Summer Child

The Fourth Year. Part A.

Seri flitted across the apartment, trying to find anything to do other than looking at her cellphone. Jeong Hyeok's roommate, Karl, had complained three times that she made him dizzy, checking her phone all the time.

"His flight will land in 30 minutes, Seri, at least based on this schedule" he said for a second time that hour, "And you know Air Koryo is not exactly a 5-stars airline that's well known for their punctuality. 8 times out of 10, he will have delay"

Seri pouted as she grumbled that she knew about that and he didn't have to be smart and reminded her every single time.

"And just out of curiosity, why are you waiting here instead of at the airport? Isn't that what people like you two do?" Karl asked and Seri asked what did he mean with someone like them. Karl rolled his eyes. Instead of answering, he put his two hands together and made kissing noises. Seri laughed and threw a pillow to his head. She hit him bull's eye.

It was already late July and the weather was bothering hot. Seri opened the living room window and let the breeze went into the room. Karl said he would be at his room and to just knock if she needed any help, and Seri nodded.

Seri checked her cellphone again and sighed. She really wanted to wait for him at the airport but Jeong Hyeok had reminded her to not to. There was always a big chance that he would take the flight with some officials from the North, and he didn't want to expose them to Seri for her own security. Despite she was a Switzerland citizen, her appearance was definitely a Korean, but not of North one. He didn't want to raise any suspicion on her from his government.

She understood the logic, of course, but she simply couldn't help it. She missed him, missed him terribly since he had spent almost a month in his home country. He spent more time than usual, since this year he had to clear up a lot more approval and permit to finish his graduate school in Switzerland for the next 4 years.

It was their plan since last summer and they got together. Both of them knew that once Jeong Hyeok finished his undergraduate, he would have to go back to his home country and there was no telling if he would be able to leave the country again after that. Therefore, Jeong Hyeok had tried very hard to get himself into an Orchestra in Zurich ever since then.

Seri helped as best as she could, both for his sake and her sake. Because once she got the taste of him, she knew that she was hooked.

She had known Ri Jeong Hyeok as her friend for more than three years, therefore she thought there wouldn't be much different once they decided to venture into a more serious and romantic side of their relationship. But, boy, was she in for a surprise.

Jeong Hyeok was so much more as a boyfriend. He was as attentive as ever before, but now that he had more liberty in the more intense part of their relationship, Seri had never felt so loved and cherished before.

He texted her good morning almost every single day, and reminded her to not forgetting her breakfast before going out of the door. When she was in Zurich, he would come to her house and brought/made her breakfast in her house. If she was in Paris, during lunch time he would video called her and asked her to walk outside. He would do the same and he said it would feel as if they were taking a walk together.

Before going to sleep, Seri often asked him to play a song on the piano as a lullaby. It made her solitary apartment felt so much warmer and made her got to sleep faster. Therefore, she couldn't help admitting that she missed him so badly, especially since she hadn't seen him in the entire month. The last time they met was during Jeong Hyeok's undergraduate graduation.

She didn't go to his 'actual' graduation since there would be some North officials attending as proxy of his parents who couldn't come. However, they had their own 'celebration' later that night that consisted of the most expensive wine she could afford, a spread of everything Jeong Hyeok's favorite including a beef noodle soup that she spent almost a month learning to make from her mother and a bare Yoon Seri.