Page 106 of Mercy (The Sins Trilogy 3)
“That sounds perfect. Is there a restaurant you recommend?”
“There is.” I take her to Arirang. It’s not an indoor barbecue place like a lot of Korean restaurants. It has grilled fish, some individual-serving-sized pot tofu and stew-like dishes and bibimbap.
We enter the restaurant in one large group. Her people take a table separate from us, likely to give us privacy. TJ sits with them, which will probably result in them telling their friends back home that grunts are how people in America communicate.
Suji orders half a mackerel, crusted with sea salt and ginger and grilled over charcoal with a small bowl of steamed rice. I ask for the same, since I don’t care that much about the entrée. I’m really here for the small side dishes that Koreans call banchan.
The waitress soon returns with banchan—fishcake, various pickles and kimchi, and lightly blanched and seasoned vegetables.
My favorite is the fishcake, mainly because of the sweet and spicy sauce that comes with it. The waitress places the dish in the center of the table. I reach over and take a couple of slices. Then another one.
Suji leans over, picks up the fishcake plate and swaps it with the seasoned spinach namul plate right in front of me. “There. Go ahead.”
My chopsticks pause in the air. I look at her, unsure about the table etiquette now, but her smile is sweet and maternal. “My son loves fishcake too, but our housekeeper never remembers to put it in front of him. I always have to swap the plates so it’s easier for him to reach.”
My heart is tight, but it’s not a bad feeling. It’s a similar kind of tightness to when I realized Ivy loved me despite it all nine years ago.
Some unidentifiable emotion stings my nose, and I swallow a hot lump in my throat. “Thank you.”
She beams. “Don’t mention it. All moms do this for their kids. Now eat before it gets cold.”
And I do. It’s the best lunch I’ve ever had with a woman old enough to be my mother.
