NEW YORK, 2016

“You sure about this?” Dara asked again, blowing softly on the surface of her steaming cup of tea. They were sitting at their usual window table at Seven Seeds, and Jiyong had just invited her to spend the summer with him in Asia.

“Dara, I’d love it if you came,” Jiyong reassured her. “You weren’t planning on teaching this summer, so what’s your worry? Think you won’t be able to handle the heat and humidity?”

“No, that’s not it. I know you’re going to be so busy with all your best-man duties, and I wouldn’t want to distract you,” Dara said.

“What distraction? Yong bae's wedding is only going to take up the first week in Korea, and then we can spend the rest of the summer just bumming around Asia. Come on, let me show you where I grew up. I want to take you to all my favorite haunts.”

“Will you show me the sacred cave where you lost your ity?” Dara teased, arching an eyebrow playfully.

“Definitely! We can even stage a reenactment!” Jiyong laughed, slathering jam and clotted cream onto a scone still warm from the oven. “And doesn’t a good friend of yours live  in Seoul?”

“Yes, CL, my best friend from college,” Dara said. “She’s been trying to get me to come visit for years.”

“All the more reason. Dara, you’re going to love it, and I just know you’re going to flip out over the food! You do realize Korea is the most food-obsessed country on the planet?”

“Well, just watching the way you fawn over everything you eat, I figured it’s pretty much the national sport.”

“Remember that New Yorker piece on Korean street foods? I’ll take you to all the local dives even he doesn’t know about.” Jiyong took another bite of his fluffy scone and continued with his mouth full. “I know how much you love these scones. Just wait till you taste my Halmoni’s—”

“Your Halmoni bakes scones?” Dara tried to imagine a traditional Korean grandmother preparing this quintessentially English confection.

“Well, she doesn’t exactly bake them herself, but she has the best scones in the world—you’ll see,” Jiyong said, turning around reflexively to make sure no one in the cozy little spot had overheard him. He didn’t want to become persona non grata at his favorite café for carelessly pledging allegiance to another scone, even if it was his grandmother’s.

At a neighboring table, the girl huddled behind a three-tiered stand piled high with finger sandwiches was getting increasingly excited by the conversation she was overhearing. She suspected it might be him, but now she had absolute confirmation. It was Yung Jiyong. Even though she was only fifteen at the time, Krystal Jung never forgot the day Jiyong strolled past their table at Sun Hill Club and flashed that devastating grin of his at her sister Jessica.

“Is that one of the Song brothers?” their mother had asked. 
“No, that’s Yung Jiyong, a cousin of the Songs” Jessica replied.
“Yung Jaehwan'sboy? Omo, when did he shoot up like that? He’s so handsome now!” Mrs. Choi exclaimed.
“He’s just back from Oxford. Double-majored in history and law,” Jessica added, anticipating her mother’s next question.
“Why didn’t you get up and talk to him?” Mrs. Lim said excitedly.
“Why should I bother, when you swat away every guy who dares come near,” Jessica answered curtly.
“stupid girl! I’m only trying to protect you from fortune hunters. This one you’d be lucky to have."
Krystal couldn’t believe her mother was actually encouraging her big sister to snatch this boy. She stared curiously at Jiyong, now laughing animatedly with his friend