My Summer in Seoul

I was nervous to try because I knew they’d make fun of me, but I said it anyway. “You guys are incredible.”

Rae inclined his head to me while Sookie took my phone, scrolled through to another video, and handed it back to me.

All right, I was making progress. I clicked on it and watched.

We repeated this process the entire way to practice.

And when I had to pause on their latest, I was disappointed. Then again, I was getting to watch this in real life.

I was more excited than I’d been in the past two days, but that all came crashing down when we got out of the van, and Kai shut the door in my face.

I knew it was on purpose because he saw me wait for him to get out first. I tried not to let the rejection sting, but it was hard knowing that even if I tried, he was going to be irritated.

I didn’t say anything, just opened the door again, shut it, and swore to myself that I would win him and everyone else over, no matter what it took.

I wasn’t just going to quit like the other interns. I was in this.

Besides, how hard could it be for an intern to watch them dance? At least I’d get to sit.

Two hours later…

“Coffee.” Rae handed me an order scribbled in Korean. “Everyone wants coffee. Have the driver take you to the nearest coffee shop, and don’t get the orders wrong.”

“Or else I’m fired?” I joked.

He chuckled low. Sweat was streaked across his face. They’d been doing nothing but rehearsing their choreography for the last two hours, and Sookie kept struggling with one of the dance sequences, meaning they had to start all over again from the top, which just annoyed Lucas further, made Kai sigh loudly, and caused Jay to throw a water bottle. Don’t get me wrong, they were super supportive of each other, but it seemed like everyone was feeling the pressure in a way that I could never possibly understand.

The dance was a complicated mess of hip hop, gymnastics, and a few spins that I think even Michael Jackson would have struggled with.

I was just turning away from Rae when Jay ran up to me and made a motion with his hands and nodded like I should know exactly what he’d just communicated.

I mimicked the motion and the word.

He shook his head.

I tried again.

The music started.

I could not get his order wrong!

“He wants cream!” Rae shouted.

“Ohhhhh…” I nodded to him. “For your coffee?”

His smirk was everything girls’ mothers warned them about in high school, the smirk that led them to do very bad things with boys who just wanted to hold their hands during skate time then make out in a dark corner later.

I gulped and moved away from him, and his little finger wave.

I was two days in, roughly, and already needing to find a way to jolt my heart back to normal condition.

I jogged from the room and out of the building. Thankfully the driver seemed to know what I was talking about when I said the word coffee.

Finally, a universal word everyone understood that didn’t make me sound like an idiot.

He drove me around the corner, and down maybe a mile, I noticed the small coffee shop and prayed I would be able to just hand over the order along with money.

The coffee shop looked identical to something I would see in the States, with the smell of freshly brewed coffee, pastries that looked to die for, and several small tables spread around the room. It had a nice-looking espresso machine and iPad for payment. I could do this.

They didn’t give me a company card, but I would ask later. They wanted coffee now; they were getting coffee.

I pulled out my Visa and did a little bow, “Annyeong.”

Hello was still the only word I’d managed not to butcher, and according to my trusty little app, it was used in almost every social situation. Thank God.

She smiled and repeated it back, plus a lot of other things that I didn’t understand.

I smiled and then pointed to the paper.

She nodded and took the list from me, carefully reading it and then typing in the orders.

So far, I was doing good.

I breathed a sigh of relief as she fired off in rapid Korean, “Uhsuhoseyo. Joomoonhashigessuhyo?”

I caught absolutely nothing.

I stared at her in wide-eyed panic and then tried. “English?”

She inclined her head and then held up four fingers.

“Yes!” I almost shouted. “Four, four macchiatos.”

Then like a toddler, I pointed to the large cups behind her.

Frowning, she nodded again slowly and typed it into her iPad, then said, “Duh pilyohashinguh essuhyo?”

Panic hit me.

That and insecurity.

What was she asking?

Slowly she licked her lips and said, “You need anything else?”

Her accent was slight.

I stared down at my shaking hands as someone got into line behind me; it was a nightmare. I held up one finger. “One Americano with cream.” I extended the rest of my fingers. “Five drinks total.”