JOOHYUN

She was awake by 8 AM.  Unfortunately everyone else wasn’t.

Maybe he’s still sleeping. Should I call?

After 15 minutes of indecision she pressed the call button.

He answered after one ring.

“Good morning Joohyun. Are you ready to go? Shall I pick you up now?”

Her heart started hammering.  All her life only 1 person has ever called her Joohyun. Her father – when he was upset with her. She was always called Hyun, Hyunnie or Seo (by her high school friends). But Yonghwa made her name sound really pretty. Stealing a look at herself in the vanity mirror, she hoped that she looked presentable enough in Yoona’s leaf green sweater.

‘Hello Joohyun? Can you hear me?”

“Ah, yes, I called to say that I’m ready. Everyone’s still asleep here though.” Joohyun got up carefully from the bed so as not to wake Yoona.

“You can just leave a note and lock the door. I’ll be there in less than 5 minutes. See you.” he said.

Joohyun realized that the entire conversation with Yonghwa was carried out in English. Again.

Pulling out her the little sticky note pad that she always carried with her, she made a note to Yoona thanking her for the wonderful visit and that she would see her again really soon. She signed it with a heart and kissing the note put it next to Yoona’s mobile.

Quietly slipping out of the house, Joohyun waited for Yonghwa on the street. She didn’t have to wait very long – a red Honda stopped in front of her.

“Let’s go!”  He said as he got out of the car.

When they looked at each other they started laughing.  They were both wearing green sweaters.

“Ha-ha! Did we talk about this?” Yonghwa said in English as he came up to her. He was wearing a hunter green cable knit and dark denim pants.

“I should really try to speak Korean more. You’re not helping!” Joohyun said.

He was standing on road and she was standing on the sidewalk so she was almost up to his eye level. She had to pull back as he leaned closer to her face. She willed herself not to blush.

“You will speak it in no time.  No need to hurry” he said as he smiled mischievously at her.

He took her elbow and led her to the car and opened the passenger door for her.

“We can talk in English until we reach Seoul how’s that? Then we’ll have breakfast and talk in Korean.” He smiled as he started the car.

“Op-pa.” She stammered. “Your seatbelt.”

When he heard her say Oppa, he smiled so sweetly that Joohyun had to look away.

The ride was short for her.  They talked about their experiences during their high school life in the USA. They discovered that they both loved gogumas and had a good laugh because they both always made their relatives buy it from Asian produce markets.  Yonghwa learned that while Joohyun was hesitant in speaking Korean she was very good in reading it and that she’d read a lot of Korean novels. Joohyun learned that Yonghwa played the piano although he hadn’t had much practice lately and preferred the guitar.  He promised to give her guitar lessons – this made her heart flutter since it meant they would see each other again.

“Where do you want to eat breakfast?” Yonghwa asked her.

“Uhm… not so familiar with eating places yet.” Joohyun said.  Just then her stomach made a growling noise. Yonghwa started to laugh and she joined in.

Yonghwa took her to a tiny restaurant near SKKU Seoul that offered rice porridge. He ordered jeeonbokjuk (abalone and rice) while Joohyun ordered dakjuk (chicken and rice).

“Okay now we’ll speak Korean” Yonghwa said to her.

He was patient while she thought out her answers in Korean.  He corrected her gently and laughed when she used the wrong word or intonation. Overall Joohyun had a wonderful time having breakfast with Yonghwa. She knew that he wanted to make her as comfortable with him as possible and she was grateful for that.

“Want to walk?” Yonghwa asked her as they stepped out of the restaurant.  She nodded and smiled up at him.

They walked around and since there were a lot of people Joohyun tried to stick as close to Yonghwa as possible. She didn’t want to get lost.  She was looking at some trinkets when she lost her footing and stumbled. Yongh