“Undateable princess.”
“Julia...” Tae added a warning in his voice.
Tae caught himself staring at Julia’s smile, realizing he had a matching one on his own face. He was having a good time. And, it was clear, so was she.
“So, Jules, did you complete the prework I assigned? Do you have your I’m-interested-in-your-life questions ready?”
“When have I ever come to class unprepared? I’ve got them right here, Coach,” Julia said, tapping a finger to her temple.
He lifted his chin to the notebook. “Write them down for good measure.”
Julia turned the page in her notebook and began to write. “What kind of law do you practice?” she said aloud as she wrote. “Note: do not question if he is a criminal defense attorney or if he represents Big Pharma or oil companies in any cases. Just nod and appreciate the effort it took to get through law school, pass the bar, and work as a lawyer.”
Tae laughed. She took some mean notes.
“Solid conversation starter,” he noted. “But try and sound interested, ya know? Maybe I should ask,areyou interested? I mean, can you see yourself with a lawyer?”
Julia looked off to the side, considering his question. “I’ve gone on dates with a couple lawyers. It hasn’t ended well, to be honest. I find most of them self-absorbed and doing the work without any kind of purpose. They work long hours and are driven more by money and winning.”
“Well, technically, that does check the boxes ofsmartandsuccessful. If Michael Lee from Fullerton is tall, we could have a love match,” Tae said jokingly.
But this time Julia didn’t laugh. Instead, she looked a little lost. She turned her gaze back to Tae. “I think it’s becoming pretty clear I really don’t know what I want after all,” she said quietly.
He held her eyes and gave her a small smile. “Well, then these dates could be the perfect chance for you to find out.”
As Julia smiled back, nodding in response, Tae pushed away the hope that maybe in all of this he could find out what he wanted too.
12
Meatfest
Julia
“Happy first setup date!”
Rachel’s perfect red lip formed into a kiss through FaceTime. Julia had managed to put the date out of her mind, mostly, for the entire day. It had been a really good one for her. A meeting with Andrew Lim of Hansuk Holdings was on the calendar in a couple weeks when he’d be in town from Korea. Good, because recent sales were showing an unheard-of one hundred percent increase year-over-year. And good, because they were finally able to hire the design director they wanted to work on their new packaging and retail storefronts. Nothing was going to dampen her mood. Not the accompanying challenges these successes came with...
And not a sure-to-be awkward first setup.
“Really, Jules, I can’t believe it’s taken you this long to go through this rite of passage. Most of us surrendered in our early twenties. How have you held out? You’re an inspiration.”
“I’ve been shamed and guilted to this point. I am but a shell of my true self,” Julia whined.
“Snap out of it. Don’t count this experience out before you’ve even met the guy. Though...” Rachel pursed her lipstogether and shook her head. “I can’t believe this guy is taking you to a Korean barbecue place. Hold your phone up a little bit. I want to see what you’re wearing for this meatfest. I still do not understand why you didn’t just tell him you were a vegetarian.”
“You guys told me to not always say what’s on my mind. Remember?”
“We didn’t tell you to be a robot or a mail-order bride,” Rachel said. “You’re just not supposed to be brutally honest. That’s different from just being you.”
“I didn’t want to have to explain all my quirks and issues with food. It’s fine. Tae helped me figure out what I can order so that the night won’t be a total disaster and end up with me starving. This way, I’ll at least be fed before the inevitable disaster of conversation hits.”
“Oh yes, Tae. These practice dates are the one thing that make the fact that you barely know how to feed yourself worth it. So, tell me everything. How did it go with Tae? What did he wear? Was it form-fitting?”
“I’m hanging up now,” Julia said.
“Okay, okay, I’m kidding. Sheesh. Anyways, are you feeling ready?” Rachel asked.
“Doesreadyfeel the same asimminent doom? It’s fine. I’m fine. It’s just dinner. I’ve done the dinner thing tons of times. All I really need to do is be chill enough for a couple hours that he doesn’t go blabbing to his mom that I’m neurotic and cruel, and word spreads to the four corners of the Korean universe.”
