She nodded again. “So Minjae thought about it and calledher. And thenhermother calledhismother, and it was a rough night for him.”
I didn’t have patience for this. “He’s thirty-one years old, so what’s the big deal?” I said.
She nodded slowly, as if her head weighed a thousand pounds. “I get it, it’s just him and his mom.”
“So what’s up with his job?” I said.
“That’s the thing. They suddenly fired him without giving him a reason, and they’ve revoked his work visa. He’d normally have some time to get another company to sponsor him, but no one will return his calls or emails.” She ran her hands through her hair. I turned the doorknob. I hated this room. Like a prison, it didn’t have a window, and my claustrophobia was increasing.
“Minjae will get a job. Or not. Maybe he can get one in Boston near you. You’re not here for much longer. Now that his fiancée thing is straightened out, you two can be together in Boston. How much time does he have to get another job?”
She shook her head in misery. “Normally it’s sixty days, but in this political climate who knows. He could be deported any time. Technically, he’s now here illegally.”
Legal matters scared me. There was no reason to take such risks. “Harabeoji or Mr. Yun will know of another company he can work for that will sponsor him so he can stay here, right? And Kent’s party. He can ask people there. Minjae said that tonight, that’s what he meant?”
“Yeah, he thinks so.” She sniffed as if to stifle tears.
“Let’s back up those episodes we’re missing. And—” I opened the door and felt a wave of relief at the bright lights of the kitchen, even the music and dialogue coming from the laptop with the K-drama playing on it. “You don’t have to go to Kent’s party. I can bring the boys.”
“Wait, Dahee, there’s one more thing, come back, close the door for one sec,” Channing said.
I didn’t want to, but she was insistent. I turned off the show and closed the laptop to delay going back to that room.
“If Minjae doesn’t get a job here, he wants me to go with him to Seoul,” my cousin said.
“Just like for a trip?” I asked.
“He wants me to meet his mom. I could get a job there. You know you can stay in Korea for up to a year without any paperwork?”
“Would you live with him?” I asked in confusion and then followed with a barrage of questions that she answered with “Minjae and I will figure it out.”
“But what about Harabeoji?” I couldn’t believe I even had to ask.
She looked down at her hands that she was twisting together. “I’ll fly back and forth.”
I offered to heat up water for tea. The Ahns kept the house air-conditioning on so high. It was freezing in here, too. Moving to places scared me. I’d done too much of it as a child. I wanted the familiar; I wanted to return to a time and place that was gone.
I couldn’t imagine her in Korea somehow. What was happening? Everyone I loved was leaving. My parents were in another country, and now Channing would be, too.
“You’re sure this is what you want?” I said, returning to the little room. I kept the door open.
“Definitely. We both suffered being apart, and it was only two days. It’s never going to happen again, we’re going to make sure of it,” she said.
I rubbed my shoulders. “Aren’t you cold?” I said, and left her once more. Channing had been right about the trouble with the AC in the house. I’d failed as she had to raise the thermostat. I didn’t understand how it could be blowing into this unfinished nook of a room. I checked the thermostat again on the wall of the kitchen. It showed it was sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. To me, it felt like fifty. I raised the flame beneath the kettle before stepping into that little side room again. It couldn’t heat up fast enough. How could Harabeoji and I look out for Channing if she were on the other side of the world? What if Harabeoji and my uncle moved to Korea, too? I’d be left alone.
“Dahee, please understand,” Channing said. She touched my arm. Her hand was warm.
“Did you renew your passport?” I asked.
A couple of years ago, she’d told me her passport had expired. It had come up in a conversation somehow. She’d let it lapse when she lost one of her jobs, saying she had no need for it. The fees were too high to keep it current. Harabeoji wasn’t traveling to Korea anymore, and she couldn’t afford to go on any overseas trips. She said it was a waste of money to spend it on her passport when she needed that money for bills.
My question startled her. Clearly, she hadn’t thought of her passport. “What can I do, Dahee?” she asked now, panicked.
I went right to work on my phone to see how to expedite her documents. An internet search showed a renewal was shorter than a new application. The government website cautioned that due to volume, the processcould take as long as a month or more. She couldn’t start the process until she had her expired passport in hand. “I could drive to Boston and bring it back for you,” I offered. “Minjae has to get a job until your passport is ready. Or worse case he’ll go to Korea and then you’ll follow. A few months apart won’t hurt you if you love each other.”
Chapter 24
We had to pass Channing’s childhood home on the way to Kent’s party. I was surprised to discover that Kent lived on the same street. As we drove by, I noticed the new owners had kept my aunt’s orange tiger lilies at the curb. They were in full bloom. Channing seemed preoccupied with her thoughts. It was quiet in the car. The boys’ stomachs growled loud enough for us all to hear and no one laughed.
