos. But actually, what about crepes?
An ominousthunk: Denny engaging the locks. “Great. Today’s lesson is parallel parking. The goal is 85% accuracy, and now I won’t need to use these cones I ordered online. Youguys are pretty sturdy. You can do the work of a safety cone, no problem.”
The silence that followed was deeply unnatural. Eunjae checked the rearview mirror, concerned. Maybe he’d imagined his brothers piling in. But no, the seats were occupied. His passengers were just… quiet. Trapped. Regretting their life choices.
He eased the car down the driveway, through the iron gates, and onto the narrow road that led to town. The fields were wreathed in fog. Sporadic sunshine burned through the mist, flooding groves and pastures with a haze of gold. Visibility was limited to five or six feet ahead, and although Eunjae knew the route, his grip tightened on the wheel. He'd never driven in these conditions before.
Denny’s voice cut into his thoughts. “Just follow the dotted line, Ryan.”
“Sorry. I should speed up a little, too.”
“You're fine. Watch the road and stay in your lane. Eyes front, lights on, wheels on this side of the line. Nothing to it. And quit acting like you don’t know how to drive. Sure, the fog makes it hard to see. But you manage every single day with all that hair flopping into your eyes, so how's it any different from this? Low visual acuity is the norm, for you.”
Max couldn’t take it. “Hey, he gets enough shit from Ezra. Don't pile it on.”
That complaint got him a reprimand, since he'd agreed not to talk, but Eunjae only sighed. “Wish I knew what to do about him,” he said, braking at a dilapidated stop sign.
“Why should you have to? Your parents fucked up, but that’s on them.” Max leaned back, stretching his long legs as far as the space allowed. “And also, Ezra could shut his mouth sometimes. It wouldn’t kill him.”
A grunt from Denny. “Would you like to be the pot or the kettle in this situation?”
That broke the spell. After not talking, bickering, or even daring to breathe for a record six minutes, the others reverted to their old ways in an instant. “Never mind about the kid for now,” said Kei. “Are we seriously going through with this? Those videos of Gyu and Jungwoo are all over the Internet. I’m shocked Prism still let us have the day off.”
Patiently, Denny explained that the circus had rolled into town and wasn’t going anywhere. This was the world they lived in. It was a clown game played with clown rules, and you could only win using clown tactics. But Kazu was not aware that a video of Namgyu had also been leaked. What? When did that happen?
“He posted both of us last night,” Jungwoo replied.
“I thought we were doing those one at a time!”
“Quit yelling, Zu. What’s it matter if the posts are making us look good? Isn’t that what the agencies want? Prism should be paying hyung a salary with benefits.”
“They should,” Nicky giggled. “One leaked video and I rebranded Max into a gentleman. Not even just a gentleman, but aperfectgentleman. None of the Erics can even compete. And have you opened Star-Connect today? Exactly, you haven’t, because you can’t. We tanked the servers. Sunshines are nuts over Namgyu buying out that farm stand. The guy’s a hero. He’s saving the American agricultural industry.”
Kazu was aghast. “They’re calling him a hero for paying full price? He maxed out his credit card! Again!”
“The fans don’t care about that, Zu. They want to be lucky, lucky Emma Han. They want flowers from Hong Namgyu. They want tobethe flowers. And who made that happen? Me. Eric's taught me so much about manipulating people—"
"Don't you mean manipulating perception or something?" Kei cut in, revolted.
Eunjae merged onto the highway, setting a course for Lemon Grove. “Boss, should we call her now?” They had an hour left to go, with most of his brothers present and unable to walk out in a huff. It was a good time to talk. Denny made an agreeable noise, still a grunt but in a less forbidding key.
Jiyeon's voice came through the car’s Bluetooth connection, nice and clear. “Who am I talking to? Ajussi, are you in the car?”
“Oooh, I can be. What’s your best offer?”
“Kim Ahnjong.”
“What? Time is money, Chief.”
“Her time is money, too,” said Eunjae.
“Oooohhh—”
They heard Jiyeon talking to someone, a muffled conversation over clinking dishes and the faint hiss of a faucet running. She came back to the phone and said, “Sorry, I had to get out of the kitchen, it’s too crowded in there.”
