Motion out of the corner of his eye made Noah look up. The maitre'd strode purposefully in his direction, a woman walking directly behind him, and Noah felt cold nerves prickle down his spine, take up residence in his stomach. When he saw for certain that his table was the goal, Noah rose to his feet.
May Paik was tiny. That was the first thing he noticed; smaller even than Jae-Mi, and she moved with a smooth grace. Standing there, he felt like a giant, big and clumsy in comparison. Julia had been far closer to his height. He couldn't really tell her age, but there were faint lines at the corners of her eyes that put her possibly mid-thirties. That was a relief. She was really quite lovely, creamy pale skin and dark uptilted eyes; Asian, though he couldn't tell whether she was Chinese or Korean or Japanese. It didn't matter; she was beautiful, irregardless of where she or her family had originated. Her hair shone blue-black in the light.
He made his mouth smile, and hoped it didn't look as strained as he felt. Holding out his hand for her to shake, he said with surprising ease, "Hello. I'm Noah Browning, and you must be May Paik."