Page 66 of The Broposal

There was a long pause and an audible sigh over the phone. “We found her. She overdosed, and—”

“Is she okay?”

Another long pause. “Mijo, she didn’t make it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

KENNY

Han, talk to me,” I begged on the car ride home. I couldn’t help but worry. Han hadn’t said anything after he’d gotten off the phone. He just made his way to the car like a zombie. “I heard you on the phone. Is everything okay?”

Han only shook his head and stared out the window, expressionless. I didn’t want to pry and end up making things worse, so I stayed silent, too, hoping he would eventually say something. The silence stretched the entire car ride home and until we made it back to the apartment. Finally, once Han sat himself down on the couch, he spoke so softly I could barely hear it.

“She’s dead.”

I put a hand over my mouth. I didn’t know what I was expecting him to say, but it wasn’t that. “Oh my God, Han…” I sat next to him and rested a hand on his knee. “Are you okay?” I regretted the question as soon as I asked it. Of course he wasn’t okay. His mom died. How could he be okay? To my surprise, Han actually answered the absurd question.

“Yeah.” He scratched his chin pensively. “I’ll be good.”

I felt tears welling up in my own eyes instead of seeing them in Han’s. I knew he and his mom weren’t close, but I also knew he still cared about her deeply. If this was a gut punch for me, I couldn’t imagine how Han felt. Even if he didn’t let on, he still must have been hurting. I leaned into his side and rubbed his back, but he didn’t react.

“What are you thinking?” I asked softly.

Han sighed. “I don’t want to have a big wedding.”

What? The answer took me by surprise. Why was he thinking about the wedding right now? Maybe he needed to deflect what was really wrong in order to keep from freaking out. That was fine with me. I would give him all the space he needed, if that would help.

“We should be trying to get married ASAP, and if we have a big wedding, it’ll be like a year before we can even do it. I don’t want to wait that long,” Han said clinically, as if this were the only thing in the world that troubled him.

“I’ll… talk to my parents,” I said. I met Han’s eyes, which surprisingly didn’t look sad. They just looked tired. Too tired. I threw my arms around him and squeezed him up in a hug. “Whatever you need… just say the word, okay?”

Han let out a quick breath of air through his nose. “Thanks, bro.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Even if I didn’t understand Han’s aversion to vulnerability, I had to respect it, at least right now.

“What do you mean you don’t want a big wedding?” my mom barked through the phone.

“Han’s momdied.” I whispered the word “died,” as if Han would hear from his room. “Can we just give him what he wants right now?”

I could hear my mom click her tongue over the phone. “And I’m sorry about that, truly, I am, but you know how much I’ve always wanted my only baby to have a big fancy wedding!”

“You’ve wanted that, Mom, but I never did. I’m sorry. We want to get marriedsoon. I don’t really care for a big wedding, and Han really doesn’t want one. He doesn’t want you spending all your money on us, and I have to agree,” I said, finally realizing as I said it that Han had probably been feeling guilty about it. I didn’t want me or my family to contribute to any of Han’s hardships right now. The least I could do was get my mom to back off about the wedding. “Listen, we really can’t accept that money for the wedding. Please, Mom. I really appreciate all the things you do for me, and for Han, but I don’t want this to be one of them.”

There was a long silence on the phone before she said anything. “I think I know what this is about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Would you accept the money for… something else?”

“Mom, what are you talking about?”

“Like, an immigration lawyer.”

Did she know about our plan? She couldn’t. But she did know Han was undocumented, so maybe even if she believed the wedding was genuine, she still knew the next step was to get him citizenship. And an immigration lawyer could practically guarantee this was going to work, even with Jackie’s baby on the way. I didn’t think we could say no to that.

“Mom, would you really do that?”

“Your dad’s college roommate is an immigration lawyer now,and he owes your dad a favor.” I could almost imagine my mom’s finger coming up to shush me. “So don’t even worry about it. I want this to work out just like you do, and it won’t work out if Han gets deported, now, will it? You can consider it a wedding gift.”

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