Seoul-Mates is a bit of romance, intrigue and suspense rolled into one. My journey crafting it began years ago while I was studying in the Philippines. Surrounded by my Korean friends, I got comfortable with their foods, mannerisms, language and customs. Sometimes, we would exchange dishes, their Korean one for my Indian. I tasted kimchi, bibimpap and bulgogi. Koreans are a close-knit community, but cautious when making friends. Without realizing it, I was enmeshed in their culture, and started embracing many aspects of it.
In the novella, Katia’s Anglo Indian background is very liberal. But she’s a naïve young woman who chose to sacrifice everything for the man she loves. She’s intelligent, independent, educated and financially secure, yet she follows this man to Seoul. I think that people will like her because that’s what love does to us all. It turns our brain to mush, and we’re willing to blur the lines and ignore reason, because of this feeling that trumps all other emotion. Love can do that to us.
So when we sacrifice and lose ourselves for someone only to find out we’ve walking down a one way street, it crushes us.
I loved creating my characters because they’re not perfect. They’ve made mistakes, and are learning from them. They don’t have perfect lives or perfect people in their homes; they are flawed protagonists. Even the villain/villains of the story is doing what they do because they want to be loved.
And that’s the reality of us all. The heart of the matter is a heart that matters to us.