Doctor Kim

Chapter 16

Minji brought me a can of Dr. Pepper when she got up to refill her wine, and I stared at the logo printed on the aluminum. Jay didn't like Dr. Pepper, and I'd never seen his dad drink it either, which led me to believe the case always stocked in the garage was for me.

Minji hesitated before speaking. "Can I ask you something?"

No one ever said that unless something serious was about to come out, and I tried not to hold my breath. "Go for it."

"I've never heard you talk about your dad."

I blinked slowly. "Probably because there's nothing to say. I never met the guy."

"Is he still alive?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

Minji looked like she just discovered she was standing barefoot surrounded by broken glass and wasn't sure which step to take next. All her options were going to be painful. "I'm sorry I brought it up. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just, we've known each other a while, and I always wondered."

"My dad fled town as soon as he found out my mom was pregnant, and she hasn't heard from him since." My body went cool, matching my voice. "He didn't give a single thought to us, so I make sure to return the favor every chance I get."

I couldn't read what was going on behind her eyes, other than the panic swimming there. Was she thinking about what she'd done to Jay? It didn't compare. Minji hadn't been in much of Jay's early life, but she also didn't disappear. She hadn't walked away and left him without a word at all. Even scraps were better than nothing to a starving person.

I leaned over Minji, snatched the remote off the nightstand, and turned the TV on. It was super awkward, but anything was better than continuing the conversation, and my actions communicated it effectively.

The older movie on screen was low definition, and I'd turned it on somewhere in the middle of a scene where banquet tables with fine china were being flipped over and pushed to the side.

"The flowers are still standing," Minji said to herself quietly.

"What?"

On screen, a young Bill Murray shouted the same thing. More tables crashed to the side, and a green ghost floated around a crystal chandelier, dodging laser beams.

"That's my favorite line in Ghostbusters." Minji gestured to the TV. "When he pulls the tablecloth off and breaks everything on the table except the centerpiece."

I shrugged. "I never saw the old one."

It was like I'd just told her I didn't know who the president was. A personal affront. "How is that possible? Man, I loved this movie when I was a kid."

I watched the Ghostbusters come up with their game plan of trapping the green ghost. The special effects looked ancient. "How old is this thing?"

"I don't know . . . It came out in nineteen eighty-four, I think? I saw it in the theater with my parents." A weird look flitted over her face. Embarrassment? "I got freaked out," she said, "by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and my mom had to take me out to the car. We missed the end of the movie."

A smile caught the edge of my lips. "I'm sorry, a marshmallow man? Those fluffy, white things?"

"Yeah, but he's, like, a hundred feet tall."

I chuckled. "Sounds terrifying."

"To a six-year-old, it was. He was running around crushing buildings." Minji settled in and got comfortable against the headboard. "Whatever, you'll see. We're watching the rest of this."