Terminology Index:

Jal Mok Eht Seup Ni Da – 잘먹겠습니다 ; Romanized Korean for ‘I’ll eat well’ or ‘We’ll eat well’, used as an expression of thanks for the person who prepared the meal.

Bulgogi – 불고기; Traditional Korean dish consisting of sweet, grilled marinated beef. Literally means ‘fire meat’ in Korean, because it is cooked on a grill.

“Mom. You look like you’re running a restaurant in here.”

Hyerim passed her mother various vegetables from the refrigerator. Her stomach growled at the food lying out on the table already, prepared, but unable to eat, until the club arrived.

Her mother seemed ready to fly. She cooked leaping around the kitchen like a rabbit. She had dressed in the most motherly outfit Hyerim thought the woman had, dark slacks and a floral blouse. Hyerim was more than relieved her dad was away on a business trip.

“What’s his name again? They boy you’ve been writing your articles with?”

“Yi Fan, mom.”

“Right. Is he a nice boy? Is he handsome? Does he give you butterflies when you guys go on those dates, Lim-ah?”

“MOM!”

Hyerim rolled her eyes, stomping out of the kitchen.

She brought out the long table everyone would sit around, in the living room. She walked into every room multiple times, checking for cleanliness. Yi Fan texted her while she watched her mother finish the last of the dishes.

“Mom, you are not having these out here!”

Hyerim grabbed the hand-sized photo albums tucked into one of the dining room chairs. Her face flushed, she gave her mother a strong glare before darting up to her room, tossing her childhood photos onto her bed.

From: Yi Fan

To: Hyerim

We’re here.

Gulping, Hyerim informed her mother, and sprang out to the gate, greeting the Club cheerfully.

“No offense Hui-Lin, but this house looks nothing like those houses on Korean Dramas.” Amber pointed out. Hyerim and her mother laughed.

Her mother insisted on shaking Yi Fan’s hand and sizing him up. “Wow, you are one handsome child! Hyerim never told me you were this handsome.” She patted Yi Fan’s cheek smugly, Hyerim clutching her forehead, face burning.

“I hope everyone is hungry! And I hope everyone is ready for some smelly Korean food!”

Mrs. Song, Mr. Khun, and the members applauded at the mention of smelly food. Mrs. Song offered to help Hyerim and her mother set the table, and Hyerim had to admit, her mother’s work impressed her. Plates of food almost fell off the table, laden to the edges.

“No one touch anything! It’s picture time!” Amber held up her arms dramatically, causing giggles from around the table. Mr. Khun was already at work, stepping away from his seat at the table to capture wide panning shots, and eager faces.

“I feel like you kids are trying to attack this food! Those big cameras really look sort of like canons, you know.” Hyerim’s mother remarked.

“Wanna take this one?” Yi Fan asked, pushing his DSLR in Hyerim’s hands.

Hyerim forgot how hungry she was. She held the camera like it was her own, carefully, adjusting its settings as Yi Fan had shown her. He had told her she was good with photos. Great. In the brief amount of time that Hyerim had gotten to know the blonde boy, she was sure he’d been telling her his wholly genuine opinion.

“Similar to how in Cantonese, people say ‘Sihk Faahn’ before a meal, Korean people say, ‘Jal Mok Eht Seup Ni Da’. It’s a way of thanking the person who prepared the food!”

“Jal Mok Eht Seup Ni Da!” The club members said after Hyerim’s mother, mouthing each syllable slowly.

“Amber, your Korean accent is terrible.” Henry scolded.

Sneering, Amber took a spoon and thumped Henry's forehead.

The members took notes of each of the foods Hyerim’s mother had prepared. Yi Fan did as well, getting help from Hyerim on names and pronunciations. She had to note, his handwriting was sloppy. It was expected for such large hands.

“Which one is your favorite?”

Yi Fan had snuck the question in just as Hyerim had popped a significantly large piece of Bulgogi in . The sweet meat juice spread on her tongue as she looked at Yi Fan, trying to smile embarrassedly with full. When he raised that eyebrow at her, half frowning and half laughing, she pointed to with her chopsticks.

“That one? The… Bulgogi?”

Hyerim nodded, chewing ferociously and swallowing.

“Me too!” Henry cut in.

“And me!” Mrs. Song cried, voice going shrill with her excitement.

While Mrs. Song covered in surprise, Hyerim’s mother leaned in Hyerim’s ear. “Between your teacher’s husband and Yi Fan, Lim-ah, I know they’re both a hundred times more handsome than your father ever was, but I say Yi Fan.”

Hyerim desperately fought the urge to yell at her mother, having to settle for a quick glare.

Hyerim’s mother invited the club members to stay and play mahjong after the meal. They had divided into pairs, Hyerim’s mother claiming Yi Fan for herself, leaving Hyerim with Amber and Henry with one of the other members.

Yi Fan offered to help Hyerim fold and remove the long table. She guided him with directions from behind as Yi Fan lugged the piece through her house, depositing it into a closet tucked between a closed room to its right, and Hyerim’s open room to the left.

Hyerim sighed when Yi Fan poked his head through her room, grinning.

“This is your room, isn’t it?”

Cork boards scattered with photos of Hyerim from her different homes spoke for her. Yi fan pointed to the closed door across.

“You parents’ room?”

“My older brother’s. He’s attending University in Beijing.”

Hyerim quickly scanned her room. Thankfully, she’d made and cleaned off her bed, leaving just a stuffed bear and the photo albums her mother had tried to show earlier, sitting on it. Her desk wasn’t as clean. The upper layer of objects contained her copy of Shìjiè de Yánsè, her homework assignments due next week, and her laptop.

Nothing else worried Hyerim too much, except for the bookcase full of more junk than actual books.

“I didn’t know you had an older brother. Can I go in?”

Standing there, watching Yi Fan circle her room, made her wonder what it would be like to see Yi Fan’s room. His house. Meet his parents.

Before she could go any further, she had to shake herself out of her thoughts. Her brain was going way above the speed limit. Hyerim had never thought of things like meeting parents with any of her past, brief relationships. Not to mention, she was treating things as if she and Yi Fan had already begun dating.

Yi Fan reached for the miniature, black photo book on her bed.

“No! Not that...!”

He’d already opened it. She could see the first picture as she approached him. Hyerim when she had been around four, sitting on a sofa with her older brother.

“Kris, I didn’t give you permission to look at those!”

He’d flipped through almost six pages. “Please?”

Hyerim plopped on her bed with a sigh. Yi Fan pressed down the mattress beside her. “We can look at them together. You can tell me about them.”

Even with her cheeks glaring, Hyerim smiled at her childhood. Yi Fan flipped through the album quietly.

“Why is my brother in so many of these? Ugh, he’s ruining my album!”

“Maybe this is supposed to be his album that you’re ruining.”

Hyerim slapped his hand. “That is not funny, Kris.”

Yi Fan closed the book, putting it back in its place near the stuffed bear’s foot. He stood up, putting out his hands to help Hyerim up.

“I’m surprised they haven’t come looking for us yet.” He spoke casually as he pulled Hyerim with a firm grip.

“I guess they’re just having too much fun without us.”

His fingers lingered on hers just a few seconds after she’d fully stood.

“We’re having fun without them.” Yi Fan said, grinning.

Hyerim couldn’t help the random thought poking at the back of her head. Yi Fan was probably the most handsome boy she would ever have a chance of getting to know in her entire life. She might as well try her chances with him while she still could. If she could figure out the right words to say...

“My mom thinks you’re more handsome than Mr. Khun.” Hyerim didn’t understand what she’d just blurted. And it had been in odd-grammar English.

Yi Fan blinked. Then snorted, trying to hold back an awkward laugh.

Hyerim attempted to save herself. “I know, hard to believe, right? That woman.”

Her mother had told Hyerim that when she got nervous, she started blabbing in English. She hadn’t believed her until now.

Yi Fan straightened and looked at her with bright eyes.

“Hyerim, I like you a lot.”

His English was nice and smooth. But Hyerim noticed the slightly audible tremor in the twisting of words. Yi Fan was nervous, too. He was just a high school boy, just like Hyerim was no more than a high school girl.  

“I like you, so, can I ask you on a date? Not a cultural one or whatever. Just a regular Chinese date.”

Hyerim sat on the edge of her bed with a gentle thump, cupping her knees with her hands, squeezing. She bit her lower lip and nodded, giving Yi Fan a relieved smile.