This Place is Magic by Irene Te

Author:Irene Te [Irene Te]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rabbit Year Press
Published: 2024-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

26

Long after he'd set the grocery bags in the kitchen, and long after the initial wave of emotion — shock, relief, confusion — Eunjae still couldn't settle on how he felt about his brothers’ arrival. He struggled to contend with the nagging notion that this should be simple. Jungwoo and Max were here. He loved them. He'd missed them. So he should be glad to see them, right?

But he wasn't. The joy of seeing them was tempered by a creeping apprehension that filled him with shame. And then there was annoyance, even a glimmer of rage. Eunjae battled the urge to push Jungwoo and Max back outside so that they stood on one side of the door and he stood on the other. This place is mine. You don't belong here.

And yet, Eunjae didn't belong in the life he'd been borrowing, either. His brothers were a physical reminder, an encroachment of reality. That was what he resented, Eunjae corrected himself. Not Jungwoo, not Max, but the impossibility of his situation. This truth that he would never be able to outrun.

“Why do they keep calling you Ryan Kim?” asked Jungwoo. The three of them sat in the empty dining room, at the same corner table where Eunjae had eaten on Waffle Wednesday. The shades were drawn and the door had been locked. Muffled voices could be heard in the adjacent kitchen as the Hans restocked their fridge and pantry for the Sunday rush.

“I mean, it's not like hyung could give them his actual name,” said Max, sounding scornful and superior in the way only a fresh-faced twentysomething can manage. Not wanting to tell the whole rambling story, Eunjae nodded his head in agreement. This proved somewhat challenging with Max’s arms draped around his neck.

“Sure. That makes sense. Smart of you, really.” Jungwoo reached out to swat at Max, who swatted right back at him and continued clinging to Eunjae like a barnacle. “Let go, you big baby. Weren't you just yelling at him the other day?”

“I never did that.”

“You kind of did,” said Eunjae, but he made no move to displace him. “How did you find me?” he asked Jungwoo.

“You mentioned a door like the one in that book. There aren’t many interesting doors within walking distance of where we went on our last day. It was trial and error from there.”

Max said, “We tried to come by in the morning but it was way too busy. Couldn't risk it, even with the masks on.”

Eunjae kept his eyes on Jungwoo. “Hyung, I told you that I need more time.”

“Yeah, and I wanted to find out why. What could possibly make you act so crazy all of a sudden? This isn't like you, Ari.”

The kitchen door swung open just a crack. Jiyeon peeked out at them. “Time to go home,” she called to Eunjae. “Oh, or I can come back for you later. Whichever.”

Jungwoo flinched at the word home. Then, Denny’s voice ricocheted through the sliver of open doorway. “I don't care if they claim to be his brothers.

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