One morning,
my daughter and I were sitting by the window
at our favorite café,
each holding an Americano.
“I don’t think
the restaurant has opened yet,”
I said.
The night before,
my daughter had asked
if we should make a reservation.
I was too sleepy to look into it.
“Let’s talk about it
tomorrow morning,”
I had said.
But before going to bed,
I searched for it
just once.
One blog post suggested
it still wasn’t
officially open.
My daughter smiled.
“No,”
she said.
“I think it is.”
Looking for an Answer
“What does a soft opening mean?”
she asked.
“It usually means
the restaurant hasn’t officially opened yet,”
I said.
We picked up our phones
and started searching.
One listing
showed business hours,
as if the restaurant
were already open.
But the reservation link
led us to the chef’s previous restaurant,
which was marked
as closed.
Nothing quite matched.
So we kept searching.
Then
we found beautiful photos
and glowing reviews.
“Maybe those people were invited
before the opening,”
I said.
“Maybe,”
my daughter replied.
“They probably wrote those posts
to help promote it.”
“That would make sense,”
she replied.
A moment later,
she smiled again.
“It says
the chef bought the building
for 3.3 billion won.”
“He must have done well.
He’s been on TV a lot
and filmed
so many commercials.
Running a restaurant alone
doesn’t usually earn money
that quickly.”
Then
she found another article.
“They’re hiring
a wine sommelier.”
Maybe that’s
what happened.
Maybe this
explains it.
Maybe that’s
why.
Mid-point
We kept putting
the pieces together.
Another Story Begins
Then
I paused.
“I don’t think
we’re the only ones
doing this,”
I said.
“There are probably
lots of people
trying to figure it out,
just like us.
Maybe everyone
is waiting
for reservations to open.
Maybe they’ll disappear
within minutes,
just like
his previous restaurant.”
My daughter nodded.
Then
she opened
another page.
“What about this place?”
she asked.
It was another
well-known Italian restaurant.
The reservation calendar
was clear.
The menu
was easy to find.
There were
plenty of reviews.
Everything
was right there.
For a moment,
I realized
how quickly
our minds had tried to fill
every empty space
with a story.
Not because
we wanted to.
Because
we didn’t like
not knowing.
So our minds
quietly
filled in the blanks.
We looked at each other.
“Let’s think about it
a little more.”
We closed our phones.
We still didn’t know
whether we would
visit either restaurant.
But somehow,
our morning
already felt complete.
