4

“You are getting along well.”

We are back home again. I wonder if my mother will be updating me on the prospects of our engagement and her discussions with the Kims about it after every meeting we have. This is the second time she’s done so after the two that have taken place since the dinner. Today, we went to a golf course.

I find the extent to which I live the life of a chaebol kid in an overdone high school drama has intensified ever since the start of this ordeal. A marriage interview, an unreasonably priced and sized gourmet dinner, and golfing? It feels kind of shameful.

Of course, Jongin always appears in his element. His element is wherever he goes. He makes wherever he goes his element. It's fascinating, and to say I am jealous would be an understatement. I wonder if he gives out element-making tutorials.

Ah, tangents. They only make their appearance when I am tired. Which is pretty often. I guess my brain functions by going off on tangents at this point. It’s a stress mechanism. Golfing was a bit of a strain. I pat myself on the back for not collapsing on the field.

“Is that so,” I mumble as soon as I remember my mother still hovering around in the thirty seconds of bull that overtook my capacity to think.

Extended pauses are common in conversations with me, so, again with that selective patience of