As friendly as Wan had been, as soon as that arm was over his shoulder, his whole body stiffened. In the next moment he was rolling out from under it with a careful step to the side to put just an inch or two distance between them. His smile faltered for a split second, but once there was space again, it was back in full force and he acted as though the awkward affair had never happened. That he had not panicked and the man he just met had not put his arm around him in the first place and given him something to panic about.
"Japanese might actually be easier to learn around here. There's a large immigrant and second-generation population not that far to the south. Or that's what I was told by the hotel staff when I asked about where to find Chinese or Korean newspapers. When do you go back to school? What school do you go to?"