“What is this from?” He whispered, feeling like the space held an almost oppressive feeling of quiet.
“It used to be part of a monastery,” She whispered back. “I think it was a meeting area of sort where they could discuss issues. That’s why it had all the seating.” Indeed, all around the walls were the remnants of a long, low stone bench. He nodded, trying to imagine being a monk in a meeting here and finding the idea slightly uncomfortable.
They stepped out into the walkway around the cloister and Cheol suddenly took note of the almost bubblegum pink color of half the marble in the stonework.
“Is this real?” He wondered aloud as they got closer.
“Yeah, isn’t that neat?” She said, looking up at the capital of one of the columns. “Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad being a nun if you got to have a garden surrounded by pretty pink marble like this.”
“Can we take a picture here?” He suggested, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Claire nodded and walked into the open part of the garden. They faced into the milk sunlight and posed so that the pink marble columns and arches were visible behind them. Cheol took a few pictures, his cheek pressed against hers, his hand on her shoulder, before he turned to take a couple of him giving her cheek a light kiss. After checking them and deciding they had turned out alright, he put his phone back into his pocket.
They looked at the stained glass windows in the next gallery just off the side of the cloister. The dimmed light of the sun coming through the light cover of the clouds didn’t dim the glittering colors of the glass. It had never really occurred to Cheol to wonder how long ago colored glass like that had been made.
“How did they make the colors so bright?” He asked Claire as they stood in front of a particularly brightly colored fragment of a window.
“Pretty much the same way we do today, actually,” She replied. “By adding things like copper and manganese to the glass to get different colors. Making colored glass dates back almost as far back as glass making does and that started something like 2000 or 3000 years ago.”
“Really?” He goggled at the thought. “Glass just seems like such a modern thing somehow.”
“Well, it used to be something very expensive,” She expanded on her explanation. “So it being an everyday thing is pretty new. Windows in every building made out of glass is really new, over all.”
“Wow, that’s just cool,” His eyes sparkled as he looked up at the window.
“Want to see one of my favorite things here next?” She entwined her fingers with his and started to pull him onward. They passed through the first room of tapestries to a second where she pulled him to stand in front of one that seemed vaguely familiar to him somehow. It was of a unicorn inside of a round paddock in a flowery field.
“I think I’ve seen this somewhere before,” He squinted at it, wondering where he would have seen it before.
“Probably. Pictures of this have been used on a ton of stuff and in lots of movies and things like that.” She confirmed. “But you want to know what the most amazing thing about this is?”
“The unicorn?” He joked, looking over at her with a teasing grin.
“I’ll admit that is pretty cool,” She smiled and bumped him with her hip. “But look closely at the flowers. Do you notice something about them?”
“They are all different?” Cheol volunteered after looking closely for half a minute.
“Yes and they are real flowers,” Claire added with an excited tone. “Like, here, do you recognise this flower?”
“That looks like an iris, maybe?” He guessed, not being entirely sure.
“Yeah,” She said excitedly. “Here, look, strawberries...and lily of the valley...pansies or violets...a madonna lily...thistle...forget-me-nots.” Cheol tried to follow as she pointed out the flowers throughout the image but he wasn’t sure he knew all of them. She pulled him over to another showing a bunch of people hunting the unicorn with dogs and spears. “All of them have identifiable plants, like here,” She pointed to something near the dogs foot. “African violets, I think and over here,” she moved over to a section filled with birds on the opposite corner. “Daffodils and plantain. Isn’t that so amazing? Five hundred years ago they made this and decided to put in the real flowers they saw in the images with these fantastical scenes.”
“That is really cool,” He said after he thought about it for a moment. “It would have been pretty easy to just make generic flowers and trees or something, but they put real ones in that people could look at and recognise what they were. That’s an amazing attention to detail.”
“I used to come and look at these for hours,” She sighed. “The first time I saw them in person I just fell in love with them.”
“Can we take a picture with them since they are your favorite?” Cheol suggested.
“Sure,” She moved to stand in front of him with the most famous of the tapestries behind them. He crouched down slightly to fit his chin on her shoulder and they both made peace signs as they smiled at the camera. When he was sure he got at least a few good pictures of them despite the low light of the room, he stuck his phone in his pocket again.
He hugged her from behind. “Thank you for bringing me here. I’m so glad I got to see it with you.”
“Thank you for coming with me,” She murmured in return. “I’m glad you’re having fun, even though I know this isn’t really your sort of thing.”
“What do you mean?” He furrowed his brow at her comment.
“You love music and sports and dancing,” She began. “And this isn’t like any of that. Museums and especially old history stuff can be really boring for people. You’ve made the visit fun.”
“I love this,” He assured her. “I’ve learned so much just looking at all of this with you.”
They finished looking through the rest of the museum and got a snack at the cafe, finishing their visit at about the time they needed to head back to pick up everyone else. They grabbed a large taxi just outside of the park and swung by the hotel to pick up Minjun, Wonjung, and Changho and then headed to Roz’s place. Changho had obviously said something about Claire having dressed up as more than a few other members came down to catch a glimpse of her when they picked up the other members. FX and Kitae both gave her very approving thumbs ups when they poked their heads in the cab before heading back upstairs.
They pulled up outside the five story brick building and all climbed out of the cab. Claire gave her lip color a quick re-application and then put it back in her purse and slung the strap over her head with an oddly determined look on her face. She walked up the front steps towards the front door of the building only to lean over the railing to reach for something she seemed to think was in the gap between the railing and the wrought iron fence that stopped people from falling into the stairwell that went to the underground level of the building.
“Ah-ha!” She shouted victoriously as she pulled out a surprisingly long pole with a hook like curve on the end. Moving to stand under the fire escape, she used the pole to hook the retractable ladder and pull it down until it was barely within reach of her fingers. “Can you put this back for me?” She asked Cheol with a proud grin as she used her weight to pull the ladder down the rest of the way. “Normally I would try to just drop it back in the nook there from the first level, but putting it back means I don’t have to do this again if I miss.”
“Sure,” He nodded, taking the pole a bit like it was a poisonous snake. Putting it back in the gap, he came back to where she was now starting to climb up the precarious looking ladder to the first level of the fire escape.
“Come on, follow me,” She grinned, continuing her climb. The four boys looked at each other and then back at her before Cheol sighed and decided to just follow her. Minjun came after him, then Changho, and lastly Wonjung brought up the rear. The ladder climb was the hardest part as the rest of the fire escape was just balconies and stairs. Minjun looked like death since he was not fond of heights and everything was
made of metal slats that let you look straight through to the ground if you looked down at your feet.
Claire stopped at the fourth floor and knocked on the window with both hands, nearly pressing her nose against the glass while she waited for it to open. The old wooden frame made a shrill skrek as it slid open to reveal Roz laughing so hard she was almost in tears.
“I cannot believe you dragged them into this instead of just calling me to come let you in!” She hugged her friend through the window before stepping back to allow her to slide inside and over the couch set below it. The four members followed her, feeling slightly better actually being inside the building. They found a few others inside the apartment, also laughing and greeting Claire with enthusiastic hugs.
“How could I miss the chance to make my classic entrance?” She asked as she pulled out of a hug with a tall, lythe, blond man. “Is everyone here already?” Claire looked around the room, spotting only three of the friends she was expecting to see there.
“Yeah, Suhani is in the kitchen and Alejandro is going to kill himself for missing this because he had to go to the bathroom,” Roz chuckled, closing the window now that everyone was inside.
“Okay, I’ll do introductions when they join us in the living room again,” Claire pulled off her shoes and put them on the floor by the front door and the four members copied her, unsure of what else they should do. The faint sound of a flushing toilet preceded the sound of a door opening and the entrance of a stout man with long black hair.
“Did I hear the window open?” He asked as he came around the corner, waving his damp hands in the air.
“Yeeeessssss,” Claire rocked back and forth from her heels to balls of her feet, trying too hard to give a look of childlike innocence.
“You little nut job,” He gave a coughing laugh and lifted her into a crushing hug. “I hope you are up to date on your tetanus shot. And who is this?” He jutted his chin in the direction of the four strangers standing grouped together near the back corner.
“You know I take three minutes to make a punch and it sounds like all hell breaks loose while I’m in the kitchen,” A female voice lilted in from the kitchen.
“Come on out,” Claire called back. “You can finish in a minute. I brought...uh...friends.”
“Fine, but just know that you are keeping me from my precious sangri—” Her voice cut off when she turned the corner and set eyes on the four members standing together in the corner of the living room. “Holy fuck, am I hallucinating?”
“Well now that everyone is here,” Claire cleared her throat. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet my boys,” she moved to stand near them. “Yang Wonjung,” Claire put an arm on his arm and paused so he could wave to the room. “Kim Changho,” she pointed to him and he gave the room a little bow. “Seo Minjun,” Claire waved in his direction and he gave the room one of his characteristic supercilious nods. “And Park Cheol Min.” She took his hand in hers as he gave a nod and smile to all the faces in the room.
She then turned to address the members, “Okay, so these are my friends,” she turned, starting with her friend sitting closest to them. “This is Stephanie Connelly, she plays cello in the symphony orchestra,” her friend’s face perked up, having heard her name. “That is Alejandro Lopez, he writes fantastic stories,” the man in question gave them a small salute. “Her name is Hannah Beck, she works for a human rights organization,” the small blond woman gave them a happy double handed wave. “The woman who had a heart attack when she saw you is Suhani Mitra, she took time off from her med school residency to be here today.” Her friend was still standing near the kitchen looking too dumb struck to do much other than stare. “That is Roz Hinden,” Claire pointed at her friend, “And Mika Petrov,” she pointed at the lythe blond man beside her. “They both work as immigration lawyers.”
“Are all of your friends geniuses?” Changho asked, his eyes scanning the room.
“Mmm, yeah, but don’t worry,” She chuckled. “They are nice, though...oh and crazy, but you’ll get used to it.” She leaned in to whisper to him conspiratorially. “I’m totally the underachiever here.” Changho couldn’t help but let out a small surprised chuckle. She addressed them all as a group again, informing them, “Oh and Suhani might be one of your biggest fans ever, so be sure to say something to her, it would make her year.”
“Do any of them know Korean?” Minjun asked.
“Not at all,” She confirmed. “Guess that means you’ll have to practice some English. But don’t worry, Cheol and I can help out translating if you need it too.”
“Okay, so since when did you get to be fluent in Korean?” Mika crossed his arms over his chest and gave Claire a Cheshire cat grin. “I feel like I’ve missed a few things.”
“She’s smart; are you really so surprised?” Suhani said quickly before returning to the really important question, in her opinion. “How…how...how is half of YTHTonic standing in Roz’s living room?”
“I’ve been working for KXO for about six months now,” Claire started to explain.
“More like seven,” Cheol corrected proudly.
“Probably,” She admitted. “So I’ve been working with them on their English.”
“Claire-nim is the best teacher,” Changho interjected and Wonjung nodded with a smile.
“How could you not tell me about this?” Suhani whined, melting against the bookcase beside her. “You have been in their presence, shared the same air, touched them...and I have heard nothing of this?”
“At least we know Claire-ssi can keep a secret,” Wonjung joked quietly to the others.
“Dude, my mom doesn’t know,” Claire pointed out. “And Roz only knows because...well reasons…”
“Are we pretending we aren’t together today?” Cheol asked quietly, his heart dropping slightly.
“No, no darling,” Claire assured him. “I’m just trying not to break everything at once.” Cheol nodded and let out a breath he had been holding and gripped her hand tighter.
“I am so jealous,” Suhani sighed. “I work crazy hours, deal with all sorts of gross things, with grumpy and ungrateful patients half the time, for not enough money. And here, you land some job that lets you spend all your time with these beautiful creatures.”
“You definitely make more money than I do, if that means anything,” Claire joked. “And you will make A LOT more in a year or two.”
“It will be the cold comfort I have when I go to bed tonight,” Her friend tossed her braid over her shoulder and straightened up.
“You should be grateful,” Claire teased, making a broad gesture towards the three members beside her. “I brought you YTHTonic...Changho even...and didn’t even have to resort to kidnapping or human trafficking.”
“I know,” Suhani did an excited little dance for a couple of seconds before pressing her hands to her chest, trying to regain her composure. “You bring me the best gifts.” She stepped over to her friend and gave her a long hug. “I kid, but I miss you, lady.”
“I know,” Claire rocked as she hugged her much taller friend for a long moment. “You should come and visit me. Seoul is beautiful.”
“I wish I had more time off,” Her friend pulled back to look at Claire’s face. “How are you looking so good these days?”
“Thank...you?” Claire ventured, not sure what to say to that.
“You just...with the make-up...and the jewelry...I like it,” She gripped her friend’s chin and tilted her face first to one side, then the other. “You haven’t looked this good in a while. I approve.”
“Okay, that is enough,” Roz spoke up and cleared her throat. “Everyone, sit, mingle, drink, eat. I’ll bring out the snacks. Suhani, finish your sangria and bring it out. Give Claire some space to breathe and everyone go play nice with the cuties.”
Everyone did as she commanded, taking seats and moving to mingle and include the new-comers. Cheol stretched out on the chaise seat at the end of the couch and scooched over to let Claire stretch out beside
him. Mika observed, as he took the seat beside them, how Cheol wrapped an arm around Claire’s back, encouraging as much of her to touch as much of him as possible. Minjun took the next seat on the sectional, between Mika and Stephanie, who had taken the corner seat. Changho sat himself beside her, smoothing down his jeans as he gave a short smile to the woman beside him. Alejandro had taken the armchair across from Cheol and Claire and Hannah was in the other. Wonjung plopped himself down the ottoman between them.
Suhani came back with a tray of cups full of her trademark party sangria with Roz following behind carrying a tray of finger foods. She set them down on the coffee table and invited everyone to dig in before plopping herself down beside Stephanie. Suhani started passing out glasses to everyone and Claire hesitated as she saw her offer one to Changho.
“Do you want something without alcohol?” Claire as he reached for the glass.
“Maybe that would be better,” Changho agreed, as did Minjun and Wonjung.
“Hey Roz do you have any soda or coffee?” Claire leaned forward to ask her friend.
“Yeah sure,” Roz popped up from her seat. The sound of the fridge door opening came from the kitchen. “I have orange juice, coke, sprite, sparkling water, and kombucha.”
“Coke,” Wonjung answered from his seat.
“Sprite is cider, right?” Minjun asked the pair on the end of the couch. Claire nodded and Minjun then answered aloud, “Sprite, please.”
“Can I help you make coffee?” Changho offered, leaning towards the kitchen
“Oooo, yes please,” Roz said excitedly.
“I’ll take orange juice,” Cheol said as Changho got up and headed to the kitchen.
“Okay, I’ll bring all that out,” Roz confirmed as she pulled bottles out of the fridge door. “Then Changho and I can make some amazing coffee.” She came out and passed around the drinks the members had requested, then gathered Changho excitedly to go make some coffee.
“Did you want something to eat?” Cheol asked, setting his glass of juice on the floor.
“Sure,” She leaned forward to look at what was on the platter Roz had brought out. “Ooo deviled eggs are good. I’m betting that is veggie paté given who else is here. Looks like some lox on rye I think. And little cucumber sandwiches...but you need tea for those. Roz, how can you serve cucumber sandwiches to me without tea?”
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