Jisu spent the whole time en route to Tiffany’s strategizing how she would find Dave and talk to him. But none of it was necessary. He was the first person in her line of vision when she walked through the door.
He gave a benign head nod. They approached each other and met in the center of the room.
“Heard you got into UChicago. Congrats,” Dave said, his tone a touch softer now. He gave her a high five. It was a friendly gesture, but not the one she wanted. “I was worried you weren’t coming,” he said.
Did he still care? Or was he just being nice to be nice?
“Tiffany would hate me if I missed out on this.” Jisu searched the room for Tiffany. She’d prepared for this moment, to come face-to-face with Dave, but her stomach kept doing flips and it was difficult to look Dave in the eye.
It had never been difficult to look at him before.
“I know.” Dave looked down at his feet. “I was being kind of a jerk in Mrs. French’s class the other day. So I thought you might try to avoid me. I’m sorry.”
He looked back up at Jisu. Suddenly she no longer felt afraid to meet his gaze.
“When I kissed you, it wasn’t for any other reason than the fact that I like you. I’m crazy about you, Jees.”
Jisu’s heart beat, not faster with nervous anticipation, but steadily and stronger now with exhilaration. The rest of her body felt springy and weightless. Thank god for the wall she was leaning on—without it, she might have collapsed into a puddle of feelings. Everything he said was everything she was feeling about him, too. She took Dave’s hand and locked her fingers with his.
“I wish we could be alone on the bleachers again. It would be different this time,” she said.
“You mean, you wouldn’t get all red in the face and storm off?” Dave teased. It instantly felt like they were back to normal. Finally.
“What if we just left this party?” he asked.
“First of all, Tiffany would hold that against me for god knows how long,” Jisu said. “And also...I kind of have to ditch early anyway. I have a seon to go to...but those things don’t mean anything to me! Honestly.” Jisu tried to temper the growing knot of anxiety in her stomach as she waited for his reaction.
“Well, you know you’re not the only one people are lining up to date. I have my own blind date to get to.” Dave grinned.
Jisu stared at him, confused.
“It’s a joke!” he said as he pulled her in for a reassuring hug. “Well, kind of. The second my mom found out I broke up with Sophie, she’s been trying to set me up on a blind date. I’m just doing it for her.”
“Do you know who your date is?”
“She’s the daughter of a friend of a friend of my mom’s... I think?” Dave put his hands together like a light bulb went off in his head. “When’s your seon?”
“Soon. I actually probably have to leave in a few. I like to be early to these things.”
“Mine’s also tonight. We should ditch our dates and meet up later,” Dave suggested.
“Okay, but don’t be rude to your date! I always go in with an open mind. I mean, I know it won’t lead to anything, but—”
“No! Don’t be too nice.” Dave put his hands on Jisu’s shoulders. “I can’t lose you to some rando.”
Jisu felt light and weightless, like she could float off into the air and Dave’s arms on her shoulders were the only things holding her down.
“There’s no way that’s going to happen. He’s going to be my twenty-ninth seon. And any number with the number nine is my unlucky number.”
Jisu got to El Farolito ten minutes early, in case her date showed up early, as well. She’d keep it to an hour or less, and then meet up with Dave. That was the plan.
“Steak burrito to stay, right?” the man behind the counter asked.
Jisu was a bonafide regular at El Farolito now. The delicious and overly stuffed burritos made it easy to keep coming back, but it had also become one of her go-to spots for her American seons. It was so nice to not have to meet at a fancy hotel lobby that was covered in Italian marble and lit by grandiose chandeliers. And each seon she had here chipped away at her bittersweet original El Farolito memory with Austin, the one who originally took her for burritos—and where she’d seen Dave with Sophie for the first time.
Jisu placed her order and slid into a booth, wondering what her date looked like.
Her phone vibrated. It was a text from Dave. Already?
So I just got to my date. And she is a total stunner. Might have to see where this goes...
What? This was a complete 180 from what he’d said just an hour or so ago. Jisu stared at her phone, confused.
“Also, I think twenty-nine might actually be your lucky number. Or not. You know, there’s no such thing as cursed numbers, right?”
Jisu looked up. Dave was standing in front of her. Dave Kang. Her heart burst and expanded like a time-lapse of a rapidly blooming flower. Happiness overwhelmed her. It was so tangible, she could feel it in her bones. For a moment, she blacked out, but the rapid beating of her heart jolted her back to consciousness. Dave was her twenty-ninth seon. But how?
“I guess my mom’s friend’s friend knows someone you know?” Dave grinned and slid into the other side of the booth.
“No, that can’t be possible. I’m set up through this professional matchmaker, Ms. Moon. I had to send in an application to even be considered as a client and everything. It’s not like a friend-of-a-friend scenario.”
“Wait, Ms. Moon? That’s the friend’s friend that my mom mentioned.” Dave laughed. “I bet she was just trying to be chill so I wouldn’t freak out or get weird about working with some matchmaking service.”
“I guess you’re a lot more plugged in to the Korean community than I thought.” Jisu smiled. “Also, unlucky numbers are totally a thing. If you want to be a real Korean, you have to indulge in a bit of superstition.”
“So what—does that still make me your unlucky seon then?” Dave asked.
Jisu laughed. She’d never felt luckier in her entire life.