Page 37 of Bookworm

Her English was near perfect. I'd definitely have to work on my Korean.

Shaking my head, I said, "It is!Though one of my uncles has four names, and I have acousin with five. Guess it runs in the family."

She didn't laugh.

"I basically answer to anything," I added quickly. "It's nice to meet you."

"Why are you here?"

Okay, so she needed a bit more info. No big deal. I loved meeting new people.

"I came by to see Bo," I said.

Her eyes narrowed. "He got beat up."

My face paled, eyes going wide. "What?"

"He got beat up," she said slower this time as if I was hard of hearing and then gestured to her face. "Bo's faceisall messed up. He's not taking visitors. You go homenow."

"But I—"

"Ga, ga! Shoo!"

Okay, if I hadn't understood before, I got it that time. But I still hadn't given Bo his gift.

"I just wanted to—"

She shut the door.

Again.

"—give him this," I finished to no one.

As I turned, the door reopened, and I heard Bo say, "We've been over this,Halmeoni.You can't just slam the door onpeople. It might be important."

That was met by a "hmph."

At least now I knew who she was, I thought.Halmeoni, Bo's grandmother, had slammed the door in my face.Twice. Obviously, first impressions were my forte…not.

"Kent?" he said, his voice holding a hint of surprise."What are you doing here?"

I turned, intending to just give him the basket and run—but then I got a good look at him.

Post-book slap Bo was a sight.

"Oh my gosh," I said, shaking my head in horror as my gaze moved over his face.

Bo frowned. "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Igestured to his cheek. "Your face is allbanged up and bruised—"

"Like I said, it's nothing."

"—and you're wearing one of those bandages wrapped around your head."

Bo quickly removed said bandage and cleared his throat."Uh yeah,I forgot about that. Smacked the back pretty good on a shelf."

"And jeez, what happened to your hand?" I said, registering the black brace covering most of his right forearm. "Did I…oh God, did my butt break your hand?"

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