Infinite Cashback System

Jordan pulled into the parking lot of Gogi House at 6:43 PM.

The restaurant occupied a converted warehouse space in Costa Mesa, all exposed brick and industrial lighting mixed with traditional Korean design elements. Floor-to-ceiling windows revealed a packed dining room where smoke rose from tabletop grills and servers in black uniforms navigated between booths with practiced grace. The parking lot held an impressive collection of luxury vehicles, BMWs and Mercedes and a bright red Porsche that probably cost more than Jordan’s entire education.

His Honda Civic looked distinctly out of place.

Jordan checked his phone one last time before getting out.

The group chat had exploded during his drive from Iron Coast. Kumiko had sent seventeen messages documenting her outfit selection process, complete with photographs of rejected options and detailed explanations for why each had failed to meet her standards. Chloe had responded with a single thumbs up emoji. Lila had sent a voice memo that Jordan had not listened to but suspected contained complaints about her car situation.

Brooke had sent nothing.

Which was either reassuring or concerning, depending on how one interpreted silence from a socially anxious genius.

Jordan spotted her immediately upon entering the restaurant.

Brooke Hastings sat on a bench near the hostess stand, her posture rigid enough to suggest she had been frozen in carbonite. Her long black hair fell past her shoulders in waves that she had clearly attempted to style, though several strands had escaped to frame her face in ways that looked accidentally perfect. She wore a cream-colored blouse that buttoned to her throat and a long navy skirt that fell to her ankles, an outfit that screamed "I dressed to disappear" while simultaneously failing to hide the figure that made disappearing impossible.

Her crimson eyes were fixed on her phone, but Jordan could tell she was not actually reading anything.

She was waiting for someone to arrive so she would not have to sit alone anymore.

"Brooke."

Her head snapped up.

"Jordan." Relief flooded her face before she could suppress it. "You’re here. That’s good. I arrived at 6:45 as you specified, but then I realized you said 7:00, which means I’m fifteen minutes early, which is excessive, but I couldn’t determine the optimal arrival time because I’ve never attended a social dinner with this many variables and I was concerned about traffic patterns affecting my commute despite living only eight minutes away, so I left early to account for potential delays that didn’t materialize, and now I’ve been sitting here for twelve minutes watching people eat and wondering if I should have brought a book or if reading at a restaurant entrance would be considered socially inappropriate, which I suspect it would be, but I wasn’t sure, and—"

"Brooke."

She stopped.

"You’re doing great."

Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.

"I am?"

"You showed up. You’re dressed. You’re not visibly panicking." Jordan offered her a small smile. "That’s three for three. We’re already winning."

Something in her shoulders loosened.

"I researched appropriate attire for Korean barbecue establishments." She stood, her hands smoothing her skirt in a nervous gesture. "The consensus was smart casual, but definitions of smart casual vary significantly across sources, so I attempted to find the intersection of multiple recommendations while accounting for the demographic likely to frequent a restaurant at this price point, and—"

"You look good."

The words stopped her mid-sentence.

Brooke’s face flushed a deep pink that spread from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. Her crimson eyes dropped to the floor, then darted to his face, then returned to the floor.

"Oh. Thank you. That’s. Yes. Thank you."

Jordan checked his watch.

6:47 PM.

Chloe and Kumiko would arrive soon, and then the real challenge would begin. Introducing Brooke to his girlfriends felt like introducing a lamb to wolves, except the lamb was secretly a supercomputer and the wolves were a K-pop idol and an anime character brought to life.

"I made reservations for a private booth." Jordan gestured toward the hostess stand. "Let’s get seated before the others arrive."

Brooke nodded with visible relief.

The hostess, a young woman in a traditional hanbok modified for restaurant service, led them through the main dining room toward the back. Jordan caught several heads turning as they passed, eyes tracking Brooke’s figure with the kind of attention that made her shrink into herself. She walked slightly behind him, using his body as a shield against the unwanted gazes.

The private booth occupied a corner of the restaurant, separated from the main floor by sliding wooden screens that created the illusion of isolation. A circular table dominated the center, surrounded by cushioned bench seating. The tabletop grill sat unlit, awaiting the arrival of raw meat and the fire that would transform it.

Brooke sat immediately, positioning herself in the corner where two walls met.

Maximum protection from multiple angles.

Jordan understood.

"Water?" The hostess filled two glasses without waiting for a response. "Your server will be with you shortly. Would you like to order drinks while you wait for your party?"

"Just water for now." Jordan glanced at Brooke, who nodded rapidly. "We’ll wait for the others."

The hostess departed.

Silence settled over the booth.

Brooke’s fingers found the edge of the menu, tracing the laminated surface with repetitive strokes that betrayed her anxiety. Her crimson eyes scanned the room, cataloging exits and potential threats and the faces of every server within visual range.

"How was your day?" Jordan asked.

The question seemed to short-circuit something in her brain.

"My day?" She blinked rapidly. "I. Well. I attended my Advanced Physics lecture at 9:00 AM, which covered relativistic quantum mechanics, a topic I’ve already studied extensively but found useful for identifying gaps in my knowledge. Then I completed the assigned problem sets for my Biomedical Engineering course, though the problems were relatively straightforward and only required four hours instead of my estimated six. After lunch, I reorganized my filing system for Nova Network financial documents because the previous alphabetical organization was suboptimal for quick reference, and I developed a new categorical system based on document type, date range, and relevance to ongoing projects. Then I spent two hours researching Korean barbecue etiquette because I was concerned about making social errors during this dinner, and I discovered that the youngest person at the table is traditionally responsible for tending the grill, which creates a problem because I don’t know everyone’s ages and I’m concerned about making assumptions, and—"

"Brooke."

She stopped.

"You can just say ’fine.’"