Chapter 10: Forty Minutes

Ji-an walked out of the senior centre with barley tea dripping off her chin.

Jae-hyuk called something after her. She didn't hear it.

She took the concrete stairs down two at a time in her stockings, her shoes in her hand.

Tae-gyeom was already halfway up. So-hee must have texted him.

He saw her face and her wet blouse, and his own face went completely blank.

"Who," he said.

"Later. Pyeongchang-dong. My grandfather's house. Now."

He didn't ask a single question.

He drove through Saturday traffic. Ji-an sat with her shoes in her lap and watched the clock on the dashboard.

7:04. 7:11. 7:19.

"Ji-an," he said, once, at a red light.

"He's going to fall," she said. "At dinner. Seven thirty."

He looked at her for a moment.

Then the light changed and he put his foot down.

Her grandfather's house sat at the top of the lane, a long tile roof behind a stone wall, the gate lamps already lit.

The housekeeper opened the inner door and stared at Ji-an.

"Miss Ji-an? You're... you're wet."

Ji-an went past her in her stockings.

The dining room was long and warm and smelled of beef broth.

Her grandfather sat at the head of the table. Her uncle on his right. Her aunt on his left, in pearls.

All three of them stopped eating.

"Ji-an," her uncle said. "We didn't invite you."

"I know."

She pulled out a chair at the far end and sat down in her wet blouse.

The clock on the sideboard said 7:24.

Her grandfather looked at her down the length of the table.

"You smell of barley tea," he said.

"A man threw it in my face on the Ahyeon-dong hill."

Her aunt made a small horrified noise.

"Why?" her grandfather asked.

"Because my family's going to take his house."

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