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“I’m fine,” I say. “Well, I’m not fine, but hearing your voice is helping.”

“I was going to call you soon anyway. I wanted to tell you my news. I’m going to Japan! That is, I got the place in the quartet.”

I scream, and she laughs.

“I was going to come to Seoul first for a week,” she says. “Can I stay with you?”

“Of course. Though don’t you want to stay with your halmeoni?”

“I’ll stay with her on the weekends, but she likes to go to the clinic on the weekdays to flirt with the grandfathers there.”

I laugh. Her halmeoni is sweet and loving, the complete opposite of mine.

We chat for the next three hours. At one point I have to get off my bed to plug my computer into the charger at my desk. Drawing back the shades, sunlight spills into the room.

She seems to sense that I don’t want to talk about thereasonsfor why I’m lying in bed in the middle of the afternoon, and so we talk about everything else but that.

Ajumma’s porridge went cold, but I eat it while Jenny heats up water in an electric kettle for a bowl of instant noodles.

“What were you doing before I called?” she asks.

“I was catching up on the new Hong Sisters drama.”

“It’s sogood. What episode are you on? Did you get to the kiss scene yet?”

“Not yet! Does it happen in episode six?” I’d had fifteen minutes left of the episode before she called.

“How am I supposed to remember that? But yes, at the one-hour-and-twenty-minute mark.”

As we’re saying our goodbyes, she catches my eye. “I’m Team Sori; you know that, right?”

“Yes, and I’m the president of your fan club. Go to sleep.” It’s three in the morning in New York.

I wave to her as she hangs up.

Feeling rejuvenated after talking to Jenny, I finish the last fifteen minutes of the episode, replaying the kiss scene twice.

I take a shower, forming a plan in my mind.

Actually, the idea stemmed from what Nathaniel said the night before, about buying shares of Joah. I don’t have the money to buy shares, but maybe I don’t have to...

I open a direct line to my father, skipping Secretary Lee entirely.

I’ve been skipping both my parents’ secretaries lately.

Do you have time to meet tomorrow?I text.

His response is immediate, and I wonder if he’s surprised to see a text from me.Yes. Come to your halmeoni’s house tomorrow morning for breakfast.

Ajumma prepares a simple meal for dinner because I’m still “sick.”

“It’s a bit quieter tonight,” she hedges, clearly waiting for me to explain Nathaniel’s absence.

“Things are just back to normal again,” I say. “It’s better this way.”

If Ajumma thinks differently, she doesn’t share her thoughts, leaving me alone to eat in silence.

Later, Ajumma and I sit down to watch Sun’s drama, which in the excitement of the last few days, I’d forgotten was airingtonight.A lot of the episode was filmed in the previous weeks, with only Hyemi, Nathaniel, and my scenes filmed and edited so last minute.