I fling the door open. “We are not having some sort of bro bestie breakdown in an underground parking lot. Get out of the car.”
As soon as we make our way up to the street, a bus rushes by with Chaeji’s face, larger-than-life, on the side, in a gigantic ad for a coffee chain that she recently announced a partnership with ahead of her new show.
“Ew, no, not her, not now. This is a KiSun celebration day,” Jase remarks and I immediately laugh at his reaction—and Sun and I apparently having a ship name. “If I never see her again, it will be too soon.”
I don’t say anything more as we walk into the jewelry store, all bright lights and rows of cases full of shiny things, attended by very eager sales associates who all have their eyes on us. I can feel the judgement in some of their gazes at the sight of two men coming in together.
Jase seems entirely unaware until we happen to look right at each other, and he rolls his eyes, making me realize the experience is probably nothing new for him. He’s seen those looks before, knows how much that obvious disapproval weighs. But to his credit, he’s unbothered, even wiggling his fingers at me like he’s going to grab my hand to hold. I wouldn’t hesitate if he did.
I know this is something that happens and could be a part of my life. If I was out with Sun, for real, the backlash would be intense for both of us, and likely catastrophic for him.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I browse what must be hundreds of rings. I call Jase over for a second opinion on a few, but there aren’t any that make it to theask Nikkophase. There are plenty of things that catch my eye, little details I like about this one or that one, but nothing feelsright.
I’m disappointed somehow, even though this is my first and only stop so far, that I can’t find anything that I feel suits Sun. I’veseen him draped in couture, dripping with jewels, and think he could wear anything in a way that was perfection. But I can’t imagine any of these on his finger or on a chain around his neck.
Maybe it’s because I know he could walk in here, buy all of them on his own, and wear them without it meaning anything. And for me, this means everything.
Because it’s for Sun.
Because of what he means to me.
And the life I know I want to build with him.
Unsurprisingly, Jase picks up on my disappointment and steers me toward the door. “You’ll find the perfect one,” he says as we walk out. “Maybe you already have something? I’m sure he’d like a piece of jewelry that’s yours even more than anything you could buy.”
I stop dead in my tracks, because he’s just given me the answer.
Sun deserves more than a generic ring I picked up in a shopping district that anyone could come in and pick out and wear.
I can do better.
And I know exactly how.
?? ?? ??
“Eomma, I have a question,” I begin, suddenly a little nervous. I’m not worried about her reaction—I expect her to be ecstatic, actually—but talking to my parents about my plans is a big step. For me and for them.
She leans in closer to her computer, her face looming closer. “I’m listening.”
“A few years ago you mentioned having some jewelry that you hoped to pass down either to grandkids or maybe to a daughter-in-law.” I pause again, now waiting to see if any ofthis sounds familiar to her. There’s already a new light in her eyes, and I feel like she’s already very much on board with where this is going.
Nodding, she says, “Yes, I did say that. And the hope is still there, even if the recipient is not the daughter-in-law I may have expected. My son-in-law deserves beautiful jewelry as well.”
I meet her eyes through the screen, my heart joyful, relieved even though I knew I didn’t have anything to be afraid of. “Would you be okay with me making changes to the pieces?”
“I would expect you’d want to do that. With someone as elegant and modern as Sun is, you should update them to reflect his style,” my mother tells me, and I am deeply appreciative of her intuition and understanding.
“That’s what I want to do,” I say. “I have been looking at rings here in the city, and I found some I thought were okay, but none of them felt like they were the one. Jase came with me, and we had Sun’s best friend ready to look at pictures, but none of them made the cut. They just weren’tenoughor something.”
“Then those were not his rings,” she states simply, like it’s just that obvious I wasn’t going to find the perfect one in a store. “He’s special, and he deserves something that’s as unique as he is.”
I don’t know if she realizes how emotional her words are making me, along with the way she’s talking about him so easily, as though she already knew it would come to this, that we would have this conversation one day. Maybe she did. “Have you been expecting this, eomma?”
“Of course I have.” She smiles at me, soft and warm. “I knew when you brought him to see us that you were serious about him. Your father even said after the two of you left that it’s a shame you can’t get married.”
That really chokes me up, knowing both of them are soready and willing to make him part of the family, like a missing piece that had always belonged, and they were just waiting for me to figure out it was him.
“No, we can’t,” I say. “But I can still give him a ring and promise him that I’m in this with him for life, if that’s what he wants.”
