21: Misunderstandings

At Inho’s rude words, Stephen’s surprised expression morphed into a smooth smile without missing a beat.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

He raised his eyebrows in polite inquiry. His indifference struck Inho viscerally and he stumbled over his words, humiliated,

“I’m, I was Jamie’s boyfriend. Um, I met you at your office...I…”

Stephen laughed, deepening Inho’s embarrassment,

“I’m just kidding Inho, of course I remember you.”

Inho could tell that Stephen’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, but he still felt a hot rush at having it directed his way. Inho’s emotions were already scattered and volatile, and Stephen’s words kicked him even further off balance.

Remember, it’s his fault we broke up.

This wasn’t very sound logic, but hungover, moody, and exhausted from stress, Inho was not thinking very clearly. He gathered himself where he stood, and doubled down on the vitriol,

“Young isn’t he? Shouldn’t he be home studying on a school night?”

For the first time since Inho had met him, Stephen’s smile dropped. His face grew still, and he leveled a flat stare at Inho.

“That’s my nephew. Do you accuse all gay men of being pedophiles or just the ones that hit on you? That’s awfully intolerant, Inho,” he said, clicking his tongue with disdain.

Inho twitched back at the accusation.

Intolerant? ...me?

Inho considered himself extremely open-minded, especially by Korean standards. The thought was interrupted by another.

If he’s gay, he’s not into Jamie...then he was definitely hitting on me!

Slack-jawed with shock, he just stared at the other man for a moment. Stephen’s handsome face was a picture of cool outrage. Inho started to blurt out an apology when Stephen’s nephew brushed past him and sat back in the booth.

“Someone was in there,” he said. “I’ll go later. Did you order already?”

Stephen didn’t break eye contact with Inho, who flushed deeply.

“I-I, please excuse me.” Inho stammered out the words and fled to the kitchen. Once there, he gasped in relief to find Jasmine back in the kitchen as well.

“Jas, Jas please, I need you to take one of my tables.”

She turned and looked at him sternly,

“Why? Did you start another fight?”

“No! Well, sort of – it’s Stephen, the guy that… Ah please, I’ll tell you after. Jas, please please!”

Hearing the urgency of Inho’s tone, Nathan who was emerging his office in the back, paused,

“What’s wrong? Inho, did something happen?”

Inho turned even redder, heat creeping down his cheeks and neck.

“No Nathan, it’s nothing. It’s just a guy I know,” he glanced nervously towards the swinging half-doors separating the kitchen from the people dining, “It’s just weird,” he finished lamely.

Nathan immediately strode over and looked in the direction Inho had looked.

“The man with the reddish hair? Around my age? Did he say something to you?”

“No! Nathan –”

Jasmine finally intervened, “It’s nothing Nathan, Inho’s just being dramatic. I’ve got this.”

She gently brushed past Nathan and walked out to Stephens table. Inho stood to the side of the doors where he couldn’t be seen from the dining area and peeked after her. Stephen was all smiles once more. Inho stared.

“Inho,” Nathan said in a pained voice, “If you’re having problems, you can come to me you know.”

Inho was still not a hundred percent over the cringe of making out with Nathan and didn’t want to engage with him about this at all.

“It’s really fine Nathan, but thanks.”

After a searching look at Inho, Nathan gave a short nod and strode through the doors to talk to the hostess up front. He gave Stephen’s table a hard stare as he passed them.

On her way back to give the ticket order to the cooks, Jasmine hissed at Inho,

“Was that him, the guy who your ex left for? You better tell me after.”

Inho sighed deeply, resigned to discuss this in-depth. With bones made of lead, he went to check on his other tables.

Four hours later, when it was just him and Jasmine in the now vacant space, she attacked once more. She was scrubbing down tables with a rag while Inho flipped up chairs to mop underneath.

“So. Tell me what’s the deal with that guy? He’s Jamie’s boss, right and you had his card?”

“Ugh, why do you remember so much? Yeah, he’s her boss.”

“And?” Jasmine retorted, caught between annoyance and interest. “What happened?”

Inho related what Stephen had said, and winced even harder in the retelling.

Jasmine crowed with laughter, “That is seriously so bad dude. You’re such an asshole.”

“I know ok, I didn’t mean to say...he likes kids.”

“You totally did though, you better apologize. Poor guy just wanted to fuck you and you’re calling him a perv?”

Inho let out a whine of complaint while Jasmine cackled at his frustration.

“Why don’t you just text him and apologize?” she said finally, taking pity on him. “You’ve got his number on the card.”

“Oh! That’s not a bad idea, actually.” Inho replied thoughtfully.

“Uh, I know, I thought of it.” Jasmine paused, then shouted with laughter when she saw him pull the card out of his wallet. “You’re carrying it around with you still? Who really wants to fuck who here?!”

Inho went red again, he was going to die of all this blushing.

“I just…I dunno.” His mind jumped back to his jerk-off material from a few weeks ago. “Just leave me alone okay? Gimme a sec.”

He pulled out his phone and held up the worn business card. Full of doubt, he quickly typed a text.