Heart & Seoul (8 page)

“To give me one of the most amazing sexual
experiences I’ve ever had in my life?”

His eyes twitched open wide, shocked, and I
took advantage by placing a kiss on his lips. When I pulled back,
his eyes were even larger.

I touched his lips with my fingers. “Don’t
worry. I rather liked it.”

He couldn’t have looked more surprised by my
words. “You did?”

“Yeah. It was… fun. I’m not saying we should
go out and buy chains or whips or anything, but it was nice to be
handled more aggressively.”

His lips lifted a bit shyly. “Even if it
was, the way it happened was completely inappropriate. You didn’t
deserve that, and I apologize.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” I
kissed his cheek, keeping my lips there. He smelled so nice. His
skin so smooth and soft. “You’re human. Humans get upset sometimes.
It’s okay.”

The tenseness in his arms relaxed as he
snuggled me close to his body. I knew he still wasn’t okay by what
happened, but hopefully he would let it go. I didn’t want him to
feel guilty for getting emotional. Especially, when I knew he’d
never hurt me.

The room went silent, and I sighed, placing
my hand on his chest. “So what now?”

I didn’t feel I needed to elaborate on my
question. It was time to figure out what was next for him. What the
rest of this trip would consist of.

He shrugged, letting out a long breath. “I
don’t know. Last night I wanted to be done. But now, after thinking
about it…” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“I think your mom is right that you
shouldn’t do anything you’re not ready for. You have your whole
life to come here. To find her.”

He chewed the inside of his lip. “Yeah.”

“Maybe the rest of our time here should just
be a vacation. We can see the sights. Eat some delicious food.” I
nudged him, and he smiled. “No commitments. No pressure.”

He dipped his chin. Lifting his hand, he
played with my hair. “I’d like that.”

“Good.”

He watched as I left his arms and hopped
from the bed. I took a sheet, wrapping it around me as I went into
the sitting area of the suite. I grabbed some travel brochures by
the hotel room phone, then brought them back to the bedroom.

Drake was sitting with his arms rested on
his knees when I returned.

I got between his legs, and he rested his
chin on my shoulder. I just about forget what I came in to do with
his long limbs surrounding me. I forced myself to keep mind over
matter with the pamphlets.

“
Let’s take a look through
these.” I fanned them out on the bedspread. “You said there was an
indoor theme park.”

Reaching in front of me, he grabbed a
pamphlet that had what looked liked a Disney castle on the front.
“That would be Lotte World.”

Chapter Ten

I’d say the Disney castle on the front was
quite accurate when Drake and I finally got to the indoor theme
park. According to the park map, part of the park was inside and
part of it was outside. In the outdoor area, there was a huge
castle that would have Cinderella checking twice to make sure she
was at the right place. I couldn’t wait to see it, but we started
inside first. I was worried on the way over. Drake didn’t feel we’d
need a translator for our trip since the park would be a very
touristy area. Last time we went into the city, I didn’t mind not
having one since we were so close to our hotel. Now, we had no
resources.

Drake kissed the back of my hand, assuring
me we’d be okay, so I let my worries cease and enjoyed the park.
There was so much to do. Booth games, rides, both large and small,
and even an ice skating rink. I doubted we’d make it through
everything to even get outside, but we attempted anyway.

Drake was thankfully a thrill-seeking junky
like me, so we started on the roller coasters. We wanted to get
those out of the way before we ate.

For obvious reasons.

There was actually a height restriction on
one of them. I’d never heard of someone being too tall for a ride
before, and I snickered when Drake deliberately buckled his knees
as a Lotte World worker studied the line for lawbreakers. I got the
whole thing on camera, capturing his first smile of the day. I was
so happy to see it.

His height didn’t hinder him on anything
else, and we moved on to the carnival-style games after the rides.
They didn’t have any wait so we were able to do several. Drake was
determined to win me a stuffed animal. It took him a couple of
tries, but he got me a fluffy bunny, which I fully appreciated. I
was never good at those games.

We took shots at a picture booth after that,
in which my bunny was right in my lap. I made a show out of it
being a priority in the photos. Sometimes pushing Drake out of the
shot with it. The last one, he covered the bunny’s eyes as he
kissed me. That one was my favorite.

By this time, it was late afternoon and we
were both pretty beat. We decided to skip the outdoor portion and
just have some lunch before heading back to the hotel. To get the
full Lotte World experience, we opted for quick service at one of
the restaurants.

When I ordered, I went by the pictures and
got something that tasted pretty good. It was quite spicy, though,
so I wasn’t able to finish it all.

One of the Lotte World workers happened to
be sweeping around us and offered to take our trash.

I gave her mine, then picked up my
cellphone. “I’m going to go ahead and call Han to come and get us.
Do you want to go anywhere else?”

Drake shook his head. “I’m kinda tired.
But,” he paused, scooting over to me. “I think I can find a little
more energy for something else before I take a nap.”

He nudged my cheek, and I giggled.

The female worker dipped her head in shyness
at our PDA, and I casually moved away. Not wanting to be rude. The
woman said something in Korean, gesturing to Drake’s trash. When he
held it out, he smiled directly at her.

“
Gamsahabnida
, thank you,” he said to
her.

She bowed, taking his plate. Her head
lifted, and for some reason, her eyebrows narrowed when she made
direct eye contact with Drake. Out of nowhere, her dark eyes went
wide, and she placed her hand to her mouth. The trash she held fell
to the floor, but before we could question her weird reaction, she
rattled off quick phrases of Korean to Drake.

I grabbed his shoulder. “What’s going on?
What’s she saying?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s
speaking too fast.” He lifted his hands to her, trying to calm her
with slower phrases.

She didn’t seem to understand that we
couldn’t understand her and only spoke quicker. She was growing
more erratic, her voice more excited by the second. The panic was
rising inside me, but thank goodness Drake was calm.

He gazed around at the busy food court.
“Excuse me, does anyone speak both English and Korean?”

He got the attention of a girl at a table
near us. “I do.”

He motioned her over and explained the
situation. The girl turned to the panicking woman and communicated
with her.

“What is she trying to say to us?” Drake
asked.

The woman finally took a breath, but she was
still speaking very quickly. The girl listened, nodding. “She wants
to know your name.”

His name? Why would she want to know that?
Drake told the girl without hesitation, and she spoke it to the
woman. This didn’t seem to appease her. She only looked
confused.

“Why does she want to know my name?” Drake
asked.

The girl inquired. “She says you look like
someone she knows.”

My heart stopped, and Drake’s lips parted.
“Who?” he asked.

After the woman spoke to her, the girl faced
us. “Her nephew.”

Chapter Eleven

Drake and I sat in his social worker’s
office, anxiously waiting for her to come in. We both wanted
answers after yesterday’s trip to Lotte World. Drake deserved
answers.

Hana came in, and we both lifted our heads.
The already tight hold of our hands went even tighter. I was unsure
of who held on harder. Perhaps it was the both of us.

Drake spoke first. “Did
you speak to
Su-Min?”

We quickly found out that
was the woman’s name at Lotte World due to our helpful friend who
acted as translator. Other than that, we didn’t get any more
information. Su-Min was at work and the young girl was on vacation,
so we were limited for information because of that. Not to mention
Drake was essentially ambushed, and I felt a more formal
environment was needed for discussing Su-Min’s claims. If only for
the sake of Drake’s heart. It had already been broken once since we
came to Korea. I didn’t want it happening again if I could prevent
it.

In the end, he agreed with
a more formal way of communication, and we exchanged contact
information with Su-Min. The first thing we did was give the
information to Hana, and she did the rest.

Hana took a seat at her
desk, nodding with a wide smile on her face. “We actually met with
her this morning, and I think I have the answers to all your
questions.”

“Do you mind if I record?”
I asked, holding up my camera.

She said she didn’t, and I
got it set up to get both her and us in on the shot.

Drake got right down to
business. “So what did she say?”

I squeezed his leg for
support, and he put his hand on mine.

“Well, she claims you hold
a strong resemblance to her nephew. The boy is sixteen and lives in
Busan with his mother and father.” She opened a folder on her desk
and handed Drake a picture from inside. “I think with this you may
see why.”

Drake and I could only
stare at it, silence ringing in the air. The resemblance
between
Drake and this kid in the photo
was uncanny. He even had his choppy haircut and that heartbreaker
smile. The sixteen-year-old was a smidgen darker than Drake and
clearly looked a few years younger, but really, those were the only
differences that were keeping this kid from being my fiancé’s
twin.

Drake looked up. “So
there’s a teenager out there who looks a lot like me? What does
that mean?”

Hana retrieved the photo
and placed it on her desk. “We asked Sun-Min if she knew if her
sister had ever given a child up for adoption. We felt it best to
get right to the point.”

I held in my
breath.

“She said she had, and
from what she could remember, the adoption took place around twenty
years ago.”

“Oh my God.” I put my hand
to my mouth.

“We then asked her if the
name ‘
Kang
Seung-Tae’ meant anything to her.”

That was Drake’s birth
name. That made sense that she’d ask that.

“She said not only did it
mean something to her, but that was her maiden name. Along with her
sister’s. That first name was indeed the name that her sister had
been calling the baby prior to his adoption.”

I grabbed Drake’s
shoulder, rubbing. He put his hands together, awaiting Hana
continue.

“Finally, we asked Su-Min
what her sister’s name is. She said
Mi Hi.
We have a very strong case that not only is this teenager your
brother Drake,” she pointed at the photo on her desk, “but that his
mother is also yours.”

“
Oh, Drake.” I looped my
arm around his, holding him close.

The shock on Drake’s face was evident. His
mouth hung open like he didn’t know what part of the information to
address first. He had a brother. A mother. He had a biological
family.