Introduction + Episode 1

Introduction: A young art student suffers a traumatic breakup, but soon finds herself in the throes of a dangerous new romance. A fellow art student sets his sights on her, and the two become romantically involved despite the warning in the girl's heart that their relationship will be tumultuous.

Episode 1:

Our novel starts with YU NA-BI, our rather innocent-hearted heroine, narrating about the joys of being in love only to be utterly humiliated by her artist boyfriend moments later. An intimate moment between the two has become the subject of his latest sculpture, and is in the middle of his exhibit for everyone to stare at.

We don't have to know anything about Na-bi at this point .... we feel for her automatically and our reaction is as visceral as hers.

As Na-bi sees the sculpture, talks to her boyfriend, and later breaks up with him.

She's a student at an art school, and her work seems to be mostly in clay sculpting.

For now, the main scene is that Na-bi is well-liked, but seems to be struggling a bit with her classes. She dreams of studying in Paris, but she doesn't measure up just yet. Her break-up understandably, has flattened her spirits, but she doesn't have much time to mope.

As fate would have it, she's sitting alone at a bar when a guy walks in, and touches her shoulder in greeting. It's PARK JAE-UN, but she doesn't know his name yet, or anything about him really. There's an immediate attraction in the air, despite the initial misunderstanding, and over the course of the night they talk, drink, flirt, throw darts, and the like. And no matter what is happening, Jae-un is at swoon level 10.

Jae-un's hand on Na-bi's shoulder. His finger gently tapping her temple. His mouth blowing on her arm as he draws a tattoo on her. The corner of his smile. The butterfly tattoo on the back of his neck. That glance he gives her when he turns up his gaze at her.

The two part before things can escalate, because Na-bi hears him on the phone, ontensibly with another woman. She tries to forget him, but over the next few days she keeps "seeing" him on campus --- they clearly had a high voltage connection that's hard to forget.

Then things get interesting. One of Na-bi’s friends convinces her to join them for drinks instead of pull her all-nighter in the studio, and who is there but Jae-un? As it turns out, he’s also a student at their school — and one that’s been asking around about her. Na-bi is halfway between swooning and ready to hide in her shell, but boy, Jae-un is a pro.

Even at a crowded table with a bunch of loud, drunk college students, he manages to cultivate this sense of intimacy with her, whether it’s through meaningful glances, whispered side conversations, or wordlessly passing her the snack he saw she wanted.

Na-bi is already in over her head — that’s easy to see. She is completely overpowered by Jae-un (not that I can blame her), and as she tries to piece together who he is, each detail she discovers only pulls her in closer.

For instance, the metal sculpture that captivated her so utterly was actually his work. Also, there’s the detail that he’s fixated with butterflies. This works two-fold (or maybe even three-fold) in the story. It gives Jae-un a reason to use some flirty wordplay (Na-bi’s name literally means “butterfly”), it gives them both a symbol that connects them — and it also works on a metaphorical level too. Na-bi is surely the same delicate creature as the real butterflies he keeps at his apartment — one is left to wonder if he appreciates the fragility of these creatures and wants to protect them, or if he just likes knowing that he can tease them and then tear them apart. (Can you tell I don’t trust him at all?)

To be continue...

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