My Summer in Seoul

It also hurt to see him respond to it like his ears were praying I wouldn’t actually burst out into song and dance.

Safe to say, my lack of sleep, diet, stress was starting to seep into my sanity.

He pushed past me, tossing my phone into the air. I fumbled but caught it and then trailed after him as he sat on the couch and turned on the TV.

I didn’t want to crowd his space, but I was completely unaware of societal norms and personal space and felt weird randomly googling it. So instead, I sat on the opposite L of the black leather sofa and cleared my throat. “Want me to cook you something?” I spoke into the phone.

He said nothing.

Frowning, I looked back down at the screen and tried again. “Do you want me to find a movie to watch?”

And more silence as he scrolled through Netflix and then stopped on something that looked interesting, and bonus, it had English subtitles.

I was just starting to read the synopsis when my phone rang.

It was my “favorite” person.

“Solia, hi—”

“The idols are running behind schedule. How’s Lucas?”

“Um…” Did I tell her he was binge eating Pringles and watching TV? Wasn’t that better than escape? “He’s, um… relaxing.”

She sighed like she was relieved. “Good, we’ll be another two hours.”

“‘Kay, I’ll just make sure we stay… put.”

“Your only job.”

“And your constant reminder,” I countered.

She was quiet and then: “It’s not always like this.”

I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “He’s safe, and that’s all that matters right now.”

In his spot on the couch, Lucas flinched, his elegant piano playing fingers hovering over the buttons of the remote, and then he pushed play.

And that, dear friends, is when I started to feel at home for the first time in my life.

Who knew it would all be because of a Goblin, a high school student, and a Grim Reaper?

Two hours later…

“But it was her birthday!” I said out loud, then looked away so Lucas wouldn’t see me crying. After a few minutes of my silent sobs, he held out a tissue. “It’s just so sad!” Embarrassed, I wiped my face and kept watching, completely enthralled like a psychopath as the drama played out.

How had I never seen this before?

And why the hell did I ever think language or subtitles could be a barrier when the acting was this good? The writing? Everything.

This might be my new Pringles.

And I had zero regrets as I clutched the couch pillow to my chest and tried not to look too engrossed.

I sniffled into another tissue only to be handed yet another one. “Thanks.”

“Cheonman-eyo.”

“I hope that was a you’re welcome and not a really pretty way of saying I’m an idiot.” I sniffled.

He said nothing.

Not that I expected much.

The lock to the door sounded with the little alarm passcode, and then the rest of the guys appeared, looking tired as hell as they trooped into the apartment, each of them taking off their shoes and putting on the slippers lined up by the door.

Dae-Jung’s words wafted through my memory: Wear the slippers. Damn, he was so right. I’d literally messed up almost from the first time I’d even met the guys. Maybe that was why they were so put off? I had a sudden vision of me looking like some Viking stomping into my safe space with a turkey leg in one hand and a sword in the other. I was probably terrifying—and not the good kind of terror that earned respect, but the kind that made people wonder if they were going to get murdered in their sleep while someone tore into that turkey leg over their dead bodies to appease the gods.

This was not my world, but it was up to me to fit in, not make others fit into mine. Yes, I’d ask Rae about my own slippers later.

Kai paused, his eyebrows shooting up. How did I never notice how long his hair actually was or how he kept it in that perfect half man bun? He took one look at the TV then laughed, his perfect white smile damned intimidating.

Jay was next. “Torture, party of two.”

“Hey!” I almost threw my tissue at him. “It’s so good!”

“Did Lucas tell you he auditioned?” Jay smirked.

Lucas groaned and tossed a pillow in Jay’s direction while Sookie grabbed the can of Pringles and pulled one out, ready to pop it into his mouth when Solia marched into the apartment.

In a blur, Kai grabbed the Pringles and tossed them to Rae, who hid them under a pillow while Sookie dove across the couch, joining Jay, who started furiously typing on his phone like he had a hot date.

What? What was happening?

“Dinner choices tonight from the chef…” Solia was looking at her phone. “Sookie, you’re still overweight. Lucas, you need to make sure you’re adding more protein. Kai, you’re fine. Rae…” She narrowed her eyes and moved on down the list of approved foods that would be delivered and sounded them off. “All right, so you guys need to attempt to get to bed early since you have an early shoot in the morning for promoting the comeback stage… let’s do chicken tonight.” She tapped on her iPad even as she was already leaving.