CATALYST

TRAVIS

"It was obvious David had good taste and took a lot of pride in his home. It wasn't huge or overly luxurious, but it was beautiful and clean, and every single room had small touches that made it feel warm and welcoming. Like the kitchen, each room I saw could have been a K-Drama set.

The dining room walls were painted a soft blue-gray, and a shiny silver bowl full of white blooms rested on the long rectangular table. Beyond that was the living room, where thick white rugs covered the floor, and wide chairs and couches in neutral colors were arranged around a big ottoman. Lots of framed photographs stood on the white mantle over the room's brick fireplace, and I walked over to look closer.

A picture of David and Sowon from their childhood made me smile. He looked about ten years old; she, maybe half his age. Another boy, a little shorter than David, stood between them, and I wondered if there was a third sibling. All three of them wore bathing suits and were smiling broadly, squinting into the sun. They were all missing at least one tooth.

There were more family pictures, taken at graduations and Christmases, and someone's wedding—the other brother's, perhaps? It looked like David might have been the best man. I wondered if David had ever been married, or if he had a girlfriend. He must. What guy at his age, who looked that good and was obviously kind, smart, and successful, would still be single?

"Food's ready."

At the sound of his voice, I turned. "I was just looking at your pictures. Can I ask you about them?"

"Of course." He came into the room and stood next to me, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"You have a brother as well as a sister?"

"Yeah. John. He's two years younger." He pointed to the photo of them in formal dark suits. John was tall like David, but more ruggedly handsome. "That was his wedding three years ago. He and his wife Samantha live in Iksan, and they have a six-month old son now, Donnie."

"Is this him?" I gestured toward a photo of David cradling a baby in his arms.

"Yeah. That was at his baptism. I'm his godfather." A note of pride crept into his voice, making me smile. "Anyway. Ready to eat?"

"Definitely."

"We went back to the kitchen, where David had set a place for me at the table, complete with placemat and a linen napkin, a steak knife on the right and a fork on the left. A glass of ice water was on the table for me, too. "This is like a five star restaurant," I said as I sat down, placing the napkin on my lap. "I feel underdressed or something."

"Nah. I just have a thing about paper napkins. I hate them." He set a plate in front of me, and I could have wept, it looked so good—a perfectly seasoned seared steak and a fresh garden salad. Simple but perfect.

I dug in immediately.

David cleaned up the kitchen, then brought his wine to the table, taking the chair across from me. "Wow. You were hungry."

I grinned sheepishly and cut a bite off the last remaining portion of steak. "My grandparents grew up in hard times, and they taught me to never leave the table until I finish everything on my plate, because you never know if you're going to have a good meal tomorrow. But also—this is delicious."

"Was the steak cooked okay?"

"Perfect."

"Good. I guess I should have asked you how you like your meat."

I froze with my fork halfway to my mouth for a second before recovering. Don't be a pervert. He meant the steak. "I like it the way you did it," I assured him. But I couldn't look up from my plate, and I felt self-conscious as I chewed. Then I swallowed too soon and had to take a big drink of water to wash it down.

"This your first trip to Korea?" he asked me, crossing his arms over his chest.

"My second. I visited South Korea three years ago."

"How long will you stay?"

I decided to be honest. In Japan, people believe it's bad luck to talk about an undertaking before it's complete, sort of like putting a hex on it, but something about David made me want to confide in him. "I hope forever."

"Really? You're hoping to immigrate?"

"Yes."

"Can you? I mean, is it legal?"

"Yes and no. It's complicated." I finished the steak and took another drink of water. "I can stay for six months with no problem because of my visa. After that, I'll have to figure something out."

"You don't sound too worried about it. Are you?"

"Not really." I shrugged. "I'll do whatever it takes."

"Might be tough."

"It will definitely be tough. And probably risky, but I don't mind. I like taking risks. In Japan we say 'nana korobi ya oki,' which I think roughly translates to 'Fall seven times, get up eight.'"

He nodded thoughtfully. "Here we say, 'Try and try until you succeed' Same idea, though."

"Yes, exactly."

"Do you have a lot of family in Japan? Won't you miss them?" He sounded genuinely curious.

"I thought of my parents who suffered loss from being laid off from their jobs and struggling to support the whole family, my grandparents and Liliya, my dad accepts all kind of labor jobs by posting ads online. I felt a pang of guilt. "I will miss my family, yes. I hate feeling like I've abandoned them. But my mother understood why I wanted to come here."

"And why was that?" He reached for his wine.

"I want to be a Musician and songwriter."

He laughed a little. "Then I guess you're in the right place. Have you written any songs? Did you have demos with you?"

"I've started about 10 of them, but I've only completed half of it," I admitted. "I want to take some classes here. I've taken some online, but I think being in a classroom with a teacher and other students will be much better, especially for my Korean. I've learned Kpop agencies accepts demo samples of songs for their artists. I would love to try sending some soon".

"Your Korean is already pretty good. What kind of work did you do in Japan?"

"Thank you. I was a technical writer for a petrochemical company. It was okay work, but never my passion. What about you? What do you do?"

He took another drink and set the wine glass down. "Commercial property development for my dad's company."

"Do you like it?"

"I guess so."

"But it's not your passion?"

He shrugged. "I don't know that I have a passion, not like you do." Then he smiled wryly, his eyebrows lifting. "You know, I'll be honest, I was surprised when I first met you. I expected someone a little boorish, sorry its not that I view Japanese to be such but your situation somewhat made me doubt what kind of foreigner would meet such bad luck on his first night in Korea."
He looked apologetically to me.

I laughed. "So how do you find me now? Are you disappointed?" I gave him a teasing smile. I hope I wasn't obvious in appearing to be flirting with him. Crossing my fingers behind me.

~~~ 9. ~~~