“I thought so,” Gyeong answered with a tired smile. “I still remember the day that phone you gave her arrived. Dawn was so surprised. And all I could think was, ‘this Chinese boy likes her. He likes her very much, and she doesn’t realize it.’ I think my husband thought that too. That’s why he didn’t want her tutoring you after the winter break. I should’ve known it was you she was sneaking around with before that night she came home late. She was so upset when her father forbade her from seeing you again. But it doesn’t matter now, I suppose. You found her.”

Victor stared at Gyeong, who apparently knew nothing of what had happened between him and Dawn after her supposed fight with her father. Yes, he had found her again. But ten years later, he was still at war with himself about their reunion.

“Is that why you two married in secret?” Gyeong asked. “Because you were afraid of our disapproval?”

“No,” he answered honestly. “It is a lot more complicated than that.”

Gyeong clamped her lips the same as Dawn so often did when she was conflicted. “I thought so. You remind me much of my husband. Quiet and angry for some reason, with big secrets you can never tell. You should give Dawn some children. Someone to keep her company when you can’t. That’s what my husband did, and it worked for a long time.”

The thought of children with Dawn twisted his stomach and stabbed at his heart. He hadn’t thought of them when he was eighteen and stupid. But now…

You still can’t think of them, he reminded himself. At least not with Dawn.

Four months. No matter what illusion they were putting on for Dawn’s mother, the fact remained that after May 25th, their deal would dissolve.

“Dawn would make a great mother. Much better than me,” Gyeong said. Her tone was thoughtful, as if she were just now realizing this herself. “Now that I am through my surgery, I probably will never tell her this, but I’m proud of her. I never would have stood up for myself like she did. The only defiant thing I ever did was run away from home to be with a black American soldier boy I met at my family’s farm-stand. And even then, my parents forgave me when we brought them to America and set them up with the dry-cleaning shop. They died right before we left for Japan. Liver cancer for my father too. And my mother just gave up. I don’t think she could bear living in America without him. How about your parents? Are they still alive? What do they think of Dawn?”

He hesitated, then decided to answer truthfully, “They’re both dead. My mother passed away when I was young, and my father died a few months after your family left Japan.”