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the promise of the tea-gods
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“Somewhere in Seoul.”
“Really! You’re originally from Seoul?”
“Yes.”
“When did you move to the U.S.?”
“When I was seven.”
Without thinking, he bolted forward, “Oh, so your family immigrated to the U.S. and—”
“I don’t have any family—not the kind you’re talking about anyway.”
“Then how did you get from one country to the other?”
She looked at him for a moment, then quietly said, “Well, one night
I fell asleep in an orphanage in Seoul, and when I woke up I was in an
airport in the U.S. It was kind of like a magic carpet ride. My entire
world—everything around me—changed while I was sleeping.”
Putting his hand over his heart, Soo-kang swallowed hard. “But you
went from an orphanage to a real home—that must have felt good. To
know that someone wanted you to be their daughter, being part of a
family—even though you were in a different country—must have felt
like a dream come true, didn’t it?”
“No,” she said, stepping into his eyes. “When I went to sleep that
night, I had a friend—one friend—the only person who ever felt like
family to me; and even though I was surrounded by people when I woke
up, I felt very much alone . . . like I was drifting among strangers. And
that feeling never went away until I met Binnie—because, even though
I’ve never known exactly where I began, Binnie felt like home.”
Geez, he thought, could I have been any more careless? I should have
never led her down that path. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know.”
“Don’t worry about it, it was a long time ago.”
“I’m really, really sorry. Please forgive me.”
Into his eyes she went again. So quietly. So bravely. Saying once
more, “There’s nothing to forgive.”
“But I should have never asked you all those questions. That wasn’t
the right thing to do—I’m sure it opened up some painful memories,
and I’m really, really sorry for doing that.”
