I clink and sip the wine. It’s drier that I’d prefer but the oak and berries at the end make it very drinkable. The grass-fed beef steak is perfectly grilled, and the bread is exceptional. As I cut into the meat, the table near us erupts with a cheer.
“Happy birthday, Adam!”
Eugene’s eyes flick to the family celebrating a birthday. Some emotion lurks in them.
“Are those folks too loud?” When he’s in Korea, he probably eats in quiet restaurants where people don’t shout.
“No.” He turns to me with a polite smile. “Just remembered… It’s Minho’s birthday.”
Minho?
His dark eyebrows pull together briefly before he smooths his expression into a cool mask. “The child I raised,” he says, apparently noticing the question on my face.
“Oh.” I squirm a little as I realize Eugene is referring to the kid his cheating ex-wife passed off as his.
Yuna told me about it after one too many drinks: “It wasn’t a love match, but it was a good arranged marriage. The right families. Good education on both sides. The right upbringing. But she’s just an immoral adulteress whore. This is what happens when you stop treating adultery as a jailable offense. If Korea still put people in prison for adultery, that bitch and her manwhore would begone.”
I still can’t fathom anybody cheating on Eugene. The man breathes success, and he’s also quite handsome. Unless he constantly farts and belches at home, he’s a great catch. “I’m sorry,” I say after a moment.
A casual shrug. “It happens. Everyone knows about it, so it saves me the trouble of explaining.”
I bet a divorce by someone like him would make the national news in Korea. “It sucks that you don’t get the privacy you deserve.”
“Comes with the job.”
His tone is light, but his ex’s betrayal must’ve hurt. Still might, if he’s thinking of the boy even now. And the child… He did nothing wrong, but got separated from the only father he knew because his mom couldn’t do the right thing. Children always suffer when the parents are self-centered shits, very much like my father.
I wash away the bitter taste in my mouth with the wine. “People suck.”
Eugene laughs, but it’s more polite than amused. “Should a newly engaged woman say something like that?”
“What?”
He tilts his chin at my hand. The chain for the ring doesn’t match my dress, so I put my new ring on my finger for the evening, figuring I won’t run into my dream husband tonight anyway.
“It’s a vision ring. To help me manifest my future.”
A corner of his mouth quirks upward. “Yuna’s idea?”
“How did you know?”
“It’s exactly the kind of thing she’d tell a friend to try. So what’s it supposed to manifest for you?”
I pull the ring off and turn it around, studying the fracturing light off the beautifully faceted surface. “It’s supposed to bring me a wonderful family. She said she read about vision items.”
“And embellished them with her own twist. She always does. Like her soul sister idea.”
I have to smile. She calls Ivy her soul sister. “‘If you can have a soul mate, why can’t you have a soul sister, too?’” I say, quoting Yuna.
He laughs. “Yeah. The way her mind leaps and makes connections. She’d make a great executive if she wanted. But she doesn’t have the right temperament.” He extends a hand. “May I?”
“Sure.” I give him the ring.
He scrutinizes it. “Exceptional. I suppose my sister told you not to cheap out on your future.”
“You know her very well. I went to Peery Diamonds for it.”
A soft chuckle. “That’s so like her, and Peery is where I would’ve gone too. The ring represents the first step in your future with a family—proposal.”
