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“You’re the son of the CEO and I’m...nobody. Someone is bound to notice. And I have to check in with my dad regularly. He’s very...overprotective and in-my-business that way. He’ll ask questions about the internship and will know if I’m lying because I often get red in the neck and start to sweat and when I get nervous I overshare and he’ll suspect it right away as he’s seen this happen since the time I first started to speak, which happened to be in church in the middle of the pastor’s sermon and I said out loud, dramatically, in front of the whole congregation that I was bored to death.”
I’m speechless. But then I can’t help it, I bust out laughing.
“Don’t make fun of me. Oversharing is my nervous habit. See? I’ll never be able to fool my dad. I don’t even know what types of things I’d be doing on a daily basis in the job I’m supposed to have.”
“Okay, then, I’ll tell you. We can share all the pertinent information about what we do in our roles and be armed with the intel we need to update our dads,” I urge.
“There’s no way I can pull this off,” she says.
“Yes, you can. I know you can. I’ll help you. We’ll help each other. Trust me.”
She looks me straight in the eye and holds my gaze, searching for answers, for assurance. She’s convinced this can work, that I’m gonna make it work. She trusts me, I know it.
“Yeah, there’s no way. It’ll never work,” she says.
Or not.
“Look, my dad knows I don’t want to do this. It’s exactly why he’s making me. He thinks one summer in executive training will make me decide I actuallywantto take over the company someday.”
“You’re supposed to take over the company?” she exclaims, eyes huge. Jessica looks around to see how much attention her scream has just brought us. She acts like we’re planning a heist or a murder or something. Someone needs to get this girl a Xanax.
“Here’s the deal. Haneul was started by my great-grandfather. My grandfather was the next CEO, and now my dad. Dad has big plans for how to keep taking this company into the twenty-first century. All of those ideas have come from my genius sister. She’s the brains and the vision behind what Haneul is today. She’s also the wrong gender, according to my dad and the board of directors. So they all think I can just step into the role. But one, I have no desire to be a figurehead of a company that I don’t give two shits about and two, how messed up would that be if I took all the credit and made my sister do all the work?”
I stop and take a breath. This time I look around to see if I’ve invited any interest from the other patrons. We’re not far from the office. I need to be more careful about what I say. This is something I’ve been taught, that eyes are always on the rich and powerful, waiting for them to fuck up and fall.
“If you don’t want to take over Haneul Corp, what do you want to do?” Jessica asks me.
Nobody’s asked me this. Ever.
And honestly, I have no idea.
“I just want to play video games all day and live a life of leisure off my family money,” I say. But my voice betrays me with a mild tremor. I’m shaken by this conversation.
“The thought that we’re supposed to already know what we want to do with our lives and make huge choices like college and majors at this age baffles me,” she says. “And even if we do have even some idea of what we want, the system is set up to make it impossible for most of us to get it.”
I’m not sure what system she’s talking about. But Jessica’s words feel like she’s physically come and pushed a huge weight off my back. Someone understands. Even someone as clearly driven and ambitious as Jessica agrees and gets it. Gets me, maybe, even. She deserves this more than I do. And she wants it. I just have to convince her to take a risk and go for it.
“Jessica, no one at the company knows who I am. I made sure of it before coming here. We’ve already explained away the ‘mistake.’ Just go with it. My dad is expecting me to fail. So any work you put into this role will be a pleasant surprise to him.”
“Someone will find out and when they do, you won’t be the one in trouble. Because you didn’t take anything from me. In the eyes of everyone, I was the one who benefited, who pretended to be someone I’m not, someone I can never be. No one cares if you fake downward. But if you dare to fake upward, I mean, look at all the con men and women on Netflix documentaries. Everyone gets pissed because they faked riches and fame. People feel duped. It’s easy for you to make the switch. But I’ll have to work twice as hard, and I’ll be the one to take the fall. And anyways, why would you do this? What do you get out of it?”
“I get to spend the summer here in New York. I get to make some friends. I get to decide what I want to eat and how I want to dress and not have someone tell me I can’t. I get to be me, whoever that is, without the Lee family crest hanging over my head. I’ll work hard. I won’t make you look bad. I’ll do what’s expected of me in your role,” I say. I don’t know if I’m trying to convince her or myself of this. I haven’t actually ever worked hard a day in my life. But I’m willing to give it a shot if it’ll convince Jessica.
“I’m not worried about that. I know you will,” she says, looking lost in her thoughts.
This girl doesn’t even know me, but she seems so sure that I won’t fuck up for her. Why? How? And why does it make me feel like I want to prove myself to her even more?
“It’s just, my dad works for this company. And I know that you’re not worried about what your dad thinks of you, but regrettably, I do care what mine thinks of me. I care that he sees I can do this. He hates his job and this company.” She pauses. “Um, no offense.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Everyone hates their jobs and Haneul Corp. It’s an awful place to work, apparently. Didn’t you see the faces of everyone walking the hallways today? Poor chumps.” I pause this time. “No offense to your dad.”
She smiles. “Still, I don’t want to put him at risk of getting into trouble.”
“Listen, I know you don’t know me. And I’m kinda glad for that because my reputation may make it seem otherwise. But I swear to you, I won’t fuck this up.”
“Why do you keep trying to convince me? How are you so sureIwon’t be the one to, um, ‘fuck it up’?” She uses actual air quotes when swearing.
Fucking cute.
