Chapter 6 - Cursed

Four times, I've gone to a restaurant and received milk when I ordered a Coke. I've lost my phone in a Cheesecake Factory 6 times. 60% of the time, my food order at a restaurant is wrong. It's little inconveniences like this that have added up to make my friends and me believe that I'm cursed. More than once I've wondered if there's some way to find the witch some ancestors wronged to atone for their misdeeds.

Today, however, on the first day of Taekwondo training with OTE, the curse has been lifted. For I have been blessed with the unique privilege of witnessing five perfect men train.

Han Sung called out instructions to them, demonstrating moves, and had me walk around the room with her to correct their form.

I uttered a silent prayer of thanks, glancing up at the heavens and smiling in gratitude as I grabbed Yun-jae's shoulders to correct his posture.

Humming the first hymn that came to mind, I grabbed Sa Seok's waist to help stabilize him through a kick, grinning at the blush creeping across his cheeks.

The first session passed in this manner, my mind in a state of bliss and thanksgiving.

"Don't think you're getting off so easy!" Sung called to me as we were wrapping up. "They've got somewhere to be, but you don't. Stay behind and spar with me."

My smile withered.

"I should have known," I sighed. "It's okay though. I'm prepared to pay for the blessings I received today."

Sung rolled her eyes and beckoned me forward. Time to be humbled by getting my ass kicked by an Olympic gold medalist.

That was how my first month in Korea passed by at the speed of light. Teaching every day, training with OTE on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, nannying Seo-yeon on the weekends, and trying to find time to have a social life with Lucy.

"Hey," Lucy called, poking her head into my classroom one Thursday afternoon. "Did you see that the water is out at our building?"

"What?" I responded.

"Yep. We just got an email. They think it will be out until at least tomorrow night," Lucy said, wandering in and plucking a piece of candy from the jar on my desk.

"What should we do? Should we go to a hotel or something? That's so expensive, though," I whined, putting my head in my hands.

"Well, listen to this, some of the other teachers are going to a love hotel near our building," Lucy said mischievously.

"A love hotel?" I said, lifting up my head.

"Yeah, it's cheaper than a regular hotel, and yeah, it's supposed to be just for couples to have sex, and they're filled with lube and condoms and sex toy vending machines, BUT it's cheap," Lucy finished proudly.

"You had me at cheap. Let's go grab our stuff for the night and get dinner," I responded, packing up my backpack.

"Can we get pizza from that one place? Director Ha has ordered us that shitty pizza for lunch too many times, and I need to remember what decent pizza tastes like before I go insane."

"Yep," I called, already at the door. "Let's go. I'm hungry."

"Damn girl, you walk fast," Lucy grumbled.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Burrata pizza?" Lucy asked in response, deflecting.

"Hell yeah," I responded.

One food coma and a quick packing session later, Lucy and I found ourselves in the room of a love hotel.

As promised, the room was well stocked with various kinds of lube and so many condoms.

"Hehe," Lucy giggled, fiddling with the touchscreen panel built into the wall. "You can even order a vibrator via room service. If they had places like this in the States, I think I would have had at least 3 more pregnancy scares than I did and at least one case of chlamydia."

"Dude, I think it would have been more like 5 more pregnancy scares. 2 was your total without love hotels, so it would have to be more than double that number with love hotels."

"You're so right," Lucy responded, looking blankly off into the distance. "That's all behind me, though. I have a new love." Lucy sighed, lovestruck.

"Oh?" I responded, flipping through the dessert offerings on the panel.

"Yes!" Lucy squealed, flopping onto the bed and hugging a pillow. "I didn't want to tell you because I think you'll disapprove, BUT he's so nice and he's so handsome, and he has a good job and he's so handsome."

"You said handsome twice," I responded, laying next to Lucy on the bed. "And why do you think I'll disapprove?"

"Wellllll," Lucy began coyly, "He may or may not be the dad of one of my students."

"Lucy!" I exclaimed, sitting up.

"Wait, no. I promise it's not that bad! He's a student's single father," Lucy said, clearly proud of herself for liking a single man.

"Well... I suppose that's not as bad, but it's still definitely NOT a good idea to go after the dad of one of your students."

"But he has a job! A good one! Like he makes a lot of money. He's a legit chaebol." Lucy said earnestly.

"What's a chaebol?" I asked, suspicious.

"It's the opposite of bad, so put that frown away. It's a Korean word for someone who's like the heir to wealth. So, it's good!" Lucy said.

"Is this growth?" I said tearfully.

"Oh my god, stahpppp. You're so embarrassing," Lucy said, blushing. "What's going on with you and Yun-jae, though?" Lucy asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I mean, we see each other at training and on set when he's filming at the same time as Min-ji. Occasionally, he'll text me something random, like a link to some Taekwondo video, but that's it." I said, sighing.

"Really? That's disappointing. I thought something was bound to happen with that whole 'You started it!' thing you told me about," Lucy responded.

"Honestly? I kind of thought so too. But he's a busy celebrity on a completely different level than me. Actually, I talk to Sa Seok more. Well, over text, anyway."

"Sa Seok? Really? He was so prickly and quiet when I met him," Lucy said incredulously.

"Right? We have similar interests, though, so we only really send each other book or music

recommendations."

"Damn, you've got these boys wrapped around your finger," Lucy laughed.

"No way! I'm sure they don't see me like that. I'm just a normal person, and they're," I finished, gesturing to the heavens to prove my point.

"Sure, sure. My athletic, beautiful friend. There's no way those men could be into you," Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

Deflecting, I said, "It's already past midnight, and I have training tomorrow at 6. Sleep?"

Lucy sighed and nodded.

I awoke to a blaring alarm, a pillow to the head, and Lucy whining, "Shut it off!"

"Damn, I need some coffee," I muttered to myself as I walked out of the door of the love hotel.

"Ilse?" the disbelieving voice of Yun-jae called behind me.

I spun around, watching his eyes flick from me to the love hotel and back to me again.

"Oh! It's not what it looks like," I said, hoping to clear up any confusion. "The water was out in the building I live in, so Lucy and I, a bunch of other teachers too, decided to stay at this love hotel last night."

"Ah!" Yun-jae said, relief and a smile spreading across his face. "Want to grab a coffee on the way in to get our asses kicked?"

"Sure," I laughed, relieved to have cleared up any confusion.

Just as we began walking, Yun-jae abruptly stopped and pushed me against a wall. He raised a finger to his lips, shushing me, and glanced around uneasily before letting me go.

"Sorry about that," he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "I thought I heard a camera shutter, but I guess I was wrong. Let's get going! I really need the caffeine this morning."

I nodded, my heart racing at the sudden physical contact.

Yun-jae continued to look uneasy during practice and left in a hurry before I got the chance to talk to him.

As I was stretching before my one-on-one time with Sung, I got a call.

"Hey, Sung? Give me a second before we start. My mom is calling me," I called to Sung.

She gave me a silent thumbs-up and went back to her stretching.

"Hi, Mo..." I answered, cut off before I could finish.

"Ilse. Your brother knows that you're in Korea," my mom said grimly.

"How?! You promised me you wouldn't tell him!" I said, near tears.

"I didn't tell him. Your father didn't tell him. No one told him. Who are you hanging around there, huh? You told me that you took on that part-time nannying job for some rich couple, but you didn't tell me that they were famous or anything. There are pictures of you with some famous guy outside of a... what was it called? A love hotel. What the hell are you doing over there?!" My mom asked incredulously.

"What?" I responded, the color draining from my face.

"Alexander had some offers from some music company over there or something to produce some songs. He was Googling the band they want him to work with, and sure enough, he sees some photo of you on a gossip website loved up with one of those band people outside of some seedy hotel!"

"How is this my fault?" I yelled. "I stayed at the hotel with Lucy and other teachers because it was cheap and the water at our building was out. I happened to meet Yun-jae outside of the hotel on the way to Taekwondo practice. I told you I was doing that! I've been going to Sung's dojo and helping train people Seo-yeon's dad introduced me to. I told you all this!"

"You shouldn't be at places like that!" my mom yelled back. "Why are you hanging around this band? You have no business being with people like that. You just need to focus on work when you're over there. You couldn't get a job in the US, so you need to make the most of whatever opportunity you have, not slack off and flirt with sketchy people. Maybe this will be good for you and Alexander; he only took the job after finding out you were in Korea, you know."

I stayed silent, at a loss for words.

"Hello? Did you hang up on me?" my mom called through the phone.

"I can't believe you," I said stonily and hung up.

That nagging feeling of unease that lurked in the back of my mind, that I had ignored because things had been going so well, yeah, I shouldn't have ignored it. I am cursed after all.