The look on her face is one of false uncertainty. “I don’t know.” She meets my eyes, her eyebrows drawn. “I’m…Yeah, I’m not sure.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes at her antics. Once again, Yumi’s reality show IQ is higher than mine. Easy screen time. I force a concerned expression onto my face. “You’re not sure?”
She shakes her head, over-apologetic. “I’m sorry, Noe. I…I don’t think I got it right.”
I hope that her emotions feel real to the audience, because they’re so clearly exaggerated to me. “Really?”
“Really.”
JSP looks between us. “Shall we find out?”
“Yes,” I say, cheating a hesitant glance in the direction of the camera.
“Yumi,” he says, drifting to a spot in the center of the room. “Would you join me?”
“Sure.” The mask of solemnity slips for a second, revealing how excited she truly is. I feel like clapping, like a kid on Christmas morning. I can’t wait for her to see her lola.
“Who are we expecting to see walk through that door?” Jonathan asks, gesturing toward the large arch ahead of them.
“My lola,” she says, her voice hitching. “My grandma.”
“Okay,” he calls to whichever producer is standing in the hallway. “Send in, hopefully, Yumi’s lola.”
There is a moment where I panic. What if Ididchoose the wrong person? Yumi would be devastated. She misses her family almost as much as I miss mine.
But then a familiar figure enters the room, heading directly to Yumi and wrapping around her.
Yumi’s watery greeting is in Tagalog, and not a common enough one for me to understand. It feels like anI missed youto me, though.
“Yumi, is it safe to assume this lovely woman is your grandma?”
“Yeah, I’d put money on that,” she jokes, fighting back tears.
I’m almost in tears, too. JSP peppers Yumi and her lola withquestions like “What makes a grandmother-granddaughter different from a mother-daughter relationship?” Every season, just on the family visit episode, JSP turns into an alien who has no understanding of human interactions. He pulls out these questions that communicate a fundamental misunderstanding of family dynamics.
I don’t know why this happens, but I’m fully expecting him to ask my dad what makes him my father and not my brother.
“Okay, Yumi. Say goodbye to your lola for now. You’ll see each other again at dinner tonight.”
They embrace again and Yumi’s lola gives me a wave before disappearing back into the stairwell.
I rock back on my heels, my body tingling with excitement, until I catch sight of the heartbroken look on Yumi’s face.
You’ll see her later, I mouth comfortingly, but her expression doesn’t change.
JSP gestures for us to switch spots, so we do.
“Noelle, who are we expecting for you?”
“My dad,” I say, my voice almost breaking.
“I see you’re getting emotional. What’s coming up for you right now?”
I swallow. “My dad is…important to me. And he’s pretty sick, so it’ll be a huge relief to see him and know he’s doing okay.”
“So this reunion would be a good thing for your game?”
“Definitely,” I answer without elaborating. I just want him to bring out my dad already.
