Chapter 9

Okay, it has been 8 chapters now and you still don't know why Kris is going to Seoul. Well here it is.

They had been dating a little over a month now, spending almost every day together. Kris and Mark rarely ever saw each other outside of school and basketball practice. In fact, Kris didn't really concern himself about his best friend anymore. Everything revolved around Kim. Well for now.

Kris had been quite against meeting her parents, not because he didn't care about her. More because he knew he was going to do something stupid and embarrass Kim and himself. But there he was, standing outside her house, with flowers and... more cookies.
Kim had opened the door, definitely wearing more clothes than usual. Kris was secretly happy about that. He was introduced to her parents who were beyond kind. The mother had prepared lunch and Kris happily ate.

"This is incredible. What is it?"
"Makchang"
"Sure... erh.. Makchang?"
"This makchang is the large intestines of a pig. Very nutritious," Kim's mother said in pretty decent English. And suddenly Kris wasn't hungry anymore.

During their meal, Kris actually managed not to screw up. Surprised with himself he and Kim excused themselves and went to her bedroom.

And horror.

Her walls were completely covered with pictures and posters of similar looking Asian guys. Flabbergasted, Kris didn't move an inch from his spot in the doorway. Kim finally noticing her boyfriend's lack of movement, impatiently took hold of his sleeve and yanked him inside.

"You don't listen to K-pop, do you?"

"K-pop?"

"Korean music. Kyaaaa! I love it! Urg and they're so handsome! And dreamy and... What's with the long face?"

Kris's face had gone from surprise to kicked puppy in a mere second. Handsome? Pff! They all looked like kids to him.

"Bigbang, SHINee and B.A.P. are some of my favorites! You'll love them!"

She half ran towards her CD-player and pressed play.

'Wow, fantastic baby. Dance! Woho. I wanna dance, dance, dance, dance, dance. Fantastic baby'      

Kim was yelling out the lyrics, dancing or rather moving her arms and legs spastically from side to side, jumping up and down. Kris was face-palming the entire time but internally overwhelmed with happiness at the cuteness of his girlfriend.

Now that they were together she had finally  started opening up to Kris telling him all about her love for Korea. How sad she was to be leaving Seoul, especially now that Bigbang was preparing for a new album and a world tour that only included Asia. Seriously, they should not be calling it a world tour if they aren't planning on actually touring the entire world. Jeez, so much disappointment.
Anyway... Kim was so absorbed in telling Kris about Korea and all its wonders that Kris started to love it too. In the beginning it was for the food. He didn't particularly care much for Kimchi but as Kim's mother kept inviting him over for a meal, his taste buds started to appreciate the bitterness and the spicy flavor.  

Kim made him watch Korean dramas with her on Friday nights when there was no party to attend. At first he thought they were stupid, clichéd, incredibly melodramatic and the overacting was nothing but laughable. But soon he found himself watching them on his own, absorbed in the stories, tearing up when the oblivious girl has to reject the guy she only sees as a friend, or when someone finally breaks down  and tell their loved ones they're dying. And man, that Lee Min ho was a looker. No homo.

K-pop, Kris found to be the hardest to love. Mostly because his girlfriend was platonically in love with all her idols. Also, it was all so... cute. Too cute. Especially SHINee. The first K-pop music video he watched was SHINee's 'Hello' which was all smiles, hello's and Korean gibberish. He decided that SHINee definitely wasn't his style. Somehow Youtube ended up directing him to 2NE1. Apparently it was a Korean girl group. Yeah he should probably have started out listening to girl groups, if not for the music, then for the cute girls. Boy was he blown away.

'Naega jeil jal naga!.'

And so 2NE1 lead the way for K-pop into Kris's heart. Soon he knew names, could differentiate faces as easy as pie, not to forget biases and ships.
"Bigbang?!"

Kim and Kris were having a quick K-pop quiz, Kim yelling out bands and Kris yelling names.

"T.O.P., G-Dragon, Taeyang, Daesung, Seungri!"
"SHINee?!"
"Onew, Jonghyun, Key, Minho, Taemin!"
"Girl's Generation?!"

"Taeyeon, Yuri, Tiffany, Sunny, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Yoona, Seohyun, Jessica!
This kept going on for quite a while, until Kim initiated a slow clap.

"You have done well. You have now been... turned." She said dramatically.
Kris was happy. He really was turned.
"Kim? Do you think you could teach me Korean?" he bit lip expecting her to say no. On the contrary, she jumped into his arms nodding frantically while shouting "Nae, nae!"

Korean was difficult. like Frenchx10 more difficult and he hated that . But learning Korean was something he was actually passionate about. That's why they made a deal. Whenever they were at his place, they would only speak English, and when they spent time in her home she would only use Korean, forcing Kris to learn on the spot.

They had made plans to go to Korea someday together. Kris had been so exited, he had run home, opened his diary and started writing a list of things he wanted to do in Korea.


A/N
Okay... I lied. You'll know why he is going to Seoul next chapter.