"Oh my gosh." I muttered to myself.

People came and went, some staring me down as I waited patiently at baggage claim.  I simply stared back, daring them to make a comment about my loitering.  I've been working on my glare since I was seven, so obviously, it was pretty intense.

Someone was supposed to pick me up from the airport.  I checked my watch impatiently and noted that I'd been waiting for a long time.  I flew in from Washington D.C. earlier today and I was tired as hell.  My parents were the ones who sent me here, literally telling me to get out of the house to focus on my Korean.  They promised that someone would pick me up.  Obviously, they lied.  I don't even know anyone here!

My older sister is off studying for college somewhere, and my older brother is...not here.  The last time I heard from him, he was in China preparing for his acting debut.

I stared down at my purple suitcase and sighed.  Maybe I should've brought more luggage?  I didn't find the need to bring everything; after all, I'm not planning on staying here for the rest of my life.

In the end, I decided to go to a nearby cafe and eat doughnuts.  I don't know why, but I have a strange craving for doughnuts today.  Maybe it's because after a super long time on the airplane with bland airplane food, I became low on sugar.

And I don't even like sweets that much!  Okay...maybe that's a lie.

The cafe I was in had a cute design.  The walls were a pastel pink color; the floor was a light purple color.  The tables looked like they came straight out of a furniture magazine.  I got a chocolate doughnut and sat in the corner.  I gazed out of the window and saw a car pull up.

"Great. Another person getting picked up before me." I said before continuing to munch on my doughnut.

"Excuse me, but are you Kim Kyoung-Mi?" someone asked me.

I wrinkled my nose at the use of my Korean name.  I preferred my American name better.  But I looked up and saw a guy.  A stranger.  He was wearing glasses, a baseball cap, a jacket, and dark jeans.  He looked mighty suspicious, if you asked me.

"Ummm, not to be rude or anything, but who are you? A stalker? How do you know my name? Did you follow me from America?" I was hyperventilating.  Maybe it was jet lag.

"No! My name is Alexander," he frowned.

"Oh...hi Alexander," I stook my hand out.  He didn't shake back, but that was OK.  Any kind of skinship is awkward with me.

"Well, manager hyung sent me to get you," Alexander replied.

"Manager...hyung?" I said, confused.

"Oh, that's right.  You're not that good with Korean, I heard.  He's the one who schedules all of our performances, and he keeps us in line.  He's like our older brother.

"Well, where will I be staying?" I asked.  Then I considered my question.  It was a stupid question.  How would a stranger know about my life?

"You'll be staying with us actually," Alexander nervously laughed.

"OK...but there's more of you?" I asked warily.

"Well, there are seven of us," he stated.

"Names?" I asked curiously.

"Soohyun, Kibum, Kiseop, Eli, Kevin, Dongho, and me!" Alexander grinned.

"Are you always that happy?" I asked again.

"Pretty much, yeah," he nodded.

"Eli?" I asked.

"Yeah, Eli Kim. His Korean name is Kyoung Jae," Alexander said after a while.

"Kyoung Jae, huh," I muttered to myself.

"Well, are you ready to go?" he asked me.

"Yup," I nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, apparently, Alexander and his friends live like 10 minutes away from the airport!  Geez, if I had known that I was going to live with him, then I would've just walked.  Why didn't I meet Alexander earlier?  I wasted one hour of my life waiting around at the airport doing nothing.  And those people were giving me dirty looks.  I don't even look suspicious!

"Mom and Dad, I miss you," I muttered to myself.

"Tell me more about yourself," Alexander said.

"Well, I was born in Los Angeles and moved to Washington D.C. Then I had an opportunity to study in Hawaii, so I went there.  And then I stayed there for a few years.  After that, I returned to Washington D.C. to spend time with my family." I shrugged, switching back to my Korean.

"Well, I'm sure you'll fit in with the members! Kevin and Eli are from the States too!" Alexander exclaimed.

So we walked in and the first thing I saw was two guys without shirts on chasing each other around.  What a lovely first impression.  Well, at least they had abs.  Wait, what am I saying? Boys are yucky.

Alexander covered my eyes and yelled at the two people without shirts on.  At least, I think he did.  He raised his voice at them and talked super fast.  One was now sitting on the couch watching television, and another was rolling on the floor with a big teddy bear.

"Guys! Can't you see there's a girl here?" Alexander glared.

Their heads snapped up at the mention of 'girl'.

"Mianhe hyung," they said and ran to get shirts or something.

"Sorry.  Soohyun likes to show off his body, and Kevin was proving that he could be just as manly as Soohyun," Alexander shrugged.

"Hey hyung, who's the girl?" someone walked up to us.  I immediately looked up at the sound of a familiar voice.  A voice that I hadn't heard since I was 12.

"This is Kim Kyoung-Mi," Alexander said gesturing toward me.  I wrinkled my nose once again.  Well, I guess it isn't Alexander's fault.  I forgot to tell him my name.

"Just call me Ella, okay?" I sighed.  I sighed because the mention of my American name would give myself away.

Yes, I am Eli Kim's younger sister.

"And I'm Eli," he said, sticking his hand out.  I stared at it like it was some weird, foreign object.  Then I looked at Eli with an expression of disgust on my face.

"You really don't remember me, do you?" I scoffed.

"Uh, did we meet before?" he asked.  "Fanmeet?  At a concert?  Oh!  The girl that tried to attack me a few days ago?"

"Well then. Hey Alexander, can you show me where my room is? I wanna shower," I said.

"Sure," Alexander said.

"Bye Pigeon," I waved.  And his eyes widened.

Well, I didn't know why I wanted to give myself away.  I guess it hurts when your older brother can't remember you.  At all.  So I guess I wanted to make him remember me, and regret pushing me away.  I gave him that nickname when I was 6 and he was 9.  Even though I heard his fans call him that now too.  I bet he does that stupid pigeon impersonation.  

"Thanks Alexander, you can go now, OK?" I asked.

"Cool, see you later," he waved.  So I went to take a shower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was drying my hair, when I realized that someone was in the bedroom sleeping on the other bed.  Great, so I have a guy roommate?

"Hey, who are you?" he asked as I walked back to my bed.

"Guess," I said.  I wasn't in the mood to tell the guy anything right now.

"You're Kyoungmi then," he said bored.

"Ella," I corrected.

"Now I know why manager hyung made me clean my room," he muttered.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Shin Dongho," he said.

"Dongho?" I asked.

"Yeah, Dongho.  Is there something wrong with my name?" he smirked.

"Nah, just wanted to clarify," I said.

Suddenly, he sat next to me.  I shifted over, but he did too.  Until I was at the corner of the bed and stuck.  Dongho put his arm around me and leaned in.  I shrugged his arm off and pushed him off the bed.  He stared up at me, amazed.

"You know, if you weren't Eli hyung's sister, I would've made a move by now..." he said.

"How'd you know I was his sister?" I asked, curious.

"Well, he showed me a picture.  And your names are kind of the same," he mused.

"Well, thanks for recognizing me," I said sarcastically.

He was just staring at me.  And I was starting to get uncomfortable.

"You know, I think you'll end up falling for me," he grinned.

"What makes you think that?" I smirked.

"Well, everyone falls for the cute maknae, right?" he showed some of his aegyo.

"We'll see," I smiled again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

how was the first chapter?

acceptable?

fingers crossed ^_~

anyways, 

bye!