Barefoot Seouls: My Korean Crush, #3

By E. J. Baker

Tired of trying to make it in L.A., Heather North jumps at the opportunity to teach English in Seoul. But the land of kimchi and hanboks proves problematic when she unexpectedly finds herself jobless, homeless, and friendless in a foreign country.

Enters Hwa Yoon Joon, a young man Heather met at LAX and who wants her to teach him acting lessons. This is something Heather could do, especially if it helped her with her other problems. But in his youthful enthusiasm to get training he had to lie to his mother and manager that Heather is his American girlfriend and sneak her into his own apartment, going against his contract, until he can find a better situation.

When Heather discovers that the cute Yoon is really a Kpop star she realizes that going against his "contract" has much bigger ramifications than he let on. Even being seen with him could jeopardize everything for him. She knows she has to leave him behind but she has nowhere else to go, and no one she would rather be with.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emma Joy Baker
• Release date: Sep 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386049135

Book preview

Chapter 1 The Bad Beginning

The concrete radiated the dry Los Angeles heat in the parking lot. The airport was so busy that day that the only spot Heather could find to park in was on the top roof in the full sun. Slamming the trunk shut she started wheeling her oversized luggage across the pavement.

Only fifty-five minutes until her plane left.

She’d never make it.

Stupid traffic. Heather wanted to blame the accident on the 405 for her current situation but that would be ignoring the fact that she finished cleaning her apartment for final inspection, way too late. Then she had trouble leaving her parent’s place because her mother was crying and she was a sucker for a crying mother. The accident on the 405 just added to the delay.

Heather tried to run but she was wearing her platform wedges and didn’t want to twist her ankle. Instead she settled for an awkward shuffle. It didn’t help that luck wasn’t on her side. The elevator was too slow, she almost got hit by a taxi as she rushed across the arrival lanes, and she had trouble finding her passport at the check-in desk. Her bag was too heavy, so they made her pay extra for it; and they claimed that her carry-on was too wide, even though she measured it based on the dimensions given online before she packed it. They checked that on too.

Heather felt the sting of tears starting when she saw the line for security. She glanced at her phone.

Thirty-two minutes.

While the line slowly meandered around the serpentine ropes, Heather tried to quiet her rising panic.

She would make it.

She had to make it.

She was going on an adventure, by herself. Korea: land of her father and kimchi. She was going to make something of herself instead of chasing her fruitless acting dreams.

It had been years since she graduated from the Los Angeles Academy of Fine Arts and the most her agent had been able to book was extra roles that he swore would help her make connections. It did, but only with other extras. Her years and years of schooling left her over-trained, loaded with debt, and underwhelmed with the whole industry.

She was ten people away with twenty minutes to spare. She might make it, as long as everyone went quickly. One of the TSA agents had a dog sniffing people’s bags in the line. Hopefully that would make things go faster.

She had always wanted to go to Korea. Everybody else in the Koreatown area of LA had been; some every year to visit family. She might not have looked Korean with her light brown hair and green eyes, but her father was half Korean and her stepmother was full. It had to count for something. Unfortunately, money was tight, and Heather’s family had only been able to send her stepmother back a few times to visit her own family that still lived there. There was no leftover cash for Heather or her father to join her.

So when Heather saw a flyer for an English teaching school that would reimburse flight costs after three months of teaching, she knew she had to do it. Plus the pay promised would help her chip away at her debt while she tried to figure out who she was. She had felt lost in the utter fakeness of it all. The perfect make-up, hair, and sunglasses of almost everyone that she talked to. The perpetual self-marketing of all of the would-be actors that she worked with each day. The soul selling. She couldn’t do it. At least not anymore. Her boyfriend was though—perfect everything—and he’d keep base in LA But he travelled so much he was hardly home anyways. They had been dating so long it was probably good for them to have a year to explore. It would make coming back to each other that much sweeter.

The dog got close to her, so she put her purse in front of her so it would be easier for the dog to reach. The dog sniffed at her bag and then sniffed her legs and feet. She snickered at the wet dog nose on her bare legs. Then the dog went completely still.

Excuse me ma’am, you’re going to have to come with me, the agent said with all seriousness.

Heather cringed but obeyed as he escorted her to the front of the line and pushed her purse and shoes through the x-ray. She stepped into the body scanner and the same TSA agent escorted her to a back table where he opened her purse and started going through it. Another agent took her shoes and came back a few minutes later.

Positive, was all that he said to the agent with the dog.

Ma’am, your shoes test positive for explosives. Do you know of any reason why that might be?

She checked the time. Twelve minutes. For all she knew they had already shut the gates.

I bought them from a lady who was selling shoes on a blanket at a flea market. So they were kinda sketchy to start with, she guessed.

He found that amusing but shook his head. Do you handle lawn fertilizer, medications with nitrate, gunpowder?

Gunpowder. Her boyfriend had taken her to a shooting range for their anniversary a few days day before. She wasn’t really sure why he thought that would be something she would enjoy, and she hadn’t. But she had been wearing these same shoes that day.

She explained that to the TSA agent and he nodded. That might be it, but until we can thoroughly check them I can’t allow you to take them on the plane. These heels can hide a lot. He pointed to thick wedges.

Wait, I can’t get on the plane? Panic rose in her voice. It leaves in … Heather checked her phone. … ten minutes for Korea. I have to get on that plane.

"I didn’t say that you couldn’t get on the plane, I said that these shoes couldn’t."

So can I go? she asked with hopeful enthusiasm.

He chuckled. Your purse looks good and you look good. Find yourself a new pair of shoes and catch that flight. I’ll go call them to hold it for you.

Heather gave him the best ‘Thank You’ smile she had and started running.

A new pair of shoes? Who carries extra shoes in their purse? Heather’s bare feet slapped against the hard floor and echoed off the walls. When she got to gate A23 the only person in the whole waiting area was the gate attendant.

She gave Heather’s bare feet one strong look then said, Travel guidelines require everyone who boards the plane to be wearing shoes.

Please, Heather begged, TSA just took them.

The gate attendant shook her head.

Can I buy them from a shop?

Not in this terminal. The Duty-Free is under construction and nobody else sells anything remotely like that.

So you won’t let me on the plane? Heather could feel her nose start to run. The precursor to her tears every time.

Not without shoes.

Heather tore open her purse and dumped her bag with liquids, slipping her foot into the now empty ziplock. She tried to zip it to her foot.

Almost. Good enough.

Then she took her light cardigan hoodie off and wrapped it a million times around her other foot, tucking the last part in with the hopes that it would hold.

The gate attendant didn’t seem amused while she slipped with one shoe and hobbled with the other past her. But she let her go.

Heather was going to make it!

She just prayed the mock shoes would hold to the end of the ramp. At the door of the plane she saw a man come out with a briefcase and a woman following. There were several people behind her.

They were getting off of the plane.

Might as well turn around, the man said. They’ve cancelled the flight.

Chapter 2 The Unexpected Slippers

That was an exaggeration. They were having trouble with that plane, so they were going to fix it or get them another plane. Everyone would just have to wait.

Korea would just have to wait.

Heather would just have to wait, without shoes, for who knew how long.

She crept her way quickly to the last of the seats in her gate so she’d be seen by as few people as possible. She found a corner seat and tore off her fake shoes, shoving them back into her bag, and hoping that nobody saw them. Her hopes that she would be left alone vanished as people filled all the seats on every side of her. People even started sitting on the floor.

She tucked her feet under her chair and looked longingly down the hall wondering if she might possibly have time to run to another terminal, buy shoes, flip-flops for all she cared, and get back before the plane left. She tried to think back over all of the stores in that terminal. There was a snack shop back by security. Then a few restaurants. She had seen the duty-free that was under construction, but that was useless. They did have a bookstore that might have something. It was a long shot, but possible. But she had no idea how long it would take to fix the plane. And what if she missed the flight? Airlines weren’t forgiving for things like that, and she didn’t have the money to screw this up.

She could feel her anxiety taking over. Humiliation was a powerful emotion and being shoeless in a busy airport felt just like the bad dreams she used to have. But it could have been worse.

In many of those dreams she didn’t have pants either.

Her ringtone went off, a sappy country song that she fell in love with years ago. She fumbled through her purse. That love song meant her boyfriend was calling. They had a rather loose relationship. They met in school, two aspiring actors, but his career had a booming last few years while hers went cold. He was usually off shooting something somewhere instead of at home in LA with her. Hello.

Hey babe. There was something so comforting about his familiar voice. He loved her, she could hear it. She never questioned that.

Her hand went up to her neck and found the simple heart necklace he had given her resting on her chest. She clasped it and stroked it with her fingers. "Hey babe. My flight was delayed so I’m still in the