Page 18 of Angel of Thursdays

Cassiel and May took their shoes off at the entrance. Four pairs were already present: his father’s loafers, his mother’s flats, Minju’s boots, David’s sneakers. Jaewon’s sneakers were kicked sideways against the wall. May placed his blue canvas shoes neatly beside the existing row.

His mother came around the corner from the kitchen with a towel over her shoulder and stopped. She looked at May. She looked at Cassiel. She looked at May again.

May bowed—shallow, casual, exactly right—and held out the pink bakery box with both hands. “Thank you for having me. I brought egg tarts. They’re a little cold now, but they crisp up nice in the oven.”

His mother took the box with a happy sigh and was already opening it.

“He’s handsome, Minseok-ah,” she said to Cassiel. “Which church does he go to?”

“She says welcome,” Cassiel translated.

“I heard handsome,” May said. “I got that one.”

His mother laughed—bright like birdsong—surprised out of her. She touched May’s arm briefly and told him to call her Mary. Kang Miyoung had an inexplicable agenda about being someone called ‘Mary Kang,’ which had not been a thing since both her children graduated from high school and she no longer had a PTA to sit on.

May played it off with a joke about their names being one letter apart, and then she was pulling him towards the kitchen and the bakery box was on the counter and she was pointing at the egg tarts and saying something to Cassiel’s father, who had appeared in the hallway, summoned from his chair by the energy of his wife’s delight.

His father shook May’s hand.

“Welcome,” he said in English, and his eyes moved to Cassiel for a beat. His son had brought someone home. This was unprecedented.

Minju emerged from the living room with the baby—with Hayoung—in her arms, wearing a spotless apron. She bounced a little on the balls of her feet, suspiciously animated. “So you’re May.”

“I’m May!”

“My brother’s told me nothing about you.”

“He’s maintaining my mystique, because he’s dashing, I think,” May said.

David appeared behind Minju, lifting a hand in greeting, and May lifted his back. That was apparently all that interaction required.

“Uncle Cass!”

Jaewon materialized from somewhere below eye level, launching himself skull-first into Cassiel’s leg. Cassiel put his hand on Jaewon’s head, round with soft fine hair.

“Jaewon-ah, say hello,” Minju said as Hayoung began to fuss. “David, watch him.”

Jaewon peeled himself off and stared up at May. May crouched down to eye level.

“Hey. I’m May.”

The boy stared. Then: “Hi. You wanna see my tooth?”

“Absolutely I want to see your tooth.”

He opened his mouth wide and pointed at a lower incisor that was hanging at an angle suggesting it had been negotiated with extensively. He wiggled it with his tongue. The tooth moved a full thirty degrees.

“Whoa,” May said, possibly alarmed or disgusted or simply impressed. “Does it hurt?”

“No. It’s got a hearing thing in it and the tooth fairy’s gonna take it from me for money. But then I’ll find her hideout, like in the basement.”

“That’s crazy, bud. How much money are we talking?”

His nephew lifted his chin. “Ten dollars.”

“Ten dollars for one tooth? In this economy? That’s a good grift, man. Do you think me and your Uncle Cass can get a cut?”

Jaewon looked from May to Cassiel then back to May again, his brain churning.