Julia nodded, looking more herself again. “Thanks again for letting me hire you as my dating coach.”
“Let’s be clear. I’m just here to hang out with you so you’ll be ready for your dates. And you will not be paying me. This is my pleasure,” Tae said to lay down the law.
Julia rolled her eyes. “We’ll see about that,” she said under her breath.
Tae was ready to battle Julia if he had to. But first... “So, Julia, are you ready?” he asked, changing the subject.
“For what?” Julia looked very skeptical.
“To hear the news.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Oh God.” She put her hand over her eyes as if it might keep her in the dark.
“Forget it. Let’s not talk about it.” Tae immediately regretted saying anything. They were doing so well.
Julia let out a huge sigh. “No, no, let’s get it over with.” Julia straightened her back, which Tae was beginning to realize was her sign that she was bracing herself, putting on her CEO Julia armor. “Lay it on me. What do you know?”
“So yesterday while I was waiting for Mrs. Ko at the hair salon—”
“I’m sorry, you were doing what, where?” Julia asked.
“Mr. Ko threw out his back, and Mrs. Ko hasn’t renewed her license, and... you know what? Long story. Short version was I played chauffeur yesterday, and you may or may not know that the last Saturday of the month is when everyone goes to get their hair colored and permed.”
Julia opened her mouth but didn’t say a word. Tae had rendered her speechless.
“In any case, your mom was there, and she told all the ladies how she had put out the call.”
“The call? What, like the Bat-Signal or something? Oh my God, did they post it in the Korean newspaper?”
Tae could see that Julia was joking, but he couldn’t actually tell her that it wasn’t something they were planning on doing. Because it just might be.
“From what I’ve heard, they’ve been asking around pretty broadly for smart, successful, and, um, tall men eligible to set up with their daughter.”
“No,” she gasped. “I thought they’d just look in the church or the community center. How broadly are we talking?” Julia’s eyes were wide as saucers.
“Well, for starters my mom was going to offer up Min.”
“Your brother? Didn’t I hear that Min was engaged?”
“Yeah, he is, but she’s not Korean.”
“Oh my God, that is awful. Why would that matter? These mothers are willing to break up perfectly happy relationships for a setup? With me?”
“Um, it gets worse.”
Julia groaned. “Tell me really fast so it will just shock me, and maybe I’ll pass out and not feel the rest of the pain.”
“They said they’d be willing to pay for plane tickets for anyone willing to meet you if the man was suitable. Plane tickets for both the man... and his mother.”
“How is this my life?” Julia whined, dropping her head into her hands.
“I know it sounds awful,” he said, and truthfully Tae had seen a lot of crazy things Korean parents were willing to do to set up their kids for marriage, but this was a lot. “But it’s kinda nice that they’re trying to find you someone amazing, ya know? There will be no settling. Like there’s clearly no one good enough in their small bubble, so why not put out the call for eligible bachelors far and wide? Assuming they’re smart, successful, andtall.” Tae added the extra emphasis on the final word while trying to hide his smile.
“Please, stop reminding me of those three words. So cringey. God, who came up with these parameters? Oh yeah, me and my family. We sound like such assholes.”
“So you don’t want smart, successful, andtall?” Tae was having too much fun.
