Page 47 of Where There's Smoke…
“Jed, nobody knows what the fuck you’re talking about, as usual,” Kentrell sighs. Jed just laughs.
“Phoenix does. She speaks Korean, remember?”
“Wait, you speak Korean?” Angel asks in amusement, and I shrug, stuffing my hands in my pockets.
“Yeah, a little.”
“A little, my ass,” Jed interjects. “She’s damn near fluent. She and Raven used to go to Korean school with me back in middle school. My parents used to only speak Korean at home for a year straight, so we all learned it eventually.”
“Whoa, really?” Excitement washes over her face. “Can you say something in Korean to me?”
“Sweets, I don’t know...”
“Please?” She asks again, her eyes drawing me in like only they can, and I know that I’m gonna give in to her. “You don’t have to say anything extravagant. I just wanna hear you tell me that you love me…in Korean.”
“Saranghaeyo, Cheonsa-ya,” I say, and she squeals in delight before wrapping her arms around me. She kisses me passionately before pulling away to look up at me.
“I love you, too, Phee.”
All I can do is smile because, like I said, her joy was always so infectious. She made me forget all about the fact that I had a fear of speaking Korean out loud because of the anxiety that I’d say something wrong. Jed was right, I was damn near fluent, but that didn’t mean I was confident. That’s the only reason I hesitated to let that little fun fact about me be known.
One day, I hoped to be a confident speaker, though.
“Y’all in here having a party and didn’t invite me?”
We all turned to see my Uncle Sol standing at the door with his arms crossed. Angel quickly steps away from me as if she were caught doing something. He looked between us and shook his head before walking over.
“I know it’s hard for you two lovebirds to be apart for more than an hour, but Angel, sweetheart,” he says, smiling softly at her, “these knuckleheads need to get back to work.”
“Of course. I’m sorry, Mr. Park,” she quickly apologizes. “I just came to bring some muffins and got carried away.”
“Angel, you do not have to apologize,” he laughs before glancing at me. “I know my niece had something to do with this, right?”
“Sorry that I wanted to kiss my girlfriend, Unc. Stop cockblocking, old man,” I smirk and her head whips around to me.
“Phoenix, I almost told your ass something,” he chuckles, shaking his head. I laugh and pull Angel back into my arms. “Say goodbye to Angel andget back to work, Phee. It was nice seeing you again, love.”
“You too, Mr. Park,” she smiles, and he nods before exiting the garage again. She turns to me and lets out a deep breath. “Your uncle probably hates me deep down.”
“Not at all,” I assured her before kissing her against her temple. “He just likes giving me a hard time, and I give it right back. He actually really likes you for me. You should hear how much he and my aunt go on and on about how well we mesh.”
“Really?” she asks, shocked once again. God, she was so fucking cute.
“Yes,” Jed interrupts. “I swear, y'all are the reason they always give me a hard time about being single. Do y’all think y’all can be a little less cute, please?”
I push him away gently as Angel and I share a laugh. I pull her in for one last kiss before she tells me she’s heading back to the bakery. I walk her to the door and watch until she disappears down the street. When I make it back to the others, they tease me for a bit more before we finally get back to work.
Throughout the day, I found myself zoning out every now and then. Fortunately, we didn’t have any major emergencies, so it was fairly quiet around the station, which left plenty of time for my mind to drift off to other thoughts, like what ring I wanted to get for Angel. I knew she’d want something cute, but all I really wanted was something that would complement hers.
So, when it was time for me to clock out, instead of heading to the bakery, I quickly detoured to Harrison Jewels. If anyone had the perfectring, I knew it would be them. And even if they didn’t, the owner, Nancy, would no doubt have no problem making me something custom.
As I walked up to the store, my eyes were immediately drawn to a pair of rings that sat in the display near the window. My breath caught in my chest as I quickly entered the shop, greeting Nancy, her daughter, Skyler, and Skyler’s wife, London, who went by Londi. Nancy asked me if I needed any help, and I asked if I could look closer at the rings that had caught my eye. She smiles brightly and goes over to pull them out of the case.
“Here you go, love,” she says as she sets them on the counter. I picked up the ring with the nice-sized diamond and admired it. “This is from my newest collection. I can even personalize them to match your birthstone.”
“This is beautiful, Ms. Nancy,” I tell her with a smile.
“Thank you,” she smiles. “It’s perfect for proposing, by the way.”
