You're Not For Sale (P.JS ff)

Chapter 11 - Nobody

Jay woke up, looking around just in time for a flight attendant to serve dinner. Jay had to shake May to wake her up. She can't miss a meal.

"May." He called her name while shaking her. She's mumbling something in her sleep.

"May." He called again.

"Ni-ki!" She screamed, frightening the flight attendant and Jay.

May looked around and recalled where she is. "Oh, sorry." Her cheeks blushed in embarrassment.

"Time to eat." Jay told her, then went back to his seat.

Eve looked at Jay when she realized they were eating steak again. Jay took a bite, glancing at May, and saw her disappointed expression. He chuckled and asked her to come to sit with him. He then started teaching her how to use a fork and knife again.

Their hands touched making May feel her heart race. Jay makes her feel these different types of emotions she's never felt before. He's usually either irritating or intimidating. Rare times he's like this. He gives her butterflies.

"There you go. That's a pretty good cut." Jay praised her. "Next time you meet Ni-ki, you'd be cutting meat for him." He exaggerates.

May smiled, proud of herself because she can now enjoy her meal. It's not that she would have steak often now. When she's back in Korea, she'll be back eating the usual food her mother makes.

"So, I'm curious." May starts. "Did you learn to use fork and knife at a young age?" She asked Jay, making her chuckle.

"May, I was born in USA. Fork and knife are the only things provided when you eat. Well, unless my mother and father are home to cook me ramyeon. That's an exception." He said with a smile on her face. Now he feels superior for telling a story of her parents instead of her.

"Is it hard to adjust when you moved to Korea?" She asked him, causing Jay's smile to face.

"I won't say it's difficult entirely, but there are moments when I wished I could just go back to what's familiar to me." He answered while separating his buttered corn kernels from the carrots. He hates carrots.

"What's familiar to you?" she asks, making Jay wonder why she's suddely interested in him. She always talks about her family, so why is she now asking for him to tell her something about him.

The truth is that May is actually curious on how people with dual citizenship feel when they leave the country they grew up in.

"First of all, I didn't speak Korean well when I got here, so I would stammer. They would all laugh at me. Times like those, I just want to go back and just talk comfortably in English. Also, the way I express myself is different from what people are used to in Korea. They thought I'm cocky, opinionated, and stubborn. In the US, you have this thing called freedom of speech. If you have a strong opinion about something, you have the rights to stand by it even if nobody's on your side." He took a sip of his wine and stopped, contemplating if he should say more.

What if he said too much?

What if she's just asking because she's bored but doesn't really care?

What if she's not listening right now?

What if he gets misunderstood by this?

"Well, you speak well now." May said smiling at him. "You're also successful. It just proves that even if someone is different, it doesn't mean they're wrong."

Jay's heart fluttered hearing those words.

He wasn't criticized this time.

He wasn't told that it's normal this and he should get over it.