Episode 1: The Set-Up

Nari was walking toward the café her brother had mentioned for tea. She hoped it was as good as he claimed.
More importantly, she wondered what he was up to now. What new idea had popped into his head this time?
She had thought that after getting the Marketing Directorship, he would have calmed down some. She loved him dearly, but sometimes he could be absolutely exasperating.
As she neared the café, she spotted him immediately.
Kai.
Her brother sat near the window looking unusually pensive.
“Uh huh,” she muttered softly. “I knew he was up to something.”
Just then he looked up, saw her, and immediately started waving enthusiastically.
Nari smiled despite herself.
Kai’s enthusiasm always seemed to triple in public places. She had no idea which side of the family he got that from.
They had different mothers, but he was her brother through and through.
Her own mother had passed away when she was only three years old, leaving behind little more than scattered memories and old photographs. Their father had married Kai’s mother when Nari was five.
She had loved Nari and treated her as her own daughter. But when Kai was born four years later, a subtle shift had occurred.
Nothing obvious.
Nothing anyone else probably would have noticed.
Just small things.
Slightly less attention.
Slightly less softness.
Barely enough for a child to understand, but enough for her to feel.
Nari had never resented Kai for it. Quite the opposite.
She adored her little brother to distraction.

Their coloring was different — her skin a rich mahogany brown while Kai carried a dark olive Mediterranean complexion — but the family resemblance was unmistakable.
The same eyes.
The same smile.
Shaking her head affectionately, Nari waved back and wove her way through the crowded sidewalk tables toward him.
As she got closer, Nari noticed the nervousness in Kai’s eyes.
No one else probably would have caught it.
But she did.
“Hey there, little brother.”
She leaned down and hugged him just as he jumped to his feet as though he hadn’t seen her only two days ago.
“Sis! Hey! I’m so glad you could come to tea with me!” he exclaimed, hugging her enthusiastically.
His over-the-top excitement immediately made her suspicious, but she decided to let him play out whatever game he was setting up.
Sliding into the chair beside him with her back toward the café window, Nari positioned herself so she could watch the street and the steady stream of passersby moving along the sidewalk.
She loved people-watching.
Picking up the menu, she ordered an iced chai tea latte with a hint of matcha.
Mostly because she had a feeling she was going to need all of her wits for whatever Kai was about to throw at her.
She allowed him to direct the flow of conversation, knowing he liked to think he was subtle.
He was not.
“So, Sis…” Kai began casually, “who have you been dating recently?”
And there it was.
Matchmaking.
Again.
Nari slowly took a sip of her tea while side-eyeing him over the rim of the glass.
She watched as he attempted to look nonchalant while fidgeting with his watch.
The man was hopeless.
Suppressing a sigh, she gently placed her tea back onto the table and raised an eyebrow at him.
“You brought me all the way down here just to discuss my love life, Kai?”
“You wound me, Sis,” Kai said, clutching dramatically at his heart with an affronted expression.
All Nari could do was laugh at him.
“I care about you and want you to be happy. That’s all.”
Narrowing her eyes slightly, she studied him carefully.
“Yeah… and I’ll sell you the Golden Gate Bridge if you think I’m just going to believe that.”
Kai clutched at his chest again, looking thoroughly wounded.
“You looked at your watch fifteen times in the last five minutes,” she pointed out. “What are you up to, Kai?”
Kai gave her an affronted yet innocent look — one he had perfected as a child.
It had always gotten him exactly what he wanted.
Unfortunately for him, Nari knew better.
She pointed a warning finger at him.
“Don’t even try that. That may have worked on Mom, but not me. What are you up to? Start talking or I’m leaving right now.”
“Okay, okay!” Kai groaned dramatically. “Why do you have to be so difficult? Why can’t you ever just go along with things?”
He sounded absolutely ridiculous for a grown professional man.
All Nari could do was smile and shake her head.
“Because you’ve tried this three times already this year,” she reminded him. “And the last one…” She visibly shuddered.
“That man couldn’t go a single sentence without cussing somebody or something out.”
Kai shuddered right along with her.
“Who knew he had such a foul mouth and anger issues?” he complained. “He seemed perfectly reasonable in the commercial I was shooting with him…”
Nari slowly turned her head and stared at him.
“He was an ACTOR,” she stressed. “He was ACTING, you moron.”
To his credit, Kai at least had the grace to look sheepish.
“But he was really good at it,” he defended weakly. “Very believable. Seriously, who would’ve known?”
“You would have if you’d spent actual time with him BEFORE setting me up with him,” she replied, giving him a deeply disappointed look.
That look wounded him far more effectively than any harsh words ever could.
“I’m sorry, Sis. I really am.” He sighed before immediately brightening again. “But THIS one…”
He kissed his fingertips dramatically like a chef presenting a masterpiece. “This one you’re really going to like.”
Nari arched a skeptical eyebrow.
“You said THAT about the last two.”
“You’ll like him,” Kai insisted confidently. “I work in directing with him. He has great character…”
Nari’s eyes slowly lifted toward the heavens as if silently asking:
Good Lord, give me strength.
“He’s good-looking,” Kai continued.
Another skeptical eyebrow rose.
“And very emotionally stable—”
Nari immediately choked on her tea.
“THAT’S how you’re selling him?” she sputtered. “‘Good character,’ ‘good-looking,’ and ’emotionally stable’?”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“Kai, emotional stability is supposed to be the bare minimum requirement for adulthood!”
“Come on, Sis! Just give him a chance,” Kai pleaded. “This is the one. I promise. And if it doesn’t work out, I’ll stop.”
He said it with the most innocent expression possible while secretly crossing his fingers beneath the table.
Nari pointed at him immediately.
“NO. You are stopping NOW.”
Just then, Kai suddenly looked past her and lifted his hand in greeting toward someone over her shoulder.
Nari visibly cringed.
Slowly closing her eyes, she sighed.
“He’s coming, isn’t he…?”