The flight landed on Jeju Island in the morning, just as the sun was peeking from the horizon, its rays painting the skies with rosy hues. As the airport’s automatic glass doors slid opened, the scent of fresh blooms welcomed Ji Won and Je Hoon, the warm breeze of spring hugging their bodies. Something about that moment – perhaps it was the weather, perhaps it was the long distance away from home – bestowed upon Ji Won a sense of nervous anticipation, one that sparked butterflies in her stomach. Perhaps it was Je Hoon, her only company…

It was a short taxi ride to the conference venue. As they entered the site, they donned their lanyards around their necks, the plastic pouch holding their guest passes. The interior was arranged simply with a stage for the speakers, and seats in front for the audience. With Ji Won following beside him, Je Hoon was ushered to his allocated seat on the stage, between a Chinese epidemiologist and an Australian public health officer.

There was one hour remaining until the event’s commencement. During this time, Ji Won stood beside Je Hoon, who was seated, as the two introduced themselves to the other speakers on stage. As according to the IAI protocol, they scanned their clients’ speech transcripts once more, searching for any unfamiliar terms they had previously missed.

“Good luck”, Ji Won wished him when their on-site preparation was completed.

“You too, but you don’t need it.”

***

There was a 30-minute-long afternoon tea break prior to the last session of the day. Refreshments such as coffee, tea and bite-sized desserts were made available just outside the function room, where people began to gather.

Still on stage, Je Hoon shuffled his notes into a neat pile then finished his third bottle of water. He made his way over to the refreshment area while scanning the venue for Ji Won. When he found her, he stood a close distance away and watched her as she translated between two groups of medical researchers. Her improvement was undeniable, her ability to translate was now natural and fluent, but accurate at the same time. To him, Ji Won was no longer his intern, but a colleague, a professional. He couldn’t care less about women who were beautiful or rich, but he had a weakness for intelligent women. And right now, that woman was standing right in front of him. She was slowly bewitching him, and she didn’t even know it.

When Ji Won finished her conversation, Je Hoon gently grabbed her forearm and ushered her to his seat on the stage. Then from behind her, he said: “You take the last session.”

“What?! No, I-”

“Ji Won, believe in yourself.” His voice was gentle, reassuring, immediately sweeping all her concerns away. She stared down at the transcripts for the upcoming speeches in front of her. She had read them over a thousand times, translated them in front him over a thousand times. And at that moment, her nerves disappeared. She took comfort in the fact that Je Hoon, the interpretation genius, trusted a mere intern like her.

Je Hoon leant down so that his face levelled beside hers. He spread his hands on the table in front of them, locking her in between as the warmth of his body spread to her backside.

“Be careful of these words, especially the pronunciation.” He advised her, underlining chemical terms such as ‘dithiothreitol’ and ‘bismaleimidoethane’ with a ballpoint pen. She nodded, trying to ignore the other distractions he presented to her. But the invisible barrier she had temporarily put up between them came collapsing down as soon as he turned to her, his face so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. She didn’t dare move.

Je Hoon noticed a red glow blossoming on Ji Won's cheeks. In an attempt to hide herself from him, she lifted her hand to free the wisps of hair tucked behind her ear so that they will fall to the side of her face. But instead, he shifted his gaze down to her neck. Blame it on his manly instincts, but an overwhelming urge to plant his mark there overcame him, a mark that would signify that she belonged to him and him only. And it took every ounce of self-discipline within him to walk off the stage away from her.