Eun-ah and Harry sat quietly in the subterranean, smoky coffeehouse sipping their last cup of coffee together. Frank and Ella played in the background, just an octave below the murmur of conversation. It had been decided by her mother and father, a fortuneteller, and her Confucian upbringing that come April she would marry the son of her father’s employer. The free-spirited Eun-ah, who had once danced naked on the beaches of Phi Phi, studied fashion in Tokyo, and backpacked in Europe, was no match for the powers that be; had been bought and paid for by her fiancé, with his promise of a Mercedes and a year in Paris. I will learn to love him she told Harry, who until just a moment ago, had been the love of her life.
Originally from LaSalle, Illinois, Jeffrey Miller has been living and teaching in Asia since 1989. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in A-Minor Magazine, The Artful Dodge, Bartleby Snopes, The Camel Saloon, Full of Crow, Grey Sparrow Journal, Magnolia’s Press, Negative Suck, and Orion headless.