by Asher Quinn
That night, after he was settled back in his old room, he skyped Luke. He needed to have a talk with him about the possibility of moving to Jeju. A lot hinged on how his boy would feel about leaving the familiar surroundings of home and friends. It was noon on Saturday back in the States. He texted his dad first to make sure they were home, and they were.
“Lukey!”
“Hey, Dad! How’re Song Woo-bin and Choon-hee and Ms. Argent?”
“They’re all good. How are things there with Gram and Pop?”
“Good. I’m going fishing with Pop later to catch some bluefish. He’s says they’re running now big-time.”
“You’ve never fished before. How’s that gonna be?”
“It’ll be cool.” Then he whispered, “I’m going to let Pop do all the work. I’m just going for the clam cakes after.”
Jack laughed out loud. “I love clam cakes.”
“Me too, with tartar sauce.”
“Okay, not a big fan of tartar sauce.”
“You should try it.”
“Hey, son.” Jack’s father appeared behind Luke. “How’s everything there?”
“Well, I’ve got some news. I’ll talk to you and Mom after Luke and I have a chance to discuss it.”
“All right. I’m going to go load up the car, Luke. I’ll see you outside when you’re finished.”
“’K, Pop.”
Jack’s father left them alone to talk.
“What did you need to talk about, Dad?”
“How would you feel about living here with me?”
“Really? Will we have a hot tub? And can I bring my telescope?”
“I’ll get you a new telescope. A bigger one.”
“Well, what about Gram and Pop and Aunt Jenna? And my friends….” He trailed off, growing quiet.
“I know it’s a lot to think about. A new school and new friends, but I want you with me. I want us all to be a family. And Aunt Jenna and Gram and Pop can come visit whenever they want.”
Luke looked at his dad and then asked, “Is it because of Song Woo-bin, because you love him?”
“Yes, Lukey. It is because of that. I want to be with him, I want the three of us to be together here on Jeju Island.”
“I want to be with you, Dad. I guess I really don’t care much where that is. I’ll miss my friends, but it’s kinda exciting to move to Jeju Island.”
“Well, how about you think about it some and let me know. Okay?”
“Okay. Pop’s calling me. He wants to go while the fish are still biting, whatever that means.”
Jack laughed softly. “You go on, then. I love you very much, Luke.”
“I love you too, Dad. And Dad?”
“Yes, Lukey?”
“I told you before that I didn’t want you to be lonely, and I remember what you said to me about how if we have each other we won’t be. I think he is a part of that too. You, me, and Song Woo-bin.”
Jack couldn’t speak at first, fighting tears. God, he was so much like his mother, like Nannie. “That’s what I want too.”
“Gotta go. Bye, Dad.”
“Bye, Lukey.”
And then he was gone. The screen reverted back to the Skype logo and then the main program. Jack closed his laptop. He was stretched out on his bed. He thought about the three of them living together in a small house in the countryside, maybe near Mount Hallasan. He really did want that. He slowly drifted off to sleep with thoughts of Luke, Woo-bin, and a little house with a garden and a field of yuchae flowers as far as the eye could see.
IT WAS on Wednesday of the following week when a taxi pulled into the drive. Jack saw it because Choon-hee had sent him out to the garage to get some frozen cuttlefish from the storage freezer. He stopped what he was doing and stood there. The first thing he saw as he stepped out of the taxi was hair… full and dark. His heart began the stampede. The cab backed out of the drive and pulled away. There stood Woo-bin. In a light blue, collared shirt, deep-green-and-blue tie, and flat-front straight-legged chinos. He dipped his head, smiling shyly.
Jack couldn’t move.
Woo-bin picked up the bags he was carrying and came into the garage.
“Hi, Jack.”
“Hi, Woo-bin.”
Woo-bin put his bags down and slowly walked up to Jack and then surrounded him in his arms, pressing his face against Jack’s. “I am so sorry, Jack. I was afraid.”
“Afraid that you would be discovered, that people would know you were gay?”
He pulled his head away a bit. “No. That you would be fired. That this would ruin you. I couldn’t let that happen, but now I’m being selfish. I miss you too much.” Woo-bin laid his head on Jack’s shoulder and shuddered as he began to cry.
Jack was still in shock. “That I would be fired? Why in God’s name would that happen?” He gently grabbed Woo-bin’s shoulder and pushed him away a little so he could look into his eyes. He wiped at the tears that stained his beautiful face.
“GM Lee said that he knew about us, about me, and that he would expose you to the company and that the media would find out and you would be ruined permanently. You’d never be able to work again unless I did as he asked.”
“Oh, Woo-bin. That would never happen. My boss knows about me, about us.”
“Your boss knows?”
“Yes. She’s been helping me to put an end to what the GM was doing to us and to the company. You wonderful, kindhearted, stubborn man.” He embraced him and held him as tightly as he could. “I don’t ever want to be without you. These past months have been hell. I’ve missed you.” He separated them so he could kiss him. A long, deep, passionate kiss. Woo-bin moaned softly and ran his hands over Jack’s back and down to his backside, cupping his butt.
“You taste so good. I remember, from the first time we kissed, that night,” Woo-bin said smiling.
Jack kissed him again. Then they separated to catch their breaths. “You’re home to stay, I hope.”
“I will go wherever you want, Jack. I don’t want to be away from you.”
“I feel the same. My boss is willing to make this a permanent position here for me with an office at the Jeju property.”
“Really? Then we can stay here?”
“Yes, lead project manager. I will transition that to property manager once the facility is fully open for business. How’s that?”
“As long as I can see you every day.”
“Hmmm hmmm….”
They both turned, and Choon-hee was in the doorway looking dour.
Uh-oh.
“You both stand out here making scene. Come inside to do that. And you.” She pointed at Woo-bin with the spoon. “You take too long to come home.”
“Uh-oh. The spoon. You know what that means.”
Woo-bin laughed. “It means I am about to get beat. I thought that spoon was for Byung-soo.”
“It for whoever misbehave.” She held open the door in the garage that led to the entryway. “Come inside. We eat soon.” Then to Woo-bin, “You go unpack and clean up.” Then to Jack, “Where my cuttlefish I ask for ten minutes ago?”
Jack kissed Woo-bin’s forehead and went to the freezer to get what Choon-hee had asked for.
Woo-bin picked up his bags and followed Jack into the house. As he passed Choon-hee, she stopped him.
“He a good man. You not ever leave him again. Ne?”
“Ne, Halmeoni (Grandmother).” Woo-bin bowed.
“Good. Go.” And she rapped him on the head with the spoon.
THAT NIGHT, he and Woo-bin sat on the beach talking, holding hands, and kissing. Jack finally stood and extended his hand. Woo-bin took it, and Jack led him back to his room. He pulled off Woo-bin’s T-shirt as Woo-bin pulled off his. Jack placed his forefinger under Woo-bin’s chin, tipped his head back, then leaned in and kissed him. Softly at first, but as the passion rose in both of them, it became more heated, deeper. Jack could feel Woo-bin’s erection against his leg. He felt as if his heart was going to explode out of his
chest. His own erection was pressing against Woo-bin’s groin. Woo-bin pushed into it. Jack was wet. He spun around, Woo-bin in his arms, and laid him on the bed, then slowly unbuttoned his shorts, unzipping them and sliding them down along with his briefs. He met Woo-bin’s gaze—he looked drunk on passion and wanting… wanting. As did he. Jack knelt between Woo-bin’s legs. He ran his hands up his ample, smooth thighs and then around back, encircling his round, muscular butt. Skin so soft…. He pulled him forward and slowly leaned in to kiss his stomach, then his navel. Traveling down, he buried his nose in the younger man’s dark bush. Woo-bin’s smell heightened his arousal, and he felt as if he would come if he didn’t slow down. Standing, he pulled off his own pants and briefs, letting Woo-bin get a good look. Woo-bin eyed him and then smiled and swallowed hard.
The anticipation is half the fun.
“You are so good-looking, Jack, and sexy.”
“So are you, Woo-bin. You have a beautiful body. You are beautiful.”
Jack moved forward, and Woo-bin spread his legs as Jack lay on top of him. He wrapped his legs around Jack’s waist and they rocked back and forth, Jack thrusting against Woo-bin’s butthole and kissing him again and again. Separating, Jack moved down and slung Woo-bin’s legs over his shoulders. Taking Woo-bin’s cock in his hands, he ran his tongue from the base of his penis to the head, tasting Woo-bin’s precome. He grunted as he swallowed his cock from head to base and back again, over and over. Woo-bin gasped, breathing heavily. He entwined his fingers in Jack’s hair, holding him there, not letting him stop. Jack did stop, though, just long enough to gently move them into a sixty-nine position with Woo-bin on the bottom. Woo-bin watched between their bodies as Jack once again took Woo-bin into his mouth. He inhaled sharply. Jack stopped.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes Jack. It feels incredible. I’ve never felt like this before.”
Woo-bin looked above him at the length of Jack’s fully engorged cock. Grasping it, he stroked it slowly. Jack responded by thrusting against Woo-bin’s hand. Tentatively, Woo-bin wrapped his lips around the head, tasting him. Jack moaned softly as Woo-bin took Jack into his mouth. Woo-bin, with more confidence, slid his hand around Jack’s thighs as he swallowed him whole, and they began moving in rhythm, the heat rising. The need enveloping them. Soon they both reached climax together. Taking each other’s come until they were spent. Jack moved to spoon Woo-bin, pulling the covers up over them. They stayed like that for some time, and then Woo-bin turned his head to kiss Jack, and he accepted willingly. They tasted each other, which deepened the kiss and made Jack hard again, his cock nestling into the deep crevice that Jack had yet to explore. They did not get much sleep that night, which was fine, finally quenching a desire that had been building for some time.
Epilogue
IT WAS late summer, and fall was creeping in as it colored leaves, cooled the nights, and shortened the days. Choon-hee was in the garden harvesting the last of her herbs to preserve them for the winter to come. The gate to the modest house on the hillside opened, and Luke ran in, knapsack over his shoulders, his friend Kim Se-jun in tow.
“Stop.”
Both boys stopped and bowed to Choon-hee.
“Both go and wash first for dinner. No video games until it done.”
“Ne, Halmeoni,” they said together.
As she was opening the door to the kitchen, the gate opened again, and both Jack and Woo-bin entered, carrying briefcases, dressed in suits.
“I just tell boys to go wash for dinner, you both go too.”
“Ne.”
“Ne.”
They bowed.
After dinner, while Choon-hee cleaned up and the boys were playing in the front room, Jack and Woo-bin sat on the patio, holding hands and looking at the rising moon. The house Jack bought them was perfect. In the hills of Mount Hallasan but close enough to the properties to make the commute easy. A garden for Choon-hee, who Jack insisted join them there—she wouldn’t at first but acquiesced after Woo-bin spent weeks begging her—enough rooms to accommodate themselves and guests and the occasional visit by Byung-soo—whose wife threw him out every now and then for coming home drunk—and the patio, made of flagstone, that was a good size and landscaped with a pergola like the one at the old house, with crawling vines of lemon bells and potted azaleas, peonies, and yuchae flowers, all bordered by lilac and cherry trees that would bloom purple and pink in the spring.
“We have a good life, Jack.”
“Yes. We are very lucky, Woo-bin-i. Lucky that Leila was able to get all the paperwork done and obtain a visa for Luke so he could live here and go to school. And I have you.”
Woo-bin smiled and squeezed Jack’s hand. “Luke’s Korean is improving.”
“Yes. Much better than mine will ever be.”
“Yours is terrible.”
“Hey, it’s not that bad, is it?”
“Passable, but don’t ask Choon-hee. She will say it stinks.”
“Ugh.” Jack laughed.
“That’s her new phrase this week, it stinks: rice cooker stinks, new pot stinks, Jack’s Korean stinks.”
They both laughed.
“Luke has been helping her with her English.”
“Ah.” Jack nodded.
They were silent for a bit.
“Come inside. Ms. Argent here to drink and play Go-Stop (Korean card game).”
“Okay.” Jack waved over his head at Choon-hee, standing in the open garden doors behind them.
“Full moon tonight. Did you make a wish?”
“I did,” Woo-bin said.
“What’d you wish for?”
“I can’t say.” He winked at Jack.
Jack smiled as he stood, reaching out his hand to help the man he loved to his feet.
“I’d say we’re pretty fortunate in the wishing department.”
With that, he draped his arm over Woo-bin’s shoulder, and they walked together into a warm and welcoming future.
ASHER QUINN hated high school. He wasn’t an athlete, nor one of his class’ “elite” teen culture. He lived in a limbo of sorts. In love with a varsity football player who was only interested in what Asher could supply in the bedroom (between the sheets), let’s just say that romance wasn’t in the cards. His saving grace – writing. He found he could create worlds where anything was possible despite the odds – where love triumphed, because it always should. Fantasy? Maybe. But in the end, “isn’t that what gets us through the worst of it…through the day?” After having two short stories published, he decided that he would attempt book length fiction and that brings us to The Yuchae Blossom. He is currently working on a second novel for publication (no spoilers). ;)
Asher has traveled to, and has friends in, both China and South Korea. He currently lives in southern New England with two cats, a fantastic view of the sunset and a heart that’s always open to romance, heartache and all the baggage that comes with it.
“May your heart enjoy happy travels and return home, wiser, stronger and at peace. We all deserve a happy ending.”
–Asher
Asher can be reached at [email protected]
By Asher Quinn
The Yuchae Blossom
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Yuchae Blossom
© 2019 Asher Quinn.
Cover Art
© 2019 Brooke Albrecht.
http://brookealbrechtstudio.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a
model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-192-4
Digital eBook published April 2019
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America