“Ah.  Oh my Gosh!  What in the world!”  You yell out.  You cover your face with your hands.

“Come on.  It’s not that bad.  Let’s just take it a little at a time,” Kai says, placing his hand on your neck.  His touch is warm and gentle, contrasting to his husky voice.  In different circumstances, you think you would have shied away from his touch considering your neck is a very ticklish area.  However, now you welcomed the contact and liked the way it felt.

“Now say it.”  Kai’s voice is firmer now, demanding your obedience.  He grabs one of your wrists and pulls your hand away from your face.

You bite your lip.  Why is it so hard?  I always thought I would be good at this.  I guess I was wrong, you think.  You stare at the Korean sentence that Kai wrote in your study book.  He sits next to you at the table in the kitchen.  He’s massaging the back of your neck, postponing the on-coming headache.

Kai and you have been going out for about a year now and you live together in this apartment in the middle of the city.  You can speak Korean pretty well; learning all you know from dramas, variety shows and music.  However, reading and writing it is a totally different story.  You your lips and stare at the writing in front of you. 

“Kang…”

Kai stifles a laugh and turns his head away.

“What?” you whine.  “I only said one word.”

“I’m sorry, Jakiya.  It’s just that we’ve been through this a hundred times.  It may look like the letter “C,” but it’s a “D” sound.  So it’s said “Dang.””  He pats you on the head like a little kid.

Oh yeah, you think to yourself.  I always get that mixed up.  You sigh heavily and push the notebook away.  Standing up, you walk over to the glass door that leads to the balcony of your apartment.  It’s just after 10 so the sky is pitch-black, but clear enough to show the stars that manage to outshine the lights of the city.  You cross your arms over your chest.

“Oh come on, don’t be mad.”  You hear the legs of Kai’s chair scrap against the floor.

“I’m not mad,” you say quietly.  You’re not.  It’s just that your brain needs a break.  You slid open the door and step outside.  The air is cool, but comfortable with you wearing your sweatpants and tee shirt.  The wind blows your hair from your shoulders, refreshing your mind.

You feel Kai wrapping his arms around your waist.  He pulls you close and lays his head on your shoulder.  He starts rocking your body from side to side.  Your muscles relax as you rest your hands on his. 

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to laugh at you.  You’re just so cute when you are concentrating.  You squint your eyes a bit and your eyebrows knit together.  You were so serious.  It was adorable.”  He squeezes you a bit tighter.

“I don’t know why this is so hard for me.  I thought I would be good at this.”  You hear an unintentional hint of a whine in your voice.  Okay, maybe it was intentional.

“I know, Yeobo.  It’s hard right now, but you’ll get it.”  He takes your hand and raises it to his face.  He runs his lips over your skin and kisses your fingertips.  You close your eyes and focus on his touch.  He takes your other hand enlaces his fingers with yours.  The swaying continues as your head falls back onto his shoulder and you fall completely limp in his arms.  A cool wind brushes across your face bringing the scent of roses from the apartment above yours.

After several moments of absolute bliss, you feel Kai’s lips on your neck; that very ticklish spot where he knows is your weakness.  “Kai,” you say, aloud.  He hums an acknowledgment while continuing in his endeavor.  “I have to go to work soon.”  As much as you wanted this moment to go on forever, you worked third shift and had to be at work in an hour.

Kai acts like he didn’t hear you and continues on.  He kisses your neck, making your breath catch.  “Kai, please.  I have to get ready for work.”

“Fine,” he says reluctantly.  He lets you go and backs away.  You turn around and face his disappointed eyes.

“I’m sorry.  But you really should be getting some sleep anyway.  You’ve been spending a lot of time at the studio lately.  You need your rest.”  You run your fingers along his cheek and give him a quick kiss.  Then you walk over to the table and start gathering up your study things.

“What time do you get off?”  He asks leaning against the still open door of the balcony.

“7.”  You look at the sentence he wrote in you notebook.

“Okay.  Well I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”  He comes over, gives you a quick back hug and a kiss on the temple before heading back to the bedroom.

“Goodnight,” you call after him.

“Night.”

You keep looking at the sentence now.  Looking at the clock, it reads 10:24.  I have enough time to give this another go.  You stare at the characters, trying to remember everything Kai has taught you.  Well, if the first syllable is “Dang” looks like the second is “Sin” and the third is “Eun.”  So it’s Dangsineun.

You focus on the sentence and take it a little at a time like Kai said.  It says, “당신은 나에게 세상에서 가장 중요한 사랑이다!”  Dangsineun naegea saesangaeso gajang jongyohan sarangida.

You finally figured it out.  You repeat the English translation to yourself out loud.  “You are the most important person in the world to me.”

Your heart skips a beat.  You look at the door to yours and Kai’s bedroom.  You walk back a peek in the door.  Kai has taken off his shirt and is lying in bed with his back to the door.  You walk in and lay down behind him and wrap your arm around his body.

He half turns to look at you.  “Why aren’t you going to work?” he asks.

“I’ll call in for the night.  I have better things to do.”

“Really?  What do you need to do?”

“I need to fall asleep with my boyfriend who has bad handwriting, but beautiful words.” 

“You figured it out.”  You can hear that he is smiling at you.  He rolls onto his back and positions you to lay on his chest.  He kisses you on the head.  “I’m proud of you.”

You smile to yourself and listen to Kai’s heartbeat until you both fall asleep and dream of clear nights skies, cool breezes and beautiful words.