His cheeks redden, and my stomach flip-flops. I had no idea it could be sexy for a guy to blush.
“I thought you might like to spend the break with us,” he finally says. “In Seoul.”
I’m shocked silent. He wants me to spend Christmas with him? Or rather, his family? But he’ll be there. Working, yeah, but still present. And hopefully in adorable scarves and gloves that match his colorful shoes.
Momma will kill me. No way will she let me go home with people she’s never met. Especially not for a holiday.
Good thing she’s not here to stop me.
Chapter Thirteen
After Thanksgiving, midterms arrive and throw me into one of the most stressful weeks of my life. I’ve officially decided high school in Korea—especially at a school for rich kids with parents who expect them to get into good colleges—is way harder than in America. Between long study sessions in the library and enough stress to keep perpetual purple circles beneath my eyes, I’m ready to quit school and buy a private island with my trust fund, where I can sit by the beach every day.
Also, cold weather has officially arrived. Venturing outside is practically like braving the Arctic tundra.
My first midterm is physics, my easiest class. The others are spread out throughout the week. After school, I head back to the dorm and find Sophie curled up on her bed with her laptop. When I slam the door shut, she shushes me.
“What are you watching?” I stand on the edge of my bed and peer up at her screen. “One of those Korean soap operas again?”
“It’s not a soap opera!” She huffs, clutching the blanket over her mouth, her eyes so wide they might pop out of their sockets.
“Those shows can’t be that interesting.”
She tears her gaze away from the screen long enough to shoot me a death glare. “You don’t even know.”
I laugh, dropping back down to the floor. “Fine. What’s it about?”
She pauses the video. “It’s only the most romantic story ever!”
I yank off my shoes and collapse on my bed, a dull headache settling beneath my eyebrows. Physics problems float around my brain.
“You say that about all of them.”
She sighs. “Be quiet and listen. It’s about a guy who’s trying to end political corruption, but he has to do it secretly.”
“Like a superhero?”
“Exactly! But without the costume.”
“And how is this romantic?”
“Because he can’t be with the girl he loves!” She pounds her fist against the mattress with such vengeance I’m wondering if this show really is worth watching. “She doesn’t know that he’s actually the one outing all the bad guys, and she doesn’t like him. But he’s really a good person; she just doesn’t know it.”
“That sounds like Spider-Man. Or Batman. Or both rolled into one.”
“It’s wonderful.” She bolts up in bed. “You should watch it. Now.”
“I don’t think so…”
“Come on! I’ve been trying to get you to watch a Korean drama for months. Give it a chance.”
Sophie snatches up my laptop and searches for a website to view the show online with English subtitles, and I can’t really say no when the alternative to watching the show is studying some more.
We spend the next three hours watching episodes from the beginning, and by dinnertime I’m starving but so addicted to the story that I have to know what happens. We run down to the cafeteria and eat as quickly as possible, then detox all the stress from midterms by watching four more episodes before crashing.
If the drama Jason’s going to be in is this good, I might just have to watch it.
*
“You’ll do fine, Grace,” Jason whispers to me as we flip over our Korean exams. “Don’t stress yourself out.”
Don’t stress myself out. Right. Calm. Focus. I can do this.
He flashes me a smile, and my insides squirm. How can I focus when he’s freaking grinning at me? He smiles so little, I should fear the apocalypse.
I rip my attention away from him and focus on the paper.
I got this.
No problem.
Iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc …
I move the pencil slowly across the paper, making my lines just like Jason showed me.
I move through the exam with a lot less difficulty than I expected. Each time I run across a translation I’m unsure about, I think back to our study sessions in the library, Jason’s head bent over the textbook and his calm, even voice explaining vocabulary words and grammar.
An hour and a half later, I practically float through my next exam, knowing I did way better on the Korean test than I expected.
After our last class before winter break, Jason and I walk together toward the dorms. We tilt our chins down to hunker against the freezing wind blowing across campus.
“I can’t believe I’m done with all my midterms,” I say. “Done. Free.”
Jason nods. “You have officially completed your first semester in Korea.”
“You’re right. Wow.” I stop in the middle of the path. “That’s insane.”
He pauses and turns around to face me. “Why?”
“Because if I’d stayed home, I would still be at my old school, applying for colleges and stressing about the graduation test at the end of the year. I’m only seventeen, and I’m living in South Korea, going to graduate in six months with zero plans for college. My parents are terrible people for letting me do this.”
Laughter explodes from his mouth, louder than I’ve ever heard from him, and a grin lights up his face. I resist the urge to clutch my chest as my heart threatens to stop, and not only from shock. I’ll admit it—I’m incredibly turned on right now.
Breathe, Grace.
“But if they hadn’t let you come here, you never would have met Sophie.” His smile softens. “Or me.”