Hana POV

"Mom, I'm fine!" I reassured her. "I'm settling in fine."
"Is your apartment big? Is there a shopping centre nearby? Convenience store? How many people live on your floor? Any men?"
"Mom!" I exclaimed, half serious half joking. "There's a shopping centre right downstairs. And no, there are no men! I live next door to a grandma, I saw her yesterday cleaning, and a family."
She sighed. "I knew it was never a good decision to allow you to move to Busan all by yourself. And you're only 17! No matter how good that school is. I worry about you too much, Hana. I couldn't sleep last night!" She choked back a sob.
"Mom....." I blinked back tears too. I knew exactly how she felt. I hadn't left home once for my seventeen years of existance and now here I was, in a large city all by myself. I was the youngest in the family too, and I guess she was used to doting on me.
"Hana, omma has to go help your dad harvest the plants now. Call me tomorrow?"
"Of course, omma. I love you!"
"Me too, Hana. Stay safe!" She hung up.

I plopped back on my couch. I had moved from Jangseong to Busan three days ago, all by myself on a scholarship to study at an academic school that didn't exist in my hometown. Truthfully, I felt lonely and homesick but of course I wasn't going to tell my mother this - it would only make her worry more and lose sleep. Instead, I told her that I had made friends with someone who lived on the floor below me who was the same age and went to the same school. I could hear her breathe a sigh of relief when she heard this which only made my heart ache more, having to lie to my mom. I tried to shake off this feeling by distracting myself by going to the shops downstairs to scavenge some dinner.

As I put on my shoes, my thoughts were interrupted by a loud cry that sounded from the apartment next to mine. At first I was just going to brush it off but then I remembered I lived next door to an elderly grandma.

I knocked on her door. I could hear cries of "oh no, all my hard work! all gone!" as footsteps got closer and closer to open the door.
"Oh!" I bowed deeply. "Hi, halmeoni!" She smiled widely at me, slightly curious. I continued. "Oh! I just moved in next door a few days ago." She nodded. "I was wondering, uh, if everything is okay? I heard you cry out from my apartment," I asked sheepishly. Obviously, she was okay.
"Oh! So kind! Thankyou for asking, I am okay. I just went to watch TV for a little while, and I forgot about the soup I was boiling for my grandson! Now it has boiled all up and all the soup has gone!" She sighed. "And he is coming over soon!"
I chuckled. "That's okay, halmeoni. You can always cook some more, right?"
She nodded sadly. "I guess. But that was my last portion of mushrooms! Now I have no more!"
"Oh, well, halmeoni, I was just going downstairs to buy some dinner, would you like me to buy some mushrooms for you?" I offered. I was, deep down inside, hoping she would decline so I could just duck down to the 7-11 downstairs to buy some ramyun and come back up to eat it, but I felt rude not saying or offering to do anything to help her.
"Really? You would do that? Aiyah, so kind! Here, have some money." She rumaged around in her pocket and gave me a fistful of change. "Please pick the dark coloured mushrooms! About one hundred grams! They taste better!"
I nodded, secretly dying inside. "I'll be back soon!"
"Thankyou.....?"
"Hana," I said, smiling.
"Hana-shii, if you run off with my hundred won, I'll know where to find you!" She smiled cheekily at me.
"Don't worry, halmeoni." I waved her coins. "I won't! See you soon."

I pressed the button of the lift. Where do you buy mushrooms from, I wondered? I had never bought mushrooms before, just grown them in the garden at the farm.

After picking a few mushrooms and a couple hundred, more or less, packets of ramyun, I trudged back up to the apartment. I rang the doorbell to halmeoni's apartment.
Ring ring. Ring ring. I chuckled. Her doorbell ringing sound was in the tune of Greensleeves, which always reminded me of an icecream truck.
"Hello?" A boy around my age answered the door. He was extremely handsome and my face went red a little and I retreated, bowing slightly.
"Um, sorry, I think I have the wrong house?" I stepped back to check the apartment number.
"Hoya, who is it?" I heard someone cry from inside the house. The voice got closer and it was I realised it halmeoni.
"Oh! Hana! You're back! So fast!" She beamed, wiping her hands on her apron.
"Yes, halmeoni, here are your mushrooms." I handed her a bag.
She peered inside. "Wow, you picked the nice ones! Very dark!" She beamed again, bustling off to the kitchen to place them in her soup.
Her grandson, presumaby, called Hoya, I gathered, stood there awkwardly. I cleared my throat.
"I guess I'll be goi-"
"HANA!" YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE! HAVE SOME SOUP!" Halmeoni yelled from the kitchen.
Hoya laughed. "Wow, she has good hearing," I commented, laughing too at his infectious laugh.
"I would say selective hearing," he chuckled. "Nice to meet you, I'm Hoya."
He bowed. "I'm Hana. I just moved in next door!"
"STOP CHIT CHATTING, YOU TWO, AND HELP SET THE TABLE!"
Hoya and I laughed again.
I stepped inside the house, kicking off the shoes and following the scent that was wafting out of the kitchen.