Face Time – Chapter 12

Lee

I’m bringing my rolling bag into the bedroom to pack for the trip to Mumbai when my iPhone buzzes.

—-

Laura Merchant

I’m home from the gym.

And there’s a package here from some hot boy in Korea.

Warning, my mom brought it in for me.

She is now standing and waiting for you to call :-/

—-

Shit. How could I be so stupid? There’s no way Laura’s mother is going to approve of me sending her daughter gifts from the other side of the world, even if my gift is completely innocent.

—-

Lee Park

Any chance she’s leaving to go out for the night?

—-

I hate to be a coward, but I’m not sure I’m ready for this.

—-

Laura Merchant

I’m so sorry.

She was on her way out but cornered me.

Now she won’t leave until you call.

Do you want to cancel? I’ll completely understand.

—-

Wait. No. I can only imagine what canceling will do to Laura. She’ll think I’m chickening out of every future call. And I’m going to have to talk to her mother eventually if I want this to continue.

I want this to continue. I do nothing but think of Laura night and day. I go to bed every night wishing she were next to me and wake up the next morning sad she’s not there.

—-

Lee Park

I don’t want to cancel.

It’s fine.

I’ll start the call in a second.

Let me get my iPad set up in the bedroom.

—-

Well, I wanted to see her face when she opens my present. Now I’ll know if her mother likes it too. I grab the iPad from my kitchen table and head back into the bedroom, initiating a call.

“Hi,” I say with a smile. “You got my gift. I sent the package on Monday and didn’t know it would arrive so quickly.”

She’s at her kitchen table, peeling off her jacket, and underneath she’s wearing workout clothes, tight yoga pants, a bright pink sports bra under a cropped white gauzy shirt. Her stomach and arms are bare and sculpted, and oh god, that’s not fair at all.

Then her mother walks into the view of the camera. She’s an older version of Laura with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a tailored black jacket and a string of pearls around her neck. Her arms are crossed and her long fingers tap away on her biceps, the perfect French manicure drumming to my accelerated heartbeat.

“Hi, Mrs. Merchant. I’m Lee. It’s nice to meet you,” I say, wanting to stretch out my hand to shake but unable to.

“Hello, Lee.” Laura’s mother narrows her eyes and leans towards the iPad, nudging Laura out of the way. I glance at Laura, and she has her eyes closed and is turned from us both. Her lips are moving, but I can’t hear what she’s saying. It looks like a silent prayer to me. “Are you really in Seoul? You’re not just telling my daughter this to swindle her?”

“Mom,” Laura hisses. “Of course he’s not swindling me. Please.”

“No, ma’am. I’m definitely in Seoul but not for much longer. I have to pack for a trip to Mumbai.”

“Is that so? And what will you be doing there?” Laura’s mother hoists her bag up on her shoulder.

“I’m an international lawyer and I’ll be working with one of my Indian clients.” I’m used to being questioned, but her stare is making the back of my neck sweat. I’ve never cared so much about another person’s opinion as I do right now. “I sent Laura a gift. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Well, let’s see it.” Her mother reaches off camera for the box and gives it to Laura. Even from here, with the graininess of the video feed, I can tell Laura’s hands are shaking. I’m the dumbest man on the face of the earth.

Laura’s mother steps back and away from the iPad while Laura opens the box with a pair of scissors. She reaches in, pushes aside the tissue paper, and extracts the eggplant purple leather bag I bought her. On Sunday, I took Cori and Evie to Gyeongbukgung Palace and then shopping in Samcheong-dong. Samcheong-dong is well-known for having lots of artisan shops full of one-of-a-kind boutique items. I enjoy shopping in their stores because they have something for everyone. I found this handmade bag and immediately thought of Laura. The bag is beautiful and classy but still practical, just like her. I asked Cori if it was too soon for me to be buying her presents because I debated in the store for almost an hour. She eventually told me she’s never seen me shop for Sandra, so I should just buy the damned bag already.

“Oh wow, Lee. This is gorgeous.” She holds the bag in front of her and runs her hand along the leather. “Really lovely details and stitching. Thank you so much.”

“I’m glad you like it. I thought about it for a long time before deciding.”

“Why am I not surprised,” she says, laughing. “I already know you well enough to know you overthink everything.”

Silence falls on our conversation as Laura and I stare at each over seven thousand miles of space. We’ve been “dating” two weeks, and she’s a more concrete girlfriend than Sandra ever was. I doubt Sandra could tell me what my favorite movie, drink, or foods are. Laura will say mine are The Bourne Identity, bourbon with one ice cube, and Thai crab coconut curry. Hers are Doctor Zhivago, gin and tonic, and mashed potatoes.

“Well,” her mother interrupts, startling us both, “at least he has good taste.” Her mother disappears, walking towards Laura’s front door. “I’m off to the opera with Richard for the evening, and I won’t be home.” The door closes with a bang, and Laura flinches.

She turns back to her iPad with the bag clutched to her chest.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say.”

“It’s okay. You don’t need to explain.” I’m suspect in her mother’s eyes, or possibly, she already doesn’t like me for any number of reasons. I can’t say I blame her since I’m so far away, but I’m not happy about the way she treats Laura.

“My situation is complicated. I’m glad you understand, even if only a little. Anyway, I’m sorry I subjected you to that. Let’s continue and forget my mom, okay?”

Laura looks down at the bag in her hands and takes a deep breath before forcing herself to smile.

“It’s really beautiful. You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“I wanted to. I enjoy shopping. One of very few men that do.”

She sets the bag in front of her and stands up to lean over the iPad and grab a water bottle.

“Jesus, Laura. How much time do you spend at the gym?” I rarely see six packs on women especially not here in Korea, but Laura is toned everywhere, and the muscles on her stomach are ridged. I wonder what her bare legs look like.

She smirks at me. “A lot. It’s my therapy. A night like last night with my mom home and the couple next door getting it on, I would have spent the evening at the gym and come home after they were done. Until recently, I was at the gym or out running almost every single day.”

“Until you met me?”

“Yes.” She sets her bottle down and picks the bag back up again. “But it’s healthier for me to do other things than just be a gym rat. So, don’t sweat it.”

“Okay.” I’ll take that answer, though her body is so attractive, I don’t want her to let it go on my account, especially since I’m not around to enjoy it either. Shit, this call is veering in a direction I didn’t anticipate a minute ago. I set the iPad on my dresser but step off camera to adjust myself before popping back in frame. “I’ve gotta pack, but we can keep talking.”

“I hid the note you sent so my mom wouldn’t see it. Thanks. I love gifts.” I had written, “To Laura, The first of many gifts, I’m sure. From Lee.” Simple and easy.

“I like a bag I can throw stuff into and carry on my shoulder. And it’s sooooooo soft.” She moans and closes her eyes. “I think I just had a leather-induced orgasm.”

I’m frozen in place having pictured Laura in bed underneath me, naked. I want to make those noises come out of her, not a bag I send halfway around the world. All the blood is leaving my head.

“Lee? Hello? I said, it’s lovely. Thanks.”

She peeks in the bag and all I see are her arms and neck. I want to run my fingers up her arms, in and out of every dip of muscle. I want to lay my lips on her neck and taste her.

“Lee? Earth to Lee?” She leans in and taps on the camera, tap tap tap.

“Sorry.” I blurt out, jolting to my senses. “Sorry, I just, um, I just pictured an entirely different leather-induced orgasm…”

Laura laughs, sliding her eyes from the side to me. “I like those kinds of leather-induced orgasms as well. I’m adventurous in and out of the bedroom.”

That’s it. I need a cold shower. “Laura, I’m going to take twenty minutes to pack, and I’ll call you back, okay?”

She purses her lips, trying not to smile. “I’ll be here.”

—-

I stand in the bathroom and debate my options for all of ten seconds. I can take the cold shower and get rid of my hard-on or I can take a hot one and masturbate. As ridiculous as it sounds, I have already accomplished the second of these options many times in the past two weeks since meeting Laura, but now is not the time. I’m going to call her back in twenty minutes, and if I go with option number two, I will be wrecked for a while because once I’m done with myself, I’m hit with all types of irrational (and sometimes rational) thoughts about how I can steal her from New York. Option number one is better.

This kind of relationship is foreign to me. Sandra never got me aroused when we weren’t together. She never sent me dirty pictures or texts and the few times I did, she freaked out and called me a pervert. I still can’t believe I dated her as long as I did. What the hell is wrong with me? Previous girlfriends were in-person girlfriends. We got aroused, we had sex. Easy. This? This is not so easy.

The shower lasts only a few minutes, and when I’m done, I take a deep breath, get dressed, and grab my suits from the closet. I’ll be in Mumbai two weeks, so I’ll need five suits and extra shirts, plus some casual clothing and running gear, and, while I’m there, I’ll go to my usual tailor to get more suits made. I buy suits from tailors here in South Korea because they’re used to tailoring for Koreans, but I also love the textiles in India. Cori always laughs and asks if I’m going to “Hugo Patel” while I’m in Mumbai, but she never argues that they’re not some of the nicest suits she’s ever seen.

Once I have everything laid out, I call Laura back. She answers wearing significantly more clothing than before. Her hair is still pulled back in a ponytail, but she has on a pink, long-sleeved shirt and dark gray casual pants.

“Hey, Lee. Almost all packed?” She narrows her eyes at the screen on her side. “Did you shower?”

“Yes. No comment.”

“Okay.” She raises her eyebrows at me, and I laugh. Caught. “I’m going to eat soon. I’m starving.”

My doorbell rings, and I glance at the clock. It’s still a few hours before my car comes to get me so this must be Cori. “Hold on.” I pick up my iPhone while walking to the door, and, scrolling through my apps, I find a text from Cori saying she’ll be up with Evie in ten minutes. Fuck. I forgot I asked them to come by before I left. Another text from Sandra is below Cori’s. The sixth or seventh one this week? I don’t know. I lost count. I don’t even open and read it, just delete before opening the door.

“Hi, Lee.” Evie comes bounding into my apartment with Cori right behind her. Today, Evie’s wearing purple from head to toe, including a plastic, purple tiara and a purple feather boa around her neck.

“Cori, um, can you come back in like an hour? I’m talking to Laura on FaceTime.”

“Laura’s on FaceTime right now?” I nod at her. “Great! I can’t wait to meet her.”

Oh shit. I don’t want to waste a single moment of my call with Laura. We’ve already been interrupted by her mother and my stupid body. Now Cori is going to butt in.

“Hi. Who are you?” Evie’s high-pitched little girl voice is coming from my bedroom, and I try to shuffle past Cori to intervene, but Cori pulls on my shirt to slow me down.

“Hi, I’m Laura. You must be Evie.” When I reach my bedroom, Evie is lying on the bed on her stomach, her chin propped on her hands, talking to Laura. “I love your outfit. Is purple your favorite color?”

“It is today. Are you Lee’s new girlfriend?”

I’m mortified, but Laura’s light laugh tinkles through the room to me, and Cori clutches her hand to her chest.

“Wait,” Cori whispers, smiling and grasping my arm.

“You’re sweet, Evie,” Laura continues. “Does Lee talk about me?”

“All the time. He says you’re beautiful, and nice, and like soccer. Do you really like soccer?” Evie is indignant. How dare a girl like soccer. But I’m concentrating on the fact that even Evie noticed I’m head over heels for this woman.

“I do. Soccer is a fun sport, Evie. And you can play on a team with lots of other boys or girls and meet lots of new people. I bet you’d like it.”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t look like fun to me.”

Cori releases my arm, but I’m transfixed watching Evie talk to Laura. I slowly enter the room and get in range of the camera behind Evie. I wave and Laura smiles at me.

“What kind of sports do you like?” Laura asks.

“Um, skipping? Oh. Riding my scooter.”

“You can ride a scooter already?”

Cori sits down next to Evie, and I continue packing my bag. “She has one of those razor scooters, and we ride them up and down the paths by the river. Hi, I’m Cori.”

“Hi. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” I glance up to see Laura’s genuine smile. I was wondering what it would be like for these two to meet.

“Likewise. Anyway, sorry to interrupt your call, but we decided to stop by earlier than we said we would because I’m going to take Evie to the playground and then out for lunch after. We wanted to come say goodbye to Lee beforehand.”

“Lee is going away again.” Evie nods enthusiastically at Laura. “He and my daddy travel all over.”

“I know. He’s a very busy man.” Laura nods back at Evie, picks up the iPad on her end, and walks to the kitchen. “I need to make dinner. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Cori says. “What time is it there?”

“I’m thirteen hours behind you. 8:30pm.” Laura opens her fridge and pulls out plastic container. “Oh good. I forgot I had leftover stew.” She pops it in the microwave and turns back to the camera.

“You eat pretty late,” Cori says.

“Yeah, I like to go to the gym after work and eat when I come home. Late dinners are pretty common in New York, though.”

“This one is in bed by 8:30 every night.” Cori pats Evie on the head, and Evie adjusts her tiara.

“When I have kids, this habit will be a thing of the past, I’m sure.” This stops me. We’ve talked about a lot of things so far, but nothing so hot-button as the desire to get married and have kids. Those are topics I didn’t want to talk about until I’m with Laura in person again. I peek over Cori’s shoulder and Laura raises her eyebrows at me again.

“Lots of things change when you have kids,” Cori interrupts, glancing back at me. “Are you from New York?”

“No, I’m from Connecticut. You?”

“Chris and I are originally from Chicago. We’ve been in Seoul now for seven years. I was newly pregnant when we met Lee.”

“Does Evie go to school there? I’ve always wondered what it’s like for expat kids in a foreign country.” Laura’s stew is cooked, and she transfers it to a bowl, gets a beer from her fridge, and goes back to her table.

“There’s an international kindergarten school here she attends.”

“I love it.” Evie chimes in. “We have circle time, and we paint, and I was in charge of the weather station yesterday.”

“You were?” Laura exclaims, putting her spoon down and giving Evie her full attention. “What was the weather like there yesterday?”

“Partly cloudy and it was windy. I moved the hand on the weather station. It was my job.”

I cover my mouth so I don’t laugh. My job is writing briefs, taking depositions, reading up on current regulations, and dealing with high-ranking executives. Evie’s job is to look out the window and check the weather, and it is a big, huge, gigantic deal. I’ll never forget when she was “the line leader” at school. She didn’t stop talking about it for days.

“Being in charge of the weather station sounds like a important job. You should be proud.”

“I am.” Evie jumps off the bed, and the iPad falls over causing both Laura and Cori to laugh. I zip up my bag, done with packing for now. I’ll pack my kit before I go.

“Sorry about that.” Cori rights the iPad. “Well, it’s a beautiful day in Seoul, and Evie and I should get going. It was nice talking to you.”

“Same here.”

“Laura,” I say, butting in. “Give me a second with Cori so I can give her instructions on what I need done around here while I’m gone.”

“Okay. I’ll eat.”

I mute the iPad, put it back on the dresser, and usher both girls out of the bedroom.

“Cori?” My heart is beating like I’ve run a marathon. I hadn’t thought about what would happen if Laura and Cori met. It seemed so far away. “What do you think?”

I scan back through every dinner or outing we’ve had the past few weeks, and I’ve gone on way too much about Laura. But some of that is Cori’s fault because she’s been quizzing me for details relentlessly.

“She seems sweet and beautiful and smart,” she says, squeezing my arm. “I can’t wait to meet her in person.” She folds her arms across her chest and thinks. “You know Sandra hated my guts and I hated hers. Wouldn’t it be nice for you to have a girlfriend who was friends with your friends?”

“I wouldn’t know. It’s never happened before.” That’s the honest truth. Every woman I’ve dated has been at odds with all of my friends. In hindsight, I have a horrible track record with relationships.

“See? Don’t you worry your pretty little head over it.” She reaches out to pinch my cheek, and I smack her hand away and laugh.

“Get out.” I run forward to tickle Evie. “You too. Get out and enjoy the day.”

“Same old, same old?” Cori waves her hand at my apartment.

“Yes. Water the plants, take in the mail, and eat from my fridge. Please.”

I escort both of them to the door and hug Evie goodbye before joining Laura again in my bedroom.

“Sorry,” I say, un-muting her and sitting down on the bed with the iPad on my knees. “I hope that wasn’t too unexpected.”

“No, no. Evie is adorable, and Cori seems very nice.” Laura’s done with her dinner and has moved to her bedroom with her beer. “They’re obviously really important to you.”

“Cori is…” I stop and look out the window, the ghost of Cori’s almost-pinch grazing my cheek. “Cori is the sister I never had. She and I have the kind of relationship I should have had with Nari but never did.”

“You really don’t get along with your sister? It’s that severe?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to sound like I hate her or something, because I don’t. But she’s not a nice person and has never treated me well. Much like my mother unfortunately.” I cringe hearing the words come out of my mouth. I sound traitorous. Every Korean son is supposed to love his mother.

“Well, as you can probably guess, I don’t have the best relationship with my mother. I think she hates me a little for having freedom when I was living in the South and she was stuck at home with my father. Not that I was happy or sane then, but she didn’t know that because we didn’t talk for several years. And I came back to New York five years ago to help take care of her because she was recovering from a nervous breakdown.” She pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes and sighing. “And my father hated me, too, so… Families are complicated, Lee. I get it.”

“Why do you think your father hated you?”

“Many reasons.”

“Like what?” I hate prying.

“Besides what I’ve told you already? He ignored me most of my youth. Never once came to a track and field event or a concert, though he went to all of David’s so it’s not like he could blame it on his work schedule. He didn’t even want to attend my graduation but I know my mom forced him. He hated me until the day he died. A week before he passed, he told me he was disappointed in me, that I would never accomplish anything or marry or have a family because who would want me.” Laura air-quotes the last statement, and my insides boil with rage. She shrugs her shoulders and drinks her beer. “I swear I was a pretty good kid. My grades weren’t the best, but it’s not like I got in trouble all the time or anything.”

She shrugs her shoulders again, nonchalantly, but it must hurt regardless.

“My mother would make me sit on my knees if I got in trouble,” I confess, unable to believe the words are coming out of my mouth, “or hold a heavy book over my head for thirty minutes if I got less than an A in any class.” I’ve never complained about the punishments I got as a kid. They were normal to all the Korean kids in my circle though completely foreign to anyone else. “I once had to hold the book for forty-five minutes because I closed a door too loudly while she was praying. I was a little shit of a kid, constantly breaking things or getting into trouble, and my mother hated it. Told me how much shame I brought on the family. My dad eventually turned me around, but my mother never forgot it.”

“Yikes. Your mom sounds harsh.”

I nod at her though I hate myself for it.

“But don’t worry,” Laura says, waving at the camera, “I would rather date or marry a guy who doesn’t like his mother than one who loves his mother to death.”

“Why is that?” I ask, propping my head on my pillow and settling in for a long conversation. This is something I love about her. She has a definitive opinion on just about everything, whether they are rational or not.

“Because a man who loves his mother will want a wife who is exactly like her, and that woman will never live up to her. He’ll always say things like, ‘My mother didn’t cook stew like that,’ or ‘My mother raised four kids and never needed a babysitter, why do you need one?’ or other such similar things. No matter how hard his wife tries, she’ll never be as good.” She raises her shoulders and takes a sip of beer. “A man who dislikes his mother goes out of his way to choose a mate who is the exact opposite and revels in the fact she does everything different. Now that is a happy relationship. There are men in between these two extremes but these examples are for the sake of this argument.”

Wait. This sounds too familiar.

“Lee? Did I just severely offend you?”

My mind is wiped clean, scoured to a gleaming shine by Laura’s argument. I have been dating my mother my entire life. She’s been dating her brother, and I’ve been dating my mother. That is downright weird.

“No. My eyes are suddenly wide open.”

“We’re a pair, you and I.” She points to her head, to me, and back again, highlighting this strange connection we have from so far away. And to think I almost didn’t meet her at all. How can someone who was a stranger only a few weeks ago be so important to me now?

Snap out of it.

“You’re my girlfriend, Laura,” I blurt into the silence between us. Jesus, I couldn’t say that less abrupt? I couldn’t ask her? Where’s my romantic side? It’s lying next to me on the bed in a fit of laughter and hysterics. “I was thinking about what Evie said, and I don’t want to date anyone else but you.” That’s better.

Laura sits silent and still for a moment, blinking her eyes, before a smile finally forms.

“That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.” I let out a held breath. I was afraid I had jumped on the train from an overpass too soon and gotten squashed. “I don’t want to date anyone else either. I hope this means you’ll come visit me soon?”

“Yes.” I pull out my iPhone and open the Calendar. “I’m in Mumbai for two weeks and there’s the possibility I’m in Shanghai or Tokyo for two weeks after… Let me see, that puts me at mid-May? That’s so far away. I’m sorry. This is a really busy time of year for work and…”

“It’s okay,” she says with a sigh. “I’m sure I’ll live. It’s just crazy how I already miss you. It doesn’t seem real somehow.”

“I know. There’s really no chance you could come here?”

She shakes her head. “Not now. Though she clearly doesn’t deserve it, I’m worried about my mom. She’s been seeing this guy Richard for a long time, the longest of all the boyfriends. I think she’s more attached to him than I originally thought.” She fidgets with her ponytail and twists it around. I know this gesture already. She’s unsure of herself. “My boss, of all people, had an idea the other day that may work out. I need to talk to my mom and my aunt. I can’t up and leave town not knowing they’re secure.”

“Can I help?” I’d give anything to free her of this situation.

She shakes her head at me. “I’d love for you to help, but you saw my mom. It’s a touchy thing. I’m an independent girl, Lee. I’ll figure it out for myself.”

“Okay. Look, in the meantime, we have this.” I gesture at the iPad and my iPhone. “Texting and photos and FaceTime. I mean, there’s a reason why they call it FaceTime, right?”

“Right. I love being able to see you.”

“Me too. We’ll make this work. I want it to work.” I want it to work with all my heart. I want to keep Laura until I can see her and hold her in my arms.

“I want that, too.” Her smile is miles wide, and, shit, I’m already in love.