Emerging

Chapter 30: Vincent

I'm back! Sorry for the wait. I've been through some stuff. But I made this chapter double the usual length. Sorry for any mistakes I was too embarrassed to edit.
Enjoy!
When she first came I thought she was going to tell me that she was proud of me for my work and for getting a new house. I was an idiot to think this was enough for her. Everything was going so well until she came. Jesse's friends liked me, and I liked them. They shouldn't have had to lie for me like that. Jesse shouldn't have to lie for me. To her, there was nothing more humiliating than everything I wanted.

"Mom, I don't want to go on any more blind dates." I blurted out in sheer frustration. She stopped walking around my living room.

"You've found a nice girl and I haven't met her yet?" Her eyes widen with the question like she can't believe her own words.

I feel my hands clenching into fists on my sides and a slight nudge on my ankle. My eyes dart quickly to and from Jesse only catching a glimpse of his panicked face. I have to take charge of this situation.

" I-I just think the beauty of America is making your own choices. Like who you want to marry." I was scared of what I was about to do. I wasn't coming out to her just yet, but I could get her off my back for a while. Hopefully, she believed this last minute lie.

  She put down the mug I'd given her on the coffee table after taking another sip. Studying my face she said, "내 아기가 데이트 중이야?"And just like that, she thought her baby was dating. She knew me too well. I think she could smell the slightest hint of happiness from me almost in a pointer dog manner. But that doesn't mean she understood why I was happy.

  Narrowing her eyes and directing them back to Jesse, who had been deathly silent since his nervous laughter, "Have you met her?" I clarified for him that she meant my girlfriend since she forgot that he didn't speak Korean. I hoped he could adapt to this half-lie.

He paused, blinking a few times before nodding. "We're close friends. She left a little bit before you came." The guilt sank through my stomach like a hot iron as he lied through his teeth for me. "Introduce her to me before I go back to Taiwan." She was leaving? She never told me she would leave. Did she always intend to leave me here? I guess it didn't matter. This was the solution I'd been waiting for. The conversation about business went on for the next 30 minutes or so before she said, "Come walk me to my car," she gracefully demanded. Jesse and I put on our shoes to walk her out. She kissed my cheek giving me almost an appraising look as if she finally saw my worth. She shook Jesse's hand thanking him again. And she slinks into the back seat of her car with no other words. The driver pulls off, and that was the end of her visit.
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We make our way back to my apartment and I'm drafting things to say to Jesse in my head; something to make up for what had just happened.

I open the front door for us and we take off our shoes. The unbearably warm feeling in my head caused it to throb. Jesse had to be feeling the same tension as me.

I hear an airy laugh, boyish, it sounded relieved above all else.

"C'mere," before I can register the light-hearted command Jesse is pulling me into a bear hug that I'm sure could encompass the world. The smell of his cologne and the slightest hint of sweat makes me relax. "We can be a bit more open once she leaves." I hug him back and bury my face in his shoulder. He makes it sound so easy, but I don't say that and we get back to work. I think he's just trying to sleep over. Not that I was opposed to the idea. But I was expecting something more. I'm hanging dress shirts while he organizes my watches and rings, working in comfortable silence.

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  It's nearly 11 pm when we get everything squared away and cleaned, however, it only took that long because of Jesse's incessant kiss breaks. I loved it just as much as him, but if I could I would've gotten his done at least an hour ago. I just finished cleaning my bathroom, and with the smell of cleaning products overwhelming my nose, I called Jesse to hand me a stick of incense.
"Damn, this shit makes my eyes burn." Jesse's eyes look red as he rubs at them while swinging the burning stick of incense.