My Seoul Man

Chapter 51

Didn't go the way I'd thought. Or feared. Blaine meeting Hae Won, I mean.

She knew who he was from me mentioning him in passing from time to time. But I'd never gone into deep detail beyond little snide remarks that probably hadn't left much of an impression.

Even so, when he did his little "Prince Charming" head bow toward her as I said his name, she raised her chin and gave him a chilly, "Yes, very nice to meet you" and then turned to me to ask, "Is ajumma (older woman) going with us?"

I mean, just brushed him off like a speck of dust.

Blaine's eyes narrowed just a wee bit as I explained I wasn't sure if AJ's grandmother was joining us in Sedona or not. And once Hae Won sashayed away like one of those sassy queens on RuPaul's show, he smirked and muttered, "Fuck you, too."

"Okay, just...behave, please."

"One of the rich relations?"

I said, "Something like that," and headed us toward some of the other folks lending a hand that day.

Along with the Ahn's kitchen staff I had a couple of teenage girls—cousins--who managed to hide their disapproval better than Hae Won had. Smiled and asked him how he was feeling using those manners the elders brought over from the Old South that hide true feelings behind a winsome smile.

But he finally chose to join the Ahn guys deep cleaning the family's food truck outside, probably to put as much distance between Hae Won and his bruised ego as possible.

And as I was about to head out of that truck myself, Wally poked his head in and did the two-finger whistle thing to get my attention.

I said, "Hey, hot stuff," and went over to hug him when he leapt up the steps.

He gave the truck a quick look over, grinned and said, "Ya'll might wanna slow down some. Big rig'll pro'bly be ready in a couple days."

"You're kidding me!"

"Nope! Won't have that new mural on it yet, but they said they could make the old one presentable enough. People bring their trucks from all over the country to have them paint 'em. Got a couple kids who win all kinds of awards."

"God, Wally, I can't even--"

"Don't start gettin' all choked up. A lot o' the damage just looked worse than it was. Gave us a chance to upgrade a few things, in fact. Since insurance paid us based on the initial estimate. They got a barn or sum out there at that farm o' his? Where we can lock it up tight?"

"You leave all that to us--you eat lunch yet?"

That made his eyes light up. "Real glad I stopped by now."

I was, too. He'd lifted my spirits more than he knew. I was still jonesing big time, wanting to know where AJ was, what AJ was doing and most of all what the bad guys might be planning to do to him once he finally landed...

But I sailed Wally back to the little assembly line that was putting condiments and things into little containers we'd hand out with each of the truck menu items.

We were testing new items, too. Like Hae Won's "folded" gimbap.

Best way I can describe gimbap is that it's sort of like a sushi roll. Only you can throw all kinds of stuff in there, not just seafood. The "gim" (seaweed sheet) and "bap" (rice) seems to be the only two mandatory ingredients. I've seen gimbap with Spam and eggs and American cheese in it. No joke.

The traditional kind can be time-consuming and a little bit complicated. But Hae Won's personal chef had discovered how to place four different ingredients neatly on top of a sheet of nori and cut and fold it into a square that looked like two halves of a sandwich when you cut it diagonally.