The next day, Kei hired a few maids and a pair of security guards.

“Now that I have my family here, I’d rather protect you guys than have you harmed,” Kei explained when they questioned why there were men in suits they had never seen before.

“Protect us from what?” Yuta inquired.

“Don’t worry about it. Gosh, you’re so noisy it’s irritating. Just eat your cereal and then finish getting ready. There’s a lot of things in store today.”

“Like what?” Yuta questioned once more.

“Well, mom and dad need to get new identification. Their passport is a thing of the past. Also, you need to learn how to drive and get a license here in America. I have a handbook for an international license so you can study that while you come with me to do errands. Also, before you finish getting ready can you wake up Sana? Thanks,” Kei replied before getting up and going upstairs.

“Why can’t she wake her up? She’s going upstairs anyways,” Yuta grumbled, once again feeling despite rise in his heart.

“Nakamoto Yuta! You must be respectful to your sister. Now that we are here, we must show that we are grateful and do everything she asks of us even if we don’t want to. You should be happy she cares enough to keep us safe. I love you and I will see you later,” Mrs. Nakamoto replies with a sigh. She stands up to kiss Yuta and walks over to Kei’s driver who was waiting to her to the car.

“Here we go again. A day in the life of being in Kei’s presence,” Yuta whispered begrudgingly. His older sister always had a knack for flare. She was always the child with straight A’s, who did sports, and always had a boyfriend. Dare he say the most sought after woman in her school in her teen years. She even became valedictorian of her graduating class and got to give a speech. Her fashion style spoke runway model and even now, she’s got love for only the finest - if her home decor was anything to go by.

Yuta then proceeded to drag himself up the stairs to wake up Sana. Today was going to be a long, long day.

Kei and Yuta spent the day shopping for clothes for Yuta… or more like Kei was shopping for Yuta because, “You lack a sense of fashion. This is America, you can’t dress like… that” Kei had explained.

So much for building Yuta’s self confidence. Man, was he looking forward to school on Monday.

♦

Monday morning arrived and Yuta dragged himself into school. He was already exhausted from being woken up earlier than he should have been in addition to being jet lagged. Another factor that contributed to his exhaustion was the fact that he had been hounded by his older sister in the morning about what he should wear.

“I don’t know who you think you are or where you are but you are not wearing that hideous outfit to school. You think I bought you Supreme and even Guess clothing for you to completely ignore them and walk out of here looking like a farm boy?! You’re gonna wear what I say as long as you’re living here!”

“Listen Mom, why don’t you just come out and say that you don’t want me to embarrass you? That you have some sort of image and you’re scared I will taint it?!” Yuta fired back.

Kei just stared at him and the clothing of her choice at him.

“I’ll see you in a few after you’ve changed,” she replied curtly before strutting away.

Reluctantly, Yuta changed his outfit because he was just tired of arguing and it wouldn’t go anywhere. Kei was more stubborn than a mule.

As he walked down the hallway toward his class, he yawned about 10 times before even reaching it. Talk about being tired. He totally needed coffee.

He walked into his first class and sat in one of the empty seats. He could feel the stares from the other students because they know that he wasn’t in their class the week before. Yes, it was a new school year but they didn’t have to look at him as though he was an alien. Most students had their schedules changed within the first two weeks. It was nothing new.

Feeling self-conscious, he began to crumple into himself and scoot down in his seat. He was feeling particularly intimidated by this one student who looked like he should be in an anime. He had extremely intense eyes and a sharp jawline. His intense eyes didn’t leave him for two whole minutes. Every time Yuta looked over, his beady eyes were staring through his soul. He looked at the clock with a gulp and waited for the instructor to walk in. Anything to save his soul from this guy who was obviously it out.

It was at this moment that he decided he’d never make friends. He was better off not speaking to anyone because people just stared. It was obvious that he was already an outcast so as the bell rang and the teacher took the attendance, he vowed to be a loner until he graduated. It was better than being bullied. He had heard stories of Asian students being bullied in America and he wasn’t going to be one of them.

So for the rest of the week, he never spoke to anyone. Even the dude with the staring problem. He had gotten negative reactions from some of the boys in the class because he seemed cold. But it seemed that this didn’t affect the girls. They constantly tried to talk to him and he had post its on his locker with heart and stuff on the third day. for them though because he was not interested.

The majority of his time outside of doing work was doodling Ryu’s name in his notebook. If this was how it was going to be everyday, he couldn’t wait to get high school over with so he could move back to Japan.

He began counting the days down.

♦

Two weeks had passed and Yuta had finally gotten some alone time. He was planning to home, nap, and then play video games once he had woken up when Kei called him and told him to meet her at a restaurant. Though he protested, he eventually decided to put off his Call of Duty and meet her.

“So how do you like America so far?” Kei asked sitting down.

“Well, I’ve only been here two weeks so I haven’t really formed an opinion yet. But the students in my school like to stare at me a lot. I don’t know why but it makes me feel weird. Maybe I should go back to Japan.”

“No, you’re not going anywhere. Have you made friends yet?”

“No. No one talks to me, they just stare. I had a few girls try and talk to me but I wasn’t having it,” Yuta replied with sigh.

“Well, I’ll have you know why they are staring at you. Are you aware of how gorgeous you are? You are a fine piece and plus you have style. You can thank me for that. Trust me, girls know handsome boys when they see one,” Kei said with a smirk.

“Whatever, I don’t like girls. I miss Ryu and I still want to be with him.”

Kei’s smirk fell into an understanding smile and she reached across the table to pat Yuta’s hand.

“When was the last time you guys spoke?” Kei inquired.

“It’s been 2 weeks. We haven‘t been in touch like he promised. I tried calling him but I just keep getting his voicemail. I also tried calling him on Skype when he was online but he never picked up,” Yuta uttered.

“Maybe he needs more time,” Kei suggested.

“It‘s been two weeks! I’ve been in touch with all my friends, but he‘s the only one I haven’t spoken to,” Yuta fired back.

“Listen bro, I know it's hard but you need to give it time okay? He’s not just one of your friends. You guys were dating for two years and have known eachother since diaper days. Do you think this is easy for him too? He’s probably freaking out like you are but because he doesn’t know what to say. Your breakup was pretty abrupt and neither of you were prepared.”

“Okay, but it didn’t have to be abrupt. He could’ve stayed with me. He’s always breaking up with me over something stupid,” Yuta complained.

“You seriously expect him to have a relationship with you thousands of miles away? Are you listening to yourself? How would this relationship even work out? You guys would both grow in your own ways and then there is the time difference. How could you even maintain this relationship? I swear this is why teenagers don’t need to be in relationships. You guys aren’t rational at all. You have to think about the actual situation and lay everything out not just following your heart,” Kei explained exasperated.

“Whatever,” Yuta pouted. “There is no chance for us to get back together anyways. As much as I want it to happen, it was evident he wants nothing to do with me because he didn’t even see me off at the airport. He’s always sent me off… even when I was just going on vacation overseas. But he didn’t this time. It’s whatever,” Yuta said.

Just as he looked away from his sister in frustration, he caught the stare of that one anime dude in his math class. He was sitting in a booth just a ways away and was paying more attention to Yuta than his salad. Yuta could feel a blush arising on his face. Though he tried to will it away, Kei caught on and turned around quickly to see the person Yuta was blushing about. She made eye contact with him when he looked away from Yuta and at her and gave her a little smirk. His attention then went back to Yuta as Kei turned her attention back as well.

“Oh my god, who is that guy?!” Kei whisper screamed. This question just made Yuta blush even more and hide his face.

“No one. Just some weirdo from my math class who keeps staring at me everyday. I wanna gouge his eyes out because he needs to look somewhere else. He’s hecka weird!”

“Oh my god Nakamoto Yuta! Why don’t you ask him out already? It’s obvious you guys like each other!”

“Ask him out?! I don’t even know him!!!!” Yuta exclaimed.

“He’s in your class! What do you mean you don’t know him?!”

“I don’t talk to anyone at school! I don’t know him. I just know he sits a few seats over from me and has a staring problem. Do you really expect me to ask a weirdo out?! You got another thing coming!” Yuta sassed.

“You really gotta change, man. I can’t keep helping you. Listen, either you make a move or I do. If you truly don’t like him, you will have no problem. He’s extra fine and I need a man in my life,” Kei teased.

“Ew, you’re gross! You’re like twice his age!”

“What?! Excuse me, I’m only twenty seven you turd! Listen, this is a time for you to move on, forget about Ryu. He’s a thing of the past. If you pass up a man as fine as him because of your hang ups, you deserve to be alone for the rest of your life,” Kei finished as a shadow engulfed their booth.

Yuta and Kei both looked up to see dude-with-a-staring-problem standing at their table. He wasn’t paying Kei any attention and instead was once more, intently staring at Yuta.

He wanted to disappear into the booth because he was afraid that dude-with-a-staring-problem had heard them talking and the fact that they looked at him, assumed that they were talking about him and was there to spit some insults. He was convinced that all this staring that just happened was due to dude-with-a-staring-problem thinking of what insult to say to him. The pot boiling over. He was prepared for the lashing he was about to receive.

However, he was not at all prepared for what was really about to happen.

“Hey Yuta,” dude-with-a-staring-problem began in Japanese, “Do you have the notes from math? I kinda zoned out and didn’t get them. Since you’re always paying attention I figured you would,” dude-with-a-staring-problem finished with a slight chuckle.

“Umm… yeah I do,” Yuta replied in shock before reaching into his bag and pulling out his binder to retrieve the notes. There were no words spoken during this exchange, with Kei intently watching their mannerisms and how dude-with-a-staring-problem couldn’t take his eyes off of Yuta. There was a slight smile grazing his lips and his eyes were full of affection for him. It was obvious the guy was head over heels for Yuta. If only he knew.

Yuta handed him the notes and dude-with-a-staring-problem took pictures of them with his phone before handing them back.

“Thank you so much Yuta! I didn’t know what I was going to do about that test on Monday when I didn’t even know what to study for,” dude-with-a-staring-problem explained with a chuckle again.

“Oh… yeah… it’s fine. I mean, no problem, uh…” Yuta stuttered.

“Taeyong. Lee Taeyong. It’s okay if you don’t know my name. I didn’t expect you to anyways,” dude-with-a-staring-problem said with a chuckle attached. That name doesn't sound Japanese.

“You sure do laugh a lot,” Kei piped in. “But that’s good because that means you are a goofy dude.”

Yuta looked at Kei absolutely mortified while Taeyong just smiled and laughed again.

“Perhaps you are right. You should tell Yuta here to loosen up a bit. He’s always so stiff. Life is about fun,” Taeyong replied with a smirk and looked at Yuta once more while Kei just laughed.

"He was born this way. Can't do much."

“I gotta run now. It was nice meeting you and Yuta, I’ll see you on Monday,” Taeyong said with a smile and wink directed at Yuta.

Yuta’s face flared in a dark blush and he smiled and waved. He didn’t trust his voice. As Taeyong walked away, Yuta couldn’t help but watch him. How he was tall and lanky but walked fluidly. His unique silver hair gleaming in the sun and those broad shoulders carrying a Herschel backpack.

Yuta was for the first time stunned by the others beauty. When he approached the table, Yuta was terrified, but when he opened his mouth and started speaking Japanese, he was shocked. Yuta was grateful for the amount of time it took him to get the notes gathered because it distracted him from staring at Taeyong’s pink, shiny lips, those white perfect teeth, and how his nose scrunched when he laughed. He is beautiful.

For the first time since Ryu, he could feel his heart beating for another man. Could he really fall in love with someone this quick? Just hours ago, he was thinking of Ryu and minutes ago speaking of how he still wanted to be with him. Maybe somewhere down the line he fell out of love with Ryu? Maybe it was more attachment than love? But he definitely wasn't healed from the breakup so there has to be some love involved. However, his heart wasn't beating at the moment for Ryu... but for Taeyong. Could this really be so?

New beginnings in a new city, right?

A/N: I promise that this story isn't this boring. Lol I've just been dealing with a lot so I apologize if this story is lack luster. Will update again sometime this week :)