Page 5 of That Prince is Mine
“Please.” She gestured to the seat across from her. He sat with his back so straight that she wondered if he had a military background Auntie Soo had missed. “Do you want to order a drink? I got here a little early and already ordered mine.”
“I hope that is herbal tea.” He looked down his nose at her drink. “Caffeine this late in the afternoon isn’t a good idea. It’ll throw off your circadian cycle.”
Did he just lecture Emma on her choice of tea within a minute of meeting each other? Her polite smile wobbled as she fought the impulse to tell him exactly where he could shove his circadian cycle. Her imagined comeback didn’t make any sense, but she was too annoyed to care. Think of Auntie Soo. Think of your future culinary school.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said through only slightly clenched teeth.
Charles nodded once as though satisfied with her answer. That was a wise decision on his part. If he’d persisted with his caffeine lecture, he might’ve ended up wearing her green tea on his starched white shirt.
After ordering his mint tea and some sweet, buttery madeleines for her, they sat in awkward silence until she blurted, “It’s been so nice out.”
Dear God above. She was talking about the weather. In California. Where it was basically always “nice out.” Unperturbed, her matseon partner nodded, glancing at his smartwatch.
“The high today was seventy-three degrees. It’s seventy degrees now,” he said in a monotone that made her car navigation system sound warm and fuzzy. “I believe that puts us in the typical range for Los Angeles at this time of year.”
“Yes. Typical range. Mm-hmm.” Emma was right. Charles Shim was just like Hyun Bin… if he were an android.
“Do you think you’ll be a good mother?” He stared unblinkingly at her as though waiting for her to spew forth her stellar qualifications as a future mother.
“Uh… I hope?” Her forced smile leaned heavily toward a cringe. He jumped right into that after the caffeine lecture and the weather report? She adored babies and hoped to have children someday, but she wasn’t about to share such deeply personal thoughts with a virtual stranger. Unnerved by his creepy question, she took a stab at an awkward joke. “But in the end, I think every parent screws up their kid one way or another.”
Not even a single smiley muscle twitched at his lips. She forced a feeble laugh and took an extra-loud slurp of her caffeinated green tea.
“That is an interesting observation.” Android Hyun Bin cocked his head five degrees to the left. She could’ve sworn she heard the whirring of machinery at his stiff, precise movement. “Would you like to hear my thoughts on my potential to become a good father?”
“No, no, no.” She waved her outstretched palms with enough urgency to stop oncoming traffic. Sure, the whole point of an arranged marriage was to skip the romantic nonsense and choose a spouse based on sensible, practical reasons. But jumping straight to procreation went a little too far. “I mean… why don’t we talk about something… fun?”
“Fun?” His eyebrows shifted three millimeters in a confused frown. She almost sagged with relief. It was the first human emotion he’d exhibited.
“Yes, fun.” Emma nodded encouragingly.
His frown deepened as he considered her suggestion. It wasn’t a good look for him. In fact, he grew less attractive by the second, his stuffy personality draining the handsome right out of him. As the silence lengthened, she began to worry that smoke would billow out of his ears. Cannot compute. Cannot compute. Fortunately, their order arrived before her prospective husband’s head exploded.
Reminded of the inspiration for her madeleine, she stole a glance at the criminally gorgeous stranger. Her heart flopped around like a fish out of water. He stared intently at his laptop screen, tapping a finger lightly against his lips. Her hand rose to her throat as she imagined him studying her with the same intensity, pondering what to do with her. With a choked gasp, she tore her eyes away from him. Oh my God. What is wrong with me? Swallowing a whimper, she stuffed an entire madeleine into her mouth.
“What’s your favorite movie?” Emma mumbled around her cake. Or was it a cookie? Whatever it was—a cakie!—she was secretly delighted when a crumb flew out of her mouth and landed within inches of Charles Shim’s saucer.
His eyes zeroed in on the offending shrapnel as he said, “I am not a movie person, but I do enjoy an occasional documentary on the History Channel.”
“Documentaries can be so interesting.” He didn’t bother asking her what her favorite movie was, but she told him anyway. “I love The Lake House. The one with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves?”
“Hmm.” The moist madeleine crumb still held his attention. “I’m not a fan of Keanu Reeves.”
Emma barely held back her gasp. This matseon ends now. But how? She didn’t want to do anything so horrible she would get blackballed from the matchmaking market. She also didn’t want to risk embarrassing Auntie Soo. The whole point of this was to preserve her godmother’s venerated reputation, right? If Emma didn’t succeed, then both their businesses would suffer and her dream of opening up a cooking school might slip through her fingers. Who knew how long it would take to get it back on track?
Since slurping her tea and speaking with her mouth full hadn’t been enough to put Charles off, she needed to come up with something a little more drastic. She could go for an obnoxious, nasally chortle, but she couldn’t imagine him saying anything remotely funny to warrant a laugh.
She cringed when an idea popped into her head. It would definitely work, but she really didn’t want to do it. But she also couldn’t spend another minute with someone who wasn’t a fan of Keanu. Steeling herself, she picked up her cloth napkin and pretended to blow her nose in it as loud as a honking goose. The stunned silence that descended between them was pretty impressive.
Wait for it. Wait for it.
“Shall we conclude this meeting?” Charles asked abruptly, not bothering to hide his shudder of disgust.
“Oh, so soon?” She bit her cheeks to stop herself from smiling.
“Yes… well.” He straightened his already straight tie. “I promised my mother I’d be home for dinner.”
“Then you should go.” She stood and held out her hand. He hesitated for a full three seconds before he shook it limply. “You must never keep your mother waiting.”
