The Last Boy Scout

29

They sat outside the fitness gym on the ninth floor of a mall. They sat across from each other, each on a leather seat and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the mall below them. Up here was quieter; the faint noise of music playing in the gym was the noisiest thing on the floor.

"When did you come to Seoul?" He asks.

"Two years ago," she replies, leaving out the reason why.

"..." he pauses, wondering why, but is too scared to ask her. "Cool," was all he said, and that made him feel dumb.

"Yeah," she felt bad for not telling him, so she told him part of it. "I came here to be closer to family and my mom's friends,"

"Where did you used to live?" He began to get curious.

"I was born in the States. My mom is Korean and my dad was half Korean and half Norwegian. When I was two we moved to Norway but only for half a year," she laughed. "It's been an... interesting journey,"

"You've been all over the place," he chuckled. "That's so interesting. So, your dad is half Norwegian?"

"Yes," talking about her father wasn't a problem for her anymore. Before, she would jumble up her words and try not to cry, but time has passed and it wasn't a big deal as it was before. "His father was from Norway and his mother was born in Korea,"

"Ohh..." Jungkook acknowledged and began fiddling with his sleeves."So, do you have like, multiple names?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have a Norwegian name? Or is it just Seokyeon...?"

"Oh, my name is just Seokyeon... but, I have two last names; in Korean, it's Park Seokyeon and in Norway or in the States, my last name is Odden: Seokyeon Odden."

"That's interesting," Jungkook didn't know how else to respond. He wasn't experienced with this, though he wanted to listen and get to know Seokyeon better.

"I don't use that last name anymore though," she continued. "I'm in Korea now, and besides, Odden is a weird last name,"

"It doesn't sound that weird," he assured her, studying the blank expression on her face.

"You're just saying that," she let out a loose laugh.

He laughed, too. "Do you know how to speak Norway... Norwaynese... sorry, Norwegian..?"

"Norwaynese? That's actually hilarious. But no, I only know a few words; I'm not fluent."

"Say something you know..." he wanted to hear her speak.

"Ahh, no, thank you, I'm... I don't really... I'm not good at it.." she hid her face with her hands.

"Just one word or something, I want to hear you speak Norwaynese,"

"Oh my goodness, it's Norwegian," she laughed. "And I only lived there for a few months and then we moved back to the States, so.."

"... so say something! I want to hear you speak... it will be... cute..." he said quietly, his face getting warm.

Seokyeon smiled to herself. "Alright..."

Jungkook waited patiently.

"Jeg elsker deg," her accent changed, and it sounded like yey aysker ai.