Somewhere Only We Know(27)

“Give me a second,” Jack said, stopping in front of a particularly hip boutique before slipping in.

I gazed around at my surroundings, feeling nervous at being left alone. A movement behind a bush caught my eye.

A cat!

It was a big tuxedo cat with green eyes, its tail stubby and face dirty with gray smudges. I crouched down, cooing at it. One of the things I missed most about my life back in the US was having pets. My parents’ Pomeranian was a hot mess, but it was nice to have a little furball around.

The cat came up to me, rubbing its sturdy body against my legs as I petted its fur. It sprang away the second Jack stepped back outside, opening the storefront door with a loud bang.

“Hey, Fern. Come on in,” he called out. When I stood up, he glanced over at the retreating cat. “You might want to be careful. The cats here are fleabags.”

“He didn’t mean it,” I crooned to the kitty. I walked over to Jack reluctantly and waved goodbye to the cat.

Once inside, I glanced around at the tiny store, which was empty save for an intimidating cool Asian girl behind the counter. The walls, floors, and furniture were all stark white, the merchandise sparse and artfully displayed.

“Fern, this is my friend Lina. She’ll hook you up with some shoes,” Jack said.

Lina, with the monochromatic wardrobe and delicate forearm tattoo, walked out from behind the counter and glanced down at my slippers, her eyebrows raised. “Do I wanna know?”

Suddenly, I was aware of how visible I was to this random stranger. I stepped back, closer to Jack. “Um. Long story,” I replied, my voice quiet.

“What size shoe are you?” Lina asked. Her friendly tone made me relax some.

I told her and she went into a back room, coming out a few minutes later. “These should work,” she said, carrying a shoebox.

I sat down on a bench covered with a sheepskin throw. When I opened the box, a pair of black sneakers were nestled in tissue paper. I recognized the brand and my eyes widened. “These aren’t cheap.”

“Well, they’re kind of a loan,” Jack said, flashing a smile to Lina.

She rolled her eyes, leaning against the counter and tucking her shoulder-length bleached-blonde hair behind her ears. She had a nice face with strong features—a straight, slightly large nose and dark, expressive eyebrows.

It was one thing to feel indebted to Jack. But to this random girl? I wasn’t comfortable with it.

“I can pay you as soon as I get back to my hotel,” I said stiffly, pulling the shoes onto my feet. In Korea, I had all the top fashion brands throwing things at me. It’d been a while since I’d had to think about buying clothes.

She smiled at me, then raised an eyebrow at Jack. “No worries. Jack’s handling it.”

I stood up and closed my eyes blissfully. “Ooh. Arch support. I forgot about you.”

Jack laughed. “Those shoes are blushing.”

I flushed at that. “Uh, we’ll take them,” I said.

We were outside a few minutes later and I was happily bouncing in the shoes. “Did you guys date or something?” I blurted out.

A sharp ray of sunshine slanting into the alley hit the planes of Jack’s face. “What?”

Why did I ask that. “Just wondering. You guys seemed … close,” I said, feeling embarrassed for even bringing this up. Way to be jealous, Lucky.

With his head tilted toward the sun, he blinked one eye closed and looked at me. “It’s not like that.”

That should have been reassuring, but his vagueness annoyed me. Lina had acted kind of weird. Maybe she liked him and he didn’t realize it? I frowned. Boys were the worst. “I’m going to pay her back for these shoes, you know.”

We reached an intersection and people crowded around us as they waited for the walk signal. Jack sighed. “You don’t have to worry about it!”

“Listen. I know I met you whilst wearing hotel slippers, but I don’t need pity shoes from random girls.”

The light turned green, but Jack didn’t move ahead, not being navigation-bossy as he had been all morning. Instead, he stared at me. “Whilst?”

“Yeah, whilst!” I huffed, moving ahead to cross the narrow street.

Jack was right behind. “Sometimes you speak English real weird.”

“Are you implying that because you lived in the United States for a handful of years more than me, you speak better English?!” I stopped walking and faced Jack as I stepped up onto the curb.

“No, I’m saying you speak weird. Like, all formal.”

We skirted past a group of schoolchildren in knee socks and caps. “I don’t have a lot of people to speak English to. Maybe I’ve picked up some expressions from my historical romance novels.” As soon as I said it, I had regrets. Bracing myself for the usual judgmental comments about “bodice rippers.”

But Jack didn’t say anything rude or judgy. He furrowed his brow and asked, “Did you feel awkward moving to Korea? Like, did you feel Korean enough? I often feel so … American here.”

I was surprised by this sudden change in topic. Jack seemed so confident all the time. Unflappable. But I understood what he was saying.

“It was stressful at first. People made fun of my accent.” I remembered the cliques of Korean girls that had formed in the dorms, how me and a girl from the Philippines, Carolina, had been ostracized and forced to form an alliance even though we had nothing in common and actually got on each other’s nerves.