Yuzu

几位？(How many?)

就一位，吧台就行。(Just one. Counter is fine.)

不好意思，今晚单独来的客人只能站位。(Sorry, standing room only for solo guests tonight.)

Cool. Great. A speakeasy that you had to Xiaohongshu, by the way, that doesn't even have a sign, that made you walk up a staircase that smells like fifteen different colognes, doesn't have room for you. On a Saturday. Standing room only for solo guests. What does that even mean. Who is coming to a speakeasy in a group. The whole point is that it's supposed to be lowkey. Whatever.

This has been the whole week though. Monday your pitch died. Wednesday a client just stopped answering. Hinge is Hinge. And now a bar you didn't even want to go to that badly is telling you no. At some point you'd think the universe would get bored of this bit.

You're not going back to the hotel. You've ordered the same room service pasta three nights in a row and eaten it on the bed watching CNBC Asia.

Fuck that.

You keep walking down the street filled with neon lights.

And then Leo's. Warm yellow light, people, jazz through the glass. A girl at the counter by the window.

You go in.

The woman behind the bar spots you and smiles like you're the person she's been waiting for all night. It catches you off guard. You weren't expecting anyone to be happy to see you tonight.

"Just one?" she asks.

"Yeah. Just one."

She leads you to the counter, pulls out the stool on the left, gestures. You sit.

The woman from the window is right next to you. Of course she is.

She's on her phone. Up close she's worse. Not worse. Whatever the opposite of worse is. You forget what you were going to order. You forget you were going to order. She doesn't look up and you're honestly grateful because you need a second to get your shit together.

The bartender says something in Korean to her, voice warm and quick. She looks up. Looks at you. Then at the bartender. Something passes between them in about four seconds, and then she gives the bartender a look that could freeze a drink.

You don't speak Korean. You don't need to. Two women just had a conversation about you and arrived at opposite conclusions, and you're pretty sure you lost.

What you don't catch: 언니, 나 옆에 왜 앉혔어. 우리 둘이 보내는 날이라며. (Unnie, why did you seat him next to me. This was supposed to be our night.)

What the bartender says back, already moving away: 잠깐만 봐. 귀엽잖아. (Just look at him. He's cute.)

She watches her go. Looks back at her phone. Her jaw tightens.

You look at the menu. You speak three languages. Not one of them helps you figure out what a smoked plum fizz is supposed to taste like. You put it down.

You glance sideways because she's right there and you're not thinking about it. "What's good here?"

She looks up. Looks at you properly for the first time and it hits you somewhere stupid. Like right behind your ribs.

"The yuzu sour," she says. Like you should already know this.

"Okay. That."

She goes back to her phone. You face forward. The bartender is polishing a glass that's already clean. She's watching.

The yuzu sour arrives. You take a sip and your face does something involuntary because holy shit that is sour.

"You made a face," the woman next to you says. Still looking at her phone.

"It's sour."

"It's a sour."

You take another sip. Still sour. Also really good. "Fair point."

She puts her phone down. Turns to look at you fully and you get the whole version of her all at once and your brain just goes quiet for a second.

"You've never had a yuzu sour before?" she says.

"I've had sours."

"That's not what I asked."

"No. First time."

She nods like this confirms something she already suspected about you. Picks up her own drink. Puts her phone in her bag.

"How'd you find this place?"

"Got rejected from a speakeasy up the street."

"Which one?"

"Speak Low."

"You went to Speak Low by yourself on a Saturday?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"It's one of the most popular bars in Shanghai."

"I'm learning that."

"On a Saturday."

"You said that already."

"Because it bears repeating."

"In my defense, the internet said it was a hidden gem."