Page 46 of That Prince is Mine
“Right this damn minute,” Michel snapped as the door closed behind him.
“Of course, my prince,” Antoine said with calm efficiency. “I’ve emailed you the documents already, and I’ll track down the minister in person if I have to.”
“Good.” Michel inhaled through his nose and got control of his temper. “Thank you.”
“It’s my honor, Your Highness. I will update you as soon as I have the call scheduled.”
Michel threw his mobile on a side table and walked to the window overlooking Downtown Los Angeles. His time in America was not a vacation. It came with a price he couldn’t ignore. Would all this be worth it if he couldn’t win Emma? He wouldn’t trade a single moment he’d shared with her for the world, but that wasn’t enough. His people needed him—especially the single mothers and their children that the addendum was supposed to benefit. He clenched his fists. He had to make his time away from Rouleme count.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Who needs Disneyland when you have H Mart?
Well, there was no rule that Emma had to choose between the two. All she meant was that H Mart was amazing. It was her happy place. She could easily spend two hours just browsing the Korean market, picking out the freshest whatever-she-needed and trying all the yummy samples offered by the nice ajummas scattered around the store. And it was beyond awesome that shopping at H Mart was part of her job.
Midmorning was her favorite time to shop. It was less crowded, and there was a better chance that everything would be freshly stocked. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the pocket of her wide-legged pants. Her grocery list. It was old-school, but it worked. She liked writing out her list in the order of the market layout and seeing the whole list at one glance. The apps on her cell were fine, but they all required scrolling up and down, which meant she could easily miss an item on the list. She didn’t have the luxury of running out to buy a forgotten item during her lessons.
Today, she needed every texture of tofu offered—firm, medium, soft, and extra soft. Her favorite brand of medium-firm tofu had been fully restocked. She didn’t bother holding back her smug smile. But when she reached for a package, another hand grabbed the same one. She was too polite to say What the hell? but seriously. What the hell?
She turned to her supermarket rival to courteously ask them to remove their grabby paw from her tofu, but burst out laughing instead.
“Oppa.” Emma pressed a hand to her chest. “What are you doing here?”
“What else? I’m stalking you.” Jeremy enveloped her in a bear hug and lifted her off her feet.
“How did you know I was here?” She hugged him back, then wiggled to be released.
“You’re a creature of habit.” He stepped back, grinning ear to ear. “And my mom has your weekly routine memorized. I’d be a little creeped out by that if I were you.”
“Auntie Soo loves collecting data. Call it an occupational hazard. It’s what makes her such a great matchmaker.” Emma loaded sixteen packs of tofu into her shopping cart. “Besides, I like having her keep tabs on me. It’s her love language.”
“I’m a little concerned about your relationship.” Her godbrother scratched his jaw. “It isn’t entirely healthy.”
“You’re a pediatrician.” Emma patted his shoulder. “Leave psychology to the professionals.”
“God, I missed you, brat.” He ruffled her hair, and she slapped his hand away.
“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.” She pushed her cart toward the produce aisle. “I thought you were busy setting up your new practice in San Jose.”
“My partners and I had the brilliant idea to take turns with some much-needed vacation before we officially opened the doors.” Jeremy kept pace with her as she browsed. She usually liked to stick to her planned menu, but the napa cabbage looked too good to pass up. “It’s my turn to take the week off while they cover for me.”
“Auntie Soo must be thrilled to have you home.” She grinned happily at Jeremy.
“Just look at that dimple,” he cooed, tapping her cheek with his index finger.
“Cut it out, dingus.” She shoved him half-heartedly. He’d been teasing her about her dimple ever since she could remember. “I can’t believe parents trust you with their children.”
Emma called him her godbrother because he was her godmother’s son, but he was basically a real brother to her. They grew up together—the best of friends and the worst of enemies like any other self-respecting siblings. She loved him to death, but he annoyed the hell out of her.
“My mom wants you and your dad to come over for dinner tonight.” Jeremy gently bumped her out of the way and commandeered the quickly filling cart.
“Um, I can’t.” She cleared her throat. “I already have dinner plans.”
She and Michel had been spending almost every evening together—creating a bulletproof list of incompatibility took a lot of work—but he’d had to cancel last night because of an emergency at work. She wasn’t sure what kind of emergencies arose for international relations professors—did a country need his expertise in a diplomatic nightmare?—but she felt more disappointed than she’d thought possible. She didn’t want to cancel their date tonight. Because postponing the date meant spending another day away from the matseon market. Obviously. She had Auntie Soo’s reputation and her culinary school to think of… Guilt twisted in her stomach at the lie.
“Oh?” Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows. “What kind of dinner plans?”
“Stop being weird.” Emma willed herself not to blush. “I’m just meeting up with a friend.”
