"Wait, so you're Gyeong-Wan's ex-girlfriend?! That is wild!" Miyuki squealed, her hands clasped together against her purple blouse. 

"Yes, I am," Seo-Yoon said confidently. 

I edged a little imperceptibly closer to Gyeong-Wan at this. Did he feel it? My thigh against his in this ridiculously red and yellow booth at Chirp's? She went for another level ten spicy chicken wing, her perfectly manicured fingertips covered in the red powder already. Looking at her, I wouldn't have thought she'd get dirty like this. How wrong I was. In fact, she was proving to be full of surprises. 

At French Cup, after Nikki had gotten back from running my errand at the Nguyen's, their whole story had come out. We'd all sat together eating strawberry tarts, a plate of decorated chocolate strawberries between us. I'd wanted so badly to give one to Gyeong-Wan personally. Actually, I'd wanted to feed him one...something I'd tried hard to forget as they'd spoken enthusiastically about their story.

They'd met when they were really young. They had a bond immediately, and then went to school together. She'd even defended him against bullies. It all sounded really adorable, and I would have thought so if I hadn't known where it would lead. 

Gyeong-Wan had asked her to be his girlfriend when they were seniors in high school. According to her, he'd never kiss her. He'd funnily claimed that a first kiss is for when you say "I do" at the altar, using his Christian values as an excuse. She'd been suspicious, because most boys just want one thing and he clearly didn't. Still, she'd chalked it up to his always being pretty shy and to his level of respect for her. She didn't push the issue, but she did think it was odd. He was also an athlete in track and field, and was in a lot of events in the sport. So, he was always busy with that or his studies. When he'd picked up weightlifting, too, towards the end of their senior year, she threw up her hands at the issue. It was clear to her where his priorities were. 

They'd regaled us with stories from their college years. They'd ended up at different colleges, due to their parents' values. She'd gone to an all women's college in England, and he'd gone to a pretty prestigious university in Korea. While apart, they of course discovered their differences as adults, but still tried to make it work. She'd been very into her studies and future career planning, and Gyeong-Wan nervously told us that he'd discovered he was gay. It sounded like a romantic comedy, but how serious it was. 

They'd talked to us for a while, with Nikki absorbed in every morsel of conversation, but my mind had drifted. Watching one of the strawberries on the table. I'd liked Seo-Yoon when I hadn't known who she was. I still liked her, but it was hard now. Gyeong-Wan had told us at the beginning of the conversation that they'd broken up and had come to a good understanding, but did she really understand that? I expected them to be close. They'd been best friends since kindergarten age after all. But, they were so close...

Now we were at Chirp's. We'd picked up Miyuki along the way, who'd been on her way to Chirp's anyway. Now they were both telling her the same story, both Miyuki and Nikki not being able to get enough. They hadn't had this kind of good gossip in years. 

"Hmm, it's not so weird," Miyuki was saying now. "I even dated a girl when I was in my early twenties. I get needing to please your parents."

"You dated a girl?! Who is she?! Why have you never told me?!" Nikki was positively bouncing in his seat. Now this was good gossip. 

Miyuki pointed her finger in the air. "It was only for two weeks! I did it and then broke up with her and told my parents, 'there, see? I did it! Now leave me alone!' Parents, I swear."

Nikki crossed his arms as if chilled to the core. "I'd never do that. To fool an innocent girl. Oh, I mean..." He leaned forward, his hand going toward Gyeong-Wan in a gesture as if to touch his shoulder if he weren't so far away. "I don't mean you fooled Seo-Yoon, here. I meant Miyuki is a pig."

"Pfft. Nah. She knew I like guys," Miyuki shrugged, taking a drink of her red tinted soda. "I paid her ten thousand yen. Pretty good, for two weeks."

"This needs to be a movie. I'd watch it," Nikki said, paying her with rapt attention. "The Ten Thousand Yen Beard. I can see it."

Seo-Yoon giggled into her hand. I saw she was careful not to smear the red spicy powder on her face. "So, we're not the only ones. That makes me feel good."

She was way more comfortable with them than I'd have thought in the hour we'd been here. Talking to them was so easy for her. Her level of confidence was unreal. She was nothing like Gyeong-Wan. Instead, she seemed to talk to them as if they were old friends already. It made me want to take care of Gyeong-Wan more, his shyness suddenly extremely noticeable next to her. With that thought, I brought another level ten spicy chicken wing to his plate and he gave a tiny smile to me in gratefulness. It made me smile, too, making me notice that I had hardly smiled this whole time. I took another much more mild chicken wing for myself and nibbled on it, still listening to the conversation, almost like I was studying it.

"Well, of course you're not the only ones. Family pressure is felt by all of us. I'm lucky that my family accepts me. I am the exception to the rule, I know that," Nikki was saying. "Other than me, we're all the same here. In fact, I've got aunts and uncles who are uncomfortable with me. They say, 'why can't you just get married? What's the difference?' so I say, 'why can't I just get married to a man? What's the difference?' You would not believe the yelling. I need to stop bringing that up during family gatherings."

Seo-Yoon giggled at this, too. It was a perfect, squeaky little giggle. The kind a music idol might have. It made me want to grab Gyeong-Wan's hand, but I didn't dare. Not in front of her. It made me worry, and I'd been worried the whole time.

What if I showed some kind of affection to Gyeong-Wan, and she suddenly jumped in and said he was hers? That she regretted her decision, and then there was a war? I wouldn't want to cause that to Gyeong-Wan. It did make me want to get him alone, though. This tension building up in my body. It was almost like that night when I'd gone too far, letting myself be free to my desires. That same night, when he'd first told me about her in the first place...

My brain was wandering to taking him to Charlotte's theater, getting him alone in the darkness on one of the couches, when Kim-san came back. He put down another platter of fries with scary looking red powder identical to the kind on the level ten chicken wings. "This is special for you who like the spice. I call them 'fire fries'," he said, obviously pleased. He'd been delighted when we'd brought Seo-Yoon, another Korean for him to adopt. When he found out she also loved the spiciest chicken available, she became like his daughter, too. The fries clattered onto our already almost full table. My hand stayed far away from it. 

"Thank you, Kim-san," I said, bowing my head a little in respect. 

"Ah, Kim?" Seo-Yoon asked with interest, her face lighting up. "My family name is also Kim!"

"You are?!" He got so excited. "Which clan?!"

She pointed at herself enthusiastically. "Gimhae!"

Kim-san let out a loud word of overwhelming joy in Korean. "Me, too! We're FAMILY! Your food is on the house, family doesn't pay here!"

"Wow! Thank you!" She gasped, so impressed.

Nikki gripped the table, leaning at him a bit. "Hey, Kim-san, I'm your family, too. So, I don't have to pay-" 

"Bullllshit," he huffed, walking away as he wiped his hands on his red apron. "Show me your family tree."

"What, but you believed her like it was nothing!"

Seo-Yoon burst into those giggles at this. Her smile made me want to like her more, but... I inched closer to Gyeong-Wan. Maybe "inched" wasn't the best word. Micro inched. I looked over to him and he was cutely eating a dangerous piece of chicken. He really could eat a lot. And the best thing to reduce the sizzle of that chicken...were chocolate strawberries. It made my heart clench.

"Ah, another round of beer? We're getting low," Miyuki said, being very observant. I hadn't noticed my glass was low, much less anyone else's. I'd been too distracted.

"Kim-san's going to be pissed. He just came over here," Nikki sighed, poking his almost empty beer glass in a longing way. 

"Not with her here, he's not," Miyuki grinned, raising her hand in the air to summon him. "Maybe it'll be free, too, since she's drinking from the pitcher." 

"Ohh, good thinking."

"I'm glad to be of service," she said deeply respectfully, much too formal. But, in the next instant she was giggling again, having made her own joke. 

She was so good socially compared to Gyeong-Wan. It was almost a little frightening. Of course, he'd had a secret to tell us, so if I considered that then it made more sense. But, I would bet a billion yen that she'd never walk into a telephone pole or bonk her head on a grocery shelf. How did these two opposites bond? But, of course, if I thought about it further, it wasn't hard to want to bond with Gyeong-Wan. I was desperate to, so why wouldn't she have been, too? 

Oh, if she weren't here. Would I be feeding chocolate strawberries to him now? Would he have allowed me to? The idea of him saying no... It was almost as sexy as seeing a chocolate strawberry go into his mouth. 

I remembered myself just in time and stared down at my plate hard, pressing my lips together tight. 

"So, Seo-Yoon. Are you going back to Korea for New Year's? We're going to have a brunch with our friends at French Cup. I'm cooking a lot of food," Miyuki said easily, like they'd met ten years ago instead of an hour ago. "It's going to be a drag brunch."

"A drag brunch! I want to go!" She moaned. "That sounds amazing!"

Oh crap, don't go to our event, too. This immediate thought almost made me feel ashamed, but I wanted it to be special for Gyeong-Wan. I wanted to focus all of my attention on him. Of course, she was a factor that I hadn't planned on. I thought for sure, based on his fright of her, that he'd be rejected when he did eventually tell her. I'd wanted to comfort him during the meal, because I knew what that felt like. I was glad she was accepting of him and that nothing had changed in their friendship, but her wanting to come to our event severely messed up my plans of hanging on to him during the meal. 

Ah, but her next words... Shameful relief went through me. "Oh, but. No, I can't go. I do have to go back for New Year's. I'll be on a plane tomorrow. In fact, I was hoping Gyeong-Wan would come with me." She turned to him, and my heart descended to my toes. Her pleading eyes...

I wanted to jump out of my seat and declare that NO, he was staying here and going to our New Year's Meal. What if he went there, and never- 

He shook his head and my forcefully pounding heart leapt instead. "No, I can't because of work. The hotel doesn't shut down on holidays, and I'm the front desk manager. I do get the day off, but my associates don't. I need to be on call at a moment's notice for them. I'm sorry." He said this in a hurried way.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot. You do need to be there for them." She sounded deflated.

"Mmhmm, yes I do."

"Well, I'll come back soon. I know my work takes me away, too. It's so weird to be away from you."

This conversation was getting a little too personal. A little bit too much like my horrible fantasy of her trying to take him back. Fortunately, luck was on my side.

Kim-san arrived with two pitchers of beer. He precariously placed them on the table and took the almost empty one away. "Two fingers up, two pitchers of beer. I knew my hand signal system would work. Hey, you've hardly touched the mild chicken. Are you all not hungry today or what?" 

To this, I could be honest. As my hand wanted to wander to Gyeong-Wan's for the millionth time today, I sighed. "Yeah. I have no appetite."

Gyeong-Wan eyed me, though. That curious, shy look. It made my heart blip. Shyer still, he snatched a piece of mild chicken off the platter, crinkling the wax paper in this motion. Everything was amplified, as quick as it went. As he placed the mini drumstick shaped piece on my plate, I sighed inside at his kindness. Wanting more than ever to take his hand. 

A pitcher of beer went around the table, and pretty soon another lively conversation started up. And not being able to help myself, my wanting hand wandered over to Gyeong-Wan. Just barely, the side of it touching his thigh. He glanced down, and the cutest little smile went to his face. Like this, we tried our best to be casual and eat. 

Nobody seemed to notice us as the conversation went to New Year's family traditions, more food, and funny stories.