My Summer in Seoul

I waved back, and then I was gone before he could reject me or before Lucas could flip me off—not that he ever had, but his scowls sure felt like a giant middle finger.

The drive to the shooting site was really fast; he was only a few minutes away, whoever he was. Oh, crap. I parked and looked down at my phone. “Dae-Jung.”

Hmmm. I was about ready to enter his name into Google when the van door opened, and a tall, gorgeous man got in.

I don’t remember if my jaw dropped or if I just stared for an uncomfortable amount of time, but I do know that I might have let out a squeak. Point is, I started that van so fast even Lucas would be impressed with my skills.

Assuming it was him, please God let it be him; I smiled and then started driving back toward the studio.

He said something in Korean making me want to whimper, so I just gave him a head shake and said the only thing I’d learned since being there five days, which was, “Yeonger?” Which meant English?

“Oh, sorry,” he said fluently. “I wasn’t aware SWT had an English-only intern.”

I tensed. “Yeah well, I look the part; I just can’t speak It.”

“Neither could I two years ago.”

I almost slammed on the brakes but managed to refrain. “What?”

He smiled in the rearview. He had two dimples that were both sexy and adorable, wavy brown hair with honey highlights and light eyes. “I moved here seven years ago with my parents, left LA, and knew absolutely no Korean other than the simple words and obviously honorifics.”

“Ha! Obviously,” I wanted to say, but I was still struggling with the fact that Korea had like seven different levels of language.

I mean, I was aware English made zero sense and was hard, but Korean felt even more complicated.

“How did you learn so fast?” I asked, turning the corner.

“Oh, I didn’t. It was hard. I was fine as long as someone told me what to say.” He shrugged his shoulders, and I had to wonder if that shirt felt lucky to be on his lean yet built body? “You’ll figure it out. What was your name again?”

“Grace,” I answered. “Grace Lee, I’m from Seattle.”

“I have cousins there.” He grinned. “Then again, I have cousins everywhere. Canada, LA, Seoul, Seattle…” His smile was infectious. “Don’t sweat it too much.”

“Thanks.” I relaxed for the first time in days. “And we’re here, yay no traffic accidents.”

“Thanks for saying that after the van was stopped.” He chuckled.

I joined in laughing. “Sorry. I swear I would never endanger your life.”

“Maybe my life needs more endangering, Grace.” He winked. “You ready?”

“Oh, I can just stay in the van and…” What? Stare at the steering wheel?

“Nonsense.” He opened the van door then just stood outside it, waiting for me.

I turned off the engine. “O-okay.” I put the keys in my pocket, grabbed my heavy bag, the one with an iPad, my notes, my phone—basically my life if I was to survive SWT—and locked the doors.

“Want me to carry that?” He motioned to my bag.

“No!” I held it tighter. “Sorry, I just don’t want to appear…” I gulped. “Weak, or… I don’t even know at this point, just unable to do my job. It seems everything I do is wrong.”

“That’s normal.” We walked up the cement steps toward the huge four-story shiny building. “Respect and pride in your work is really important. Like I said, you’ll figure it out, Grace.”

I smiled warmly. “Thank you…” Panic set in. Wait, how did I address him?

He must have seen my brain shut down; he laughed. “You can just call me, Hyung.”

“Brother?”

“Why not?” He was clearly teasing me. That sort of address was literally only used for addressing an older brother, well, that and Oppa.

As if reading my mind, he grinned and added, “Oppa works too.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to slide with the members.”

“Exactly why you should do it.” He winked. “They need to relax a little, plus I want to see their faces.” He laughed a bit. “Damn, if that’s all it takes to get you to blush.”

Pretty sure Lucas would shit a brick. I cleared my throat. “Fine… Oppa.”

My cheeks were on fire. The only reason I was even tempted was because I knew the guys would be annoyed, ugh maybe Rae was right, I was horrible at my job if this was my three-month plan, calling an attractive guy Oppa just to see one of the guys scowl in my direction.

His eyes lit up a bit like he was amused. “Lead the way, Grace.”

We fell into comfortable conversation the entire walk down the hall to the studio. He made a comment about my amazing driving skills, which forced me to tell him I almost killed everyone on day three.