My Summer in Seoul

He spoke fast into the language app.

“He needed to relax,” came the translation.

“Yes,” I said, nodding.

He was quiet then spoke again. The robotic voice came out funny, but I think I got what he was saying. “Sad and confused,” the voice said. “He feels a lot and needs music to get it out.”

I felt he meant that Lucas was an empath and needed his music as much as the world needed him.

I choked back tears.

Because even though he was an ass, he was a talented ass, and the world truly did need him and his music.

“I’ll watch him,” I said into the app.

Kai visibly relaxed and looked over to me as if to say, I’m exhausted but are you sure?

I nodded my head. “Sleep,” I said simply.

He handed me back my phone. Then, with a smirk, he put his hand on my head and messed up my hair a bit, making my heart feel warm as he sauntered off toward the other tent.

I glanced at my phone and frowned. He hadn’t translated sleep, in fact, wait… Huh, that was weird. Maybe my app was being dumb, but what he’d said was only in English, not in Korean… like he’d forgotten to press it and had typed in the English response himself.

No, that would be way too much work.

I shrugged it off and set our alarm, then went to the cooler and grabbed a Red Bull. If Lucas was still up, it could potentially be a really long night.

Lucas stood right where the water met the sand.

He stood there a really long time, staring.

When I finally finished my Red Bull, I got up and made my way over to him, careful not to scare him. I tried to walk loud as per usual, but it was sand, and honestly, I didn’t want to trip in front of him again—there was just something about the way he stared at me; his presence alone made me nervous and excited at the same time, which was insane.

So basically, he was driving me to drink.

“Hey.” I could have chosen any other thing to say, but my brain cells had been killed off by caffeine, so that was what I went with. “It’s a nice night.”

I hadn’t brought my phone with me.

He didn’t move, just kept staring at the ocean, his face impassive as he sucked his lower lip in concentration.

“I know you can’t understand me,” I began. “But I’m sure some of what I’m saying will get through that thick skull of yours, especially after looking at some of the videos. You clearly understand more than you’ve let on.”

He didn’t move.

“Anyway, I just want to say it’s going to be okay. I know it doesn’t feel that way now. I know you’re stressed, and you’re nervous, and you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders—but rather than let it push you down, why not use it?”

He jerked his head in my direction, his eyes unreadable.

“Use it,” I said again. “Use whatever darkness you’re feeling, write a song, sing, yell, scream, just use it, so even if it’s bad, it doesn’t go to waste. That’s what a good artist does. They use what would destroy a normal person, and they make it into something beautiful, something worth listening to, something that touches people on a spiritual level.” I shrugged. “Anyway, I just wanted to say… that.”

I started to walk away then felt a hand on my wrist as Lucas held me there. It was just the two of us; his chest heaved a bit as he stared down at my wrist, where his fingers held me captive.

He looked up at me, his eyes didn’t leave mine for a few seconds, and then I was getting tugged to the ground next to him.

He released my wrist.

And there we sat.

I started to nod off a few times but told myself to keep my eyes open because his life depended on it.

I didn’t remember going back to my tent.

But when I opened my eyes the next morning, I was in it, with blankets covering me and my phone next to my head.

“Lucas!” Panicked, I half-walked, half-crawled to my tent flap, and opened it up to see all the guys around a fire, drinking energy drinks and laughing.

“You have sand,” Rae said without looking up, “all over you.”

I made a face.

“Saw that.”

“Dad of the group, my ass…” I grumbled.

“We gotta go.”

“Yeah.” I yawned. “On it.”

I looked back at my tent. Who had put me in there?

When I glanced back at the guys, Lucas’s scowl was back.

Did he?

No.

I sleepwalked.

It was the only explanation.

Right?

The thought haunted me the entire way back to the city, paranoid I was going to get fired since the biggest K-pop group was not only unsupervised the entire time their intern slept but that someone had somehow gotten a picture of all of us camping out, despite the fact that I’d fought to get them out and relaxed for the first time in days. I decided that saying something about us staying out longer than a few hours would get me fired. When all of their smiles were apparent as we drove back—when they chatted and looked more relaxed than ever, I knew it was the right call, even if I had to suffer for it or get reprimanded. Besides, we wouldn’t be late. Not if I could help it.