West Seoul University Series

by Leigh Ban

  The girls giggled.

  “Excuse me,” I said while I tried to wriggle past them.

  “Yumi!”

  I turned to look at the girls. Did I know them? They glanced at me, confused.

  “Yumi Go!”

  I realized it was a male voice. A familiar voice. A voice I’d argued, laughed, and fallen in love with. The voice belonged to—

  “Please just let me talk to you for one minute,” Isaac said hurriedly, putting his hand on my arm.

  “Isaac, I…” I didn’t know what to say. My mind went blank. When I turned my head away from him, the two girls stared at me, chewing loudly. They weren’t giggling now. They gave me a look as if to say, “Go on. Talk to him. What are you waiting for?”

  “Are these your friends?” Isaac asked.

  “No,” the girls and I said simultaneously.

  “Let’s go,” whispered one of the girls to her friend.

  “Oh, I see. Yumi, I know you don’t want to ever talk to me again. Frankly, after the way our phone call ended, I didn’t think I wanted to either. But I’ve been feeling like I’m stuck in a room without a window for days. I have to clarify what happened last Friday. There’s been a misunderstanding between us.”

  “A misunderstanding?”

  He took out his phone, scrolled through, and passed it to me. “Here.”

  I peered at the screen. He was showing me a group photo of him with his father and grandparents. There was a barbeque grill in the background. Everyone wore T-shirts and shorts.

  “Why are you showing me this?”

  “Hang on. It’s the next one.” He extended his arm and swiped right to a photo of him standing next to a guy whom he vaguely resembled, presumably his brother, and a woman who seemed a little older than them. It took me a few seconds to realize I’d seen her before.

  “The woman you saw with me. It was my cousin Joodam,” he explained, swiping right again to another photo. In this picture, Joodam was standing with a man who had his arm wrapped around her. “Here’s Joodam with her fiancé. I mean former fiancé. The wedding was called off last week.”

  “What happened?” I mumbled, my head throbbing as I tried to process the situation.

  “After months of fighting with him over wedding planning, she found out he cheated on her. Want to guess how I found out about that?”

  “She invited you to drink with her?”

  “Yeah. While I was hanging out with my friend. Ordinarily, I would’ve declined and stayed with my friend. However, last Friday, Joodam called me bawling. She was at a bar in Sinchon. Clearly she’d already gotten wasted on her own, so I couldn’t just tell her I was busy. Something terrible could’ve happened to her.” Isaac sighed. “I had to apologize to my friend and leave.”

  “Is she alright?” I asked, too embarrassed to address how I’d lashed out at him without letting him say a word.

  “Well, she got home safe and sound. But no, her life isn’t exactly rainbows and butterflies right now.” He smiled weakly. “If only I could’ve told you everything before you left.”

  “I messed up,” I murmured.

  “Seeing as I was supposed to be hanging out with my high school friend, I understand why you freaked out. After all, I talked about my cousin Joodam in passing, but I never showed you any photos of her. There was no way you could’ve known she was my cousin.”

  “Isaac, I’m sorry,” I croaked before biting the inside of my lip to stop myself from tearing up. “I’m sorry for not giving you a chance to explain what was going on. And I’m sorry for saying such hurtful things to you over the phone. I understand if you don’t want to get back together with me ever again. No matter what, I’ll always be grateful to you for the way you boosted my confidence and put a grin on my face during an otherwise tedious semester.”

  “Yumi,” he said, reaching out to hold my hand.

  “I didn’t mean it. I was just… spewing out words,” I sobbed, unable to hold back the waterworks. “And I’m sorry I’m crying. You don’t need to feel obligated to comfort me because I’m in tears.”

  “I know.” While squeezing my hand, he put his other hand in his pocket and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper. “Read this.” He placed it on my palm.

  Dear Yumi,

  You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m not just saying this because you’re witty and thoughtful and secretly very sweet. I only mean it because you’re drop-dead gorgeous. Just kidding. I love you inside and out. (Please don’t fail me, Professor Lim. I promise Yumi and I have a “meaningful relationship.” Keep reading and you’ll see.)

  Alright, so where do I begin? When we met for the first time, we were in an Internet café in Sinchon. It was early morning on course registration day, and you were understandably a little tense. Meanwhile, I was trying to sober up after drinking all night with my best friend. I know it may seem reckless and immature to get drunk before signing up for classes, but in my defense, my friend was headed to the military in two days (yes, this is the same friend I’d been hanging out with during the night of the recent… incident, which I’ll get to later). Anyway, I was a klutz who stressed you out while you were preparing for the moment nine o’clock struck, and I fully admit now that I should’ve handled the situation differently.

  Here’s a bit of information unbeknownst to you: I’ve had a crush on you since Day 1. Are you surprised? Maybe it was glaringly obvious. I loved the moody look on your face, and I was enamored by your feisty personality. This is going to annoy you a bit, but the fact that you weren’t at all impressed by me made you all the more intriguing. When we became partners for Society and Love, I was ecstatic. Although I tried not to freak you out and fawn over you from the get-go, I believed I was in love with you. While I did take this class to raise my GPA, I didn’t actually care much about getting an A+ until I found out it meant we’d have to commit to our fake relationship for an entire semester (during which I planned to win you over).

  Disclaimer: I’ve used the phrase “I believed I was in love” instead of “I was in love” seeing as you and I both criticized the concept of falling in love at first sight a while ago. As cute as it might seem for me to claim that I was truly in love with you from the day we first quarreled at the Internet café, I didn’t know you the way I do now. I was guilty of typecasting you as the edgy, cynical type when you’re actually incredibly funny, caring, and romantic. Plus, I’ve also had the pleasure of discovering you have the tendency to act adorably cuddly when you’re scared. Back in September, I arrogantly assumed I was going to warm your heart over the course of this semester (corny, I know), but instead, you’ve completely changed my life and taught me so many lessons.

  Yumi, thank you for your honesty and sharp insight. You encouraged me to self-reflect, and I only now realize how urgently needed that was. There’s a difference between being confident and coming off as self-important, and I definitely used to veer toward the latter when I was around girls I liked. Also, after I went through a slump since the start of college, you encouraged me to get back into studying regularly. I’d lost my sense of direction once I achieved this supposedly big, grand goal of getting accepted to med school. Nothing was driving me to work hard anymore. However, seeing how focused you were on your goal of becoming a Hope Scholar, and finding out how hardworking you were—a stark contrast from my lazy lifestyle—really urged me to reevaluate what I was doing with my life. Frankly, with my old attitude, I would’ve never managed to graduate, so I’m grateful to you for inspiring me to get back on track.

  I won’t get into the details of what happened between us yesterday because I plan to type this up and submit it to Professor Lim, but honestly, it really hurt. Although most of what you said about me was once true, as we grew closer together, I genuinely believed that I was becoming a better person and that you enjoyed my company as much as I cherished yours. Today, I deliberated on whether to write you a love letter for hours. I even worked on an end-of-semester report on datin
g in the military earlier. What changed my mind was a sudden flashback to when we both opened up about whether we’d had meaningful relationships before. Do you remember confiding in me about the type of first love you didn’t think you’d ever experienced? Feelings escalating over time as you get to know one another, and connecting wholly on both an emotional and physical level? The truth is, that’s exactly how I feel about our relationship. Yumi, I pray this isn’t the end of us. You’re too much of a gem for me to let go of.

  Thank you for coming into my life. You’re my princess. You’re my fairy. You’re everything magical rolled into one, and you’re the only woman I ever want.

  Love,

  Isaac

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Merry Christmas, Mimi,” Isaac said as he opened the door of our hotel suite.

  I gasped. The place was beyond beautiful. We were at the Ariari Hotel, the most luxurious hotel in all of Seoul. I flung off my coat and walked around our room, marveling at the exquisite interior. On the large marble coffee table, there was a small red gift bag. Since there was a trail of rose petals leading to the bedroom, I began following it.

  “If we go in there, we won’t be coming back out for a while,” Isaac murmured.

  “Sounds good, but…” I stopped and smiled at him. “Our grades come out in about ten minutes.”

  “You’re right.” He groaned as he took a glance at his phone. “Why do our grades come out on Christmas Eve? Who’s the twisted sicko that’s behind all this?”

  “It’s the worst Christmas gift idea, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. Tension with a side of disappointment. Talk about torture for the ‘bad students.’ If they wanted our Christmas to be memorable, I guess they succeeded.”

  While Isaac took off his coat, I sat down on the white sofa, opened my duffel bag, and took out a Tom Ford gift bag.

  “You can open this now, if you want,” I said.

  “Oh, good idea. To lift our mood while we wait for our grades to be announced?” He chuckled as he grabbed my gift bag from the coffee table. It was embossed with the word “Cartier.” Just then, my phone vibrated; I’d received a new email.

  “Sorry. Give me a minute,” I said as I opened the email.

  “What’s up?”

  “I got an email from Professor Choi, my professor for Behavioral Economics this semester. She’s the one who nominated me for the Hope Scholarship.”

  “Ah, okay. Take your time.”

  I held my breath before I skimmed through the text on the screen. To be honest, I hadn’t expected Professor Choi to respond to my thank-you email. She started off by apologizing for her belated reply. After sharing that she’d sent her recommendation letter for the Hope Scholarship, she praised me for how well I did in Behavioral Economics this semester. Although she didn’t explicitly mention the brunch incident, she mentioned that she understood how frustrating it could be to be a woman in academia and in the corporate world. Then she assured me I was resilient enough to overcome the challenges and succeed. Truthfully, she’d written me the nicest email I’d ever received.

  “Are you okay?” Isaac asked, massaging my shoulder.

  “Isaac, I’m so happy,” I murmured.

  “You didn’t go ahead and check your grades first, did you?” he joked.

  “No. It might’ve come out now though. Should we check?” I suggested.

  Once I logged into the student portal website and clicked the page to see my grades, I was grinning from ear to ear. My Christmas Eve couldn’t get any better. Never in my life had I expected to receive an A+ in all of my classes—and after taking some of the most difficult economics courses offered at West Seoul University, no less.

  “You look like you just won the lotto,” Isaac said.

  “Not quite.” I laughed. “I won you over though.”

  “Touché. I take it you’re pleased with your grades?”

  “Isaac, I think I might get the Hope Scholarship. Obviously I don’t know for sure. I’ve got a good feeling though.” I let out a deep sigh of relief. “How about you, by the way?”

  “I’ve got nothing on you, Miss Four Point Three, but it looks like I’ll be entering the first year of medicine in spring.”

  I gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks. So long, premed.” He beamed at me. “Should we open our presents since we got our grades out of the way?”

  I nodded. “Speaking of premed, my brother’s going to be entering his first year of premed.”

  “At West Seoul University?”

  “Yup. My parents have been on cloud nine since he got accepted.”

  “He’s in for a wild ride.”

  “I’m sure you’d know better than anyone. Can you open my present now?” I asked, passing him the Tom Ford gift bag.

  When he pulled out the sleek box and opened it, revealing a T-buckle belt, he said, “You have great taste.”

  I winked at him. “I’m glad you agree.”

  “Thanks, Yumi.” He immediately started unbuckling the belt he was wearing. “Should I put it on?”

  “Hey, we’re supposed to be getting undressed, not dressed,” I pointed out.

  “True.”

  “So tonight, why don’t we use this for something different?” I took his new belt and lightly whipped his thigh with it. “Something to make our night special.”

  “Perfect. My mind’s overflowing with ideas as I speak.” Isaac flashed me a mystical smile. “Do you want to find out what’s in your little red gift bag?”

  “Of course. You didn’t go overboard, did you?”

  “Why don’t you be the judge of that?”

  After Isaac handed me my gift bag, I pulled out an envelope.

  “You’ve already outdone me. I should’ve gotten you a Christmas card too,” I said.

  “No big deal. You have to check out what’s inside though.”

  When I opened the envelope, I saw a card displaying a photo of us from the day at Seoul Modu Hospital. I cracked up when I saw the message inside.

  Dear Yumi,

  Since I already wrote you a long love letter and I’m still waiting for you to share the one you wrote for me, I’ll keep this short and sweet.

  Thank you for turning my life around. If it weren’t for you, I’d be spending yet another Christmas with my friends at Gray Sky PC Café. And probably whining about flunking the semester. You encourage me to be a better person.

  Also, you better not lose this card! I plan to write you one every year until I’m six feet under. Maybe wearing costumes for Christmas card photos could become a tradition for us.

  Love,

  Isaac

  “Can I be boyfriend of the year now?” Isaac joked.

  “I already nominated you after I read your last letter, so yes,” I replied.

  I dipped my hand into the gift bag again and took out an elegant red box. I wasn’t massively into jewelry, but even so, seeing Cartier in cursive script made my heart race. Inside the box was a matching case. I gave him a look of anticipation, running my fingers along the gold garland borders. When I opened the case, eager to find out what my present was, my eyes went round. Inside was the iconic Love bracelet nested in the velvety case.

  “Isaac,” I muttered, taking a moment to stare at my new bracelet.

  “You don’t like it? Do you want to exchange your present?”

  “Are you kidding me?” I chuckled. “This bracelet is stunning. But you shouldn’t have. You really went above and beyond with this.”

  “I know. And I plan to outdo myself next Christmas. Plus every Christmas after that for the rest of our lives.”

  “Can you put it on me?” I asked, taking out the small screwdriver from the jewelry case.

  While he fastened the bracelet on my wrist, Isaac murmured, “You’re mine, Yumi.”

  Once he finished putting the bracelet on me, I guided his hand toward the side zip of my bright beaded dress. “I’m yours.”

  Isaac
slowly unzipped my dress and slipped it off me. As he slipped his hand inside the cup of my bra and caressed me, he nuzzled my neck.

  “You feel so smooth.” He grunted, grabbing my hand and putting it over his bulge. “I’m enjoying this already. Can you tell?”

  “Oh my… are you really this big?” I teased as I stroked him.

  Within seconds, our bodies were tangled together while we furiously removed each other’s clothes. But between our moans, we shared nervous laughs as we fumbled with a clasp or a button. His abs were even more sculpted and prominent than back when I’d accidentally seen him shirtless in his car. When he ran his fingers down my back, his touch made my body tingle. So I reached out and tried to feel him all over too; his skin felt unbelievably warm and silky.

  “I love you, Yumi,” he whispered, his face buried between my breasts.

  Moments later, my jaw nearly dropped open when I saw his rock-hard member. He chuckled at the expression on my face.

  “You’re huge,” I purred. “Let me wrap my fingers around your—”

  Isaac pinned my hands behind my back. He then used his new belt to tie my hands together. Though the belt wasn’t tightened snugly, the situation still made my heart race.

  “Why don’t you wrap your pretty little mouth around this instead?” he said, running his hand up and down his thick shaft.

  While Isaac shuffled to the edge of the sofa, I knelt on the floor in front of him. Although the impressive size of his member was daunting, especially since I couldn’t use my hands, I didn’t hesitate to take him into my mouth. I couldn’t fit all of him in there, but I moved my lips up and down his shaft and rolled my tongue as best as I could. His masculine, musky scent made me damp with desire. Soon, his breaths were fast and shallow. He released raw, guttural groans as he fondled my breasts.

  “Yumi, it’s my turn now. I need to taste you,” he growled.

  Before I could utter a word, he swiftly lifted me off the floor. He positioned me on the sofa so I was on my knees with my face against a cushion. Then he moved behind me and spread my legs apart.