And taking a risk was exactly what she’d be doing if she let herself feel anything for Tae. She’d rather move to the desert and live alone in solitude than hurt that man.
“You have a permafrown any time you talk about these setups,” Rachel said. “Which is the complete opposite of when you talk about the time you spend with Tae.”
“Be honest with yourself. Are you interested in him?” Sonia asked.
“I don’t know,” Julia answered.
“Well, that’s progress. At least you’re not trying to fool yourself that he’s like a little brother anymore,” Sonia said. “Julia, I think you should talk to him. Find out how he’s feeling. And if you’re both feeling the chemistry, which I have a good feeling you are, then maybe give it a shot.”
“Let’s not forget the man lives in Chicago. I can’t do long distance. There’s no way,” Julia said.
“I don’t know, seems to me he’s made himself real comfortable living in Irvine. I can’t see him going back, to be honest,” Sonia noted.
Rachel walked into the kitchen and pulled out three popsicles from the freezer. She came back and passed them out.
“I like what’s happening between us right now. Honestly, I don’t want to lose that. And he’s got a lot going on in his life at the moment. So do I,” Julia said.
“What’s happening between you two is called attraction, feelings. Face it, you two are basically dating as it is,” Rachel said.
“Julia, you need someone who will listen to you. Not like Michael Lee from Fullerton,” Sonia started.
“Yeah, and you need someone who is okay with you being the star, the success story. Not like Mr. Trot,” Rachel added.
“That all sounds nice. It sounds wonderful...” Julia said
“It sounds like Tae,” Sonia said.
Julia shook her head. “It sounds impossible.” She reached into her purse for an antacid. “Anyways, I’m not gonna do anything about this right now. I’ve still got setup number three. I promised my family that much. So let’s just pile on the pressure for this third and final date and put all thoughts of Tae out of the picture for now.” Julia swallowed the pill and picked up her phone to scroll through Instagram. She couldn’t stomach the looks on the faces of her two best friends. Sincerity, concern, pity. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just stressed because I have that meeting with Hansuk Holdings coming up, and I think they’re gonna offer funding for Starlight.”
“That’s amazing, Julia! Will that mean you’ll be distributed and marketed internationally? Like, in Korea too? I know that’s a dream of yours,” Sonia said.
“Yeah. Possibly. But... what if we put it out there and it fails?”
“Then, you figure out what’s not working, and you fix it. Like you always do.”
Julia nodded. Rachel was right. She hadn’t gotten this far by relying on easy wins, but rather with a lot of hard work and pivots when necessary. She could do this.
“Can you be my contractor and renovate my house?” Sonia asked. “I need someone who will figure out what’s not working and just fix it.”
“I can’t, but, uh, I know someone who can,” Julia answered.
“Oh my God, yes, please refer me to someone good. I want to fire my contractor so badly,” Sonia begged.
“Well, Tae? He’s been working on Starlight’s office renovations. At first, I just asked him to look at the plans and estimates to make sure I wasn’t getting screwed. But now, he’s finding suppliers and basically overseeing it all. You saw how good the makeup room looked during the Demo Day. I would’ve been up shit creek if Tae hadn’t shown up to pick up the pieces that lousy GC left behind when he quit. And the work he’s doing is stunning.” What a mess the whole thing would have been if Tae hadn’t taken over. “Thank God.” She sighed.
Rachel and Sonia exchanged a look that Julia could not miss. Since when did the two of them create a wordless language based solely on eye contact? Julia was feeling annoyed and left out, to be frank. “Okay, what now? What was that look for?”
“Competency porn,” they said in unison
Julia raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Oh, is it your first time? Did Tae just pop your competency porn cherry?” Rachel asked.
“Tae is good at everything. You can count on him for anything. Don’t make that face. He may not make a million dollars, but the man can get shit done,” Sonia said.
“And that is hot,” Rachel said.
“Competency porn,” they repeated together.
