“This is nice,” Ellen whispers as she smooths a hand over the creamy leather sofa.

“Everything the Chois have is nice.” I stare at the back of Bomi’s head, which is bent over a hotel document. She knows everything. All the answers I need are sitting a few feet away from me.

“I’m not sure I should accept this room. I bet it’s superexpensive.”

“There’s no point in arguing with the Chois.” Yujun might be tight-lipped, but I’m going to drag the facts out of Bomi.

She ends her conversation with the staff person at the front and comes over to hand Mom a key card. “The room isn’t ready yet but it will be soon. You’re welcome to help yourself to anything here including the wine or beer. If there’s something that you want, tell me and the staff here will get it for you.”

“I could really use the restroom,” Mom says. “Hara? Would you like to come with?”

“No.” I don’t take my eyes off Bomi.

“Oh, all right. I’ll only be a moment.”

The minute she’s out of earshot, I grab Bomi’s hand. “Tell me everything.”

The girl twists away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bull. Shit. Your hair is still wet from the egg wash, by the way.” I glare at her. “You owe this to me, so start speaking.”

Bomi presses her lips together but I know I’m going to win this skirmish because she wants to spill. She’s dying to tell me something or she wouldn’t be sitting across from me wringing her hands. She’d be back at the IF Group next to her favorite person in the world—Choi Wansu. That she’s still sitting here with me tells me she’s got something to confess and is trying to find the courage to do so. I cross my arms across my chest and wait.

It doesn’t take long for Bomi to start talking. “Choi Wansu took charge of this company about five years ago. Choi Yujun came home from Harvard with many radical ideas, but they were the same ones that Sajangnim has always had. IF Group would hire based solely on merit, without regard to anyone’s religion, educational background, gender, or connections. They would open an on-site day care so that mothers, particularly single mothers, could find employment with them. This was a huge change and it’s rumored that Choi Yusuk—that is Choi Yujun’s father—argued for days, weeks, about it.”

Choi Yusuk. I realize this is the first time I’ve heard his name.

“In America, maybe this is not heard of, but here, we are taught to honor our elders, give deference to their knowledge and experience. In return, they foster and guide us, provide for us.”

A Korean person would be the last one to scoff at you for that, Yujun had said. We are always seeking our parents’ approval. It’s literally the gas in our engines. At the age of fifty, my father would still bow to his mother, still take direct orders from her. One Chuseok, she said she didn’t like his tie—it was one that had pumpkins on it. I’d picked it out with Eomma. He took it off and I never saw it again.