Janette bounced on her heels as she stood outside the restaurant Mason had chosen, grinning from ear to ear and only stopping to scratch one of her freshly shaven legs with her foot every so often.
She was in a button down short sleeve shirt with a white tee on under it paired with a pair of comfy short shorts that showed off her legs and sandals below that. It was a nice warm evening and the restaurant was close enough to the ocean she could smell the sea breeze. It was wonderful.
Mason wasn’t long and he was absolutely dashing as normal, his shirt was tight in all the right places and his smile made her heart melt into a puddle of goo.
“You look nice,” he grinned before gazing up at the Korean restaurant he’d chosen. “Sorry if you’re not into this stuff, it’s where my parents take me when we have a family dinner out. They’re not exactly prone to eating things they can’t make at home.”
“It’s fine, I like Korean,” she blurted out before blushing profusely. She’d never eaten Korean food before, but if Mason was Korean and her hypothetical future in laws were Korean she would try her best to like their native cuisine.
They stepped inside and were greeted with a pretty nice restarting, it was clean, spacious, and smelled pretty good to boot. They were seated by a pretty Korean lady and Janette stared at a menu filled to the brim with words and dishes she didn’t understand. She purses her lips and stared at the menu feeling panic surge through her.
“So, see anything you like?” Mason asked with a smile while sweat beaded on Janette’s forehead.
“I-uh... well... you see...” she stammered before sighing. “Mason, I’ve never eaten this type of food before... so... why don’t you pick some stuff and I’ll try it all.”
“Good idea,” he replied and she blushed even harder at the compliment. When the waitress came back he ordered a couple dishes and they were left alone, finally on the date she’d dreamed of for years.
An awkward silence enveloped them before Janette cleared her throat and grinned at her date nervously. “So, you said you come here with your parents all the time...”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t believe how picky they are,” Mason replied with a laugh. “They’ve been in America since before I was born and yet they’ve never eaten Cajun food.”
“Well, they raised you not to be so picky,” Janette shrugged.
“You can’t even imagine how embarrassing it is to have immigrant parents,” Mason sighed with a shake of his head and sit back. “You’re lucky you know, being American through and through.”
“Maybe...” Janette trailed.
When the food arrived she didn’t know what anything was but Mason was quick to explain all the dishes, they weren’t really that weird when he broke them down. There was chicken, there were noodles, and there was salad. It was just all prepared differently and when she tasted it the stuff was pretty good.
She laughed with Mason as they picked at the food between them, spoons and chopsticks entering the soups and noodles and their mouths. It was just normal germs being exchanged and left in the food, nothing crazy. At least that would be if a trace amount of potion hadn’t leaked into the soup with a trace amount of Mason’s spit. The soup gave a small shudder and a puff of steam before seeming normal. Janette brought a spoonful of it into her mouth just as Mason was explaining another dumb thing about his parents.
“They keep bugging me about finding a nice Korean girl to settle down with,” Mason explained while holding his hands out. “Is there something wrong with other girls?”
Janette laughed in response, shifting in her seat uncomfortably as her height fell ever so slightly. “My parents are the exact same way,” she said, though the words seemed to be coming out of her mouth on autopilot. “From the moment I hit puberty they were trying to set me up with neighbourhood boys.”
Mason blinked and shook his head. His date’s response felt off to him but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Did your parents talk about people behind their backs in Korean too?” He asked. What? Janette was a white girl? Why would her parents be talking in Korean? It wasn’t that common of a language in America, right?
“Oh yeah,” Janette laughed with a shake of her head. Her parents didn’t know Korean, wait no they did. It was all they spoke around the house, she could understand it fluently but rarely spoke it, in fact she often responded in English. She scratched her head not noticing that her hair had darkened until it was a dark brown in colour. “My mom used to turn to me and say she was glad I didn’t dress like the girls in belly shirts and short skirts in fluent Korean. It embarrassed me every time.”
“Did she sing all those horrible Korean love songs?” Mason asked with a laugh. Something was different about Janette, she took another bite of the food and laughed cutely across from him.
“Like nails on a chalkboard,” Janette agreed. For some reason her mom was different in her mind, instead of an Austrian American woman she was a short little Asian lady in her mind singing a horrible song. “She signed me up for all sorts of singing lessons but still thought she could sing better than me.”
Janette rubbed her eye and when her hand left it was definitely Asian in shape. She blinked a few times as her eye colour became a beautiful stunning brown.
“Oh and everyone thinking you were the smart kid in class,” Mason laughed while gripping his head.
“I was the only Asian in my entire class,” Janette laughed. She wasn’t Asian, no wait she was, she was a Korean American girl with two immigrant parents. Her face shape changed and her nose shifted until she looked like a gorgeous Korean girl. She was flooded with new memories of all the embarrassment she’d gained from her parents for being a first generation American. “It put a real strain on me, I wasn’t good at school so I always felt like I was doing something wrong.”
“Hey, I know the feeling,” Mason smiled at her, reaching across the table and holding Janette’s hand in his own. “I was the only Asian kid in taekwando and I was horrible at it.”
“Y’know, for a long time I was trying to avoid dating a Korean boy because it felt like my parents were being a little... racist,” Janette admitted with a run of her arm before looking at Mason sweetly. “But maybe dating you is just what I need, you understand me.”
“And you understand me,” Mason replied with a smile blooming on his face. “Sorry I took you out for Korean, you probably get enough of that at home.”
“God yes, like I’m going take a few recipes with me, don’t get me wrong, but half that stuff was complete garbage,” Janette proclaimed with a wave of her hand. “Sure I like Bimibap and Kimchi but I also like Cajun shrimp and soul food. Have you tried that Swedish place on 110th?”
“No,” Mason replied.
“Next time we are so eating there,” Janette proclaimed before blushing hard and glancing at Mason with worry. “I mean if you want to meet again. I just-“
“It’s a date,” Mason replied with a smile and loving look at her. “And let’s talk about something other than our embarrassing parents when we get there.”
“Deal,” Janette replied before taking another bite of dinner and feeling her heart beat happily. Mason may have asked her out first but she’d done it, she’d asked him to meet again. It made her feel so happy.