American Casual

“Can someone please tell me how to pronounce this?” Chanyeol asked desperately. Junmyeon looked over his shoulder. “I think it's ‘car-a-mel’,” he read slowly.

“No, I've been listening to this audio English thing, and they said 'car-mel’,” Kyungsoo called from the couch.

“But there's an 'a’ in there!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

“Maybe it's a regional thing,” Jongdae suggested.

There was a knock on the door and Baekhyun answered it. “Thank goodness,” he said, letting Julia in, “you've gotta settle this.”

“How do you pronounce this word?” Chanyeol asked, showing her his book.

“Caramel,” she said, “but in some parts of the U.S. it's pronounced car-mel.”

“Chen for the win!” Jongdae yelled triumphantly.

“Please stop saying that,” Kyungsoo muttered.

“Where are the others?” Julia asked, setting her bag on the table.

“In their rooms,” Baekhyun replied helpfully. “Min has a headache and Jongin and Sehun are avoiding you.”

“Sounds normal,” she murmured, opening her notebook. “Who wants to review first?”

Chanyeol had been looking forward to the session, but he couldn't help glancing at the hallway. “I'll be right back,” he said, and he headed into the hallway. “Sehun? Are you awake?” he called, knocking on his door. There was no answer, so he cracked the door open and peeked in. Sehun was sprawled on his bed, earbuds in while he stared up at the ceiling. Chanyeol came in and Sehun caught sight of him. “What is it?” he asked, pulling one earbud out.

“Julia's here. I just thought you'd wanna participate in the session.”

Sehun harrumphed and turned away from Chanyeol. Chanyeol frowned. “Look, the schedule thing was upsetting, but are you really going to pout for four months? You're not even trying!”

Sehun didn't answer and Chanyeol felt anger streak through him. On an impulse he walked over, grabbed the back of Sehun's sweatshirt and dragged him off the bed with one hard pull.

“What the - let go of me!” Sehun demanded. “Have you lost your mind?!”

“I'm tired of you acting like this!” Chanyeol huffed. “Either walk into the living room or I'll drag you in there myself!”

Sehun broke free and shoved Chanyeol away from him. “Is this some sick way of trying to impress that girl?” he sneered. “ 'Oh, look at me, I'm an EXO-L! I like all of Chanyeol's songs best! My mommy's Korean!’ ”

Chanyeol punched him in the face and Sehun fell back hard against the bed. “Chanyeol, what are you doing?” Kyungsoo demanded, rushing past him to help Sehun up. Chanyeol looked back and saw the others crowded in the doorway, all looking shocked. “He's going to ruin this for all of us!” he blurted out. “I'm tired of him causing drama and taking all the fun out of this!”

“What's going on?” Jongin demanded, wading past the others.

“He attacked me for no reason!” Sehun growled, shaking Kyungsoo’s hand off his arm. Jongin raised an eyebrow. “You did make fun of Julia. I could hear you.”

Sehun folded his arms and Junmyeon let out a long sigh. “Soo, take Sehun to the bathroom and clean him up. Everyone else, back to the living room.” He looked around sternly and everyone dispersed immediately. Chanyeol wanted to sulk in Sehun's room, but he didn't want Julia to think he was immature, so he took a deep breath and followed the others back to the living room.

“Where's Julia?” he heard Baekhyun ask.

“Her bag’s gone,” Jongdae said. “She must've heard the shouting.”

Chanyeol felt awful. I hope she didn't hear what Sehun said, he thought anxiously.


******


Julia laid her head on her desk and sighed. She knew she shouldn't have, but after the guys ran off towards the shouting she'd crept after them, just in time to hear Sehun's taunt and the resulting punch. The insult wasn't even that good, but after weeks of hateful whispering and mean looks she couldn't stand it anymore. A tear dripped onto the desk and she sighed again.

“Excuse me, are you Ms. Park?”

She wiped her cheek and looked up. “Yes?”

A young man with short black hair stood in the doorway, holding a folder in his outstretched hand. “Sorry, I found this in the hallway and it has your name on it.”

Julia sniffed and sat up in her chair. “I must have dropped it,” she said, taking it from him. “Thanks, Mr….?”

“Lee Jin,” he said, bowing. Julia gave him a once-over. He was tall, thin and wore all black except for a gray and blue hoodie that had seen better days. He had a nice face, with a strong jawline and kind brown eyes that looked up at her cheerfully. “I'm honored to meet you at last,” he chirped.

Julia couldn't help smiling. “At last?” she commented. “Have you been waiting to meet me or something?”

Jin nodded. “I find your line of work fascinating,” he said. “I've been plotting a way to separate you from those celebrities, and here fate drops the perfect moment into my lap.”

This made her laugh and some of her bad mood melted away. “What do you do here, Jin?”

“Join me on a trip to the break room and I'll tell you,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

“Okay,” Julia agreed, and soon they were walking down the hallway together like old friends.

“I'm a photographer's assistant,” Jin said, “for Mr. Park Heejin. He's been one of the photographers on staff here for almost nine years. I've been learning from him so I can become a photographer myself one day.”

“That's amazing!” Julia exclaimed. “My brother Josh likes photography. He's pretty good at it too, but right now he'd rather play basketball. You've got an amazing opportunity here.”

“Yes,” Jin agreed, “but I haven't slept in two years.”

They laughed together and each got a coffee from the pot in the break room. “So,” Jin said, stirring his sugars in, “are you gonna tell me why you were crying just now?”

Julia sighed. “For your information, I wasn't crying,” she said, “not really. It was only one tear. I'm just tired and stressed.”

Jin nodded. “You've been having trouble with the English lessons,” he said sagely.

“How did you know that?”

He leaned in close. “I'm psychic,” he whispered. Julia raised her eyebrows and Jin laughed. “I'm kidding. I overheard a few of the EXO members talking about it during a mini shoot the other day. I mean, we're not supposed to notice their conversations, but they were pretty heated and it was hard to ignore.”

“Believe me, I've been trying,” she muttered. “I'm just not sure how to reach some of them. They won't even come out of their rooms while I'm there.”

Jin sipped his coffee thoughtfully. “If you want my advice, stop trying to force it,” he suggested. “Hang out, watch a movie, bake cookies, whatever. Find a way to connect with them on a human level.”

“But the tour-”

“Is their problem, not yours,” he reminded her gently. “Let them figure it out. Your job is to teach English, right? So teach the ones you can and let someone else worry about the others.”

He's got a point, Julia thought. Her phone buzzed and she checked it.

Junmyeon: Where are you?

Chanyeol: im srry. Pls dont h8 me.

Junmyeon: Please come back to the apartment.

Jongdae: You'll be happy 2 know Sehun has a black eye xD

The last one made her smirk and she put her phone away. “Are your friends looking for you?” Jin asked. Julia nodded. “Yeah,” she replied, her spirits lifting, “they are.”


******


Julia didn't return to the boys’ apartment, choosing to go home early instead. She hadn't given herself a night off since her arrival, so she put on her pajamas, laid out some snacks and was browsing Netflix when there was a knock on the door. She ignored it, trying to decide whether to rewatch her favorite episodes of Descendants of the Sun.

“Julia!” Minseok called. “At least let us know you're alive so Chanyeol will calm down!”

Julia wouldn't be swayed, even if they had roped Minseok into this. They can bang all they want, but I'm not getting off this couch, she told herself firmly. She decided to watch The Fifth Element and she hit play before pulling a bag of chips into her lap. The knocking continued, but now she could make out whispering under the movie's opening credits. Whatever they're planning will not work, she thought smugly. Let's see how they like being ignored and overlooked.

The movie started and Julia munched contentedly as the whispering continued. “Julia,” Junmyeon called, “please open the door. There's something you should hear.” More whispering, then a new voice spoke. “Julia?”

Julia perked up. Was that Sehun? she wondered, glancing at the door. No, not falling for it, she thought, refocusing on the TV. It's probably one of them pretending to be Sehun just to make me open the door.

“Julia, I'm here to- I'm going to! I'm here to apologize.”

Julia felt conflicted. That does sound like Sehun’s voice, she thought. After mulling it over for a second, she paused the movie, grabbed her drink and went to the door. If it wasn't Sehun, she'd soak whoever was there and slam the door in his face. She opened the door and peeked out. “What do you want?” she asked tersely.

All eight members stood in the hallway, even Jongin. All of them had their arms folded and were looking expectantly at Sehun, who stood front and center. Junmyeon cleared his throat and Sehun gave him a dirty look. “Julia, I'm sorry for what I said earlier,” he said, his voice a perfect monotone. “I'm glad you're our fan, and you've been a great teacher to us. Please forgive me.”

Julia considered this, then with one swift motion she emptied her cup onto Sehun's head. Twenty ounces of Coke and crushed ice raced down his skin, dousing his newly-bleached hair and Nike sweatshirt. He yelped and clawed at his shirt, trying to shake out the ice chips that had slipped under it. “I forgive you,” she said, feeling satisfaction as she watched him squirm. “See you tomorrow morning.” She closed the door and went to the fridge to refill her drink. She could hear the other guys laughing and jeering at Sehun and she smirked to herself. That'll teach him to insult my mom, she thought, sipping her soda.

Notes