“So…” I say, trying to keep my voice as casual as possible while I watch him pour syrup over his massive stack of pancakes. “I got this assignment where I'm supposed to replicate what it's like to be in your 20s as opposed to your 30s—it's an insurance company thing. But obviously, I spent most of my 20s either inside the house or attending grad school. So I'm not sure what a regular twenty-year-old does. I was hoping you could help me with that. Maybe tell me some of the wilder stories from your 20s?”
“You came down here early to ask me that instead of Victor?” Phantom regards me for a few seconds, his face a work of stone.
And I gulp, realizing I’ve been caught.
But then Phantom nods and says, “Yeah, I can see why you'd want to do that. Victor was a boring-ass monk for just about all of his twenties. But me? I partied.”
For the next twenty minutes, Phantom regales me with stories from his twenties. Most of them involve him and Han. The rest concern people I've never heard of before. And a lot of the crazier stories are prefaced by ‘after Victor left out….’”
Phantom's right. If I were truly looking to make my made-up commercial, then he would be the perfect resource. He hadn’t seemed to have wasted even a moment of his twenties on anything as dull as a relationship.
However, after finishing a story about two hotties who tried to rob them in an Ecuadorian nightclub, Phantom asks, “So this commercial is about how people do relationships in their 30s? What's the difference supposed to be?
“Oh, you know…” I scramble for plausible answers. “Settling down, having kids, buying a house.”
Phantom considers my reply with an uncharacteristically thoughtful look.
Which makes me ask, “Why? Are you thinking about settling down?”
His usual glower reappears in an instant. “Nice talking to you. But I got real shit to do. Peace out.”
And just like that, our longest conversation ever is done. Phantom departs, leaving me with a lot to think about.
So Victor was telling the truth. Possibly.
But I know what I saw in that study. That tutor of his was all over him.
Maybe he’ll take her up on her offer.
Not that it matters. One more week, and I'll be headed back to Pittsburgh. I’ve been texting Amber ever since the hospital, and she says she’s already working on a full custody agreement to present to Victor and his lawyers.
So, really, all I have to do is find the right moment to discuss all of this with him. If I keep feelings and emotions out of it, I can maybe leave here with a piece of paper saying that barring a few cultural holidays and a handful of weekends, I’m free to raise our child on my own.
Plus, now that I’ve been cleared to work again, I have a lot of catching up to do from my eerily same downstairs office.
This is why I don’t waste time trying to track Victor down over the weekend, even though Yolanda, the masseuse, and the yoga teacher aren’t there to distract me. And I now had plenty of sticky notes.
So when the Tuesday afternoon his tutor promised to see Victor again rolls around, I know there’s absolutely no reason for me to return to his office for more Post-its.
I do, however, run out of staples. I mean, I don’t really need a stapler. And I probably wouldn't have run out of staples if I hadn't accidentally on purpose dumped them all in the trashcan. But these things happen.
The main point is that I'm perfectly within my rights to just so happen to be walking to Victor's office toward the end of his supposed tutoring session.
And would you look at that? The door is closed this time.
Why bother to close it if there wasn't anything going on?
Or maybe he’s not there…
The idea pops into my mind, not as a real possibility, but as an excuse I might give as a reason for me suddenly barging in—which is what I do before the reasonable side of my brain can weigh in.
I charge into Victor’s office, and I’m all set to yell out, aha!
But I stop short when I see that Victor isn't with his sexy young tutor. But an old Korean man.
“Hello! You must be Dawn!” The old guy greets me in Korean after both he and Victor stand up at my arrival. “Victor told me all about you.”
I freeze. I didn't expect him to talk to me exclusively in Korean. I curse underneath my breath before stumbling through the little I can remember from the greetings chapter of my Korean learning tapes.
The man smiles encouragingly at me. And after I'm done, he offers to tutor me as well after his hour with Victor.
At least, I think that’s what he said.