She wondered why he was here. It was too early in the day for bars or clubs to be open, and there were bigger shopping districts elsewhere. But he seemed genuinely interested in the wares of a particular stall not too far away from hers. The student selling Star Wars cellphone charms was smiling, laughing as he made a joke, like he was the most interesting person she had ever met. He was marveling at her craftsmanship, his Korean accent slightly stiff as he exclaimed over her work. Celia couldn't help the frown on her face. Who knew that it had a human side?
Shaking her head, she resumed rearranging the postcards when she heard the girl from the booth squeal in excitement. Celia's eyes turned sharply to them (just like the other sellers did) and she saw the girl chattering excitedly with Ben as she placed all her wares in a box and happily handed it to him.
Did he just...buy the whole lot? Celia wondered, her brows furrowing again. Why would he, unless...
"May the Force be with you," he nodded to the girl. He pulled a Darth Vader charm out of the box and asked the girl to put it on his phone.
Good god. He's a Star Wars fan, Celia thought, holding back a giggle. It was like seeing a puppy walk on two legs, or realizing the punchline of a joke. Endlessly amusing, for some reason. His love of Star Wars humanized him somehow, like she could no longer see his Kenzo sweater or his John Galliano slacks. Just a guy who loved Star Wars so much that he went all the way to Hongdae to buy cell phone charms.
Ben was grinning as he held up his new accessory before he turned and saw Celia watching him. Both their faces shifted to an expression of surprise, and Ben immediately tucked his phone into his pocket (like he was embarrassed, but why?). Celia was about to pretend she had not seen anything when he marched toward her with a very determined glare.
"Stalking me, are we?" He asked in that American English accent of his. Even Celia didn't speak that well. His gaze was steely, threatening and (Celia hated to admit this) very handsome. Attractive, really. He didn’t look all that amused to see her, but his tone betrayed him a bit. His light brown hair flopped over his forehead. Celia swallowed a lump in her throat and tried not to think about running her hands though his hair, or his hands running through hers.
Eep. Where did that come from?
"Aniyeo, sunbae," she chirped innocently, denying a little too quickly for Ben's comfort. "I'm helping a friend sell these post cards. Are you enjoying the Free Market?"
Ben raised his eyebrow at the girl brazen enough not to cower or shriek at his cool demeanor. He wasn't used to it, although Vivian spoke to him much the same way. Narrowing his eyebrows and thinning his lips, Ben took a sip of his iced Americano (who drank iced drinks in the middle of autumn?) and sat beside Celia behind the selling table.
"Uh...what do you think you're doing?" She asked him. Was she going to have to pepper spray this guy? Celia slipped her hand into her purse, ready to grab the spray and her phone to call Henry (she was going to kill him for leaving her alone). Ben simply shrugged and sipped his drink again.
"Giving you a taste of your own medicine," he said cooly. "You think I don't see you watching me in school every day, following me around? Pabo. Let's see how you like being followed and glared at, Celia Alix."
The accusation and being called an idiot floored Celia. She didn't know why this guy claimed that she was stalking him, she had only seen him two times since the start of the semester, today included. She wondered how he knew her name, and when he had ever seen her on campus (as she certainly had not seen him). Was it possible that he was actually stalking her a little bit? Celia laughed to herself at the ridiculous thought. She did not, however, appreciate his tone or his accusations.
Thankfully, Henry arrived, two warm paper cups in his hand. He seemed oblivious to what was happening until he saw just who was sitting in his spot. Immediately a look crossed his face, a flash of annoyance, the kind Celia gave her sister when she took something of hers without asking.
"Sunbae," he said as genteel as Celia ever heard him. But she didn’t miss the tension in his voice, the tightness of his jaw, like speaking was too much for him. “You’re sitting in my seat."
Ben turned to Henry, looking him up and down. While Henry was dressed in the same clothes as the models in the men's magazines, Ben looked like he was the model Henry had copied off from. It was not a good place to be. Henry felt like Ben could see right through him, dissect him with a steely gaze and a few words. He didn’t think he could stand that, but he wasn’t just going to leave Celia with this guy either.
He was right, though. Ben understood everything about Henry after those six words and stood up, seeing no reason to pick a fight with a guy he had already dismissed as a nobody.
"See you later, Celia," he said, swinging his box of cellphone charms in his hands as he walked away. Celia watched him leave with a dropped jaw and a confused expression. Henry, however, saw this as a dark sign.
"I thought you were going to stay away from him?" He asked nonchalantly, blowing at the steam of his cappuccino like he was blowing his tension away. He was just about to turn to Celia and give her a wink, when he saw her distracted expression. She was still sitting in their booth, but in her mind she was already walking away.
"I have to go," Celia said quickly, ignoring her steaming latte on the table in front of her. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Henry said nothing more and watched her run away. He frowned behind his coffee cup. Tomorrow, he thought to himself. You have to ask her out tomorrow. He looked up at a couple of girls giggling towards him and put on his usual, flirty grin like nothing had happened.
Celia jogged out of the Free Market and down the small hill right across the entrance to Hongdae University. She was about to turn left towards the shopping area when a voice behind her made her jump.
"Aha. Caught red handed," Ben said, his face completely smug as Celia turned to him. She wanted to smack the grin off his face (maybe kiss it, but only a little), but settled for smacking the empty cup of Iced Americano to the ground. She was not aware that such a gesture was akin to pissing on someone in this particular part of the world. Still cool as a cucumber, Ben tutted his lips and wagged a finger at her.
"Ah-ah. Littering," he pointed out, picking up the discarded cup. "Your rap sheet is getting longer by the second, Celia-ssi."
The only person who ever called her Miss Celia was her mother, and only when she was particularly stern. She exhaled deeply, hoping that smoke was coming out of her nose. She crossed her arms over her chest. To hell with formalities. She wasn't Korean anyway.
"Listen here, Trekkie," she said, putting on the best 'tough girl' voice she could muster. She made a point of poking at his chest a little. "I am not stalking you. If you keep seeing me on campus, it's because I go to school there. You came here to Hongdae. The only thing I did was bump into you and I already apologized in both languages. So don't 'give me a taste of my own medicine,' don't call me stupid and don't act cute!"
Satisfied with her tirade, Celia huffed and emphatically turned back towards the market when Ben grabbed her arm and pulled her back, his body coming into contact with hers. No wait, not his body. His lips. Celia didn't even register what was happening until she heard his cellphone charms clatter to the street. But there they were, standing on a street corner in the middle of a busy road, their lips pressed together like they were fused with superglue. Celia didn’t dare breathe as she enjoyed the warmth pooling in her chest, loving the tingle that vibrated from the base of her spine to her lips as if he was trying to pull it out of her. Was it still a kiss if it was just their lips touching? Then she pulled back and just gaped at him, about to ask him what the hell he was doing. Ben seemed just as surprised as she was. His eyes drifted down to her small, pink lips, her tongue licking across the bottom like she missed the contact. Did he just imagine that?
“Star Wars fans aren’t called Trekkie, pabo,” he said quickly, picking up his charms and brushing past her, somehow managing to disappear in the busy
Hongdae streets. Celia watched him go, her lips tingling slightly and her jaw slack. What just happened?
Ben came home later just slightly confused. He was never the impulsive guy, and the decision to kiss his stalker on a street corner was probably not the wisest thing. But he had to admit, it was actually quite pleasant. When he put his hands on his lips he could almost feel her there. His heart picked up slightly in his chest at the thought of the stolen kiss. He would never admit this to anyone, but this was the first time he had willingly kissed a girl. With his unofficial engagement to Vivian, it left no room for relationships with other girls, not any that made him want to pull their arm and kiss them. Why was she different? He was going to have to investigate. Stalking his stalker (although he found it strange that she so vehemently denied it). He felt more excited than he had about anything in a long time.
He lay in bed, watching his own thoughts pass and swirl when his phone chimed.
“Mind telling me where you are?” Vivian had been texting him for the last hour nonstop. Normally he replied fairly quickly, her bossy tone translated in text just as well as her voice. But Ben just didn't feel like telling his sort-of-fiancée where he was right now.
He set aside his phone and looked at the cool Star Wars cellphone charms he just bought, picking up the Queen Amidala one at the top of the box. It was very well made, the artist at the Free Market knew exactly what she was doing with her collection. He especially liked that Anakin Skywalker still had that scar over his eye like he did just before he became Darth Vader. The charms were a steal for 300,000 won in all. He smiled. Queen Amidala would look good on Celia's phone. He realized he didn’t even know what Celia’s phone looked like.
Ben was just about to text her (there wasn't anyone in that school he didn't know the number to) when his mother appeared at his door.
"Why aren't you replying to Vivian? Your mother-in-law just called me."
"Omoni," he said as politely as he could muster. “As much as you want it to be true, Kang Byul-ssi is not my mother-in-law. If you wanted me to marry Viv so bad, why did you have to make us wait? Screw college, just handcuff us to each other for the rest of our life?"
"Benedict," His mother said in her sharp, no-nonsense tone. Her use of his English name made him wince, and her tone made it sound like she was tired of him. ”I was not aware that Yonsei made it a habit to teach bad manners. I don’t think I have to remind you that an alliance with the Wilson family is what our company needs? You have a duty. Reply to Mi Young."
Ben clenched his fists so hard that he snapped Queen Amidala's neck. He groaned and tossed it aside, placing his hand over his face.
Vivian Wilson knew a lot of things. Abnormal psychology, economics, philosophy, ask her about it, she probably knew something about it. But when it came to Ben, she knew everything. The boy was as predictable as time, and she spent enough of her days with him to know exactly what made him tick. He was cold but dutiful, he was a big geek, but it made him sweet. He felt lost in the world, and she felt duty-bound to help steer him in the right direction. Ben always came to her when she asked. Always.
So when she asked where he was and he said nothing, Vivian naturally got worried. Her rational mind told her not to make a big deal out of it, there were many factors that contributed to not replying. Her irrational heart, however, felt there was something wrong.
It was Monday, and Vivian saw Ben standing near the station exit nearest to school. Strange, Ben never took the subway. But it was him, grinning into his cellphone and holding his usual cup of cold coffee. There was a Star Wars charm hanging on the side of his phone and he seemed to be waiting for someone, glancing up at the subway exit once in a while. He seemed nervous and fidgety. Vivian had never known Ben to be nervous and fidgety. Something was clearly off.
“Tell me where you are,” She texted him again as her driver pulled up to the school gate.
“Still at home,” he replied simply, and Vivian's heart knew that to worry had been the right thing to do. His behavior didn’t fit his usual patterns. There was definitely something off.
One of the things Celia never admitted to anyone was that she had never been kissed before. Twenty one years old and this was the first time she had locked lips with a boy. It wasn’t something by choice, nor was it something that plagued her on lonely nights. That was just the way it was, and she accepted that. She knew it made her sound like a teenager, but she had imagined what her first kiss would be like. Ben would have been the last person she thought to kiss first.
But when Ben kissed her on that street corner in Hongdae, it made her heart pound and her hands sweat. Better than nice, much more exciting and lovely than she could have imagined. Sure their lips touched, and she did feel dizzy and nauseous and giggly after…but was it a kiss that meant something? She couldn't stop seeing his face in her mind, that shocked expression. At first it infuriated her, the way he thought he could just grab her and kiss her after accusing her of being an idiot and a stalker. Slowly, after much reflection, she warmed up to the entire idea of Ben, of his now painfully obvious love for Star Wars, the playful way he smiled when he saw the charm.
But when he showed up the next day by the subway station, the fury bubbled up faster than her affection ever could. She ignored him and turned back once, only to realize he was actually following her. Since then he would appear when she least expected him, lurking in a corner of the hallway, waiting when she emerged from class. Always with that smug smile on his face and a plastic cup of iced Americano near those damn lips. She hoped he got a horrible stomachache from it.
After two days, Celia learned to ignore him. He was like an annoying blip in her vision, one that she couldn't get out of her head, even if she wanted to.
When she emerged from the subway station after three days of being stalked, she was not surprised to see Ben standing there and waiting for her with an iced Americano in his hand. She frowned and walked up to him, looking him up and down. His expression was neutral, like he was daring her to stop him from following her.
“Do you even go to class?” She asked, glaring and hoping that he would be surprised enough to cower in front of her.
"Can you stop being boring?" He asked her dryly, sipping his coffee. "If you're going to make me waste my time, at least make yourself interesting."
She growled under her breath (she didn't know she could do that) and took his coffee, marching to school as she sipped. It tasted horrible.
"Eugh, this stuff is gross," she yelled to him as he walked two steps behind her. For the first time since he began following her, Ben closed the distance between them and started to walk beside her.
"Then stop trying to take it from me," he said, taking his cup back like a kid grabbing his toy back from his playmate. "You know," he said slyly, leaning closer to her as if to whisper conspiratorially into her ear. "Sharing a straw and everything, we just indirectly kissed."
"Excuse me while I throw up on the street," Celia said, rolling her eyes and making Ben laugh. They kept walking to school together. The leaves on the trees started falling as the wind blew, like red and yellow raindrops. Celia smiled when she realized Ben was falling behind slightly. She turned to him, her hair fanning around her face. Ben actually stopped. She looked...lovely. He wasn't even sure what that word meant, until that moment.
"Not used to the walk, haraboji?" She teased, stopping as he caught up with her again. He rolled his eyes and followed her to the pedestrian side of the tunnel to reach the school.
"Wow, we're pulling out big words now, are we?" He teased, laughing. "Unfortunately, calling me grandpa is weak sauce. How are you supposed to survive the mean streets of Seoul with zero knowledge of good swear words? Who's teaching you?"
"Henry, the guy I was helping out at the Free Market," Celia said, taking his coffee again for a sip. She had to admit it was sort of growing on her. "He says I’m too pretty to be using swear words.”
Honest to God, the sound of Ben's snort was
so intense it made people turn and see just what he thought was so ridiculous. The eye roll was so massive that Celia wondered if he had practiced just for that moment. She had to hide her smile before he saw her.
They stopped at the crossing to the school gate, and both of them found it terribly unfair that they were already there. Strangely enough, their friendly banter to the school gates were the best part of Celia’s trip so far. The crossing lights turned green, but neither Celia nor Ben made a move to cross. He could see Vivian's car pull up at the front of the school, and moments later Vivian herself was walking to the bench where she always waited for him to arrive.
"Ever get the feeling that attending school abroad is the last thing you want to do while attending school abroad?" Celia asked nobody in particular, sighing a little. Ben sighed too, but cutting school was out of the question, wasn't it? Nobody cut school. It was dishonorable and rude and very unbecoming of the future of South Korea.
"Come on," Ben said, tugging Celia's arm toward a sleek, ostentatious silver grey Jaguar that had pulled up to where they were standing. With his hand clamped firmly on her wrist, Ben opened the car door and tossed her unceremoniously inside. He sat beside her, said something to the driver she didn't catch, and they drove off. Celia saw the school gate and the entirety of Sinchon whizz past them and asked Ben what he was doing.
"It's a weekday," Ben said as they passed by Ewha station. "We're going to Namsan Tower."
Celia and Henry had toured most or all of Seoul in the weekends that they weren't at the Free Market. Namsan Tower was supposed to be the place they visit last, just at the end of the semester. Truthfully, Celia didn't see why they couldn't just go, but said nothing on the subject. Now that Ben was taking her, she had to admit she only felt a little guilty. Celia looked at her phone. Henry would be waiting for her in class, as he always did. Against her better judgment, she turned it off.
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