Lane glanced around at the large groups of people, many of them elderly and
speaking in Korean. The church service was finally over and her ears could
relax again after having to hear Korean straight for 3 hours.
Suddenly without noticing, she had just bumped into an elderly woman.
"So sorry," she said in Korean as she saw the woman's face turn from an
angry to a friendly expression.
"It's perfectly okay. No harm done. Now who may you be?" the lady replied
in English.
"Lane Kim of Stars Hollow."
"How nice to meet a polite young woman these days. So rare. In my day,
every one was polite. Now, how old are you young woman?"
"I am 16. You are probably about 50, I'm assuming?"
"Oh how you flatter me. You must be a junior at Stars Hollow High then?"
the old woman replied.
"Yes, mam."
"You speak Korean fluently?" the old lady asked with an eye of approval.
"Yes, mam."
"Oh. Now who are your parents?" the old lady said with a glint of joy in
her eye.
"Mr. and Mrs. Kim of the antique store in Stars Hollow. They are right over
there," Lane said pointing to her parents who were standing in the corner
whispering to each other.
"Ah. You don't date non-Korean boys, do you?"
"Never," Lane said with a fake expression of shock at the question.
"Ah, excellent. American girls and boys are too loose nowadays. Before when
my son was dating, it was okay for him to occasionally date an American
girl but now, they are too impolite and many Korean parents don't allow
it," the old lady said, winking at a woman nearby.
Lane turned to find the woman the lady had just winked at walking across
the hall, dragging her husband along with her.
"Lane Kim, this is my daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Yang," the old
lady said as she watched Lane and Mrs. Yang bow to each other in the proper
Korean fashion.
"Daughter, where is my grandson?" the old lady asked.
"Ah, here he comes now," Mrs. Yang said.
Lane glanced up from her bow to find Sook-Jun walking across the hall,
heading her way. She smiled a quick smile and was surprised to see him
smiling back.
As they bowed to each other, Lane noticed a certain spark in his eye that
she had never seen before.
"I do believe we have met before, Ms. Kim. On a blind date if I can
remember correctly?" Sook-Jun said as he stood up from the bow.
"I do believe we have. How nice to run into you again," Lane said trying to
hide her laugh.
"Daughter, Lane was telling me about herself and her family and I do
believe she would be a perfect match for your son. He is single, is he
not?" the elderly Mrs. Yang said to her daughter.
"Yes, yes. Of course, mother. Let's go talk to her parents and leave these
two to get to know each other. How splendid!" Mrs. Yang said before rushing
off to arrange the date.
Lane and Sook-Jun turned to each other and immediately began laughing.
"Everything did work out just like he said it would," Lane thought to
herself.
Two weeks later, after three more dates, it seemed like a dream. Their
parents were friends and they were boyfriend and girlfriend and everyone
seemed so pleased with the situation. She could for once freely date a boy
without having to sneak behind her parents back though she had done that
once just for the fun of it.
