I hug Evie before she can get up from her seat because she’s also quite pregnant, although not as far along as Ivy.
She smiles at me, pushing a few golden tendrils out of her face, the corners of her blue eyes crinkling. “Hello, Yuna.”
“Hey, Evie. Looking good! All glowy and happy. Nate must be treating you like a queen.”
“I have to or she’ll kick me out of the house. And then where am I gonna go?” Nate says. He handed over all his assets to his wife. I don’t know the details of why he did it, but that means Evie is the money person in the relationship now.
Evie puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. “How could I kick out such a lovable husband?”
“I know. I’m so sweet I make myself sick sometimes.”
“Hey, I want a hug!” Kim says, coming over to put her arms around me.
“Good to see you, former roomie.”
Kim and Evie used to share an apartment, but after Evie moved out to be with Nate, I took her place for a while. Kim, unlike Ivy, Jo and Evie, is definitely not pregnant. And neither is Court’s fiancée Pascal, who has one of the best hugs in the world. All firm and warm, like she’ll never let go.
Then I hug the guys—Court and Edgar…then Nate and Wyatt. I don’t know Wyatt that well, but everyone deserves a good hug.
Once the greetings are done, we all sit down and start eating. Being among friends and enjoying delicious food is making me feel optimistic and relaxed. Eugene will never know the feeling because he doesn’t have friends like mine!
Ivy turns to me after I have a few bites of pad thai. “Okay, so tell me what’s going on. What’s up with you needing me to get you a one-way ticket?”
“A one-way ticket?” Court’s eyes go wide. “Wait, wait, back up. What happened?”
“I called Ivy and asked her to buy me a one-way ticket to L.A.” Normally, it wouldn’t be something I’d say in front of an audience, but these are my friends, and most importantly, they’re discreet. No leaked video footage will be making its way to social media sites.
Everyone stares in shock.
Pascal says, “Okay, I totally want to ask if something’s going on at the Hae Min Group. But I’m not supposed to get any insider info.” She works for a huge private wealth management company, and her specialty is the Asian market. She probably doesn’t want to get in trouble for illegal trading.
I wave her worry away. “It’s doing fine, just like the latest quarterly filing says.” Dad was so pleased that the company beat expectations. “And even if it weren’t, I wouldn’t be calling Ivy for a ticket.”
“Why not?” Ivy looks like she’s mildly insulted. “You know you can always count on me.”
“I know.”
Ivy isn’t just a friend, she’s my soul sister. It’s like having a soul mate, but a sister. It’s limiting and frankly ridiculous to claim that only romantic relationships can involve soul mates. I’d die for Ivy, just like I’d die for my blood relatives. Except Eugene, because he’s on my shit-list at the moment.
“So why wouldn’t you call?” Ivy asks.
“Because there’s a saying in Korea that a rich person who goes bankrupt can still live like a king for three generations. And it’s true. We all have assets that aren’t tied to the company. Overseas real estate holdings, trusts. Sadly, I can’t access any of ours.” Otherwise I might’ve sold one. For spending cash.
“Okay, but why did you need her to buy you a ticket?” Kim asks.
I clench my plastic fork until the nails dig into my palm. “Because my brother’s a jerk!”
“Is this the same brother who paid for the charter for those pies from Tokyo?” Jo asks.
“Yeah. I only have one.”
I take a deep breath and tell them everything as we eat. Everything, even how Eugene was petty enough to take away Ms. Kim and Mr. Choi.
“But that’s a good thing, right? You said they were your mom’s spies,” Kim says. “You even bought clothes from Target to escape from them.”
Jo takes a sudden and very deep inhalation. “You bought from Target?”
“It wasn’t a Target,” I say quickly. “The store was more blue than red.”