Mrs. Prada knockoffs

I was wandering through Myeongdong Alley and entered a restaurant with two friends. We each ordered different food. Before we even started eating, the waitress gave me a receipt for the meal. As I took the receipt and placed it next to me, my friend sitting across from me said 

“Give me that.”

“Why? Let's just leave it here and eat.”

“Give it to me. I don't feel comfortable with you holding the receipt and I can't eat comfortably.”

“I should pay, I didn't bring any gifts.”

My friend snatched the receipt from me. 

'She can only eat comfortably if she holds the receipt herself,' my friend's words from time to time hit my heart. 

I have never brought gifts for friends when I go to Korea. I hate shopping, I don't know what they like, and I think I'd end up bringing trash to them. Instead, I always try to pay for their meals, but sometimes they don't allow me to do that either. 

When I first visited Seoul after coming to the U.S., my friend's husband said in a sarcastic tone,

“How can you come here empty-handed?”

Maybe it was because of that sound? I never brought a gift, no matter what the criticism, and it became a habit. It's also because I don't like giving and receiving. Even when I visit Korea and return, I don't bring a pair of socks. I don't want to pack another bag other than the one I drag onto the plane. I don't have time to shop and I don't want to buy anything. I can buy simple, well-designed clothes cheaper in New York. Also I don’t bring Korean food to New York. Will eating better quality Korean food make me healthier? Peace of mind comes first. 

“Mom, do you like brand names too?”

I don't know what my sons question means

“Why?”

“Because you wear Prada shoes.”

“Prada? Are these Prada shoes? Last time I was in Korea, I bought a pair of shoes for 30,000 won at a shoe store in front of Hongdae because the design was so nice. Are they fake Prada?”

“I thought it was real. “Because you wear them, It doesn’t look fake.”

A thought briefly crossed my mind that it would be better to wear a 30,000 won counterfeit piece and live comfortably than to have the course of my life change depending on whether it is real or fake, like Maupassant's ‘pearl necklace’.