Theo's parents were just inside the door waiting for us as we walked in together. Evelynn rushed up to us immediately and Theo didn't move his arm from my waist as he gave her a one-armed hug. "Hey, Mom," he greeted her. "Dad."
"Hi, Evelynn," I said, smiling at her, and then turning to Theo's dad as he held up a hand in greeting. "Hi, Young Jin."
Theo's eyebrows rose a bit as he looked at me, and my heart sunk, thinking I'd messed up the easy pronunciation. He said something to his dad in Korean, causing both his parents to laugh. I smiled, too, but only at their laughter. Whatever Theo said hadn't been anything bad about me. I knew that at least.
It was also my first time hearing Theo speak in Korean and it made his voice sound a little bit higher in pitch compared to his normally low register.
Evelynn moved to hug me next and I pulled my arm away from Theo to hug her back, losing all my breath as she squeezed me tightly. "It's so nice to see you again, Maisie!"
"You, too."
"Mom, don't suffocate her," Theo warned.
Evelynn released me and hooked her arm through mine, effectively stealing me away from Theo. I tried not to limp as we headed into the restaurant together, Theo and Young Jin following behind us. "I hope you're not too tired," she said. "I got a bit overexcited to see you again and forgot that Theo had said you'd both be away shooting over the weekend when I booked our reservation."
"I'm not tired at all," I responded, coming to a stop as she gave the host our reservation name. "I'm excited to be here."
"Did you have a good weekend?"
As we settled down at the table with menus in front of us, I stole a glance at Theo, who spoke quietly with his dad, seemingly not paying attention to my conversation with his mom at all. "Yeah, the shoot went over really well, so that was nice," I replied, leaving out all the trouble that had gone down. "And the mountain had nice views."
"Did you take any photos? Can I see?"
I took out my phone, showing her the photos of the scenery that I'd taken for Levi, swiping through them slowly, unsure if there was a photo of myself somewhere near them in the camera roll. "The lake was pretty, too, but I didn't take many photos of it."
"I really love hiking," she said when I pulled my phone away, smiling fondly at me. "It's a bit hard on my body right now, but when I regain my strength I want to visit that area. It looks beautiful."
"I can send you the name of the trail," I offered, giving a quick thank you to the waiter as he placed down the water for us. "It's really not that bad of a hike, either."
"I have a better idea. You and Theo can come with me when I go visit it."
I tried not to appear surprised at her suggestion. I was pretending to be Theo's girlfriend—talking about future plans together was a given, right? But was it my place to agree to them? For the sake of keeping my cover, I decided it was. "We can do that. I'd love to go back."
Her eyes lit up in excitement, and I decided I made the right choice. "Do you like hiking, too? I have an entire guide of trails I could show you. They vary in difficulty, but I'm sure you could handle ones from moderate to strenuous—"
"Mom," Theo cut in, looking across the table at her. "Don't try to lure Maisie into that. She has no idea what you're actually like."
"What?" she said innocently.
Theo's gaze switched to me, his lips pursing. "Her idea of fun is a ten-mile hike in the morning and ten more at night."
I blinked.
"I learned that the hard way," Young Jin commented, looking weary. "I didn't even know there were so many places to hike near my hometown."
"Oh, stop it, you two," Evelynn said, shooting them looks. "Don't scare her away. Hiking is good for the body and the soul. It's refreshing and fun."
Both Theo and Young Jin rolled their eyes, glancing at each other, and sharing a brief, barely-there smile.
And suddenly I knew where Theo got that from.
"I'm willing to hike with you," I spoke up, looking at Evelynn in determination.
She did a double-take toward me. "What—I mean, I'm grateful, but the way you're saying that makes it sound like you're volunteering for some kind of dangerous journey."
"For Maisie, that could be true," Theo said thoughtfully.
I scrunched my face up at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
He gave me a look that seemed to say you-fell-down-a-mountain from what I gathered from the way his gaze flicked down toward my injured heel.
I stared hard at him back, hoping he got my silent message across, too: shut up. I didn't have anything else to say back to that.
He seemed to know it.
His lips twitched as he went to take a drink of his water.
Evelynn observed the exchange between us, a knowing smile forming on her lips. "Well, I promise I won't take you on any death-defying trails, Maisie. And that should keep Theo happy too since he seems so worried about you."
Theo abruptly choked on the water, nearly dropping the glass back on the table as he quickly covered his mouth. This only caused Evelynn's smile to grow. I made a point of not looking at Theo, not wanting to see the expression on his face. Annoyed? For his mom to assume he would worry about me? Did that cross some line for him?
"If you do go hiking," Young Jin started, his eyes lighting up conspiratorially, "make sure you have a map. And a compass. And a GPS on you. And what else? Maybe a signal flare?"
Evelynn pursed her lips at her husband. "Oh, stop it."
"She once got us lost on a hike for about four hours," he continued, directing his attention to me now. "Said she read online about a trail that had amazing views."
Evelynn blushed. "We don't speak about that."
"The only amazing view we had was the car when we finally made it back to the parking lot and realized we wouldn't die," Theo muttered.
I laughed. "Oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't laugh," I said, my eyes widening a bit. "It's actually pretty dangerous to get lost while hiking."
This caused Evelynn, Young Jin, and even Theo to grin a little.
"I've learned my lesson since," Evelynn said, her cheeks still tinged pink. "But even if Maisie and I got lost on an adventure, it'd just be good writing material, right? You could write a book about it."
The mention of me writing so casually caught me off guard so bad I physically jolted, my gaze shooting to hers, my heart leaping up into my throat, expecting a lecture. But when I saw the excited expression on her face, and crow's feet appearing at her eyes as she smiled at me, I found myself relaxing almost immediately. Right. She already knew I liked to write.
And she was okay with it.
"Oh, but that's not the right genre, right?" she added after a second. "Getting lost is more like a thriller than romance, huh?"
She even remembered I wrote romance? I tried to hide a grin. "I like thriller books, too, although I've never tried writing one."
"I don't know how you two do it," Young Jin mused. "I could barely meet the word counts for essays in college, let alone write an entire book. It's very impressive."
"How many books have you written?" Evelynn asked me.
"Essays are a lot harder," I responded to Young Jin before answering Evelynn's question. "And, um. Let's see." I counted them up in my head. "Twenty-five?"
Both her and Young Jin's mouths fell open. Only Theo didn't look surprised. "What? How? How old are you?" Evelynn asked. "I thought you were younger than Theo."
I gave her a sheepish look. "I am. I'm twenty-four. But I've been writing books for as long as I can remember. I think I finished my first full-length one in seventh grade. And I've just been writing ever since then."
"That's amazing," Young Jin commented. "Very impressive. I read once that the percentage of writers who actually finish writing a book is only three percent. You've done that dozens of times over."
The praise caused warmth to flood through my blood. It took everything I had in me not to break out into a stupid grin, even though doubt also still swirled in my gut. They were so easily accepting of the fact that I liked to write. I almost couldn't believe it.
"Did you go to school for writing?" he asked.
The warmth evaporated, and my gut sank. I hadn't expected them to ask about school. My lie was at the tip of my tongue— nursing school—but I forcefully swallowed it back. I wanted to be honest with them. "I, um, actually didn't go to college," I admitted, my hand forming a fist under the table.
"Then you've learned everything about writing on your own?" he responded, eyebrows raised. "That's even more impressive."
I stared at him. "It... it is?"
"A skill is a skill whether self-taught or learned in class. And grammar is not easy to grasp."
Evelynn nodded her head in agreement. "College isn't for everyone, either. In fact, Young Jin doesn't even require most of his hires to have a degree. Experience is much more preferred."
"There are some things, of course, that I believe you need schooling for, but I value many other things alongside education."
"Besides, Theo dropped out of college, so we'd be hypocritical if we had anything to say," Evelynn added with a wink.
Theo rolled his eyes, but I found myself grinning again, glad I'd decided to tell them the truth. I didn't have anything to worry about with them. It was an odd feeling, but one that made me unable to stop grinning.
The waiter walked up to us then, asking us if we were ready, and we all shared an embarrassed look, having only been talking instead of looking at the menu. Of course, I had my choice prepared beforehand, and as I told Theo, I made an excited remark about them having the chicken dish I wanted.
And as expected, Evelynn looked both relieved and happy to see I'd found something I wanted.
I caught Theo's gaze and he offered me one of his rare, soft smiles.
The conversations flowed easily as we waited for our food to arrive. They asked me about my different writing projects, showing genuine interest as I spoke about them. I usually felt so shy talking about my writing, but not with them. More and more I found myself feeling comfortable around Theo's family.
I realized they made me feel validated. That the choices I made for myself were ones to be proud of. Not ashamed or embarrassed of it, as my family had insisted as I grew up.
When our food arrived, I noticed Evelynn didn't eat, even as everyone else began to. She made a remark in passing to Young Jin about feeling nauseous, and Theo froze up for a second, his hand clenching onto his fork tighter.
"Do you need to go?" Theo asked.
Evelynn shook her head immediately. "No. I just don't have much of an appetite. Don't worry, though. It's just a side-effect. Nothing's wrong."
I stared down at my own food, my own stomach churning now. I'd almost forgotten about the fact that Evelynn was sick. She really didn't look it, so it felt easy to. But I knew that not all illnesses were visible, and there were good and bad days.
"Come on. Eat," she urged, looking between Theo and me. "I'll eat later. You're going to make me feel bad."
I forced myself to eat, trying not to let my worry consume me. Young Jin started talking about a trip they'd taken to Seoul recently, trying to lighten the mood again, but a quick glance at Theo revealed the concern still etched on his face. I did my best to keep up with Young Jin's conversation, offering any input I could, and laughing even if what he said wasn't that funny, wanting to help him alleviate Theo's disquiet.
As Evelynn offered me another smile—grateful, and just for me—I found myself pulling stories from my own childhood to offer, too.
These attracted Theo's attention.
"When I was younger my mother told me if a car ever slowed down near me to run away screaming because it could be a kidnapper. But what she didn't take into account was that our swing set was near the road of our fenced-in yard. And there was a stop sign pretty much right next to it. So sometimes a car would slow down to stop and I'd be mid-swing and jump off screaming bloody murder as I ran into the house and cause her to have a panic attack. Good advice, but..." I trailed off, laughing at the memory.
Evelynn and Young Jin burst out laughing too. "Oh, gosh. I can only imagine that," she said, her hand going to her mouth.
"I ran fast for a five-year-old, too. I'd full throttle it into the house," I said. "Sometimes every ten minutes depending on how busy the road was."
This made Theo snort, and finally, the tension broke.
The light feeling in me returned. "I also one time put a grilled cheese into a VCR player. I don't know why, but it fit perfectly."
We all started exchanging childhood stories after that, and Evelynn even began picking at her food, which made both Young Jin and Theo relax more. Evelynn ordered dessert, too, and nearly ate an entire piece of tiramisu. I opted for the chocolate chip cannolis, offering one to Theo because he'd decided not to order a dessert.
I couldn't tell if he liked it judging by the way his expression remained neutral, but I thought it was delicious. Crispy, not too sweet, and with powdered sugar on top. I wiped my lips with my napkin after, trying to wipe away the powdered sugar.
"Do I have anything on my face?" I asked Theo, lifting my head toward him so he could see better.
His gaze dropped down to my lips, and hesitation crossed his face for a moment, but then he leaned in toward me. My heart stuttered as his thumb softly traced the outline of my lips, pausing at the corner of my mouth, remaining there for a split-second too long. Long enough to let our gazes lock again, and for my tongue to dart out unconsciously as if going to clean the now wiped-away sugar, but only resulting in licking Theo's thumb.
Embarrassment washed through me, but Theo's eyes darkened, a tick appearing in his jaw.
I moved away first, letting his thumb skim across my cheek as I turned my head. Young Jin and Evelynn hadn't seemed to notice our exchange, sharing the last few bites of their own desert, Young Jin offering her a bite with his fork.
I didn't dare look at Theo again after that. Young Jin and Evelynn paid for dinner, ignoring Theo and my protests, and then we all exited the restaurant together. I stuck by Evelynn, determined to avoid Theo until the last possible second. It was dark out now, and I hadn't realized how long we were in the restaurant. It felt like it'd gone by so fast.
"Thank you so much for coming to dinner, Maisie," Evelynn said, taking my hands in hers as we came to a stop outside the building.
"Let us walk you guys to your car," I said, not wanting to say goodbye yet.
"You're such a sweetheart. No wonder why Theo likes you," she commented, taking my hand in hers as we walked toward the parking lot.
My neck grew hot, and I glanced back to see Theo speaking with his father, both of them having not moved from the spot outside the restaurant doors. My ankle protested with each step, but I ignored it. Turning back to Evelynn, I lowered my voice. "I like him, too."
As a friend, of course.
She giggled. "That much is obvious."
I blinked at her, coming to a dead stop. "What? Is it?"
"Why are you so surprised by that?" she asked, nudging me in the side. "I think it's very endearing to see how much you care about him. I know I'm his mom so I'm biased when I say this, but he deserves it. He deserves someone like you."
Suddenly, guilt at lying to Evelynn about our relationship slammed into me. My motions became stiff as we continued walking again. "That's..." I trailed off, a knot forming in my stomach.
"Theo knows all I want to do is see him happy. Even more so after his last break-up." She grew quiet for a moment. "I thought he would never give anyone a chance again. I truly thought I'd never see him happy again. But you're proving me wrong. And I'm so grateful for it. When he said he had a girlfriend again, I thought I would never trust her."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Mackenzie betrayed more than just Theo with what she did," Evelynn said quietly. "And after seeing what Theo went through, I didn't want anyone to do that to him again. I didn't think I would trust anyone to have good intentions toward him. I wanted to protect him from getting hurt again, but I also wanted him to find happiness again. Although Theo might not show it, he's a hopeless romantic."
I tried to keep myself from getting curious about Theo's past, latching onto the fact that hopeless romantic wasn't a term I would use to describe Theo. "He is?"
"He'd never admit to it, but I know him well. Mother's intuition." Evelynn smiled a bit. "And that's also why I can trust you, Maisie. Theo obviously does."
She didn't know it was because he had something over me, though.
I chose not to respond, scuffing my foot on the pavement of the parking lot.
"Oh, sorry. I really shouldn't bring up his ex to you," Evelynn suddenly apologized. "He's going to scold me again."
"I won't tell him," I said, grinning a bit. "And don't worry about it. I don't mind. I'm assuming she was a big part of your lives before everything happened."
A bit of annoyance flashed across her face. "Yes. She was." The annoyance was gone just as fast as it appeared, though, and a smile returned to her face as she took my hand in mine. "It makes me feel relieved that he has someone he can rely on besides Rowan."
I swallowed. "I'll be there for Theo, no matter what. You don't have to worry."
She raised one of her hands to my face, pressing it against my cheek. "I won't, now. Please treat him right."
"I will."
"And you let me know if he ever doesn't treat you right," she added, her demeanor turning playful again. "I'll give you my phone number."
Although I'd thought she was joking, we ended up exchanging numbers and joking around a little more as Young Jin and Theo caught up to us. Theo stepped up to my side, wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me to his side. The weight on my ankle diminished as I leaned into him.
"Thank you guys again for dinner," Theo said. "Drive safe."
"Let's get together again soon," Young Jin responded, offering a hand to me.
I shook his hand and Evelynn came up after to give Theo and me a combined hug. She rested her chin on my shoulder briefly, lowering her voice so only I could hear her. "He likes you, too."
I sucked in a small breath of air as she pulled away with a smirk. Flustered, I missed what Theo said next, focusing on not blushing. She was only just saying that. There was no way Theo liked me. We were just pretending, and...
And I would never forget the way he reacted when he thought I had feelings for him. Just remembering it had my body cooling down immediately.
We said our last goodbyes before parting ways, Theo leading us back to his car. Neither of us said anything as we climbed in and Theo didn't make any move to turn the car on. I refused to look at him, staring at my hands in my lap intently.
"Is everything okay?" he asked after a moment.
"Yes, why?" I replied evenly.
"You..." he trailed off. "You were so lively earlier and now you're quiet."
I played with the fabric of my jeans for a moment. It wasn't Theo's fault I'd been so affected by his words before, nor was he wrong for feeling that way. He had every right to not want me to have feelings for him. "I'm just really full and tired now," I lied. "Nothing's wrong or anything."
"My parents really like you," he said quietly. "Thank you for coming."
I mustered up my courage to look at him, finding him staring back at me. "I like your parents, too. Tonight was really fun."
A beat passed by, our gazes never breaking. My heart started acting up again.
"How come you never ask any questions?" he asked.
Not expecting that, I tilted my head to the side, frowning. "Huh?"
"About my ex. About my mom's sickness. About the way I act sometimes."
"It's not my business," I told him, shrugging lightly. "If you wanted me to know more about them, then you'd tell me, right?"
He finally turned away from me, turning the car on. "Right," he murmured.
I was a little confused but didn't say anything else as he began to drive me back to my apartment. Silence enveloped us, and I looked out the window, watching as we passed by restaurants and shops and groups of people strolling around.
When we arrived at my apartment, I turned to him while I unbuckled, offering him a quick smile. "Thanks for the ride. I'll ask Rowan to pick me up in the morning, so—"
"Maisie."
I closed my mouth, my voice faltering as I registered the intensity in his eyes. "Yes?"
"Can I come up?"