Hard To Escape • LK Adaptation

13.2

The truth is, I didn’t actually have class in the afternoon, but I did agree to help Wei Sehun this evening by interpreting for a negotiation. His translation company was expanding their services lately, from written translations to also testing out live interpretation. T University’s French department had a good reputation and furthermore, our professors were well-connected. Thus, Wei Sehun’s first customer was a big shot.

“He’s a board member of the French Antiques Committee who’s here to buy medieval French antiques that were sold into China. Besides a base fee for interpretation, we’ll also receive a 5% commission off the difference between the selling price and his bottom line. We could potentially rake in a lot of money!”

While listening to Wei Sehun telling me more about the client, I uneasily deleted a text from Mo Jimin. He’d written, “Rosé has already gotten the artist’s contact information. The choice is all yours.” Then he sent me another text, this time with the artist’s cell phone number, residential address in France, and postal address. My hand trembled as it hovered over the screen, but in the end I didn’t delete the second text.

I feigned attentive interest as I looked back up at Wei Sehun and asked, “Then what will I be doing?”

Wei Sehun seemed a bit embarrassed as he explained, “Well, here’s the issue: I can translate for the usual negotiation process without any trouble, but this case involves a lot of antique names and terminology. You seem to have a good grasp on all those stupid vocab words, so I wanted to call on you as a backup. If there’s any problems, you can help cover for me.”

My uneasy, restless heart felt like a massively tangled knot. It was as if there was another me trying with all her might to break out of my chest. Stifling that agitated impulse, I turned to Wei Sehun and nodded. “Sure. Although I’m not too familiar with antiques either, I looked up some relevant material last night on the internet. Hopefully I’ll be of help to you.”

Wei Sehun smiled, and then rubbed my head intimately as if we were close friends. “If we do well, I’ll take you out to eat continuously for a whole semester!” My inner thoughts became a jumble, I hadn’t anticipated that he would make such an overly-familiar motion. My mind had been preoccupied with that girl in the painting with the same face as me. Even now, that lofty gaze of hers seemed to still be staring at me, making it difficult for me to breathe.

Thus, when I eventually took a seat at the meeting table, part of my mind was still wandering elsewhere. In contrast, Wei Sehun and our French client were deep in conversation, happily chatting away. I instead turned to gaze out the window at the flowing stream of passersby on the street,1 my heart hollow as if missing an important piece.

1 The original text uses 车水马龙, an idiom meaning “an endless stream of horses and carriages” or alternatively, heavy traffic.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Jeon Jungkook. This is Mr. DuPont, of Quinn Antiques from France.” While I’d been spacing out, the other party had apparently arrived. Wei Sehun had already risen to greet them, but I’d been the last to notice.2 I followed Wei Sehun’s lead and got up too., only to find that I’d still been a step behind. Wei Sehun had to tug on my sleeve before I noticed and distractedly took a seat again. At the same time, I finally looked up.

2 后知后觉 is an idiom that’s the opposite counterpart to 先知先觉, which means “to be the first person to notice/understand”. The difference between the two is the use of 先 (first) vs. 后 (later), so 后知后觉 means to be the lastto perceive something.

To my shock, on the opposite side of the circular table sat Jungkook. He wore a suit that perfectly displayed his tall, handsome figure. I stared, unable to tear my eyes away. He looked shocked for a split second when he noticed me too, but immediately calmed down and afterwards didn’t look at me again. Jungkook only directed a polite, lukewarm smile in our direction. I recalled that earlier that morning, I’d learned from Wei Sehun that the seller hadn’t really agreed with the amount of Mr. DuPont’s initial offer.