My Seoul Man

Chapter 45

AJ waggled the little Plan B instruction booklet at me and said, "Knocked over your bag in the bedroom and...surprise!"

Not...what I was expecting.

I mean, I'd braced myself to hear he'd found out about that crazy shit going down in Korea. And that I knew about it but didn't tell him.

But this was a whole different drama.

So there was one of those long pauses before I finally offered up, "It was just all that...superstitious talk, you know? About that dream and...well, I probably should've said something, but I didn't want to get you all worried when it was just me being silly."

And he hit back with: "Yet you once told me we should tell each other everything."

I had said that. So I had to regroup PDQ.

"AJ, I'm used to guys who would've accused me of trying to trap their useless asses," was my first—cautious--clap back. "And you have 'way more reason to be suspicious than they did. So, yes. I said that. But I'm still learning how to actually do that."

When he slid his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, I did the puppy dog head tilt thing and said, "Talk to me."

And after staring down at the floor for a while, he finally said, "The Whitman world I knew--I romanticized the hell out of it. And you. Didn't I?"

I smiled a little bit. Testing him. "Gotta admit, I kinda like the romanticized me."

Got a faint smile from that. Reluctant, but real.

And he said, "This reporter once teased me that she'd give anything to be able to hold out her hand and have someone slap an iced Americano into it without even having to ask. And I laughed when she said it, but it hit different later when I was sitting in the SUV watching Tiktok challenges at the airport while my manager and all these other people were scuttling around taking care of all the details. All I had to do was get out, bow and clown for the cameras a bit and then off I'd go through security, waving at the reporters and mobs of Angels who'd come to see me off."

"Nice work if you can get it, right?"

"Yeah, but I've been treated like one of those Fabergé eggs, you know? The ones covered with all the jewels and gold and whatnot. I sit down and food arrives. I stand up and all these big, burly security people come rushing up to keep the world away. I forget my wallet all the time because my manager usually handles the money for me even at the drive throughs."

"I felt it on that trip to Cali," I admitted. "People waiting on us hand and foot. And then the other day, I clicked on your hashtag on X for shits and giggles and found all these little AJ nuns who post and repost everything you do and say and get into all these cat fights over things other people say about you. They're like, emotionally married to this man they'll never even meet. And I thought...well, I can deal with one or two women being all into the man I'm with, but this is a whole 'nother level of delulu."

He walked over and took hold of my hand. Walked us over to the couch.

And once we'd sat, he said, "Seeing that little pill thing was a whole 'nother level of reality for me. I mean, you're in limbo right now. You quit your job only a few days ago. This isn't just a road trip to you. It's a huge lifestyle change. I'm a huge lifestyle change, for that matter. And I'm just...floating along on Cloud 9..."

"Look, we're just getting started, bae. We're barely past the stage where I'd still be doing silly shit like running the taps in the bathroom to keep you from actually hearing me pee. And easing out of bed trying to get all put together before you wake up."