Pepper never meant to lose her best friend. Lucas never meant to fall in love.
Yet the aftermath of broken hearts leads them to blur the lines of their friendship forever. When Pepper is dumped by her boyfriend and Lucas is led on by his crush, they...
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THANKSGIVING AT MY HOUSE is different from the rest of my peers. In September, the same week my parents forced me to break up with Pepper, we celebrated Chuseok with a family friend of my father's. The family where they introduced me to my first potential fiancée. That was three months ago. Now, as America celebrates their version of the feasting holiday, we're having dinner with family on my mother's side who flew in for the weekend.
For once, I'm actually looking forward to visitors since my cousin Seo-hyeon will be here. She's the same age as me and understands my pain when it comes to overbearing parents and rules. Sometimes we vent to each other about the weight of their expectations. She always tells me that I have it easier than she does. At least I can speak English and I have more freedoms in America. Maybe she's right.
Mom is bustling in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on dinner. The delectable aroma of her bibimbap and homemade kimchi wafts through every room of the house, bringing forth groans of hunger in my stomach as I set up the dining table. "Mason," she calls over her shoulder while shifting through the cabinets above the stove, "can you make sure the sitting room is presentable? Take the good books out."
"Yes, ma'am." I place the last set of Mom's fancy fiberglass chopsticks atop the placemats and jog over to the living room. The Kim's arrive in ten minutes, and I'm sure we've gone over the house twice, cleaning up the same places we did yesterday. Dad's good books are already placed neatly atop the glass coffee table, but I pretend to straighten them for Mom's sake.
"Mason," Dad's deep voice brushes along the air behind me, sending the hairs on my arm to stand in surprise.
I glance over my shoulder, making brief eye contact with him as he stands a mere foot behind me. He settles on our burnt orange sofa and implores me to take a seat next to him with a slight incline of his hand. I hesitate but take his offer, angling myself to face him while keeping a respectful distance. His expression is stony as usual, but with foreign cracks of vulnerability. Ever since the fight in the hospital and Pepper's parents visiting us to ridicule my parents, things have been...different around the house. Quieter.
True to our deal, they've checked my phone and social media consistently to make sure I haven't been in contact with Pepper. The only people I've been allowed to see are Jaden, Philip and Carter. I've put a slight hold on college applications since Dad so graciously offered me a gap year. I've been seriously considering the opportunity. They're trying to change. I can see it. Even the amount of times he's implied their disappointment in me has dropped tremendously.
Dad pats my leg a for a moment and spares me a tight-lipped smile, an expression he doesn't give me the luxury of seeing very often. "I just want to say that I am grateful for you, son," he says in Korean. "I know we've been hard on you lately, but that's only because we want you to succeed. I appreciate your recent cooperation with us."
I shrug and bite my tongue as a million arguments surface to the tip. Instead, I offer a strained smile of my own and say, "Of course. I try to understand where you're coming from at least."
