She sighed as a cool draft of wind flew through her long wavy hair as she waited for a taxi on the curb of the airport. It was certainly different than the aura of her hometown in LA. There were definitely more Asians around. She chuckled to herself as she thought that, earning herself stares from fellow standbyers. Well of course there were! She was in Korea, it was sort of expected. Thinking upon herself, she realized she was now on her own. Her college provided dorms, but she needed to find her own job, pay for her own food, and most definitely fend for herself. But, that wasn’t a problem. She thought of it as a challenge.

“-ssi!... Agassi!” She facepalmed herself, realizing she had just spaced out and there was a taxi in front of her. What a way to start her first day in Korea.

--

"Kim Haena, you said? Right this way.” Haena followed along behind the attendant that would now be taking her to dorm. Her school, Seoul University, looked extremely vast and extraordinary inside. Smiling to herself, excitement filled her body. Things were actually easy on campus. It wasn’t that she couldn’t speak Korean, but hey. She spoke English as her primary language for about 19 years, only speaking Korean to her family at home and the few Korean friends she made at school. Her father said it wasn’t that noticeable, but her English accent was there. But the lady who assisted her actually spoke English, so it wasn’t at all that stressful.
“Here we are! Room 207! Here are the keys to your dorm, and If you need anything, feel free to call us.” The attendant said, handing me the keys then leaving down the hallway, making her leave.

It was extremely spacious. To think, they said that no one had filled in to be rooming in with her at the moment, so she had a whole room to herself! Score! She snickered to herself and giggled as she plopped down onto the bottom of the bunk bed that was located toward the back of the room.

This is going to be great. And… I finally get to find you mom. It won’t be long before I see you. Its been what? Nearly 5 years? She let her mind wonder, until sleep found her, leaving her sprawled across the bed, resting from the ride back to this place.

2 Hours Later

She woke up, sweating. She had that dream again. The sad reality that replayed in her mind whenever she succumbed to sleep. The reality that spelled out one of the reasons she actually decided to come her. She needed air. She needed it to get it off her mind. Click! Her expression suddenly brightened as she realized what could help her. What better way to get things off her mind, but to travel around town? With a determined smile on her face, she grabbed her bag and exited the campus, on the look for … something well, cute.

--

A few blocks down from the school was a mall. Teenagers and adults spilled in and out of the entrances as she herself entered the building.  Looking for what she always bought when she felt like this, she quickly searched store by store for it. Disappointed, she just couldn't find what she wanted. She pouted in annoyance and stubbornly continued to look. What kind of mall is this?! You'd think that since I'm actually in country in Asia that- Her thoughts were interrupted as a moving… bear caught her eye? Wait what? A moving bear? … She narrowed her eyes at the moving … person? as she approached the shop. Happy Hearts? What a nice store name. But what was more important was the huge and tall bear that was moving around inside the shop. Her eyes sparkled as she entered the store. Her guilty pleasure. Bears and stuffed toys of all sorts. She hadn’t been able to bring any of hers from America, so seeing this galore of fluffy contraptions, she was ecstatic. Immediately forgetting what had lead her to here in the first place, her eyes were shadowed in… want for the contents of the store. She giggled to herself as she everything in her path, until she bumped into a furry back. Wait. Furry? What was this nonsense. Looking up, all she could see from her height was bear ears from the top of its head. Not thinking straight, she hugged the moving figure calling it cute and anything she’d call the toys she had just passed by a few minutes ago.

Hold on. She raised her eyebrow as she realized that the so called bear had a rather manly build underneath that stiffened under her hold. Don’t tell me… awh shi- The so called figure had turned her way, hands on hips.

“YAH!” A high pitched voice yelled at her, making her wince. Haena had only realized now that she had been so excited to see such items, that she hadn’t realized that she had mistaken him as a oversized plushie. Great. She groaned at her stupidity.

“I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t realiz-” she started to say as she facepalmed right away, noticing she had spoke in English. Wow. Double whammy. Not only did she mistake the man as a bear, but also spoke in a different language. She immediately bowed and constantly repeated ‘Sorry’ In Korean.

The mysterious man was rendered speechless as he registered what had just happened. His first day on the job and he had been hugged by foreigner, being mistaken as one of the items for sale.

“A-aniyo… It’s okay. I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. I was just shocked.” He chucked a sweet laugh behind the head piece he was wearing.  “But were you going to buy anything miss?”

She lifted her head, smiling a smile, and nodded excitedly. She grabbed a small little white bear that had been decorated with small pink bows and a little Lolita dress, handing it to the man. The man nodded, walking behind the counter and started to make the transaction. Once he had told her the amount, Haena excitedly took out the money from her purse, eyes seeming to sparkle despite her chinky eyes and hands shaking from anticipation.

The ‘bear’ chuckled in response, giving her change back. Well if every day was like this, it’d make things just alittle more exciting. Haena grabbed the money and stuffed it back into her bag, without caring that she had just crumpled the bills in her purse. To her, all that mattered was her new bear. She hugged it tightly, and started to skip toward the entrance of the store.

Before stepping out, she made sure to bid her goodbye to the man.

“Bye bye bear man with the nice voice! I’ll be back soon!” She giggled as she yelled it into the store, then taking her leave.

The man behind the counter took off the head piece once she left and a big smile was plastered on his face.

“I definitely can’t wait till then…”

(a/n): Okay I'm neutral about this, but I'm really sorry that the first chapter seems a bit slow, but the pace of the story will be faster as new chapters fill in. ^____^