“Tenth member of Apollo,” remarks Eunjae, from behind his phone. We hear an older Mr. Han laughing in the background.And on TV, as the birthday song winds down, the little girl breaks into a smile.
She sits at the table across from her dad. Joey says, “Eight years old! Our Yeonnie is a grown up lady. And for her birthday, she asked us to get her…”
“A haircut!” Again, that dimpled smile. She's missing a few teeth. The tape freezes here, and it's hard to tell if Eunjae hit the pause button or if Jiyeon took the remote and did it for him. He swivels the phone in her direction.
Grown up Jiyeon wears shorts and a blue Wanna Waffle tee. Her eyes are tired, but her voice is warm. “So,” she says. “What are you guys doing?”
“Come here, come sit,” Mr. Han replies. “Showing Ryan some videos. Remember this? Your birthday.”
“Uh-huh.” She gestures at Eunjae. “And you're… taking a video of a video?”
He laughs. “It's cute. I wanted a copy.”
“First time Yeonnie went to the salon. Got too fancy for haircuts at home. ‘No more,’ she said to me. ‘I wantMiss Gloriato cut my hair. I want anappointment.’ An appointment! With Dad, no appointment. Available any time. But did she want that? No.”
“Maybe ‘cause I wanted something other than a bowl cut.”
“Hey,” says Eunjae. “That's a classic for a reason.”
“There. Did you hear that? Classic. Always in style.” Mr. Han claps Eunjae on the back with a very audible thump. It's possible that some organs have been rearranged on impact. “Ryan, you can live upstairs. Neighbors moved out, now the place is empty. I'll talk to the manager.”
“He’s not moving in upstairs, Dad.”
But Mr. Han has the remote now, and the footage takes us back to the past. Eight-year-old Jiyeon gushes about the salon, the chairs that go up and down on hydraulic pumps, the flashingscissors and the hair colors mixed in bowls. She has so many questions. How do they know where to paint the highlights? What happens to all the hair they cut off? And it’s so nice there, too. The aunties, they talk the whole time. They know everybody’s name. You feel like you’re at home.
“Do you think I can cut hair too? And do you think I can make a place like that? I think it’s my big dream. Like how Janie’s big dream is to see the whole world. But do you think I can do it?”
“Oh, sure,” her father replies, without hesitation. “You can do anything.”
41
TheyreturnedtofindEunjae's brothers arguing vehemently about the dog. Negotiations were floundering. Apollo had been sharing food, clothing, and living spaces for over a decade, but they couldn’t share a pet.
“Look,” said Jesse, when Eunjae came in. “Ari’s a lawyer, so let’s make him figure it out. Hyung, who gets to keep Uyu? It’s me, right? I’m the youngest. I’ll live longer than the rest of you, so she should stay with me. I can’t go to your funerals alone. That’s so sad, it’s justdevastatingto think about.”
“Oooh, but we’ll still be together at Ari’s funeral. He decided to hang up on Jaehwan and then he fired his girlfriend’s brother, so my son’s not long for this world. Another twelve hours, tops. I put his obituary in the group chat. No paywall, don’t miss it!”
Jiyeon blinked at Nicky, then at Eunjae. “You fired Denny?”
“Ah, yeah. Long story.”
“Most of us are staying in Seoul,” reasoned Jungwoo, in the meantime. “Cosmos should stay there, too. Can’t the rest of you just visit?”
Max shot him a dirty look from behind the counter. “That’s not even her damn name! Do you know any girl’s name or are they just walking, talking, emo song lyrics to you?”
“Aww, I thought her name was Myeonbong, like a cotton ball. Did we change it?” A pause. “Did I change it…?”
Kazu bellowed over the noise. “Quit fighting. She can live with everybody.”
“Everybody?” Kei exclaimed. “I don’t even want a dog! I never did! She’s notmydog, this wasn’tmystupid idea—”
Denny swooped in, gloriously terrifying, a wrathful saint. He went to the panel on the wall and threw every light switch at once. They cowered in the sudden, blinding radiance. “That’s enough. Battle stations, now. Don’t make me tell you twice.”
The members scattered, but Denny told Eunjae and Jiyeon to wait. “Ezra’s here,” he said, the puppy now curled in the crook of his arm. “Let him know he’s in charge of this food safety violation until approximately 1600 hours. Supplies are in the pantry.”
“Got it, boss.”
“Don’t go yet. Just heard that Eric canceled the cleaning crew.”
