Julia still hadn’t looked at a menu yet and was starting to get hangry.
“Can you bring us your best cabernet to go with the chef’s special, something to pair perfectly with the wagyu and kobe. Also, please bring out extra banchan, especially the fish. Oh, and extra rice, brown.”
“Yes, sir, right away,” the waiter said and left their table. Julia hadn’t even had the chance to order.
“Wait—”
“Julia, I promise it will be more than enough food. Was there something else you wanted?”
“I’m a vegetarian,” she said once again. This time with more force than before.
“You really have a lot of...” He waved his hands around in the air, trying to find just the right word that would get his point across without offending... too much.
Julia waited. Let’s see. Which word would he choose?Issues?Complaints?Opinions?
“...challenges...”
Ahhh, that was one Julia hadn’t heard before.
“...to ordering. But don’t worry, there will be a lot of vegetables in the banchan. And trust me, this isn’t meat. It’swagyu.”
Julia stared at him. Was he for real? What, was he going to force the meat down her throat just because he thought there was a difference? The nerve. She didn’t eat meat. How hard was that for him to understand? Neanderthal.
Julia wanted to cry. That or she wanted to punch Michael Lee from Fullerton in the face. But physical violence certainly wouldn’t followTae’s Guide to Dating. She reached into her purse to get an antacid. Her reflux was coming on strong. Julia suddenly panicked that the pill she was holding was one of Annette’s diuretics. Maybe she’d pass on the meds and live in burning agony instead.
Julia thought back to her practice date with Tae. He told her that if she’d ever found herself in a situation during the night in which she wanted to scream, she should hold her breath and count to three before doing anything else. Tae held her fingers lightly in his hand. “Breathe in, Julia,” he said softly. She closed her eyes and did as he said. “One, two, three,” he counted. “Now breathe out.” One, two, three she counted in her head.
She’d tried the technique a couple times at work that week, and it did, in fact, work to settle her emotions.
Breathe in. One, two, three. Breathe out.
It was fine. She could survive the night on just rice and banchan. Never mind that she didn’t like brown rice. And never mind that she was starving.
“I didn’t know there were any Koreans who were vegetarians.”
“It surprises a lot of people that most of Korean food actually is vegetable-based. They usually only associate barbecue with Korean food,” Julia explained.
“Yes, but most of the vegetables are there as a compliment to the excellent meat,” Michael Lee insisted.
“Actually, many Koreans historically couldn’t afford meat, and not just wagyu, which if I’m not mistaken is from Japan.”
Why was she even trying to get into it with him? Was it worth throwing a potential suitor out the window just to argue about meat? But he wasn’t even listening. He hadn’t listened to her about the traffic. He definitely hadn’t listened to her about her dietary restrictions. And...
Now he was head-down in his phone, the blue Facebook logo reflecting off his glasses. Who still used Facebook? Moms, book clubs, and Korean lawyers in Orange County, apparently.
Julia stared at the top of his head. She began counting the few gray hairs she noticed. She was up to fourteen by the time he looked back up at her.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
His widened.
“Forgive me. A lawyer’s work is never done.” He laughed as if lawyer jokes made by lawyers themselves were the funniest things ever.
Julia laughed too... a strained, agonized chuckle begging for this night to be over.
13
Making Kimchi
