'Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...'

Hana lolled around on her bed, her hand reaching out to the bedside table. 'Day 1 in Seoul' she thought as she shut her phone alarm. She quickly got up and walked towards the large window. Pulling the curtains, she exhaled slowly as the sunlight rays hit her skin. 'It's not the Cali sun, but it's still warm.' Hana could hear her aunt in the kitchen, banging her pots and pans making breakfast while Ahra fought for the bathroom with her siblings. It was mid June which meant that the summer holidays in the States had started. However, summer holidays in Korea only began in July. Even though Ahra was the same age as Hana, she still had a month left before she finishes her first final term in high school. 

Hana walked out of her bedroom in her pajamas and sat on one of the dining table chairs. She could wash up later since she didn't have school to attend to. "Good morning, Hana. Here, eat some rice and some banchan first. I'm just getting the soup heated." Hana's aunt said as she placed a bowl of rice infront of Hana and scurried off into the kitchen. Hana frowned at her bowl of rice. 'Oh right, they eat rice for breakfast. How could I forget.' She wasn't used to eating heavy meals for breakfast, but she grudgingly picked up her spoon. "We use chopsticks here, you know?" A voice said from behind her making Hana jump. "Yah! Shut up." Hana scowled at her cousin, Jaehyun. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Korea, do as the Koreans do." He said then pulled out a chair opposite Hana. "Assa! Omma made omelet rolls." Jaehyun fist pumped after he scanned the banchan dishes."Wierdo." Hana breathed as she picked up a piece of kimchi. "What are your plans today, Hana unnie?" Ahreum suddenly appeared at the dining table. "I don't know to be honest. Stay at home and watch TV?" 

"Nonsense! Your father didn't send you all the way here just for you to stay indoors!" Hana's aunt walked out of the kitchen with a steaming bowl of soup. "But, Ahra and Ahreum has school today. I don't know any places here in Seoul."
The chair beside Hana moved and Ahra sat on it. "Sorry, Hana. It's a Monday. Can't skip school. Besides, it's my final year. I've got extra hagwon and stuff." 

"You could use this time to walk around and explore Seoul on your own? Maybe snag a cute guy on the streets?" Hana's aunt suggested while Jaehyun choked on his rice.

"Omma! That is so inappropriate!"

 

 

 

 

Hana ended up alone in the house. Her cousins had left for school hours ago while her aunt reminded her to always turn her phone on incase of emergencies. "And please, don't get your hands on any alcohol. I don't want your parents, especially your father, to end up banging at my door because of your recklessness here." her aunt reminded one last time before stepping out of the apartment for her office. It was currently 12 in the afternoon and she was already bored out of her mind. Laura was at a another house party (it was 8 P.M.. in California) so she was unable to Skype. She flipped through the channels on the TV. All of the channels were in Korean and they  were too fast for her to catch up. Her aunts and cousins were nice enough to slow down their talking speed for her and she thanked heavens for their consideration of her lack of Korean.

"Is this how I'm going to spend the rest of my summer break here?" She said out loud, pulling her legs onto the sofa. She rested her chin on her ankle. "I'm bored." She said and was greeted back by the sound of her stomach grumbling. "Great, I'm hungry." Hana heaved herself off the sofa and walked to the kitchen, looking around for some instant noodles. "Seriously? They live in Korea but they don't even have any ramyun in their house?" Hana exhaled heavily.

'Fine. I'll just go out to the convenience store then.'

 

 

 

 

"Excuse me, do you know where's the nearest convenience store?" Hana asked an elderly man who was walking outside the apartment building. The man looked over at Hana with a little smile. "Foreign born, eh? You youngins are starting to sound like those Americans even when you're speaking Korean!" He shook his head and left her. 'Erm..Okay?'  

She continued down the road, stopping a few times to ask directions. She was soon lost in her thoughts, her mind bringing her back to the night where she drank over her limit and ended up in the hospital. She couldn't remember the reason why she did that in the first place but she knew that she was never going to overdrink herself ever again. She grimaced at the thought of having her stomach pumped. 'So not overdrinking again.'  Hana soon reached the convenience store and happily chose a few drinks and packets of ramyun. She placed the items on top of the counter and watched as the cashier scanned the items.

"10,000 won." 

Hana's eyes widened at the price. "B-but I only bought 5,000." She said as she fished out the money she had kept in the pocket of her jeans.  You're such a genius. Why didn't you bring your whole purse out with you in the first place?? "I'll just put some back then." She said slowly then attempted to grab the bottle of banana milk and samgyetang flavored ramyun from the bundle. 'But I really wanted to try that banana milk.." She muttered to herself. 

A hand suddenly grabbed Hana's arm and the girl shrieked at the contact. "I'll pay for her." A man's voice said and the man released his grasp on her arm to hand over his credit card to the cashier. "Ahjusshi, you don't have to." Hana started to say as she turned around and faced the strange man. The man was taller than her, at least a foot taller.  She quickly scanned his face. He had dark auburn hair covered in a beanie while he wore a white face mask, covering his mouth and nose only to reveal a pair of black eyes behind a pair of glasses. "I'm just paying because you're hogging the line." He shrugged then nodded his head towards the line of customers behind him. "Oh, but it's okay. Really. You don't have to do this." The man ignored Hana as he placed his items on the counter. A heat pack for muscle pain and two cans of energy drinks. Hana noticed. 
"Just give me your 5,000 and I'll be fine." He looked over at Hana and she nodded. "Gomapseumnida." She thanked the man formally as she handed him her money and grabbed the plastic bag containing her items. "Bring your purse out next time." Hana could see that the man was smiling underneath his face mask. She nodded in response and slowly made out of the convenience store. 

"You got the drink?" She heard a voice from behind her. "Quiet, hyung. People can hear!" Hana turned around and saw the man from just now was walking behind her with another man beside him. "I don't really care about the saesengs, can't they give us a break? We just finished our world tour and we can't even get some rest time. Lay hyung's on his flight back to Korea by now, you know?" 

Hana turned down a corner, her aunt's apartment complex coming into view. " I know, I read his messages in the group chat." The man's deep voice could be heard by Hana even though she was a few metes ahead of them. "Should have bought more hot packs for him. He's going to overwork his muscles at the rate of him now working non-stop in China." Hana arrived at the apartment complex and she quickly punched in the password code. The doors slid open and she stepped infront of the closed elevator doors. The two men who were behind her punched in the password and walked into the complex, falling in place behind Hana. "Yah! Are you a saeseng?!" One of the men raised his voice while Hana felt someone grabbed her arm from behind. "W-what?" She replied in English in shock with the sudden outburst. "A foreigner? Really? We've been watching you walk all the way from the convenience store and now you're here in the apartment. How did you get the password?" One of the men demanded in a loud voice. 

"Hyung."

"Speak up before I call the guards!" 

"I-I-I.." Hana stuttered and wiggled her arm free from the man's grasp. What is up with Koreans and their arm grabbing?  If this were the States , I would have filed for invasion of personal space!' She thought angrily. 

"Baekhyun hyung! She was the girl in the convenience store. I saw her walk out of the apartment doors before us. We were behind her the whole way to the store. She probably lives here. Don't you?" The ahjusshi from the convenience store looked over at Hana, who was now staring at the both of them with wide eyes. "How come I've never seen her before?" The man named Baekhyun questioned. "I-Im from the States. I'm staying here for 3 months." Hana answered, her eyes shifting from Baekhyun and the man from the convenience store. 'These are the so-called idols?' Well, they were tall alright (except for Baekhyun who was shorter than his friend, the ahjusshi) but their faces looked normal. Where was the oh-so-Kpop glow? And who are they? 

"Are you sure you're not lying? Or are you just lying and you knew that EXO is living here so you managed to rent a complex so that you can stalk us?!" Hana's eyes widened back again at Baekhyun's accusations. "N-no..I'm not lying! My aunt is Song Chanmi and I'm cousins with Park Ahra, Park Jaehyun and Park Ahreum! I swear." Hana lifted her left hand into a swear position.
"Oh..you're Jaehyun's cousin? How did his skipping school thing go? Did he managed to watch A-pink live?" Baekhyun chuckled while the ahjusshi snickered. 'What's so funny about Jaehyun skipping school?  The elevator dinged and the two men stepped into the elevator. "You coming, saeseng?" Baekhyun asked while his friend held the doors. Hana stepped into the elevators but not before throwing a glare at Baekhyun. "I'm not a saeseng. I don't even know who you are." 

"Of course you don't, saeseng. Say 'hi' to Ahreum for me, will you?" Baekhyun smiled as the elevator moved upwards. "He's always like this. I'm sorry." The convenience store ahjusshi apologized through his face mask. Hana nodded and watched as the numbers of the floors increased as the elevator moved upwards. When the elevator reached the 9th floor, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. 

"Thank you again, Ahjusshi, for this." Hana lifted the plastic bag, bowed and walked out the elevator doors. The man laughed, making her stop in her tracks. "Ahjusshi? My name's Jongin. Call me that instead." Jongin said to Hana as the doors closed shut in her face. 

'What the hell was that?'