Lia

I have concluded that I will never understand Yeju.

Just this morning, she was so rude to me as we walked to school. And now, she is taking me to her ‘favorite hole-in-the-wall Taiwanese restaurant’.

I mean, I am delighted at this change in attitude. But what the heck?

It’s a Tuesday afternoon, so there is barely anyone else in the restaurant. After our food arrives, I take a bite of the braised pork Yeju recommended, and I understand why she likes this place—the only thing I can understand about her right now.

“Oh, this is so good,” I gush, taking another scoop.

“Right?” Yeju says with a mouth full of food. “It melts in your mouth.”

I nod. “I love Taiwanese food and this is phenomenal. Better than anything I’ve ever tried.”

“Told you I have taste. And the flavors are very authentic too. My father lived in Taiwan for a while and he said that this tastes exactly like…” Yeju trails off, her smile fading.

Ah, Taiwan… That is where Chloe’s mother is from, and that is where she met Yeju’s father. That is where this whole thing started—Chloe’s family drama, Yeju’s family drama, and Yeju’s annoying feud with me in the apartment.

Trying to change the topic, I ask, “Have you been to Taiwan?”

Yeju glances at me and then back at her food. “No. Never left this country.”

“Oh, same! Well, I mean, if you don’t count the time before I moved here from Korea. I don’t even remember what Korea is like anymore, and I want to go back one day.”

She lifts her brows, surprised. “When did you move over?”

“Like, when I was two? You know, I only had a Korean name when I moved over.” I chuckle in anticipation of this ridiculous story. “And then, my parents wanted so badly to assimilate into the American society, they wanted me to have an English name here. They picked a name from classic literature, thinking that that’s going to make me blend in here.”

“Classic literature?” Yeju frowns, her eyes darting around as she thinks. “Which one?”

“Shakespeare.” I give her a few moments to ponder before I blurt, “Ophelia. From Hamlet?”

Her mouth drops. “No. Fucking. Way. Your name is Ophelia?”

“Yep. Shortened it to Lia ‘cause who goes by Ophelia?”

There is a beat of incredulous pause. Then, Yeju snorts, and the both of us lean over the table, chortling.

“Also… get this…” I say between my laughter. “My younger brother’s name is… also from good ol’ Shakespeare… Romeo.”

That somehow causes Yeju to drop her chopsticks, and we take the next few minutes scrambling for some new utensils, still laughing wildly.

“Wait, okay,” Yeju says as we calm down. “If he’s Romeo, why aren’t you Juliet? Oh, yeah, never mind. Not a good pair of names for siblings.”

“Yep, although he’s probably so sick of people match-making him with anybody named Juliet. There’s, like, two girls in our high school whose names were some variants of Juliet, and the entire school would always pretend they’re together.”

“Argh, kids are so stupid.” Yeju rolls her eyes. “Well, you got the better name. There’s a song dedicated to you, you know?”

“By The Lumineers, right?” Without thinking, I close my eyes and sing a line. “Oh, Ophelia, you've been on my mind, girl, like a drug…”

I open my eyes again to see Yeju staring at me, her expression strangely somber. My cheeks flush. Oh gosh, why did I do that in a public place?

“Sorry,” I mumble. “Is that… the song you’re talking about?”

Yeju continues to bore her gaze into me. Then, she smiles and goes back to eating. “Yeah, it is. Great song. I love it.”

“I love it too.”

***

When we got home, Yeju gives me five research articles.

“Read them to the best of your ability,” she instructs. “When you’re done, we’ll discuss them together.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

And that’s what I do for the next few hours. The papers are difficult to comprehend but not as complicated as the other papers Professor Song sent me this morning.

As I read, I annotate my thoughts in a notebook and highlight the parts I don’t understand—which is eighty percent of the entire thing. By the time I get out of my room to find Yeju, it is already late afternoon.

She is in the living room, sitting cross-legged on the couch and using her laptop. Her pants are gone, along with the bra under her tank top. My cheeks flush, and I turn my gaze away from her body. It’s as if Yeju wishes to be naked as much as she is legally and socially able to.

“Done?” she asks, putting her laptop away. Great, her bare legs are on full display now.

I clear my throat. “Y- Yep.”

I hand her my notebook as I settle next to her. Yeju takes a few seconds to skim through my list of questions. One by one, she summarizes the part of the paper that I had a question on, answering my doubts and giving me more insights into the field. Every once in a while, she pauses to let me think; whenever I do not understand, she repeats her explanation in another way, providing a new analogy, a different perspective.

By the time the sun sets, we have been through four of the assigned papers, and I feel as though I took a year’s worth of microbiology classes. As we are about to discuss the next paper, my stomach growls.

“Hungry?” Yeju raises her brows. “Let’s stop for now. I made dinner.”

“You made dinner?”

“Mm-hm. Casserole. Made it an hour ago. I kept it in the oven to keep it warm.”

From the messes she made every night, I knew Yeju can cook. I just didn’t expect her to cook for me.

Yeju takes the dish out with her mittens, and my mouth drops. The pan is covered with a layer of cheese that is burned to a perfect brown. Tomato sauce bubbles along the edges. It smells amazing. Yeju can certainly cook.

I dig into the food and almost let out an obscene moan. The cheese, the sauce, the ground beef, the macaroni… It’s a mouthful of creamy deliciousness. Damn, Yeju can cook.

If she cooks like this every day and I get to eat it every day, I do not mind cleaning up her mess every morning.

“You like it?” Yeju asks with a smirk.

I nod. “You made all this yourself?”

“Yeah, this is simple stuff. Plus, I don’t have much to read, so I got bored.”

Taking a couple more bites, I tease, “You know, this is the first time you are so nice to me in the apartment. You’re not gonna toss my plate to the floor or something, right?”

Her smile fades. For a moment, I worry the joke may have been pushing the boundaries of this new and unstable relationship, but she lets out a sigh.

“About that,”—she shifts in her chair—“I’m… sorry, Lia. I was an asshole. Actually, I am an asshole in general; I think you kinda know that by now. But just… thank you for still sticking around. I appreciate it.”

I feel my cheeks burning. Yeju is apologizing—properly this time—and with a lot more sincerity. Hell must be freezing over.

“It’s… It’s okay,” I say, even though it really was not.

“Nah, I was a bitch. There’s a lot happening in my life, and I was angry at everyone and even angrier that you were here so suddenly…” She runs her fingers through her dyed hair. “But yeah, no excuses. I’ll be more… I’ll be more professional from now on.”

‘Being more professional’ is such a weird resolution to make by a woman who is only in her tank top and panties. I avert my eyes from her and poke at the casserole. “Sorry about moving in ‘so suddenly’. I thought Yuna told you I was taking over her room. Maybe I should’ve reached out first before I…”

“No, it’s not you, Lia.“ A sigh. “There’s nothing you could’ve done to make it better. I knew Yuna wanted to move out for a long time now. It just took her a while to get to it. The break up was kinda rough for both of us.”

“Break up?” I blink. “Wait, you were together with Yuna?”

The gears in my mind go into overdrive. I knew Yuna from RJ because Yuna was RJ’s ex. And now I learn Yuna is also Yeju’s ex? So Yeju is RJ’s ex’s ex? And she is also RJ’s current girlfriend’s half-sister? And now she is living with me, RJ’s previous roommate?

What is this complicated web of lesbian relationships?

“Yeah, I met her three years ago when she was visiting UCLA to see if she wanted to join the Ph.D. program,” Yeju explains, oblivious to my silent freak out. “I showed her around, we talked, we hooked up, she left, we talked more over the phone. And when she joined the program, we moved in together.”

“Oh, wow, that’s… quick.” I laugh. “I’ve heard of this U-Haul lesbian relationship timeline, but I’ve never seen it in real life before.” After all, the only lesbian couple I know, RJ and Chloe, waited three long years before they moved in together.

“Now you know it’s true.” Yeju shrugs. “That’s how it is for lesbians.”

“Not all lesbians.” I jab a thumb at myself. “This lesbian falls in love for ten years and then does nothing about it.”

There is a pause before dread hits me in the face.

Oh. My. God. Did I just… come out to Yeju? It took me an entire year to come out to RJ and Chloe, an entire decade to come out to my best friend, and two decades to come out to my parents. And now, it slipped out of me just like that.

I’m not sure if I should feel horrified or proud of myself, and Yeju’s strange expression is not helping.

“I didn’t know you’re gay,” she breathes.

“Oh, sorry, I- Wait, no, I’m not sorry, I’m… uh, I don’t… really talk about it much, I mean, I want to, but I also don’t… oh god, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologize.” Yeju slumps back into her seat. “My gaydar must be so broken now, because I really should’ve known.”

I cannot help but chuckle. “Well, I don’t think anybody can tell that I’m g—“

“You sure about that?” She cuts me off, her lips curling up playfully. “You got so flustered when you saw me naked this morning.”

A blush creeps up my neck. “Who- Who wouldn’t?”

“Straight women? Asexuals?” She waits a beat before adding, “Non-virgins?”

Now, I am completely red. “Sh- Shut up! So- So what if I am? It’s not like I wanted to be, I just…” I stop short of the whole truth; it tastes bitter in my mouth. “Well, I stupidly fell for a straight girl for most of my formative years.”

“Ah, so the universal lesbian experience?”

We both laugh at that.

Glancing down at my plate, I realize how light I feel. As though a weighted blanket has been lifted off of my shoulders. Opening up like this to Yeju feels different. Refreshing. She’s not as intense as RJ, and she does not get overly concerned like Chloe. She’s just… Yeju.

“I’m sorry about your breakup with Yuna, by the way,” I say.

“Oh, it’s fine.” Yeju waves a hand, but her expression screams the opposite of that. “It’s mutual. And… I hate to admit it but it’s a good thing she moved out. I needed to move on.”

She forces out a small smile before turning back to her food. My heart sinks, and I lower my eyes as well.

It’s a good thing Yuna moved out, but I wonder if Yeju finds it a good thing that I moved in.