Page 10 of Out of Nowhere

“Okay. Um. I’m from Colorado originally. Where are you from?”

“North Korea,” Seo-jun said solemnly.

A little shocked, because Dex had automatically assumed Seo-jun was of South Korean descent, he said, “Oh.”

Seo-jun waited, face stoic. Dex wondered what Seo-jun wanted him to say. What would Dex want someone to say if he told them he was from an enemy country?How interestingwouldn’t cut it.

He settled on “What was that like?” and was relieved when Seo-jun’s face relaxed marginally.

“At first, I didn’t know any different. It was my home and all I knew, although I sensed unease from my parents that they never explained. Later, after we left, it felt alienating and lonely to be from the North. Confusing.”

Placing his book on the bedside table, Seo-jun turned off the lamp and settled down.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be intrusive or to bring up bad memories,” Dex said in to the darkness.

“It isn’t that. I just…find it easier to talk about it in the dark.”

Dex couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face. When he spoke next, he was careful to keep it out of his voice.

“That makes sense. Why do you find being from North Korea to be confusing, if you don’t mind me asking?”

After a moment filled only with their quiet breathing, Seo-jun said, “It’s just that I wonder, why was I, out of all the places a person can be born, born there? The ideologies and the way of life—they do something to a person. They make you question the rest of the world.”

“I see,” Dex said. “At least, I think I do. So, you left there? With your family?”

“With my mother. When I was fourteen, my father fell out of favor with the government and suddenly disappeared. Friends helped me and my mother escape through China. We stayed briefly in Thailand before going to South Korea, where we got government assistance. Several years later, when my mother met and married a wealthy man—by that time, we’d heard my father had been executed for displaced loyalties—I left for the United States.”

“I’m sorry about your father,” Dex said quietly. “You didn’t like living in South Korea?”

“I did and I didn’t. It was world’s away from North Korea, which was liberating in many ways, but once people knew you were from the North, they treated you differently. As soon as I could, I moved to the United States to live with someone I’d been talking to online for years.”

Dex’s mind reeled. He hadn’t expected Seo-jun to reveal so much. It made him wish he’d asked a long time ago, but Seo-jun had always seemed so unapproachable. Perhaps it was only that Dex hadn’t bothered to put in the effort.

“Where did you learn martial arts and knife-throwing?” he asked.

“I’ve studied Taekwondo since childhood with a brief respite while we moved around. When I came to America, I took up my studies again. The knife-throwing I learned from the man I lived with—Izumi Haru. “

“Wow. You’ve led such an interesting life compared to me,” Dex said in awe.

The sound of Seo-jun’s rich chuckle erupting in the dark room made Dex wish he could see the other man’s face. It was so pleasing to the ears. Low, throaty, and sexy.

“I’m sure your life has been very interesting,” Seo-jun said politely.

“Um, nope. You’d be wrong about that. Unless you count family drama, which I don’t.”

“Tell me about your family. Not the drama, but in general,” Seo-jun said.

“Well, I haven’t seen my dad in years. He left my mom when I was four. I remember really loving him, though.” Dex cleared his throat. “And being really upset when he left. By the time I started kindergarten, Mom had remarried. His name was Tom, and hewas a pretty good step-dad. They had Anna and were married for eighteen years.”

“So, Tom must have felt like your real father,” Seo-jun surmised.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Looking back, Tom tried, but he wasn’t a very affectionate person, and I clung to what vague memory I had of my real dad, whom I remembered being a hugger and making me feel safe. I kept thinking he’d come back for me, and when Tom mentioned that he’d like to adopt me, I flatly refused. When Anna graduated high school, my mother was having an affair with her boss, a rich banker. When he divorced his wife, Mom divorced Tom and married him. They’re still together and live just outside of Boulder, while Tom lives in Colorado Springs. Mom really likes money, and neither my dad nor Tom had much of that. Garfield has it in spades.”

Dex stopped talking. He hadn’t meant to say as much as he had, but it was a little hypocritical to hold back when Seo-jun had revealed so much.

“Are you in touch with your biological father?” Seo-jun asked curiously.

“No. He’s never reached out to me. My mother said he was free-spirited and being tied down to a family finally got to be too much for him. I could probably find him, but I’ve never tried. He’s either dead or doesn’t want to see me. I don’t want to know which.”

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