~Chapter TWENTY-ONE~

“I’m Andrea,” Andrea said, introducing herself with a slight bow to the four people in front of her. She was still trying to figure out some of the more specific parts of Korean etiquette, and introductions, though Andrea had been doing quite a bit of them over the past week, were still a little awkward for her. She could only hope that the people she was introducing herself to didn’t notice how uncomfortable she was; or, if they did notice, they understood why she was having trouble.

“I’m Min,” one of the girls said, in perfect English. extending her hand to Andrea instead of bowing. “You’re from LA, right?”

Andrea, recovering from the shock of meeting someone fluent in English, took Min’s hand and shook it lightly, giving her a nod in answer. Whenever she had met someone in Korea who wanted to shake hands, Andrea always shook lighter than she would have if she had been back home. Everyone seemed so much more delicate here than back home, especially the women, and Andrea really didn’t want to break or scare them.

“I’m Fei,” a second girl said, stepping forward to offer her hand. The other two stepped forward as well, introducing themselves as Suzy and Jia. They introduced themselves in Korean, but Andrea had already assumed that most of the conversation would go through translators, who stood behind Andrea, prepared to work.

Andrea felt a little guilty that she couldn’t speak Korean, as it put the girls, Miss A, into a difficult position, trying to communicate with their new back up dancers almost exclusively through translators. Andrea really didn’t mind, but since they were the seniors in this business, Andrea felt that she should have to accommodate to them, not the other way around. But right now, the only thing Andrea was able to do was do as she was told, as soon as she was told, and to make sure her crew did so as well, without complaining.

“Did you meet our choreographer?” Min asked Andrea. Obviously since Min could speak English, her bandmates had given her the job of communicating simple phrases to Andrea.

Andrea nodded. “We’ve learned the dance, but it’ll be different dancing with you guys. Girls, that is.”

Min laughed. “Don’t worry about the American slang. I understand the ‘guys’ thing, and they won’t be offended by it.” Min motioned to her fellow members, who were stretching, preparing for the day’s dance practice.

Andrea nodded. It was definitely nice to have someone fluent in American English—and slang—in the group. Andrea had already had one moment with a group of young Korean girls in which she called them “guys,” and they had seemed very confused, as well as a little offended.

The girl that had introduced herself as Fei grabbed Min’s arm suddenly and half-whispered something to Min, in a language that Andrea knew, despite her lack of experience with the language, was not Korean. It sounded like Chinese, but Andrea wasn’t going to assume.

When Fei had finished speaking, Min turned back to Andrea, a smile on her face. “She says your voice and accent are really pretty.”

Andrea turned slightly to Fei and bowed slightly, mumbling her thanks. Maybe working with these girls wouldn’t be so bad.

-           -           -           -

“You want me to what?”

“Help me learn Korean,” Andrea answered.

“You do know that I’m not fluent in it myself,” Jay replied, turning the meat he was cooking for the two of them on a grill in between the two of them. He had called Andrea a few days before, asking her if she wanted to have some “real” Korean food. Andrea had agreed, but was surprised to be brought to a small, outdoor grill of sorts, where Jay plopped her down, ordered some meat and drinks, and began grilling the food himself on a small grill.

“But you’re definitely good at it.”

“I’ll take that compliment,” Jay said with a smile, pointing at her with the chopsticks he was using. “But I don’t know how good I’d be at teaching it. Learning was a struggle at first.”

“I’m used to struggling,” Andrea insisted. There was no way she was going to take no for an answer. She was just too stubborn. Plus, she had realized that the only person she’d feel even remotely comfortable with as a Korean teacher would be Jay.

Jay looked up at Andrea, a smile on his face. “You’re cute when you’re angry,” he told her before he went back to focusing on what Andrea now recognized as pork.

“Thanks, but don’t think I’m giving up just because you said that,” Andrea warned.

Jay didn’t reply, instead he started dishing out the pieces of finished pork between he and Andrea.

“Please?” Andrea asked.

Jay still didn’t answer. He was too busy tasting the pork by off the leftover juice from the chopsticks.

“Jay….” Andrea knew she was starting to sound whiny, but she really wanted this to happen, so she didn’t care.

“Try this,” Jay told her, picking up a piece of the pork and holing it up for her to eat.

Andrea instinctively leaned forward to eat what she was served, but suddenly jerked back. “You those chopsticks, didn’t you?” she asked.

Jay rolled his eyes, smirking a little. He hadn’t known she didn’t like sharing food. “You going to let that stop you?”

“I don’t know where your mouth has been,” Andrea retorted, her nose wrinkling as she looked him over, hoping that somewhere on his t shirt or jeans there would be some indication as to where he had been and what he had been eating or putting in his mouth. Realizing something, Andrea asked, “Why are you always wearing white?”

“Because I’m pure and innocent,” Jay answered quickly reaching over to get the pork closer to Andrea’s mouth, which Andrea leaned away from.

“Are you sure it has nothing to do with the fact that if you wear a tight, white shirt, you can show off how fit you are?”

“You think I’m fit?” Jay asked playfully, visibly flexing a little.

Andrea rolled her eyes. “I think you’re less fit than you think you are.”

“Ouch, that was a blow to the ego.” Jay brought his free hand to his heart.

Andrea tried not to laugh. Times like these were her favorite. Sitting with someone she liked, comfortably teasing each other. It reminded her of high school with Ryan, except at that time, Ryan was the one making all the jokes. Now, because of those times with Ryan, Andrea had found that she had grown into someone that could comfortably make jokes with someone that she was beginning to think could become more than a friend.

“Alright, alright,” Jay said. “Eat this before it gets cold. If you eat it, I’ll try to teach you Korean.”

“Really?” Andrea demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Really. I promise.”

“Pinky promise.” Andrea commanded, holding out her pinky.

Jay laughed. “Looks like someone’s been watching dramas.”

“Got my entire crew hooked.”

Jay laughed harder, but wrapped his pinky around Andrea’s. “I promise,” he said seriously, looking straight at Andrea in a way that Andrea knew that she could trust him to keep that promise.

Their pinkies still connecting, Andrea leaned forward and bit the pork out of the chopsticks hold, sealing the deal.

Thanks for reading/subscribing~!

I must thank you all for your patience again. I'm really not updating that much, mostly due to college, so thank you for sticking with me.

I have been writing, though, and I've posted a one-shot starring Dalmatian's Daniel, called "The Signature." 

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