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“That was strange.” I looked at Aiden and Julia, shaking my head at the exchange. Aiden nodded in agreement, but Julia stood frozen.
“This was a gift from Annisa,” Julia said softly. “She gave it to me with the Hermes scarf for my birthday.”
“Do you think the scarf is also a fake?” I asked hesitantly because I didn’t want to make her feel worse.
“I don’t know. If you’d asked me before today, I would’ve adamantly told you no, but now…”
I gave Julia a hug. I felt bad for her because someone she thought she knew really well was turning into a person she didn’t know at all.
Aiden cleared his throat to get our attention. “Why don’t we eat and discuss what Annisa told me?”
“I don’t think I’m very hungry,” Julia whispered.
“You have to eat something.” I didn’t like the dejected look on her face.
I put my arm around her shoulders and guided her to the kitchen. “Come on. Let’s eat. I promise you that we’ll get to the bottom of this.” Despite sounding confident, I wasn’t so sure. But seeing Julia so upset, I was going to do my best to find out.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The delicious smell from the Chinese food takeout bag changed Julia’s mind.
“My mouth is watering,” she said as she scooped out the contents onto the serving platters.
Even though Julia ordered a dish for each person, we ended up eating family style. I put the dishes on the counter and passed out three plates so we could help ourselves to the food.
“This is great!” Aiden said when he took a bite of the spicy chicken. He had a heaping portion of chicken next to a large mound of rice. When he deftly picked up a small piece of meat with his chopsticks, I noted that he did it expertly.
I used my chopsticks to twirl some noodles around them before popping them in my mouth. “Mm-hmm.” My eyes widened in happiness. I was chewing on a piece of shrimp when my phone started playing “Arirang,” a traditional Korean folk song.
Julia broke out in a grin when she heard the music because she knew who was calling. I, on the other hand, stopped eating and tried to will the phone to stop ringing.
“You better answer it, or she’ll keep calling,” Julia said. She chuckled when I grimaced in response.
Aiden stopped chewing and looked at me expectantly. “Who’s calling you?”
I heaved a dramatic sigh and said, “Alright!” I picked up the phone and swiped to answer the call. Great, it’s a FaceTime and not an audio call, I thought in dismay.
“Hi, umma,” I said brightly when my mother’s face appeared on the screen.
“Claire-yah!” my mom said in her Korean-accented English. She moved to Arkansas with my dad, Tim, over twenty years ago. Over the years, her English had improved dramatically, but she never lost her accent. It made me giggle when my mom used the informal tag ending after my name.
“What are you doing now?” she asked as she peered closer into the phone so that her face was enlarged on the screen.
“We’re eating Chinese takeout,” I said, trying to keep it as vague as possible, but my mother was relentless.
“Who is we?” Her voice was so loud that the question sounded more like an order.
“Me, Julia, and,” I paused before I added, “and my friend Aiden.” At Aiden’s name, my mom’s face lit up. I could almost see the wheels turning in her brain.
“Aiden? Who’s he? Is he a friend of Julia’s, or is he with you?” she asked coyly. Some people might say that my mom was curious, but after years of her questions, this sounded more like an interrogation.
I knew that if I didn’t answer them or tried to evade without a direct answer, the torture would continue, so I decided to tackle the dragon straight on.
“Aiden’s my friend.” I flipped the camera around so my mom could see what he looked like.
Aiden smiled and waved at my mom. “Hello, Mrs. O’Keefe.”
“Oh, hello!” My mom greeted him, and the way she said the words, I knew that she approved of him.
