Chapter Text
“찬탈자…”
The usurper…
That is the exact phrase Yoonchae chooses to describe the woman she sees pulling up in a vintage Bianchina from her bedroom window. It slows to a stop on the dirt road leading up to the villa. Yoonchae’s first thoughts of this woman could be encompassed by that very phrase. She rolls her eyes from the window of her room.
Another summer. Another grad student. Another bore.
Yoonchae’s summers are spent in a quiet villa, somewhere in the humble countryside of northern Italy. It’s a beautiful home, with character seeping into every crevice. Dark oak floors, carved ceilings, warm chandeliers, and furniture that whispers comfort into one’s ears. It’s clear the villa is well-lived in, and well-loved. Not to mention the lush greenery upon which the house is situated. Shrubbery that branches out in unpredictable ways, vines that creep up between the bricks of the chimney, and the notable apricot trees by the entrance all serve to create the perfect environment for Yoonchae to spend her summer.
Well, that’s in theory. But in practice, it couldn’t be farther from the truth, thanks to Sophia.
Sophia is a professor of Greco-Roman history. But she is also one of Yoonchae’s closest friends. They met one another in their youth, as the Lafortezas and Jeungs had always been close in the sphere of academia. She’s practically Yoonchae’s older sister from another mister.
Therefore, Sophia’s home in Italy has become a place of respite for Yoonchae. Her everyday life in Seoul is marked by a hustle and bustle that seems inescapable. But this villa is the place she goes to get away from all of it. Since she was a young girl, Sophia has invited her every summer to come and spend a couple weeks basking in the humid Italian heat. She gets time to peacefully transcribe music, read, and swim in the river with the locals. It’s a quiet and undisturbed location that Yoonchae fell in love with at first sight.
But work for Sophia never stops, and her academic research continues even into the summer, even as Yoonchae takes her last break before starting university.
Since she became a professor, Sophia hand selects one graduate student every summer to come and spend six weeks to help her with her research and archaeological work.
It sounds like a dream on paper. At least, for the grad student.
For Yoonchae, however, she is disillusioned.
The reason being she is forced to vacate her room for the guest, and sleep in Sophia’s grandfather’s old room. With a mattress she swears contains echoes of his snores. It’s overall an uncomfortable experience.
But the major thing for her is not the inconvenience of giving up her room, but seeing an outsider, every summer, fit into the lifestyle in such a perfect manner. She views each grad student with the annoyance of knowing they’ll be so easily accepted into the precious ecosystem they’ve curated for years at this point.
But despite her irritation, each summer remains the same. She’s forced to welcome in the stranger with a smile on her face, holding back the internal cringe she feels.
She watches as the woman gets out of the car.
“Mrs. Laforteza,”
Her movements have a natural swagger to them, the sunglasses perched on her nose add to it. She moves like she’s lived here all her life. Yoonchae’s placing her bets. She thinks this one’s American.
“Thank you so much for having me”
The timbre of her voice is distinct upon first hearing it, despite clearly being affected by the weariness of her travels.
She approaches Sophia with an outstretched hand. She receives it kindly.
“My goodness, you’re taller than your pictures!”
Yoonchae could admit the woman was quite tall. She wore a fitted collared shirt, leaving two buttons at the top undone, along with some linen pants– well-equipped for the humid weather.
“Well, I couldn’t get all of me in the photo” she replies with a chuckle.
“Yoonchae, come down!”
Sophia exclaims whilst looking up at her leaning against the window frame. Yoonchae watches as they enter the villa. With a huff, Yoonchae paces down the stairs to greet this summer’s usurper.
When she gets to her office, she’s met face-to-face with the grad student. Now much closer, Yoonchae can feel her presence from where she stands.
She’s undeniably beautiful, and as much as Yoonchae wants to maintain her initial opinions, she can’t help but feel a sort of magnetism towards her.
Long dark hair coupled with a visage that appears to be chiseled out of marble, yet soft in nature. God, in what world does a grad student studying Greco-Roman history look like this?
None of the previous grad students have ever looked this… prepossessing.
The woman is quite pretty, Yoonchae thinks, and it’s difficult to ignore. She isn’t alone in this, as Sophia and Daniela, Sophia’s wife, ogle over her in a way they haven’t done to the previous scholars.
Sophia motions towards the grad student. “Yoonchae, this is Megan, Megan, Yoonchae.”
Yoonchae reaches out to shake her hand.
“How you doing?” Her voice is emblematically American. Yoonchae can tell from the accent. She wins this bet.
The handshake is firm, yet the grip is gentle. Despite the clear difference between the two–one being a first-year grad student, and the other about to enter university– the connection feels equal to Yoonchae.
“Hi. Nice to meet you.”
Short. Sweet. Succinct. Hopefully hiding the conflict in her head as she makes eye contact. Megan’s eyes are warm and inviting, no wonder her presence seems to keep everyone’s attention on her. Yoonchae’s been through this before, she knows how Sophia and Dani get each summer when the grad student arrives. But this? This feels different. Yoonchae can’t quite put her finger on just why exactly.
“May I bring your things up to your room?” Yoonchae says as she motions upward.
She looks back at Dani for validation, “My room..?”
She merely nods.
Yoonchae proceeds to take Megan’s bags and marches upstairs.
Sophia speaks up, “Follow her. You’re very welcome here, our home is your home.” It’s nothing Yoonchae hasn’t heard countless times before.
They make it to Yoonchae’s room, and immediately upon entering, she clears her bed of some clothing she had left earlier. Right afterwards, Megan lets out a soft groan and flops onto the bed. Was the trip that exhausting? Yoonchae wonders.
She goes about cleaning up some clutter, closing the closet and moving some more of her stuff into the adjacent room.
“My room is now your room. I’ll be next door.”
Yoonchae doesn’t hear a reply, nor does she look back to see if Megan’s hearing her. Yet she continues,
“We have to share a bathroom. It’s my only way out.”
She closes the door to the bathroom and quickly glances back to find Megan already fast asleep, breathing loudly. Yoonchae’s a little bewildered at first, but her face softens up at the sight. Her mouth bends into a slight smirk. But she lets out a huff and rolls her eyes before walking to the other room and closing the door. Typical American.
–
“A-flat..”
Yoonchae whispers to herself as she erases some notes and makes a couple markings. She presses replay on her cassette player. This one particular passage is giving her some trouble in transcribing. The semiquavers in this tempo make it difficult to catch each note.
Her mind wanders back to her earlier interaction with Megan. Was she too awkward? Hopefully her irritation didn’t come across in her voice.
The headphones are already falling off her ears. She chews on her pencil till she hears it.
Ring!
Time for dinner, she supposes. The sun outside barely peaks over the horizon as it sets, a cool blue glow blankets her room. She proceeds to head out of her room. But thanks to current circumstances, the only way out is through the bathroom.
As she opens the door to the bathroom, she pauses her steps when hears quiet snores through the door leading to her room. The room in which Megan was currently laying in.
Is she seriously still sleeping? There’s no way, right? Well, curiosity got the best of Yoonchae as she slowly reached for the door. Upon opening it, all her questions were answered. Indeed, Megan was still resting. Her mouth hanging open, eyes shut, completely unaware of the bell that just rang to signal dinner.
Yoonchae allows herself to get a good look at her face, the softness being ever present. Despite all her annoyance with Megan, it would be quite rude to wake her so suddenly. Especially with how peaceful she looks. The trip really must’ve taken all her energy out. It’s weird seeing her without the swagger from earlier. God, how could she wake her without being a douche, or getting awfully close? After all, they just met…
An idea comes to Yoonchae. She goes for a hefty book on her shelf by the bed. Les Miserables, she never got around to reading it. She pretends to inspect it, looks over once at Megan before dropping it straight on the floor.
It slams to the ground with a loud thud, and she jolts up with a start. Mission accomplished.
Yoonchae looks around innocently, as if she wasn’t the one responsible for it. “Aw shoot, sorry about that, hey by the way, we’re being called for dinner.”
Megan lets out a loud groan, her consciousness still plagued with sleep. She stretches long and reaches for a pillow.
“Yeah.. uhm. I’m probably gonna pass. Just make an excuse for me to your mom though. Thanks.”
Megan lays her head on the pillow in resolve. The absolute gall of this woman.
Yoonchae turns to leave but she hears Megan stirs once more.
“Hey, so this is your old room, huh?”
Yoonchae looks around and slowly nods.
Megan shuffles her blanket over her shoulders.
“Thanks again. Later.”
How cursory. The arrogance makes Yoonchae’s eye twitch. None of the other grad students have ever had an attitude like this. She turns around and heads out for dinner.
She lets her mind wander…
Six weeks.
Six weeks, and she’ll finally have some semblance of peace.