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“Is something bothering you?” he asks.
So much for that effort.
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and try to push out all the feelings swarming around inside me. Elijah technically belongs to someone else. I can’t let myself get caught up in a situation like that. Until he figures it out, I have to prevent anything else from happening between the two of us. Even though my heart wants the opposite.
I have no room for romantic drama in my life. I have to focus on why I’m here in the first place. The hackathon. The summer project. My one shot.
I open my eyes. I’m ready.
“I’m just in shock. I can’t believe how amazing it looks. It’s not like I didn’t think we could pull this off. But oh my god, we’re actually gonna pull this off!”
“Honestly, I might have been a bit less confident we’d be able to do it. But everything came together,” he says. What’s that I hear in his voice? Is it pride? I know Elijah likes to play it off as if he doesn’t care, as if he wasn’t invested or involved. But the truth is, he was the glue that kept all the pieces together. Every single component of this event ended up funneling through him for final approvals, and he has proven to have a real eye for the detail that all the logistics required. Watching him these last few weeks, I could see the kind of leader he could be for this company.
I want to tell him all of this. I want to sit him down and make him see that he has so much more to offer than he gives himself credit for. I want him to believe that his future is lined with possibility. And what I really want to share with Elijah is how much I’ve come to care for him.
But I don’t say any of it.
The buzz of a crowd grows louder and I turn around to see the participants starting to arrive. Many of them look as awestruck as I’m sure I did when entering the space. They take it all in, this production designed for them to try to create and present an exciting new video game in two days.
“Game time,” Elijah says unironically. He winks at me, takes the clipboard from my hand, and approaches the group. “If you are participants in the hackathon, check-in is over here at this registration table. Please get your name badges and table assignments. Grab something to eat and drink. We’ll kick off the event in about thirty minutes.”
The energy in the air shifts a bit as a group of Very Important People enter with their Very Important People postures and their Very Important People expressions. The judges for the hackathon. I knew we wouldn’t be able to get the time or attention from any of the executives of the company (other than Hee-Jin of course), but I’m glad the team was able to secure some of the managers from both the Engineering and Development teams. Ms. Kang from Marketing, who assigned this task to me in the first place—and was the first, other than maybe Elijah, to believe I could do it—is also here.
“Wow, I’m impressed. This looks great,” Hee-Jin says, walking up with a smile. I recognize this as her work smile, one that doesn’t show too much emotion, but just enough to convey her message. I take a mental note, as I always do around her, watching for cues on how to act the part of someone successful, someone to be taken seriously but still admired.
“Thanks, the team worked really hard to pull this off,” I say. I can’t quite name the expression on her face. But it’s one I’ve seen on a face so similar to hers before. Elijah has looked at me this way sometimes over the past few weeks while working with the interns. Is it disbelief that someone like me could get stuff done? Concern that this will never work out based on how I’m leading? Heartburn from the very spicy Shanghai noodles we eat almost too often?
Or is it, maybe, respect?
“You’ve done an incredible job here, Jessica,” Hee-Jin says. “With very little support and barely any resources, you and the other interns have managed to do something Haneul hasn’t been able to do in years: inject energy and excitement into something new. I’m really grateful, and, I hope you don’t mind me saying, really proud.”
I swallow back the emotion rising in my throat. No one has ever been proud of me before, other than my parents. For a moment, I wish my dad was here to see it all, even though he can never know how significant of a role I had in making this happen.
Hee-Jin looks over her shoulder to the registration table where Elijah is helping Grace and Roy check in the participants. A very different smile stretches over her face this time, unguarded, as if she’s forgotten where she is and her role in the company. As if she’s just a big sister watching her little brother do something she’s never seen before.
And as I catch this moment, I realize that no one believes in him more than her. She’s always known how capable he is. And I’m so grateful that he has someone on his side like this.
Elijah glances up just as Hee-Jin turns away, but I’m too slow. I’m still staring, probably with my mouth hanging open. Apparently capable and competent hardworking men are my type. As if I didn’t know this all along.
He meets my eyes and gives me a small smile, then cocks his head to the front stage. Right, we’re working here, not playing out some Netflix rom-com. He raises one eyebrow, silently asking me if I’m ready.
I hold his gaze for one more second and nod my head.
It’s time for me to kick off this hackathon. It’s time for all of our hard work to pay off. And it’s time to finish everything I’ve started with these glass slippers and fake identity. I’ve loved being Lee Yoo-Jin, executive trainee at Haneul Corporation. So I’m gonna savor these last moments in this role and whatever happens after, come what may.
I’ll always have this summer, this taste of what privilege and opportunity can provide. And it’ll be enough, hopefully, to kick-start my path to earning it for myself one day.
Hee-Jin stands at the front of the room and takes the mic. “Can I have everyone’s attention please?” The group of Haneul Corp VIPs, the ones who did nothing for this hackathon but seem prepared to take all the credit for its success, line up just to the side of her.
I turn to Elijah and whisper, “Who do you think will win?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “It should be the pair from Japan. But knowing these engineers and the judges, I think it’s going to be the guys from Canada. Both games are good. It’s just the guys’ game is safer.”
I nod. I’m not sure I understand what he saw in either of the two presentations that makes him have an opinion of one over the other. But Elijah’s the gamer and I trust his instincts. I just know I personally would love to see the female team from Japan win this, especially considering there just aren’t that many women engineers right now in the gaming world.
“I want to thank you all for the time and effort you’ve put in over the last two days here,” Hee-Jin says into the mic. “Thank you, especially, to our Haneul internship cohort for the incredible work you’ve done planning and executing on this hackathon.”
I quell the desire to jump up and down like a cheerleader and I definitely fight the urge to preen like a peacock. Instead, I clap my hands in front of me like a seal, a huge smile taking over my face.
