He takes her hand and bows over it deeply, but the moment he’s upright again, he laces his fingers through mine once more. “I am sincerely sorry that I didn’t answer your invitation. I actually did have other commitments, in that I had already at that point agreed to attend your event as your goddaughter’s plus-one.”
“You could have given me a little heads-up,” she tells me in Korean, though I can sense the teasing in her tone. It makes my heart light. “Did you tell your mother?”
I shake my head. “I wanted to surprise her.” I also didn’t believe mydatewould show up.
“Well, she will be surprised,” she answers, and we both laugh before her gaze switches back to Taranis again as she resumes speaking in English. “Are you two dating?”
“Oh no,” I quickly jump in before I can leave the response to Taranis. “We just ... we started working together and ...” And what? I blank completely.
“Hit it off,” Taranis finishes. His smile is so bright I have to stare up at it for a second to understand what he’s saying—what he’s implying. Is he ... trying to convince the ambassador we’reactuallydating? If she tells my mom—whenshe tells my mom—my mom will tell my dad, and my parents will both lose their minds for entirely different reasons. Neither is a conversation I’m interested in having.
“I think he means—”
“Exactly what I said,” Taranis states. “And we are honored to be here. If you need us for anything throughout the evening, please don’t hesitate to find us. We won’t take up any more of your time.”
“Please do enjoy the festivities, and I will be sure to catch you inside. Thank you again for coming. Monika, we’d love to get your photo with the other honorees once all have arrived.”
“Of course, Ambassador. Thank you so much for having me ... us.”
The ambassador’s dark eyes switch between the two of us curiously, not a doubt in my mind that she absolutely doesnotbuy that we’re an item. “Of course. You’ll also find Cynthia inside.”
I tense, a zap of nasty electricity zipping up my spine. “Oh. She’s in town?”
“She is.”
I grimace. “That’s so great. I’ll be sure to stop by and see her.”
“Please do. She is excited to see you.” She isn’t. I know she’s not. “And she will be excited to meet your date. My daughter is a huge fan. We all are.”
Fan-fucking-tastic.
“Of course, Ambassador.” He gives her a wink, and I swear it brings a blush to the married woman’s cheeks. “We’ll see you inside.”
The South Korean Embassy is a rectangular building with a massive courtyard at its center, where the party is taking place. It’s absolutely stunning, and when we step into the wonderfully decorated world, I almost hallucinate that I’ve been transported to Jinju directly.
The hand holding mine relaxes slightly as we stand at the top of a short flight of steps looking out over the lantern-lit atrium. Lanterns hang from every tree, from ropes, from the eaves of the building, illuminating all the exterior walkways and the corridors leading inside. Different stations have been set up, and I gasp, forgetting momentarily who I’m standing here with.
“Let’s go make lanterns!” I turn to face Taranis while I point off to the left. “I mean ...” And then I shake my head. Fuck it. If he’s going to be the real him with me, then I’m going to be the real me with him. And the real me? Come on. I’m a nerd. What else? “They made the little pond here a mini–Namgang River! Come on! Or do you want to check out the night market first?” I point right, toward the food stalls.
Taranis looks at me with his mouth slightly parted. He cocks his head. “I could use a drink.”
“Okay, but lanterns next.” It’s my turn to clutch Taranis’s hand fiercely as I drag him toward themakgeolli-tasting station.
“Hello,” says the woman behind the bar dressed in a much less formalhanbokthan the ambassador wears. “Have you tried traditional Korean rice wine before?”
“I lovemakgeolli—the sweeter, the better. We’d love to do a sampler.”
The woman seems surprised I know whatmakgeolliis, though the moment she looks at Taranis, I’m all but forgotten. She overfills his glass, then curses, apologizes for the spill—or the cursing, I’m not sure which—and tries again, hand shaking until she manages to get two glasses filled of the syrupy, sweet liquid.
I thank her while Taranis gives her a rather scathing look, and grab him by the elbow, wheeling him around before he has a chance to ruin her night. Then I clink our glasses, pulling his focus to me. Gazes trained on each other, Taranis and I drink together. It’s strange. I’m so overwhelmed by the rich tradition and the decadence of the place that I nearly forget that I hate the dude and that my real mission for the night is to backstab him—but firsttteokbokki, spicy rice cakes.
I eat way more than my fitted dress can afford, but I’m determined to try everything. Including every possible station serving soju. I won’t lie, by the time we make it to the lantern station, I’m a little more than tipsy.
I blame the soju for why I giggle—giggle—as I watch Taranis try and fail to fold his lantern in the right way. “You’re not very good at this.”
He curses, glancing around to make sure no one but me hears him. “This is stupid.”
I hold up my lantern, perfectly constructed. I’m onto the decorating phase now and have started to glue some of the cut-out shapes to the sides, mostly dragons. I love dragons. “All the power in the world, and you can’t make a paper lantern. Tsk, tsk. You know, in Jinju, the lantern-making station is set up mostly for children.”
