THE LANDLORD (BBANGSAZ)

Chapter 14

MINJI

"More wine, ma'am?" the waiter asked, mercifully interrupting what was quickly becoming the worst date I'd ever been on in my entire life. The charming Italian place used to be one of my favorite restaurants, the perfect blend of classy and not too formal, presumably an excellent choice for a first date. But in this moment? I wanted to leave and never come back.

"Yes, please, that would be great," I said, trying to ignore the fact that Chaewon had spent the past half hour either droning on about her daughter's bowel problems, or throwing back glass after glass of white wine. I think we were on number six, and I was starting to think I should get drunk myself to make it through the rest of this disaster.

"You are quickly becoming my favorite waiter," Chaewon purred, poking the scared-looking young man in the arm. Apparently, she was a little tipsier than she realized and poked him harder than she meant to, causing him to spill some wine on the white tablecloth.

"My apologies," the waiter said, clearly panicked, pulling a towel from his apron pocket and dabbing at the spot.

"Whoopsies!" Chaewon giggled and took another long sip of her wine.

"No, we're sorry. Don't worry about it, thank you." I gave the waiter an apologetic look and waved him off. With a worried nod, he finished dabbing the spot on the table and hurried away.

Chaewon turned her attention to me. "So, what about you? Have you given Jia's grade school any thought? I mean, clearly your mind was in the right place with preschool. Too many parents overlook it as the foundation of a good education, but I think that sometimes it's easy to forget how important the next steps can be . . ."

Apparently, I'd completely tuned out the last part of our conversation, and we had somehow skipped from poo to elementary school.

I opened my mouth to respond but Chaewon went on, something about the importance of setting up our children for success as early as possible. Involuntarily, I slowly started to tune her out again. I agreed with what she was saying for the most part, but we'd been talking about our kids for so long, I was beginning to think they were the only thing we had in common.

"I don't know. What do you think? Minji?" Chaewon was looking expectantly at me, her eyebrows practically touching her hairline.

"I'm sorry. I must have spaced out for a moment. What were you saying?"

In any other situation, I would have made up an excuse, but at that point, I didn't really care about saving face. She was plastered, and I was miserable. No point in pretending this was anything other than what it was, right?

"I was just wondering what you think about choosing public or private schools. But then there are charter schools, boarding schools . . . there are just so many choices."

"Honestly, I haven't given it too much thought yet. I'm just trying to hang in there with the day-to-day stuff. We've just now got a handle on preschool," I replied, doing my best to sound normal and engaged. If Hanni were the one sitting across from me right now, I guarantee I'd be having way more fun right now.

"Ugh, you're so right. This single-parent thing is no joke." She nodded, leaning toward me with her elbows on the table. "You know I'm always here if you need anything."

"I appreciate that, Chaewon. We've been managing so far."

She nodded again, slowly raising a single eyebrow. "I suppose you already have some extra help. I remember from the bake sale. Jenna, was it?"

Here we go.

"Hanni," I said coolly. Let the grilling begin.

"Hanni, right. That was awfully sweet of her to bake that pie for you two. Have your tenants always been so helpful and . . . involved?"