“Wanna stay for some cake?” Julia asked.
“Absolutely,” Jisoo answered.
32
Like Coming Home
Julia
Julia didn’t care that it was a tourist trap. Namsan Tower had become one of her favorite places in Seoul. She loved the variety of cute cafés. She lived for the hustle and bustle of the street markets. She drew energy from people- and style-watching around the universities. But Namsan Tower, with its glorious view high above the city, was her little bit of peace in normally busy days. It was here she could come to get perspective.
The past months in Korea had been a gift. Julia was learning how to feel more at ease in crowds. She took chances and tried new kinds of food. She practiced improving her Korean, which required her to listen more and talk less. And she found when she did this, she could appreciate things more deeply than on the surface level. She no longer felt like an outsider who’d lost her ticket into her culture. She felt like someone coming to appreciate the parts that made her who she was and the parts that were very different from the person she, as a Korean American, had grown up to be.
And best of all, she was finding out how much she liked being her own company. She’d always had her close friends,her nosy family, her supportive coworkers around her. And she hadn’t written off one day wanting a partner, a relationship. But in Korea, Julia enjoyed time alone, processing and appreciating everything that happened in a day. She’d felt more herself than ever before.
Julia thought back to Sonia saying she approached life as two versions of herself. It finally made sense to her now. And she was figuring out how to stop compartmentalizing and just be the one true version of Julia Song.
Today’s forecast said rain, but that didn’t bother Julia. It just meant there’d be fewer crowds up at the top of the mountain. She closed her eyes as she rode the cable car up to the tower’s base. She mentally went through all the things she wanted and needed to do today. Review financials for the rest of the year, sign off on the full marketing campaign for the new product launch, test out the new peel-off mask from the popular brand Laneige, call her parents, and grab some veggie dumplings on her way home.
She stepped out of the gondola and began her stroll around the viewing platform. The clouds covered the view of the city but also pushed away a lot of the air pollution. The trade-off was worth it, in her opinion. She took in a deep breath of the crisp air and let it out.
Other than a small group of people examining the love locks that took up almost every inch of the surrounding walls, she was mostly alone. Julia loved the romance of the love locks in theory. Hundreds of padlocks with names of couples vowing to stay together forever written on them. But it also brought a tiny pang of sadness, wondering if their love actually had lasted or if they’d called it quits. Did these couples survive hurt, betrayal, anger, arguments, forgiveness? As she walked past each one, she hoped, as she did every time she came here, that this profession of love between two people meant they’d made it. That their love had survived.
She once witnessed a girl with bolt cutters cut off her lock and throw it over the side of the wall.
Love was unpredictable, she knew all too well.
These were some of the musings Julia had written about in her company emails. She had made it a practice to send out weekly updates to her entire staff during her trip to Korea. What she saw, what she was learning, what she was feeling. She tried to tie each message back to the business. But she didn’t pressure herself to do so. These thoughts, questions, and observations were what made her the person she was, the person that was their CEO.
She encouraged everyone on her team, if possible, to find a way to get here, since the origins of what Starlight was trying to do were birthed in Korean culture. They might not place Korean distribution as the top priority anymore, but there was no denying the influence. She even pressed her human resources department to find a way to help subsidize trips for employees interested in a visit. It was important to her. It was important for them.
Julia felt the first droplet of rain on her cheek. She reached into her bag and looked around for her umbrella, but it wasn’t there. Great, she’d likely left it in the cable car on the way up. Julia looked over toward the exit, but she didn’t want to leave. She could stay a few more minutes. A couple raindrops wouldn’t hurt.
But the rain was impatient today, and as it started to pick up, Julia turned to leave, regretfully cutting her visit short. Just then a hand reached out for her arm to stop her, and suddenly she found herself protected from the rain by an umbrella.
She looked up at the yellow nylon dome now covering her and down to the hand holding the handle.
“Hey.”
The low voice came from behind her. Julia froze, too afraid to turn around, processing everything she could about thatone word of greeting. She knew that voice anywhere. She had laughed at that voice, cried at that voice, dropped her panties at that voice. God, Rachel and Sonia were such bad influences. Julia’s heart stopped. What if she was just imagining it?
It couldn’t be.
She closed her eyes, took a breath, and then slowly looked over her shoulder behind her.
There stood Tae Kim looking like the most beautiful creature God had ever made. A superhero. A lead in the most romantic movie of all time.
His face hopeful and uncertain, his expression filled with longing, scared as shit. Gone were the dark circles and look of fatigue in his eyes. He looked good. And good God, did she love him in glasses.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Julia slapped her hand over her mouth.
Tae’s face broke into a smile, one so radiant Julia would have sworn the clouds had spread and let the sunshine through. Forget the rain. Except for the fact that Tae’s hair was currently damp and plastered to his head.
He’d given up his umbrella for Julia. He’d sacrificed himself. Was there a gesture more romantic than this? Had Julia been watching too many K-dramas?
Julia raised her hand and made a motion across her head.
Tae furrowed his brows. “What?”
