James left his house at 6:00 am for his daily run, but he had been up since 4:00, and this was Sunday - his supposed day off. His mind was as clear as the cloudless April sky. Morning prayers, a bowl of oatmeal, meditation and yoga, all before a run around the duck pond at the local park.
This had been his routine, more or less, for the past five years and in his view, it had served him well so far. Mind, body, and spirit were kept fit and sharp with regular, disciplined action. The one period of his training when he lost his discipline, was his time in Korea.
Maybe he should take Sunny here for a jog, he thought, if she can jog. She looked like a stiff breeze could blow her away. When he saw her last night, she looked how he felt toward the end of his time in Korea - lost.
~~
Four years earlier, before James was a certified Healing Science Master Instructor, he took up jogging to prepare himself for the physical fitness portion of the certification process. He slimmed down a bit, and increased his overall endurance since he started jogging. Better still, regular jogging seemed to help him control his sexual energy, and clear his mind of unwanted distractions. Anna, in particular.
Even though the physical test was just a small part of the overall evaluation, James worked very hard at it. The idea of becoming a Master Instructor grew into an all-consuming goal, one that helped fill the void left by Anna. Brad, his Headmaster, saw that James was almost ready to take this big step, but his fixation on Anna and their dissolved relationship was holding him back. The Headmaster called James to his office to discuss a possible solution.
"James, how are you?", Headmaster said, a grin gracing his typically stoic face as they sat on cushions set before a small mahogany table. The residual aroma of incense that permeated his office and low light conditions there created the desired calm, spiritual atmosphere.
"I'm good, Headmaster." James sat in the most erect half lotus posture he could manage and smiled back.
"Good, good... I have an opportunity for you, if you are interested..."
A few months later, James and his new passport were crossing a delicate-looking, modern suspension bridge over the mud flats of InCheon, South Korea. Immediately, he found the country strikingly beautiful. InCheon airport shamed the American ones he was accustomed to. It was so up to date, clean, and convenient. The airport staff, like those on the KA flight were all attractive, courteous and competent.
After passing the industrial areas around InCheon and West Seoul, the countryside opened up to reveal manicured parks skirting waterways crossed by stone bridges, green hills and rice fields, even the suburban sprawl was planned and pleasant - only the unexpected presence of English language signage and Dunkin Donuts everywhere spoiled the new, exotic landscape.
"Go and enjoy. Train, learn, but also have some fun," Headmaster told James before he left. "Anna isn't the only girl out there. There are so many, so various, meet lots of Korean girls over there! Ok?"
"Yes, Headmaster." James said at the time, but his heart wasn't in it. He imagined that in Korea, he would get closer to mastery, train hard to earn the respect and love of Anna so as to somehow get her back. Ridiculous as the idea seemed, that is what James attempted in Korea.
It was easy to absorb himself in his studies and training so far away from all the distractions of home. He ran, trained, worked, prayed, all under the watchful eyes of his new Korean Headmasters in Seoul. They were even more strict and demanding than Brad had been, breaking up sessions of intense physical training with cooking, cleaning, and laundry to fill his monastic days. Even if James wanted to meet women, there were no opportunities. The only women he met were training like him, prohibited from sexual relations, and watched by the ever-present Headmasters.
After a month of this intensive training lifestyle, James was transferred to Busan to work as an assistant instructor for the 2 months remaining on his travel visa. There, everything changed.
He was now giving fitness and exercise training to kids, not meditating with adults. His new Headmaster was much more lenient, even fun. Her name was Jin, but asked James to call her Gina. She was in her late 30s, and had two children who attended James's classes. An attractive mother with a short bob atop her thin face, she shared her devotion between her children and her HS Youth Center.
Her husband was always away on business, so she took James under her wing, along with another American instructor-in-training named Laura, perhaps to fill the space her husband left in her life. Laura had a yogi's fit body, with a wildly unkempt head of curls atop her unusual, but attractive face.
What a difference James felt in Busan. He was freer. Together with Gina and Laura, he visited beautiful mountains, Buddhist temples, even the busy beach of Haeundae. There, the three of them splashed in the surf beyond the multitude of umbrellas that completely covered the sand, ate rich, red spicy deokbbokki rice cakes, even had fried chicken and beer.
Did his training slip - it did. But this was what Headmaster Brad wanted for James. To have fun and enjoy himself. In that free state of mind, James found himself open to sensations that he had previously closed himself off from. In particular, the advances of his training partner, Laura.
In fact, she had been after James from the first day he arrived in Busan. Only James, still deeply focused on his training, ignored her completely. After he allowed his mind to relax, too much perhaps, did he begin to feel her lingering touches, see the way she looked at him and laughed at his jokes. Gina seemed to notice too, but she did nothing to stop Laura. She only watched, and gave the occasional giggle when Laura's advances collided with the brick wall of James's training mind.
Later, the three of them together with a few other Korean Masters and trainees went to a local Noraebang to blow off some steam. At one point, Laura, while singing along to 'What a Man' proceeded to give James a lap dance - in front of all those people.
They cheered her on, impressed with how open and expressive she could be in front of an audience. She passed her hard nipples, poking peaks in her paper-thin t-shirt, over James's face, then turned and sat down, grinding her hips on his lap. James felt the heat of Laura's pussy through their clothes, encouraging his now quite visible erection. Gina, again, did nothing to control Laura, who was in James's opinion, behaving very unlike a future master instructor.
When her song finished, the group applauded loudly as Laura blew a kiss to James, who blushed and laughed it off, covering his crotch awkwardly with crossed arms.
Finally, after weeks of unreciprocated effort, Laura invited James to a Buddhist sculpture garden and for dinner at her house. There, she opened up to James...
"You know, I'm also a Buddhist. That's why I love this sculpture garden. I come here all the time to meditate...", she spun from a statue she was investigating, whipping her long curls around in the process. "Do you know about Tantric yoga?" She took a step toward James, who was standing a few feet away, watching the sun set behind a nearby mountain.
"A bit."
