“I timed it and that was just a little over fifteen minutes,” Dave said.
Dave and Jisu were practicing their IS presentation. After weeks of gathering all the photos and relevant data, they had finally completed their project. Except Dave, ever the perfectionist, insisted on running through it over and over again.
“That’s good! We did it,” Jisu said as she eyed the clock. They had spent the last half hour at the library in the media room.
“No, we have to keep it at fifteen minutes or right under it. Or else Mrs. French will shave off some points.”
“I don’t think she’ll really knock us for going over by a few seconds.”
“One point can make a world of a difference, Jees. Come on. I’ll cut down on giving different examples of nonprofits and businesses. And you don’t have to describe all the photos in such detailed length.” Dave clicked through each slide and carefully read each one for any spelling errors.
“Dave,” Jisu said. “You’re already going to Harvard. I’m the one who’s only gotten rejections so far.”
“Exactly—every point counts!”
It wasn’t that Jisu was phoning it in. The presentation was complete and they had practiced countless times. Maybe Dave was trying to kill time. But he could do that with his friends, so why stick yourself in the library? If Jisu were Dave, she’d relax and take things easy for the rest of the year. But then again, maybe that’s why he was going to Harvard and she was still waiting to hear back.
Dave queued the presentation back to the first slide. He handed Jisu the clicker. He really did want to do another round. Was he always this much of a perfectionist? Or maybe he was trying to avoid someone. Sophie, maybe? The mere thought stirred something inside Jisu. Suddenly her brain perked right up, as if she’d taken a giant swig of coffee. Had the two of them gotten in a fight? No, no. Jisu stopped herself from hypothesizing crazy scenarios. It wasn’t any of her business.
“Okay, fine. I just need to leave soon so I can go home and get ready for my seon.”
“How many of those have you been on?” he asked. “Are they super formal and awkward, or do they feel like real dates?”
They had briefly talked about Ms. Moon and the matchmaking service, but Dave had never asked as many questions about it as he did now. Was he or would he soon be interested in seons? Were these questions someone asked if they were happy with their current relationship? Jisu waved away thoughts of Dave and Sophie and whatever conflicts she was trying to project on them.
“Just a handful since I’ve moved here. It’s whatever, honestly.”
“So they’ve all been duds?”
“Yeah, there have been some really bad ones. But they make for funny stories, so at the very least there’s that.”
Jisu thought back to some of the disastrous seons she’d been on. She really had done it all. Everything from getting into a shouting match to literally falling asleep on a date.
“Except for one,” Jisu said, thinking about Philip Kang. When she’d sat down for their date, she had forgotten what number he was. She’d expected another hour wasted with a stranger she’d have zero interest in. But for the first time, that was not the case. The seon came to an end, and Jisu was sad to part ways.
“Really?” Dave asked.
“Yeah, actually, my second date is with him today. Which is why I’m trying to get out of here!”
“What made the date with him different than the others?” Suddenly Dave seemed more invested in Jisu’s dating life than in the presentation projected on the screen behind her.
“Umm. He was nice.” Jisu clicked through to the revised slides. If she wanted to get home and change in time before seeing Philip, they had to wrap things up soon.
“Nice? Is that all it takes for someone to win you over?”
“Well, it’s one way in! Kindness is underrated.” Jisu clicked through a few more.
“What else?”
“What else what?”
“What else do you like about this guy... What’s his name?” Dave was asking an awful lot of questions. But Jisu didn’t mind. She’d noticed that sometimes people who were in long-term relationships loved living vicariously through those who weren’t.
“We like the same things and we dislike the same things. That goes a long way. His name is Philip.”
“Philip... I don’t know how I feel about that name.” Dave scrunched his face. “You really want to date a guy named Philip?”
“What?” Jisu laughed. “What’s wrong with the name Philip?”
“It sounds a bit too...prissy. And a little bit self-important.” Dave raised his head up into the air. “Hello, my name is...Philip.” He spoke with a terrible aristocratic, posh accent.
“He goes by Phil!”
“Meh, that might be worse,” Dave teased.
“None of it really matters though,” Jisu said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, even if Phil and I really hit things off, it won’t matter because I won’t be in the Bay Area anymore in just a few months. It’s not like I’d be coming back here over college breaks.”
Jisu turned on the lights and the sudden brightness stung her eyes.
“Yeah, I guess I never thought about it that way,” Dave said. He looked a little disheartened. “But it’s not like you’d never come back to the Bay. Unless your plan is to cut off all contact with everyone from Wick?”
“Yeah, Dave, I’m also going to fake my death and steal someone else’s identity,” Jisu said. “But seriously, after being uprooted from Seoul and knowing it’s all going to happen again when I go to college, I’m trying not to take anything too seriously.”
“So you’re actually not taking this Phil guy seriously.”
“I do like him, but I’m also not going to be upset if it doesn’t go anywhere, you know? I’m not going to get involved in anything serious unless it really means a lot to me. With guys, with friendships, with everything.”
“I don’t know... It sounds like this guy has made the most lukewarm impression on you.”
“Stop! You’re going to ruin the date for me before I even get there!” Jisu threw the clicker at Dave. He caught it and flipped through the rest of the slides.
“I don’t think we really need another run-through. Aren’t you tired of staring at this?” Jisu asked as she looked up at the projector screen.
“No.” Dave looked at her. “Not at all.”