Somewhere Only We Know(58)

We walked into the tiny restaurant, filled with colorful stools and graphic murals, finding ourselves a corner booth. Lucky looked nervous in the brightly lit space and pulled her cap down over her hair.

“Luck—I mean, Fern. Look at me for a sec?” I said as I slid into the spot next to her. She turned to me and I tucked a few errant strands of hair back into her cap. Then I pulled the hood up closer around her chin.

She looked at me after I was done. “Good?” she asked nervously.

“Perfect,” I said with a smile.

“EH HEM!” Charlie shook out the laminated menu from across the table.

She was perfect, though. Not because she was Lucky, the music video goddess, wearing heels that could kill a man. But because she was so excited by the world around her. Because she was making me see Hong Kong through her eyes—a city that, while cool, had felt foreign to me for the past year. She added this warmth to every spot we had visited, a wash of golden light. Everything tasted better because of watching her eat it. Everything looked beautiful because she walked through it.

Jesus. What was I going to do?





CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN


LUCKY


When Jack looked at me like that, I wanted to throw it all away and stay with him in Hong Kong. Forever and ever, amen.

The desire to call up Joseph and Ji-Yeon to say “Smell ya later” was so intense when I was with him. To imagine myself sleeping in. Having nothing planned for a weekend. A thousand more days like today stretched out in front of me—a glittering sea of possibility.

My chest literally hurt when I imagined it, the longing was so acute and real.

The hamburgers arrived and the scent made my mouth water, even though we had eaten a medley of meats only half an hour earlier. My first bite nearly launched me out of my body and into a heavenly realm of orbiting hamburgers. A toasted bun with substantial bread heft, gooey cheese, caramelized onion, and a thick beef patty that was cooked to perfection.

“Oh. My. God,” I said when I could finally speak. “Yes. Yes, this is what got me out of that hotel room.”

Charlie smiled as he munched on a French fry. “Worth it, right?”

“Worth a giant scandal that might cost me my career? Definitely.”

Jack threw me a worried glance. “That’s not true, right?”

I shrugged. I had tried not to think about it for the past twenty-four hours. I figured it was one day of rebellion after a four-year streak of model behavior. But now with the leaked photos of me and Jack—I wasn’t sure I would come out of this unscathed anymore.

“Don’t you know what a tight leash K-pop stars are on?” Charlie asked in a low voice, leaning over the table. “That’s true, right? You guys can’t have any scandals. And, not to be a total creep, but I know for a fact that your reputation up until today has been squeaky clean.”

I smiled. “Yeah, you’re not a creep. Most people who like K-pop know this.”

Jack made a face like, Guilty of not being a K-pop fan. Charlie rolled his eyes. “You and your Soundgarden.”

“Soundgarden?” I asked, surprised. Here I was, ready to throw it all away for some guy, and I had no idea what kind of music he listened to.

“Yeah, I’m kind of stuck in a nineties grunge nostalgia thing right now,” he said with a sheepish smile. “How original, right?”

“Chris Cornell had a phenomenal voice,” I said. “Soundgarden was so distinct during the grunge era because they were a straight-up, no-nonsense, hard rock band.”

Jack stared at me. “What?”

Charlie laughed so hard people looked at us.

I sunk lower into my seat but looked up at Jack with a grin. “Do you get impressed by girls who have opinions about music? Get with the times.”

He shook his head. “Remember Lina? She’s the biggest music snob I know. I guess I’m surprised that you … that you would…”

I enjoyed watching him stammer for a few seconds. “You mean, surprised that I would know anything about music being a professional recording artist?”

“No! I mean—”

“You’re not the first person to assume that K-pop artists don’t actually know anything about music,” I said, annoyed. “Most of us live and breathe music. We don’t go through that training because we like the fashion.” You could only see these kinds of surprised expressions so many times before it got tiresome, even on cute guys.

Watching us with glee, Charlie sipped on his soda.

“I didn’t assume that!” Jack protested, nervously eating a French fry. “I guess I … didn’t take you for a Soundgarden fan.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I like Soundgarden. And Mariah Carey. And Cardi B. And One Direction. And Max Richter. And I could go on and on. Because I love music. That’s why I do this.”

Jack stared at me in this intense way and I stared back. “What?” If it was possible to smile and frown at the same time, he was doing it.

“Nothing. It … it’s hitting me now that you are so freaking accomplished.”

“It’s hitting you now?” I teased, even as something lurched in my chest. I’d been praised pretty much my entire life, but hearing it from Jack—a boy I liked—well. That was different and new.