Ari was in pain. Her ankle was swollen and bruised. She called out to her sister, MiU, for help. She spoke in her native tongue, Korean. She was not in a state of mind to do anything else.
"In English, Ari," MiU commanded, as she entered the room.
Ari did not want to comply. When she was hurt like this, it was too much effort to figure out the words quickly enough. She remained silent, giving her sister a defiant look.
MiU shook her head, and wagged her finger. "Our English teacher is coming by tonight. You need practice. Ask again, in English."
"No."
MiU smiled, and brushed Ari's dark hair away from her cheek. "Good start. Ask again."
"No."
MiU sighed and sat on the couch next to her sister. Ari's foot was raised up, resting on a few pillows. "You like Keith, yes?"
"Yes."
"Good. He likes when I am bossy. So you obey me. You make him happy."
Ari stopped to think for a moment. Keith was smart, good looking, and he was teaching them both. In Ari's experience, most Americans only spoke English. Keith was American, but his ability to speak Korean was quite good. He spoke a few other languages too. Even more than that, Korean spoken with a Californian accent was kind of attractive. He was unique, and Ari liked it.
Ari looked up at her sister, with her pretty dyed blonde hair falling down toward Ari's face. It smelled good. When MiU had started using a different shampoo, it hurt Ari's feelings at first. As sisters, they had shared almost everything. They lived together, and they shared clothes, make up, and sometimes even boyfriends. When MiU switched to her own shampoo, Ari felt rejected. It was almost as if MiU didn't want to be sisters anymore. However, it was really just fear of change. Ari soon realized how silly she was being. One day, when they hugged each other, the scent of MiU's hair was so wonderful that Ari could not help but love it. It was a new smell; fruity, pretty. Ever since then, Ari had found herself breathing in deeply around her sister, always chasing that scent.
Ari took her sister's blonde hair in hand, and pulled her closer. Ari breathed in, and said, "Foot hurts. Help please."
MiU clapped her hands, applauding her sister. "I'll get pills." She disappeared into the bathroom. Ari heard a bottle pop open, and soon enough her sister returned, pills in hand. "Take 1, or 2 if it hurts a lot."
Ari took 2, gulped down some water, and laid back on the couch. She pointed at a pillow on the ground, and looked at her sister with big pleading eyes. MiU sighed, and went to fetch the pillow. Then she lifted Ari's head and put the pillow underneath.
MiU sat on the couch again. "Good now?"
"고맙다."
MiU frowned. "No. Use English to say thank you."
Ari let out an exasperated groan, and mumbled, "Thank you."
MiU clapped again, and leaned down. She kissed her sister on the cheek. "Good," she whispered.
Ari breathed in deeply, and whispered back, "Good."
Later in the evening, the door chime rang. MiU answered. Ari sat up and strained to see signs of them, but they did not enter her room. She could hear them, still talking in the vestibule. "이리 오세요," she shouted. Everything went quiet.
A moment later, Keith walked around the hallway corner and entered the room. He moved slowly, with curiosity. He peered at her, and tilted his head. "Did you just ask me to come in?"
"Yes."
"But you did not use English."
"Too hard."
MiU came around the corner, a disapproving look on her face. "I told you."
Keith kept his eyes on Ari. "You know I must punish you for that."
Ari searched her mind frantically when she heard this. She could not quite understand punish. It was jumbled together with other words meaning pain and hurt, and she wasn't sure why he had such a lighthearted expression while saying something mean. She decided to play it off as if she understood, and wasn't really worried. "I'll speak English," she conceded.
"Too late," Keith said with a grin. "Now, what is a good punishment? Hmm." He looked around the room. Television, family photos, really not much different from an American home, although the bag labeled 허니버터칩 was different. "I would take away your honey butter chips," he said, "but you ate them already." He picked up the empty bags and put them in the nearby waste basket. Turning back to the girls, he said, "MiU, come here."
She dutifully stood in front of him.
"What should we do to punish your sister?" he asked.
"What is punish?" MiU replied. Ari felt a sense of relief. If MiU didn't grasp it, then it would be no big deal for Ari to need help too.
Keith shrugged. "Remember last time? I gave you rewards for doing well?"
"Yes."
"Punish is the opposite, for not doing well."
"Opposite of reward?"
"Yes," he replied.
MiU got a devilish grin. "I want hug and kiss for speaking English."
Keith shook his head. "No, see, that's just... more reward. I don't think you understand."
"I understand," she said. "Try it."
Keith sighed. "A beautiful woman thinks I should kiss her. I probably should say yes no matter what." And with that, he pulled MiU close and hugged her with true warmth. He wasn't too shy to press against her body, to feel her every feminine curve. He thought, she really does have a dancer's body – small frame, petite, light as a feather!
MiU looked at her sister, and she couldn't help but have a big Cheshire cat grin on her face. It was playful, but really she was enjoying it far too much. Then as the two pulled back from the hug, they looked in each other's eyes, and Keith went in for the kiss. MiU met him halfway, and tried her best to make it passionate, to make it more than just a friendly peck. It was easy; he wanted it too. They kissed for a long moment, their tongues beginning to touch when Ari shouted, "Hey!"
MiU leapt back laughing and pointed at her sister. "Punish! See!" She looked at Keith with victory in her eyes.
Keith stood there in shock for a moment, and then glanced at Ari. He had to admit that she looked exactly like someone who had just been punished. In fact, she looked downright hurt. MiU grew quiet. Trying to keep things positive, Keith said, "MiU, you're the boss. We all like it when you tell Ari what to do. Even Ari likes it. Right?"
"Right."
"So part of being a leader is knowing when to take care of the people you lead."
"Right." MiU's enthusiasm returned.
He smiled. "Good. So let's take care of Ari's ankle. Ari, what do you need?"
"I want you to stay."
"Okay," he said.
"Both of you."
"Okay," MiU said.
Keith added more encouragement. "Keep asking for things in English, and we will do them."
Ari reached behind her head to adjust the pillow, so that she was more upright. She looked at them and said, "Foot masseuse?"
Keith chuckled. "Foot massage."
"Yes."
"Okay. Great. I'll start with that. And what do you wish your sister to do?"
Ari blushed. She hesitated, but Keith could not be sure if she was too embarrassed to speak, or simply needed a moment to find the words. Finally she said, "No. MiU give massage. You give me hug and kiss, too. Then I… same as MiU."
Keith kneeled down and turned to sit, leaning his back up against the arm of the couch. "Maybe you mean 'even with' MiU. It means you both have the same thing, or same amount." He shifted slightly to look in her eyes. "I'm not sure if you two realize how impossibly awesome it is for a guy like me to have two sisters demanding kisses. It's like you think you're giving me a chore to do. It's no chore."
Ari held his gaze, but Keith could tell a word or two didn't make sense to her. It didn't matter. He turned even more to face her, almost back on his knees, and gave her a kiss. He stroked her jet black hair as it pooled around her on the pillow. As he did he realized just how soft everything was. Not just her lips, but her hair, her pillow, her skin, her clothes. In that moment he was overwhelmed by a sense of femininity or girlishness. It was pleasant, even amazing. But as a man used to slightly rougher edges, the sheer sensation and resulting emotion caught him off guard. He pulled back, and whispered, "You are wonderful."
Ari didn't seem to take it well. She grimaced, scrunched up her face, and looked away from him. Then she leaned up on her arms and shouted, "Hurt! Bad massage!"
MiU looked up at them with surprise. "Oh?"
Ari gestured at Keith and pointed at her foot. "You there."
MiU shrugged. Keith hoped none of this was because of the kiss. They switched positions. Keith worked on her ankle for some time, and the three of them continued a conversation in English as the light faded and night took over. Although the house had plenty of lights, nobody bothered to get up and turn them on. A single hall light streamed paltry illumination into the room. Eventually, Keith positioned himself sitting on the couch, Ari's legs in his lap.
In the dim hall light, he looked over at Ari during a lull in the conversation. There he saw MiU lean over her sister, whispering. Her long blonde hair draped down, making it difficult to see their faces in the darkness. They whispered more, and although he could not see it, he heard the distinct sound of kissing. It wasn't a peck on the cheek. This went on, and on. His heart raced. He strained his eyes to see anything, but he remained silent. He didn't dare interrupt.
Unfortunately, his own erection interrupted. Ari moved her feet and gently pushed MiU aside. She propped herself up, resting with her elbows behind her. "What is the word?" she asked, pointing at his crotch.
Keith felt the hot rush of embarrassment. He was grateful that the darkness hid the color rushing to his face. "Erection," he said in a defeated tone.
"We like erection," Ari said, her voice surprisingly innocent sounding, given the subject. She continued, "We tried to, um, make many erections? Not good."
Keith looked at MiU for help. "I don't get it. Try your English on me."
She sat back down on the floor, leaning against the couch in the same way that Keith had earlier. She nodded toward the television. "We made dance videos. Britney Spears, Womanizer. We touch each other. Bueno Clinic, Never Let The Party Stop. We touch each other. We like sexy, but too much angry comments. So no more touching."
Keith felt his own arousal fading, much to his disappointment. However, this new information about their dancing was certainly an exciting development. "What do you mean? Show me."
MiU stood up, grabbed a laptop, and connected it to the television. It flickered on, filling the room with its light. She pulled up their YouTube site, and clicked into the full list of all their videos. She clicked on the Womanizer video, and it began to play. Sure enough, about a minute and half into the video, Ari stood in front of the camera while MiU frisked her. It would have been a rather pedestrian dance move in any other context, but as sisters it did raise an eyebrow or two, Keith was sure of that.
MiU clicked another video, the party video that she had previously mentioned. Just 45 seconds in, Ari grabbed her sister's ass and then grinned at the camera in the most devious way. That, he had to admit, was scandalous.
It was also very hot.
"Play Mi Mi Mi," Ari said. She was now sitting up normally, watching the screen with them. This is what they did for a living, and it was clear to Keith that both of them were heavily invested in it. MiU scrolled the list of videos, found Serebro's Mi Mi Mi, and played it. It played all the way through. There wasn't any sisterly touching.
"You wore very short shorts in that video."
"Shorts shorts?"
"Oh," Keith said, "long and short." He gestured with his arms apart and close together to illustrate the difference. Then he stood and pointed at their outfits on the screen. "This clothing? It's called shorts. So your shorts are short." He made the gesture for "small" or "short" as he said it. "Get it?" he asked.
The girls nodded.
"But..." he continued, "no touching?"
Ari spoke. "Play again. Watch again."
He watched. He felt like he was missing something, and then Ari said, "MiU, here." MiU paused the video at 1 minute and 24 seconds in. There it was. Each of the dancers – not just Ari and MiU, but the whole team – frozen in a dance move that was obviously a blow job gesture.
Keith was getting aroused again. These girls were blatantly incorporating sexual content into their dance videos. The room was quiet with the video paused. He looked at MiU. He looked at Ari. They both returned his gaze, expectantly. Were they so into this sexual moment because it was a lure to get him into bed, or were they into this because dancing was their profession and the conversation had somehow turned toward their passion? He was too turned on to care. He didn't need to know. He could explore both options. He took the mouse from MiU and walked back to the couch. He sat in the middle, with Ari on one side.
"Come here," he commanded. MiU obeyed. He said, "Your videos are really hot. Sit here with me. I want to watch them."
She sat next to him. He rolled the mouse directly on the couch cushions. It worked badly, but it was enough. He clicked play, then enabled the autoplay feature, and let their entire catalog play through. The moment it began, he turned to MiU and kissed her. Then he turned to Ari and kissed her as well. Finally, he said, "Now both of you kiss. No angry comments from me, I promise."
The two women leaned toward each other, right in front of him, and kissed gently. Then they opened their mouths and kissed more passionately. Keith's heart pounded. What he didn't know is that Ari's heart was pounding too. All she wanted was a man who wouldn't condemn her for the wild things she had done with her sister, and in this moment, she wondered if she might finally get to have her wish. She put her hands to her sister's face and pulled her even closer. Their tongues touched. Their blood quickened in their veins. They both grabbed Keith and pulled him into the kiss. Their hands raced, grabbing at each other's clothes; pulling them, tugging them, unbuttoning them.
In the light of the television screen, the girls mounted him each in turn, and again. When he was spent, they continued without him. Their bodies glistened in the flickering light. The smell of sex, apple shampoo, and honey chips filled the air. Their lips left kisses all across their bodies. Their hands explored every inch. Ari felt that she had never been kissed that much before, not ever in her life.
In the morning, Keith was the first to rise. Being relatively new to Korea, he was not well-versed in how to make an appropriate morning meal for them. He remembered that in his apartment, he had an entire box of pastries from Lord Stow's Bakery that he had brought back from his trip yesterday. He quietly slipped out of their home and made off to get the pastries.
When he returned, they were still asleep. The computer was still running, so he turned the volume off and explored their videos with more attention than he was able to give the night before. After a while, the girls stirred.
They were beautiful. Their hair was unkempt, their makeup was no longer perfect, but their naked bodies were incredible. Both were dancers, both were fit and lithe. When Keith took the risk to move to Korea and teach English, he never expected a payoff like this. MiU looked up, rubbed her tired eyes, and smiled at him.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I found something interesting about your videos," he replied. "Ari said no more touching, right?"
"Yes."
"And that's because of the mean comments, right?"
"Yes."
"Well… did you ever look at the amount of views each video gets?"
"We care about views. We care care care."
Keith laughed. "You can say that you care very much. That works."
MiU nodded. "We care very much."
"Okay, but look." He put their list of videos on the screen. Below a thumbnail image of each video was the name of the video and a count of how many views each video had received. He pointed at Womanizer, and Don't Let The Party Stop. "Four million views. Five million views."
"So?"
"So how many views did the video before and after those videos get? Come look, tell me."
"One million. Two million."
"Right," he said. "So, you care about views. But do you look at each individual video, or just the overall total? You need to see which ones have the most views. It looks like the ones in which you touch each other, you have the most views."
MiU shook her head in denial. "No, see Shakira song? We cover her dance, twelve million views. That's right after party song video. It did much better. No touching, no sex. People like no sex."
Keith nodded but didn't back down. "You're right, but that's only a single counter example."
"Huh?"
"Oh, I'm not going to explain that concept right now. Um, here. Look. Serebro, Mi Mi Mi. Twenty five million views. You pretend to give blowjobs, um, I mean you handle erections in that dance, right?"
"Right."
"Very naughty. And twenty five million views. People loved it."
"People were angry. Lots of angry comments." MiU clearly wasn't sold on his point of view.
"Okay," he conceded, "there were angry comments. But it is also one of your most viewed videos. I think there are two ways that you get lots of views. Sometimes, you do a video for a big huge song at just the right moment, like when you did Gangnam Style, or when you covered Shakira for the Brazil World Cup. But if there is no big event, you don't get a lot of views."
"Yes." MiU seemed to agree.
"Right. So you need a big event to get big views. Except… out of all the other videos, the ones that are not big events, the sexy ones get the most views. The angry comments don't matter. Maybe the comments help, because they provoke controversy. And that makes you the most money."
MiU sat on her knees next to him. She took the mouse and clicked around, looking at a few of the videos he was referring to. She was quiet, clearly thinking about things, but when she re-enabled the volume of the music, it woke Ari.
Soon Ari and MiU were eating pastries from Lord Stow's Bakery, and talking excitedly in Korean about Keith's discovery. Keith didn't have the determination to force them to speak in English. His mind was now already thinking a million miles a minute. Eventually he excused himself to use their shower and clean himself up.
When he returned, toweling off his hair and brushing it with a comb, they were still discussing the videos. He pulled on his shirt and finished getting dressed. They turned to him.
"What does 'provoke controversy' mean?" Ari asked.
"I'm glad we're back to using English," he replied. "If you provoke controversy, it means you do things on purpose to surprise people. Some people love it, and some hate it. Controversy means people disagree, or argue."
"Like fighting?"
"No," he said. "Not fighting. Well, maybe they get angry in the comments, but it's not actual fighting. A good controversy makes everyone debate, or 논쟁하다."
"Provoke means you cause it on purpose?" MiU asked.
"Yes."
"Why would you cause people to fight?" Ari asked.
"It's not fighting," MiU corrected.
Ari rolled her eyes and tried again. "Why would you cause this thing? This 논쟁하다?"
Keith put his finger on the mouse and jiggled it, causing the mouse arrow on screen to wiggle over the number of views for one of the controversial videos. "Because views. Because money. Because success."
And then Keith decided it was time to say what he had been thinking of. "I want you to make more videos, even more wild and sexy. It doesn't matter if people go crazy. It doesn't matter if there is controversy. It's not bad. It's just a few people being offended for silly reasons. And that probably helps you to keep interest high, to keep your views up. If you love being sexy, if you love touching each other and being together, then you will do it. Do what you love. It's wild and fun. You hurt nobody. You'll just make money and be happy."
The girls smiled. He thought he might have done it, might have pushed them back into being wildly sexual in their videos. Then Ari raised her hand. "Yes?" he asked.
"Say that again, in Korean?"
Keith laughed. "No, but I'll explain it all. Just… hmm… tell me this. You like being sexy together?"
"Yes."
"You miss it?"
The girls looked at each other, and then both said, "Yes."
"Then stop letting bullies talk you out of it. Do what you want. Be sexy. More people love you that way. There aren't enough bullies. There are millions who love what you do."
"Okay, but what is bullies?"
"Hmm. I'm starting to stack up a lot of things I need to explain. I have an idea," Keith said. "I have a student to teach right now. Let me go do that. Let's meet for lunch, and I'll explain everything, for as long as you need."
"Where?"
"I'm not sure which places are good Korean food yet. But I like this place called Steff Houlberg. Ever had hot dogs?"
MiU smiled. "You show us your food. You teach us your English. Okay?"
"Okay. It's a date." He walked down the hallway, stopped at the door, and put on his shoes. MiU ran after him and gave him a huge hug and kiss. He then opened the door, stepped outside, and let it close behind him. "This is my life now," he said, grinning ear to ear.
Back inside, MiU walked down the hallway to the living room and the large couch. Ari again had her foot propped up. She was still naked, still beautiful. She pulled a small piece of pastry between her fingers and held it over her mouth like a queen being fed grapes. She dropped it in and savored the taste. Then she spoke. "Come massage me."
"Your English is better already."
"Come." She patted the cushion where she wanted MiU to sit.
MiU sat down, and gently rubbed Ari's ankle. "As soon as you get better, we are doing sexy dance videos again."
"I need lots of massage to get better," Ari said as she moved MiU's hand onto her thigh. They smiled at each other.
"I love this so much," MiU whispered. "I am so excited."
"I am too," Ari whispered back. She closed her eyes and moaned at her sister's touch. "Let's be naughty."
"Are you sure you are ready?" MiU asked.
Ari opened her eyes. She saw that her sister had one hand free, and in it she held pink handcuffs.
MiU repeated her question. "Are you ready?"
Ari moaned again. She offered up her hands, ready to be locked. "Yes. Please yes. I can't wait."
