"He's a spy."

Ayane was holding her frozen coffee as we froze our butts off outside on the patio. We'd just closed up, 5 o'clock on the dot, and were enjoying a little time with our friends sitting at the picnic tables. Or, I was enjoying it.

She held up her finger like she was right, pointing it at the sky and then at us. "I bet you he is. He's been in all of our shops, even Miyuki's."

Miyuki nodded vigorously to confirm this, her arms crossed in front of her. 

"He tried to come into my live house, too," Hiran noted under his breath. "We were closed. Why would he try to come in?"

"Right!" Ayane said, using this as another point. "Why would he do that? I bet he's doing research for them. Seeing who we are."

I had to speak up. I'd been thinking about him all day, so much so that I couldn't concentrate. When I'd come back from Yuko's, he wasn't in French Cup. It had made me pause at the door, desperately hoping that I'd overlooked him, but that wasn't possible. His usual place next to the door had been empty, too. Immediately, my eyes went to our chocolate shelf. He hadn't been there either, another feeling like someone was punching me in the gut. 

I'd served customers, cleaned tables and then the windows. I'd gone outside to clean our big show window, hoping he'd maybe tap me on the shoulder and I could turn around and... And what exactly? 

I'd been lost in myself. We hadn't even known each other that long, but we'd bonded... It only confirmed my fears that he must have been at the hotel all day, helping with the wedding and whatever else came after. Supporting that machine, being a part of it. Part of me knew that he probably couldn't get away from it. That he must want to come to French Cup. But, really, why was I assuming? Maybe I'd been wrong, and what Ayane was saying now was true.

"He's not Korean James Bond," I said, quieter than Hiran had been. 

Nikki's hand went on my shoulder, wiggling it a bit. "Snap out of it. Maybe he is. We don't know him. People are good actors."

I shook my head. "It doesn't make any sense. He came to Drag Bingo. He helped us bury the cat. Why would he do that if he's acting?"

"People do weird things when they'd being pressured," Ayane continued. "I just can't figure out what kind of information he'd be trying to get. It's suspicious, I said it before. Why would someone like him suddenly be coming around so much?"

"It does make sense," Hiran agreed with her, stroking his beard in thought. "He doesn't fit in with us."

"Yesterday, he was in French Cup and directed a hotel guest to go to Starbucks instead," Miyuki mentioned. 

"Okay, that's really not fair," I said quickly. "You know what the situation was. He wasn't trying to drive away business. She was causing a problem and he was trying to get rid of her. You saw-"

"Was he, though? Think about it. He could have calmed her down and got her to be a customer."

"Miyuki..." I sighed. Was she really turning traitor after complimenting him yesterday? After liking him that much? 

I thought we could all be friends, but it was going so wrong. 

"Maybe that's what it is," Ayane said, holding her coffee like she was making to take a drink. "He's trying to research our businesses so that he can find other businesses in the area that the guests will like, that will suit them better." She moved her coffee cup away again as she got more into it. "Such as him directing that woman to a Starbucks. That seems like the kind of place they'd like more."

"Ayane..." I sighed again. 

Some of what she was saying was tragically making sense. But, one thing didn't. Nikki's face was screwed up just like mine, and he said it before me.

"Why would he do that, though? I know we always say that places like the hotel have a vendetta against our neighborhood, but why would they actually do that? It doesn't make any sense."

Ayane was taking a sip, and she smacked her lips in the taste. "For exactly the reason why that other woman was in my shop. I already suspected, and then she showed up at French Cup. That's the day Gyeong-Wan showed up, right? It's pretty obvious to me. They don't want their guests going into gay owned places. A lot of us have flags up. They'd been having problems with us for the past week or so, and then Gyeong-Wan shows up? Starts going to all of our businesses? How does this not make sense to you?" She put her cup on the table in finality. "He's trying to figure out what our businesses are all about so that the hotel can tell them to avoid us, to go to similar businesses that they won't have a problem with."

I hated how much sense it made. I found myself shaking my head, despite it.

"I can't believe this," Nikki muttered, his hand going into a fist on his knee next to me.

It sounded like just a conspiracy theory. Something she was pulling out of the air as we were talking, coming to her own conclusions. Maybe that's all it was. 

I wanted to go back to how it was before he'd told us he worked at the hotel. We'd been becoming maybe even friends. He was in French Cup every day. He'd freely told us he worked at the hotel. If he were a spy, why wouldn't he be secretive? But, no one else from the hotel had visited any of us. Not that we knew of. He stuck out like a sore thumb, because he was always wearing suits. But, there was that one day when he showed up in a sweater and jeans. It had to have been his day off. Why would he come to French Cup on his day off, then?

The more I tried to dismantle it, it did fall apart. But, was I making it fall apart, just like how I'd avoided the possibility of him working at the hotel in the first place? I had no real answers. 

And that's all this was, too. It wasn't real, what she was saying. It was speculation, absolutely. They were working themselves up. I wanted to say that maybe he wasn't so evil. Maybe he wasn't evil at all. He was too kind. The memory of him beside me in the dirt, carefully taking it and putting it in a pile, focused on his task even though the wet dirt had been freezing. Trying so hard, when he didn't know any of us. It didn't make any sense in that perspective. 

They were coming to their own conclusions. They were still discussing as I was lost in my thoughts. Coming up with more seemingly disturbing incidents, bringing up examples from others. But, just like Miyuki had skewed our interaction yesterday to fit the narrative, I wondered if these were twisted, too. Building up a case against someone we'd all liked just a day ago. Someone we'd been trying to impress.

But, that betrayal. What if they were right in some way? We'd been trying to impress him, and now... What if...

I sat there, pointing my face up to the stars. It was a clear night, the sky so striking due to that clarity. Hoping for snow, if only for a distraction. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. But inside, my doubts were those clouds instead. Trying to convince me, just like Ayane. But, something in my selfish heart was denying, trying so hard to deny it, to say no. 

"His name isn't James Bond," I said. They all stopped talking, paying attention to me. I wasn't done. My hands went up. "Maybe we give him time. I'm sure he'll come back tomorrow. I want to talk to him more, to figure him out. We can't just make assumptions."

Ayane sighed at me. "Maybe you're too young, but you need to realize there's people out there that don't like us. We live in a bubble, in this neighborhood. Sometimes, our sense of security is lowered. I think this is a warning of what's to come. They're so cold to us. They have been all year. Not even the workers who were building it came to our businesses. Now, Gyeong-Wan is. You have to see how it's highly suspicious."

Something in me didn't want her to even say his name.

Hiran's finger was on his chin as he broke his previous thoughtful stare. "I remember how it used to be. This neighborhood didn't used to be as friendly. Now, it's likely happening again. Things are moving along. I didn't want to believe it, but it appears to be. Maybe..." He stroked his beard again, thinking more. "Maybe we need to have a meeting about this. Everyone in the neighborhood who's on our side. I see him coming around, especially when my business is closed, as a threat. I hate to put it that way, but it is true. You younger ones don't understand it. There's people out there who don't like us. I think these 'Karens', as you call them, are a good example of how the neighborhood is changing. It was happening before the hotel was built, and you know it. Now that it's finished, there's going to be even more. They aren't just Karens, sweetie." He was talking to me now, trying to make a point, but I couldn't listen. "They're just people who aren't like us. I know this 'Karen' word is a buzz word that you younger ones like to use. Honey, Karens don't exist in that regard. They're just people who don't like us. We call them homophobic. Do you get what I'm saying, honey? ...Okay?" His fingertips were touching my knee now, trying to get me to see it his way.

I swallowed. Unsure what to do. There wasn't any possible way that Gyeong-Wan was as he described. Maybe those women had been, but not Gyeong-Wan. He couldn't be anything like what he was describing. 

...Could he? 

To please them, to make them stop talking to me like this, trying to prevent the clouds from forming in my body, I nodded. I looked down at the frozen ground, and I nodded. He removed his hand.

Around me, they started talking about gathering the neighborhood to talk about this growing problem. I sat there, my knees tightly together as I worried. They talked long into the night in the freezing cold. All the while, the lights of the Modern shone practically above us, across the street from the patio, partially blocked by our fencing, but still there. So big, looming. But, somewhere, in that big, intimidating hotel, was Gyeong-Wan. Somehow, thinking about him there, the cold lights seemed to be a little warmer.