to be wary of hotels. Never meet a man there. Not even in the reception area. It was a test, they said, to weed out those girls who would, and those who wouldn’t. And now here I was, about to step into one. A rather rundown one from what I could tell. But today’s circumstances were different, and besides, I was with Shin. That was all right, wasn’t it?
The interior of the hotel was gloomy and dank. A single electric lamp lighted the front desk, where Shin was signing a book. The clerk was an older woman, and she gave me a piercing glance. “No luggage?”
“We missed the train back,” said Shin easily. “So we’ll just need one night.”
She looked at him, and then at me again. I did my best to appear unruffled, as though I missed trains every day. Speaking of which, why was Shin so familiar with this process? How many women had he taken to hotels? I stared at his back and the older woman met my eyes knowingly.
“Mr. and Mrs. Lee,” she said, reading the register. “Newlyweds?”
“No,” he said, “We’ve been together for a long time.” He put his arm around me, careful to show off the ring on my finger.
“Do you want a meal?”
Shin looked at me. “Just tea and toast.”
“We’ll send it up,” said the clerk. She squeezed her bulk around the desk and led us up a worn flight of stairs. “You’re lucky tonight, this is the only room left with a private bathroom.”
The room was small and sparsely furnished, with stained-glass window shutters in a flower pattern that overlooked the rainy street in front. But I was staring at the bed, not the view. Neatly made up with sheets and two stiff high pillows, a thin cotton blanket stretched tightly over it. A double bed. What had I been expecting, two twins?
“Shin,” I said as soon as the clerk had left us. “Why didn’t you just say we were siblings?”
“We don’t have enough money for two singles. Besides, claiming you’re my sister sounds more suspicious since we don’t look alike.” He spoke reasonably, but there was something about his averted face that made me think that he was nervous. I’d never seen Shin like this before, and felt even more skittish. It was best to be hearty, I decided.
“I’ve never been in a hotel before,” I said cheerfully.
Silence. I couldn’t really ask him if he’d ever been in one, because clearly he had, though I’d no idea under what circumstances. Perhaps it was all my imagination, but I couldn’t help thinking of Shin meeting women in hotels. Eager young women, sophisticated older women. What did it matter since it wasn’t my business?
“I’ll go and wash up,” I said.
To my surprise, Shin opened the brown paper bag he’d bought earlier and, after rummaging around, produced a brand-new men’s shirt. It was plain white cotton, packed flat and tight with the collar still bound in cardboard and pinned into place.
“Here,” he took out the pins and passed it to me. “You can have this.”
“Don’t you need it?”
His clothes were wet, too, but he shook his head. “Go ahead.”
When I went into the adjoining bathroom, a small tiled boxlike space, I understood why. One glance in the narrow mirror, and I was mortified to discover that my wet dress clung to me. No wonder Shin had kept his eyes glued to my forehead. Shivering, I stripped off and washed up with the thin, hard cotton towels. Then I put on the men’s shirt. Somehow, though less revealing than what I’d been wearing earlier, it looked far more provocative. Not knowing what to do, I stood in the bathroom for a good long while, trying to gather enough courage to go back out. But when I pushed the door open softly, Shin was gone.
A tea tray sat on the bed. I drank the tea, ate most of the toast, and even brushed my teeth with the toothbrush he’d bought at the pharmacy. Then I climbed into bed and turned the lights out. Unreasonably, tears of disappointment threatened to squeeze their way out of my eyes. What had I been thinking, that Shin would finally make a move? That was clearly never going to happen. The things he liked about me—blunt, straightforward, a good sport—weren’t descriptions anybody used for heroines in novels. They were only good for sidekicks like Dr. Watson. I buried my head beneath the hard pillows and sobbed silently.
The door opened, and I