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Neither of us moves, and yet somehow, he’s closer.

I can count every one of his long and impossibly thick eyelashes.

Slowly he lifts his hand, his fingers lightly skimming over the arc of my cheekbones, then trailing down the side of my face to slide behind my neck.

I shiver, my lips parting.

“Min Sori?” The front door swings open and Nathaniel’s hand drops. “What are youdoing?”

Eighteen

Ajumma stands in the doorway, holding a spatula. “Why are you just standing there? Come inside!” She presses the door back, gesturing for us to enter.

“Ajumma.” I take a deep breath. “This is—”

“Nathaniel Lee! I am an XOXO fan, butyouare my favorite.”

I gape at her.

“You look like my first love. Or maybe it’s that you look like someone who I might have loved when I was young. What do you think, Sori-yah? Doesn’t he look like someone’s first love?”

My heart’s already racing with whatalmosthappened outside. “First loves are called that for a reason,” I say, needing to distance myself from that moment. “Because there are second, third, and fourth loves after.”

I peek at Nathaniel to find him watching me. “You can fall in love again,” he says to Ajumma, though his gaze never leaves me. “Let me be your second, third, and fourth love.” I feel my heart tumble in my chest.

“Don’t be silly.” Ajumma waves her hand in the air. “You’d be my seventh.”

“Ajumma,” I say, slipping off my shoes and gesturing her to the side.

While Nathaniel takes off his sneakers in the foyer, I explain to her that he’s only staying for the weeks XOXO is on hiatus, and that it needs to be kept a secret from my mother.

“It’s because she wouldn’t understand.” This will be the hardest part, getting Ajumma to agree to lie to my mother, as she’s always been nothing but loyal to her.

“Oh yes,” Ajumma says, nodding her head in a vigorous motion. “Your mother can be unreasonable in that way. I think it’s best she doesn’t know.” She catches my eye and gives me an exaggerated wink.

For the second time tonight, I gape at her. “Ajumma, I don’t—that is, Nathaniel and I...”

“Yes, yes, of course.” She motions me into the dining room. “You don’t have to explain yourself. Just know I’m cheering you on. Fighting!”

“Ajumma!” But she’s already hurrying out of the foyer.

“What was that about?” Nathaniel asks from behind me, and I jump.

“N-nothing. Come on, let’s eat.”

At the long dining table, Ajumma sets out a second place setting for Nathaniel next to mine. Then, like a chef on a culinary show, she uncovers each dish with a flourish.

If Nathaniel hadn’t already won over Ajumma with his apparent likeness to her first love, he has by the end of the meal, when he enthusiastically devours everything set in front of him, including two servings of rice.

Afterward, Ajumma shoos us from the dining room so that Nathaniel can settle in upstairs.

“It might still be too early to open the pool,” I say, as we make our way to the second floor, “but there’s exercise equipment in the gym you can use. The code for the gate is 450928*.

“The last four digits are your birthday,” Nathaniel says slowly, “but what are the first two?”

“The year we won our independence.” When he doesn’t respond, I glance at him to see he wears an odd expression on his face. “What?”

“You phrased it as ‘our independence.’”