Time contracted, expanded, flowed in reverse. Those were Jiyeon's words, the question she'd asked him just hours after they met.You don't even know what that meant to me, he'd told her once, later in the summer, when everything between them had changed.You didn’t tell me what to do. You gave me a choice.
A choice. That's what he'd given to his brother, and Jiyeon understood exactly what it cost him. She loved him so much for it.
Whatever Ezra had expected from Eunjae, it wasn't this. His expression flickered in and out of disbelief. “You're letting me decide?”
“It's your life. You should get to choose.”
“You won’t be mad if I want to try?”
“If that's what you want, I'll help you. And if it's not, I'll still help you.”
For once, Ezra didn't question what he'd been told. He only nodded and said, “Thanks.”
“Of course.”
“Can I think about it?”
“Yeah. Take as long as you need.”
“That's definitely something you should think about before you start,” Jiyeon put in. “Look it up first.”
He nodded, pensive. “But if I try that thing two weeks from now, I'll have to miss more school, like Mum said.”
“I don't know if a few weeks would make much difference when you've been gone for two months already.” Eunjae retreated into the shade, out of the glare, and consulted the calendar on his phone. But then he realized that the coming weeks would be empty of obligations, what withSunshine 24/7wrapping up on Friday. His expression lightened. “I could drive you there. I'll just stay in the car, though, so I won’t be in your way—”
“You don't even have your own car,” Ezra pointed out. “And you don't have a place to live, or a job. I mean, I guess you have a job, it's just going nowhere…” He trailed off. “Wait, you can't stay in the car. I don't know what I'm doing. You have to come with me. I mean, at least to the door.”
“At least to the door, then,” Eunjae agreed, trying very hard not to smile.Good for him, Jiyeon thought to herself. She still wanted to cry. She'd probably have to duck into the pantry and sob it out before they carried on with the rest of the day.
“What about the casting call?” she asked, sending a reply to Denny. He’d been summoning them to lunch for the past ten minutes. “Leila said it was tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t really want to do that one.” Warily, Ezra looked over at his mother, still arguing with Simon. “She'll be mad if I say that, but I don't even know what that show is about. What if it sucks? Or like, what if I'm supposed to play a character who sucks?”
“Let her be mad,” said Jiyeon, stoutly. She sent another text to her brother, and one to her mom, glimpsing the preview on the latest of six messages from Arthur. He’d seen the picture of them leaving the airport. “Arthur’s saying he tried to call you five times,” she told Eunjae.
“Ah, yeah. Blocked him last month.”
“You blocked him?”
“I did.”
“You don’t have to stop being friends with Arthur ‘cause of me. I hope that’s not why.”
Eunjae blinked at her. “Did he ever say sorry to you?”
“Hmm. Not really.”
“Then I can’t be his friend.” Having explained this, he went right back to assuring Ezra that their mother couldn’t make him audition. He was still a minor, so there would be paperwork. They’d require signatures from both parents, since it was a shared custody agreement, and it didn’t look like Simon would agree to sign. “I’m starting to think he only signed the papers for our show because you wanted to do it.”
Frenzied barking interrupted the conversation. Joey lumbered through the back door with Uyu. “This is where you were hiding! Go, go. Listen to Charlie, huh? She’s saying, ‘Time to eat!’”
“Her name’s Charlie now?”
“Oh, they told me that in a letter,” said Ezra. “They said the puppy can be Charlie because all the plants are named Charles.”
Lizzie shoved the old wooden wedge into place, beaming. “I’ve been saying this, Yeonnie. Naming everybody Charles, that’s how you make it easier. Jane Austen was a very smart lady. Imagine if she picked names for Apollo! Nine boys, all named Charles. Done! Easy!” Still beaming, she patted Eunjae on the cheek, then Ezra, then Jiyeon. Then she went straight to business.
“I’m so happy to meet you,” Lizzie announced, taking both of Leila’s hands in hers. “Thank you for your two sweet boys. I will take very good care of them. Don’t ever worry again, not even a little bit.” She led the astonished woman to her rental car. “Drive safe, yeah? Scary out there! Some people drive so fast!”
