“If you think this is cramped, you should see my bedroom,” I laugh. My bed is against the wall. “Junior, one-bed that could fit a king? My ass.”
“Still. I think we should try to find you a better place. Your budget isn’t that bad. Why’d you even want to stay in this building after everything that happened?”
I look at Jae thoughtfully, my brow knit, and I reach to rub my temple. That’s a difficult question, and I’m not sure I know the answer myself.
“It was a comfort, I think. To know Grant was in the walls somewhere.” I pause for a moment. “Why’re you always trying to fix my life? First a date, now an apartment?” I’m only a little peeved. It’s nice that he cares so much.
“You’re just so helpless.” Jae looks at me, studying the wrinkles that have formed in my forehead. “Helpless in the best way. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m helpless in the worst way,” I decide. “Do you want some tea?”
“I’m always up for tea.”
I leap off the sofa and bound the four steps it takes to get to the conjoined kitchen to turn the kettle on. I am a self-proclaimed tea snob and while I love boiling water over the gas burner, sometimes the convenience of an electric kettle beats out the old-school style.
“Let me askyoua question now,” I demand playfully.
“Anything.”
“Why’d you name your restaurant The Red Kettle?” I pour steaming hot water into cups with Lily’s face on them.
“Growing up, one of the only things my mother brought back from Korea was a small red kettle. It always sat on the actual highest shelf in our kitchen, and she’d never let us touch it.” Jae holds out a hand to indicate how high the shelf was. “One day, my youngest sister climbed up there and shattered it trying to take it down. My mother was devastated.”
Jae gets up off the sofa now, too, and stands across the kitchen island staring at me while he finishes his story. “Of course, Mae was only six or seven years old. It was hard for her to understand. But it stuck with me. So I named the restaurant after my mother’s kettle. So, she’d always have it in a way.”
“That’s really sweet, actually.” I hold the teeming cup of tea in front of my face, breathing in the hot fumes of orange pekoe. “When are you moving your mother in with you?”
“I don’t know, actually.” Jae looks down at his own mug. “The renovations are going to be quite over what I budgeted. And…” He trails off for a moment, and he lets go of his mug.
“After all you told me about Grant, I felt wrong about renovating the apartment. It really is beautiful as it is. I’m not the one who should be breaking down walls.”
He takes a hefty pause in which I say nothing.
This surely can only mean one thing. I take a small sip of tea.
“I’ll be selling the apartment once I find a new place.”
“Where will you go?”
“Somewhere in the Village.” Jae looks at me reassuringly, his lips pressed into the tiniest inkling of a smile, the tiniest bit of twinkle in his eyes. “Somewhere not too far from you.”
“I wasn’t worried.” Yes, I was.
“It’s too much having you so close.” Jae’s eyes crinkle as he laughs. They make him look so much more tempting than he is without the wrinkles.
“Being enticed is the least of my worries.”
“It’s one of mine.” Jae hides his smile behind his mug.
The thought suddenly pops into my mind: I should give him a house key. In case of emergencies. And Lily. I open the newly decided upon junk drawer in my kitchen and dig around for my extra set of keys.
“I have something for you,” I say.
“What are you talking about?”
I close the drawer and set a pair of keys onto the counter in front of him.
“My apartment keys. In case of emergencies.”
