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Korean food entertains your taste buds like a three act play. The warmth of the rice hits your tongue first and gives you a cozy, at-home feeling. You bite into the spicy crunch of kimchi and flavor explodes in your mouth. Then the juices of seasoned bulgogi meat rush in and take you to a savory seventh heaven. South Korea infuses a certain sour quality in their dishes that can't be found in other Asian cuisines. Not sour unpleasant. More like the cool, tangy sour of a fresh, delicious pickle on a hot summer day.
My roommate in college used to complain about the smell until I let her try a bite of my bibimbap. There’s no going back after that tasty experience! I probably eat Korean food more than pizza, hamburgers, and pasta combined. Warmth and savor and spice in one delicious package. What’s not to love?
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A blast of winter air hit Letty’s back and she shivered as she huddled at the picnic table. The show provided her with a designer dress for this outdoor lunch at a famous cafe near the foot of Mt. Namsan. Granted, the baggy poet sleeves with tiny orange bows at the wrists and the blousy elastic waist made her feel a little like a clown in the sideshow. But designer was designer. She couldn’t go covering up the sponsored goods with a coat, no matter how much the goosebumps on the nape of her neck begged for it. Or one of those dramatic backhugs they showed in the Korean dramas would be nice, where the leading man wrapped his arms around the woman from behind in a warm, enveloping embrace.
Letty looked across the table at her reality husband and wished he could read her mind. Ki Tae’s leopard spotted, red leather jacket provided him much better protection for their al fresco luncheon. He sat there and smiled, looking completely relaxed and comfortable. Ki Tae took the plastic bottle that sat on the table and poured water into a metal cup before passing it over to Letty.
She thanked him in Korean and took a sip while he gave their order to the waitress. The woman looked over at Letty and pointed. Ki Tae laughed and said something else. The waitress shrugged her shoulders and left.
“What was that about?” Letty asked.
She waited for Ben to convey her question through Ki Tae’s earpiece. He had a habit of looking off to the right as he listened and scrunching up his nose. Letty giggled as she watched him.
“What?” he asked.
“You look like an adorable bunny when you scrunch your nose like that.”
She waited again for the translation. Ki Tae made the same face as he listened and Letty giggled again. She could tell when he got the gist. He looked back at her and playfully pounded the table with his fist as he answered.
Letty heard Ben’s voice in her earpiece as he translated Ki Tae’s words with a sarcastic drawl.
“I’m not a bunny. I’m a manly man.”
Letty laughed out loud, partly because of Ki Tae’s answer and partly because she could imagine the annoyed look on Ben’s face as he had to utter those words. Ki Tae pounded on the table with both fists and kept talking.
“Stop laughing,” Ben’s voice kept translating. “I’m a man. Do you want to see my six pack?”
“Yes, please.” Letty gasped between chuckles. Of course, she was joking. Mostly.
Ki Tae crossed his hands over his chest in mock horror and shook a playful finger at her.
Letty grinned back. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
The waitress returned with a medium sized metal bowl, a pair of scissors, and a dish of spicy gochujang sauce and placed it in front of them. Letty saw a small brownish octopus sitting inside the bowl. She leaned a little closer to look and shrieked.
“It’s still alive!” Letty watched in fascination as the alien-like creature writhed in the dish.
Ki Tae studied her with a teasing glint in his eye.
“Sannakji.” He pointed to the octopus and mimed putting it in his mouth.
Letty clamped her lips together and shook her head.
“Be brave,” Ki Tae said in English. He took the pair of scissors that the waitress left and cut a few of the tentacles into smaller pieces. They continued to squirm even after being separated from the body. He picked up a bite with his chopsticks and held it out to her.
Fangirls all over the world dreamt about being fed by their bias, but Letty always imagined a piece of chocolate or maybe some tasty ramen. Not this!
She inched forward and opened her trembling mouth. Ki Tae’s grin stretched across his face as he fed her the octopus. Letty closed her lips, just as one of the suckers stuck to her teeth and held on for dear life. She freaked out and pulled at the slimy mass with both hands but it refused to budge. She squealed and tugged until it released its hold and landed in a wriggly blob on the table. Ki Tae busted out laughing and she could hear several people behind the camera trying to contain their snorts.
“Sorry,” she said.
She picked up her chopsticks and reached for another piece but happened to glance in the bowl and saw a pair of beady, black eyes pointed at her. Letty moaned and put the chopsticks down. “I’m sorry. I want to be a good sport, but I just can’t swallow something that’s watching me eat it.”
Ki Tae patted her frozen fingers and nodded. He beckoned to the waitress and gave another order while Letty watched the still wriggling body inside the bowl. She’d seen live octopus eaten on the Korean shows but there was something so horrific about watching it in person. The waitress returned with a steaming bowl of stew in which nothing was moving and Letty sighed in relief.
“Thank you!” She felt like hugging the woman as she looked at her non-living meal.
Ki Tae grabbed a large piece of the octopus with his own chopsticks. He took his fingers and wrapped the tentacles tightly around the wooden utensils until it resembled a wad of slimy spaghetti. He shoved the whole thing in his mouth as Letty watched in captivated horror.
“Mmmmmmm.” He smiled at her and waggled his head.
Letty shuddered and picked up her spoon. She wasn’t sure what kind of soup this was, but as long as it wasn’t looking back at her she was good. She took a sip of the dark red broth and sighed as the familiar flavor of kimchi hit her tongue. The spicy side dish made of fermented cabbage had become a regular part of her diet since she discovered K-pop five years ago. The salty flavor made her mouth tingle as she crunched down on a piece.
“Mmmmmmmmm.” She mimicked Ki Tae’s earlier move with her head.
He grinned at her and took another bite of octopus.
Letty liked these moments in the show the best. When she and Ki Tae interacted without words, and without a certain tantalizing voice whispering in her ear. Sometimes her brain got confused with who she was talking to when it always sounded like Ben answering. He’d been silent for quite a while since no translation was necessary.
Letty snuck a quick glance behind the cameras and saw him sitting cross-legged on the ground next to Director Cho. She noticed the way his dark hair stuck out a little at the sides like he’d been scratching his head. Letty was just wishing she could smooth it down when he started to talk.
“Is the kimchi jjigae good?” Ben said.
Why was he asking about her lunch? Was he allowed to do that? Letty started as someone touched her hand and she realized that Ki Tae was talking and she hadn’t noticed.
“Huh?”
He repeated himself and Ben once again translated.
“I asked if your soup was good.”
“It’s fabulous!” Letty felt bad ignoring her fake husband and determined to keep her eyes on him for the rest of the meal. She piled her spoon high with bean sprouts, tofu, kimchi, and peppers like she’d seen them do on Korean TV and shoved it in her mouth. Her lips could barely close over the heaping mound, and she tried to bite down without anything falling out.
Ki Tae held up his chopsticks with an extra large helping of squirming octopus wrapped around them. He said something with a mischievous smile and waved the sticks back and forth in front of her face.
“You sure you don’t want to give it one more try? It’s delicious,” Ben translated.
Letty opened her eyes wide and shook her head so hard that an extra spicy bite of pepper exploded near the roof of her mouth and caused her to gasp. The air sucked a piece of something to the back of her throat and she choked a little. She tried to cough it back up but it lodged in her windpipe.
Stuck!
Letty looked up at Ki Tae with frantic eyes, but he was absorbed in his own meal. How embarrassing to have this happen in front of your bias. Could she fix it without him noticing? She put a napkin in front of her face to spit out the remaining food, then held her hand over her mouth and tried to cough again but no sound was coming out. Was she even breathing? She pounded on her chest and tried to take a breath but was so panicked that she wasn’t sure if any air was coming in or not.
Letty slapped her palm against the table and Ki Tae looked up at her. She opened her mouth and framed it with both hands.
“Hot?” he asked.
Letty shook her head and stood up, looking first at the cameramen standing near their table. She grabbed her throat and motioned to Ducky, but he just wrinkled his hairy eyebrows behind the camera. Next she looked over at the crowd behind the main cameras, but she couldn’t see them clearly. She tried again to take a breath.
Nothing was happening.
Her vision started to blur.
Was this how she was going to die? Suffocating on a Korean reality show? That would kill the ratings for sure.
Ki Tae stood and reached out to her with a worried expression. She grasped the edge of the picnic table and tried again to cough up the blockage, but she felt dizzy. Thanks to this life sapping stew she wouldn’t even have any last words. Her parents and Ralphie would miss her so much.
Just as Letty’s eyes started to close, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind. Two hands joined together in a giant fist and jerked into her stomach.
Once.
Twice.
On the third time, Letty felt something propel from the back of her throat and out the front of her mouth. She bent over and sucked in the life giving oxygen as someone pounded hard on her back.
“Ow! You got it. I’m good now,” Letty said. She straightened to find a frantic Ben standing behind her with his hand raised ready to pound again. A crowd gathered around them and the noise level increased exponentially as everyone checked to make sure she was alright. Ducky let his camera hang to one side as he patted her arm with his hand. Ki Tae raced around the table and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Letty!” He pulled her close. “So sorry. So sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m alright.” Letty patted his back as she looked over his shoulder at her rescuer. “I’ll live to stalk another day.”
She smiled at Ben, but he just let out a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his face. Ji Ah broke through the group of staff surrounding her. With tears in her eyes, she shoved Ki Tae out of the way as she wrapped her arms around Letty and cried.
“Unni. Unni,” she said over and over.
Letty enjoyed the hugs and the attention but was feeling a little drained from her near death experience. The noisy crowd around her dispersed, and she looked to the side where a pale Ben stood. He tapped Ji Ah on the shoulder to say something and the girl took off at a run.
“I asked her to go get your coat,” he said.
“Sounds good.” Letty once again enjoyed the feeling of pulling a free, unhampered breath into her lungs. “Do you think we could call it a wrap for today?”
“Of course! Let me check.” He nodded and turned to the nearby director to convey her message.
She expected a short conversation but was surprised at the quantity of words that followed. Director Cho shook his head as he pointed to his script and Ben’s voice rose as he answered. He stood beside Letty and ran his fingers through the hair on his left temple so it stuck out even more than before.
She placed a hand on his arm and interrupted them. “Let me guess. They’ve got a schedule to keep.”
Ben blew out a frustrated breath. “The director feels bad, but he says we have to film the rest of the shots, or they won’t have enough footage for the hour long episode this weekend.”
Letty looked at the man and gave him a thumbs up. “Okay. I can do it.”
The director smiled at her and held up two thumbs in response before he walked away to talk to the cameramen.
Ben grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him.
“Are you sure you feel up to it?” he asked as he looked her up and down.
“We weren’t doing anything strenuous anyway. Just a walk through the woods, right?”
Ben nodded.
“I can handle that,” Letty said. “Although I may not be quite the sparkling conversationalist I usually am.”
Ben dropped his hands. “Okay. Why don’t you go sit down for a few minutes and I’ll bring you some water.”
“Sounds great.”
Ben started to walk away when Letty grabbed his jacket and pulled him back by the coattail.
“I almost forgot! Thanks for saving my life.”
He smiled at her. “Anytime, ma’am.”
The hair sticking up on his temple kept drawing her eyes so she gave in and reached up to smooth the unruly patch down. The dark strands felt thick and silky beneath her fingers. “It’s strange. I never thought my first back hug would be the Heimlich maneuver.”
“So I’m your first, huh?”
Letty smacked him on the arm. “Go get my water, you player.”
Ben grinned and trotted off to the food truck, leaving Letty standing there alone.
Funny. She wished Ki Tae had been the one to give her the Heimlich back hug. For multiple reasons.
First, it would have been great for ratings.
Second, she would have bragging rights at every B4U fan meeting for all eternity.
And lastly, she wouldn’t have another reason to obsess over her smokin' hot translator.
As if being funny, sweet, considerate, and gorgeous weren’t enough. He had to go and add Knight-in-Shining-Armor to the list. Letty knew she was in trouble, but she didn’t know what to do about it.
