Daehyun’s POV

I laugh at Sophie’s reaction to seeing the house. It’s everyone’s reaction to seeing the house. I’m kind of glad that she doesn’t know how to speak Korean though because then this would be something much harder to keep up.

We pull to the front of the house and Sophie is still amazed. “Are you that amazed at this house?” I ask her.

“It’s amazing, what can I say?” she asks looking out the window. “It’s so big, it’s like royalty. What does your cousin’s family do?”

“Nothing important,” I say. “Oh look, there’s my cousin now.”

Sophie and I look out the window and see my cousin standing there, well; she just knows that he’s my cousin since I just said that he was. He still looks the same, except his hair is dyed blonde. He was allowed to do that? Well, my hair is a brown color, but still, I thought they would never let him dye his hair.

“Daehyun!” Youngjae yells when he sees me get out of the car. “Welcome home.”

“Oh, thanks,” I say to him, “it’s such a pleasure.”

“It’ll get better over time,” Youngjae assures me. “And is this your friend?” I nod my head.

“Youngjae, this is my best friend Sophie, Sophie, this is my cousin Youngjae,” I say introducing them.

“Hello, I’m Sophie,” Sophie says bowing to Youngjae.

“Hello, I’m Youngjae,” Youngjae says in English to Sophie.

“Your English is really good,” Sophie says putting a thumbs up.

“Thank you, I was taught when I was younger,” Youngjae tells her. “Now, let’s go inside. Everyone’s waiting to see you.”

Sophie and I follow Youngjae inside while our bags get taken up to the rooms that we’re going to use. The house doesn’t look like it’s changed for six years. Everything is still in its place, even all of the old pictures around haven’t changed. I thought that they would have at least hung up different ones, but tradition is very important in my family. It’s like even more important than breathing or eating. They’re just that hung up on it.

“The inside is just as amazing as the outside,” Sophie comments as she looks around. She still can’t get her mind around how big this house is.

“Yeah, well, yeah,” I say unable to say anything else. I don’t know what else to say.

“Do you like the house?” Youngjae asks Sophie.

“Yeah, it’s amazing. I can’t believe that it’s your house.”

“Yup,” Youngjae says looking right at me. So that means that he did get my e-mail to him.

“What do your parents do?”

“This and that,” Youngjae says. “Look, we’re here.”

The two tall wooden doors before us open to reveal one of the rooms that my parents use for gatherings and other sort of get-togethers. Today is no different, the room is full of people. “Yah, why didn’t my parents tell me they were throwing a party?” I ask Youngjae. Sophie looks at me confusingly because she can’t understand what we’re saying.

“How was I supposed to know? I wasn’t allowed near any of it. They told me to wait outside for you and then bring you to this room. I didn’t know they were throwing a party either. I didn’t even know you were coming back until I read your e-mail,” Youngjae says.

That is just like my parents, throwing together a party. I would’ve at least put on better clothes. “I’m going up to my room to change,” I announce taking Sophie’s hand.

“What are we doing?” Sophie asks at the sudden contact.

“We have to change our clothes, there’s a welcome home party. I’m sure that there’s a dress for you here somewhere,” I tell her as we walk off leaving Youngjae standing there. He finally gets his senses back and begins following us.

Sophie’s POV

Daehyun must know his way around this place very well. I think I would’ve been lost by now, right as soon as we walked through the door. There are so many hallways and doors that I think I would be confused. Scratch that, I already am confused.

Plus, it doesn’t help that Daehyun and his cousin, Youngjae, talk in Korea to each other. Do they not want me to hear what they’re saying that badly? It just confuses me even more and I kind of wish that I knew how to speak Korean. Maybe while I’m here I’ll begin learning. That would be something good, learning how to speak Korean to help make things easier in communication. Then maybe I could speak with other people of Youngjae’s family and figure out what they do.

“Here you go,” Daehyun says finally stopping at a door. “Pick what you want to wear out of here.”

“What?” I ask.

“Youngjae, you help her,” Daehyun says turning to his cousin. “And remember, English only,” he emphasizes.

Youngjae simply nods his head as Daehyun begins walking somewhere. “Where are you going?” I ask.

“I’m going to go get changed down here. Now, go inside and pick out what you want,” Daehyun repeats motioning for me to go inside this door.

“Let’s do as he says,” Youngjae says opening the door.

Once the door opens, I’m in full-blown shock again. There are so many outfits, it’s like a large room dedicated to women’s clothing. Actually, a whole room dedicated to dresses. There are so many different types and styles of dresses that I don’t even know where to start.

“What is all of this?” I ask as I begin roaming around.

“These are dresses,” Youngjae says.

“Yes they are, Mr. Funny boy,” I comment.

“Choose any one that you want to wear. You have a party to go to. Here, I’ll help you,” he says going over a spot filled with dresses, like every spot is in this room, and started looking at them.

I go over to another spot and begin looking at some more. How am I supposed to wear all of these? It’s just impossible. They look too beautiful and way too not my style. The dresses are full of beautiful designs, but I don’t wear these types of things, like glitter and the puffiness. It’s just not me.

Looking through a bunch, I haven’t found one that matches my style yet and I’m pretty sure that they won’t actually have any that match my style because these are elegant dresses, dresses that seem to be worn in public by only extremely rich people that are going to an extremely important function. Is this party really that of an important function that I need to dress up in these clothes?

“Did you find one?” Youngjae asks coming over. I shake my head. “None of them seem to fit you, right?”

“They just don’t seem my style, I’m sorry,” I say.

“That’s alright. I didn’t think they were. You don’t look like the type of girl who likes glitter and sequins.”

“Well, thanks,” I say with a light laugh. I don’t know if he was meaning to say that in a good way or not.

“Don’t take it the wrong way,” Youngjae quickly says. “I mean, you just don’t seem like a girly girl, but you’re still a girl. If that makes sense.”

“Don’t worry,” I say attempting to ease his mind. “I understand what you’re saying.”

“Wait, I just thought of something,” he says. “Come with me.”

“What?” I ask as he grabs my arm and drags me to wherever. “Where are you taking me?”

“I know the perfect outfit for you. Let’s go.”

Daehyun’s POV

I go down to my bedroom and pick out a suit to wear. I’m not wearing the clothes that I’m supposed to wear, that’ll just make everything complicated between Sophie and me. I don’t want things to be complicated. I was perfectly fine being in America, but my mother dragged me back.

I walk down the hallway to go to the room that I left Youngjae and Sophie in. I hope Youngjae didn’t scare away Sophie or anything or make her bored out of her mind, sometimes Youngjae has a habit of talking about electronics to no end. It gets boring when I don’t understand what he’s mentioning or talking about.

“Youngjae?” I ask seeing him.

“Hey,” he says with a bright smile. I look around, but I don’t see Sophie anywhere. “You’re looking for Sophie, right? Well, I was just coming and looking for you. Follow me.”

Without any questions, I follow Youngjae into the party room. Where’s Sophie? Shouldn’t I be entering with her? As both of us walk in, many people bow and say their hellos, much to which I respond to with a fake smile. I pretend that I’m happy to be back in Korea when I’d rather just be living my normal life back in America. Why does my mother always have to ruin everything?

“Youngjae,” I begin, “what are we doing? Where’s Sophie?”

“Wait here,” Youngjae says positioning me right in the middle of the dance floor. “Now, look that way. Sophie’s going to be here soon.”

“She’s going to be here soon?” I ask. “Why isn’t she here already?”

“Cousin, you’re way too stressed right now.”

“I want to know where my best friend is!” I yell, but not loudly enough that other people can overhear me. They’d probably be concerned as to why I was yelling and a whole world war might just break out.

Youngjae disappears without a word and I stand there angrily waiting for Sophie’s arrival. That’s when I hear Youngjae’s voice yelling throughout the hall causing everyone to grow silent. “Attention, Ladies and Gentlemen and people of importance, I’d like to introduce Sophie Karp. The wonderful date of tonight’s main man, my cousin, Jung Daehyun.”

Suddenly, all eyes are on me and on the entranceway as I see Sophie standing there. Youngjae has done it again. His childish personality is still there. When will that boy learn? But still, he’s not the one with the world on his shoulders.

I look at Sophie as she’s walking in and she looks absolutely beautiful, not that she didn’t before, it’s just that I’m never used to seeing her in a dress and that dress is stunning, not to mention much her style. The dress is simple enough, going down to her knees and is just a single shade of blue. It may not be like the other fancy dresses that are at this party, but it surely compliments her wonderfully.

As Sophie walks towards me, I can hear people around me talk about her, whether it be positive or negative, but thankfully, they’re talking in Korean so even if Sophie were to hear them, she can’t understand them. I do my best to ignore them, but their comments keep getting to me.

“Who is she?” one asks.

“I’m not sure,” another one says.

“She’s Daehyun’s date?”

“Apparently.”

“But he can get anyone he wants, why her?”

Why her? They’re asking why Sophie? Well, they don’t know that she’s my best friend and that Youngjae just decided to say that on his own free will, but still, that’s no way to be talking about my friend like that. If Sophie weren’t in the room, I’d already be giving them a piece of my mind.

“So, what do you think?” Sophie asks looking at me. “I know it’s not necessarily my style, but…you know.”

“It’s wonderful,” I say getting a closer look at her. “You look really beautiful.”

“Thanks,” she says slightly blushing. “Youngjae thought that it would be good for me because I didn’t like any of the dresses in that room, no offense.”

“None taken,” I say. “I wasn’t sure if you would find anything either, thankfully, Youngjae always has a backup plan.”

“Yeah,” she says with a nod. “But how does Youngjae have that room? And who has a party in the morning?”

“These weird people,” I comment looking at everyone. “And that room, well, it’s his mother’s and sister’s,” I explain. “They just have a whole separate room for their dresses.”

“Well, they have a lot.”

“They surely do. More than they need,” I say laughing. Thankfully, Sophie laughs along with me.

“Hey, are you hungry? They have some snacks over there,” I say as I offer Sophie my arm. She takes it and we begin walking over to where there is a table set up.

As I walk with Sophie, I hear more people talking about her, but this time instead of saying something about her being with me, they say things about her parents. Once again I’m grateful for the language barrier.

“Isn’t that the girl whose parents were in the newspaper?”

“Poor girl, why is she in Korea already?”

“Didn’t you hear? Their funeral is going to be here.”

“That makes sense,” one says nodding their head.

“Her parents were great people.”

“Yeah,” the other says agreeing. Just what type of people were Sophie’s parents? The video actually didn’t say much, it was mostly them just saying how much they regret ever keeping it from her and about how she should go to Korea because they have people there and for her to be safe, but it said nothing else. There was like nothing else in the video except for a bunch of questions as to why Sophie needs to come to Korea to be safe.

Sophie’s POV

Daehyun shows me where all of the food is. I begin eating a little bit because I am slightly hungry, but maybe it’s the jet lag that’s starting to sink in, I’m not entirely sure.

“What’s this?” I ask Daehyun pointing to some food.

Daehyun explains all of the food to me and even though it doesn’t seem like anything I would actually eat, I take some things in an attempt to try them, but nothing really more. “So,” Youngjae says finding his way over to Daehyun and me. “How did you two meet?”

“We were in the same homeroom and classes,” Daehyun explains. “We just became friends after that, nothing special.”

“Okay,” Daehyun says nodding his head. “How was America treating for you for six years?”

“It was good,” Daehyun says with a smile. “I liked it over there, I really did.”

“Sophie, what’s your impression of Korea?” Youngjae asks.

“It’s wonderful, even though I haven’t seen much, but your house is beautiful,” I tell him.

“My house, yeah, it is,” Youngjae says with a laugh.

A stranger then comes over and begins talking to Daehyun in what is probably Korean. Daehyun nods his head and looks back at Youngjae and me. “Youngjae, spend some time with Sophie, get to know her. I have to go say hello to some people.”

“Of course,” Youngjae says giving his cousin  bright smile.

“Sophie, is that alright with you? Sorry,” Daehyun apologizes.

“No, it’s alright. You haven’t seen these people for six years, they’re probably missing you,” I say ushering for him to go. As much as I would like him being here with me, I understand that he hasn’t seen them for a long time, so of course he would need to say hello to them.

“How much I would hate to be him,” Youngjae comments in English.

“What?” I ask turning around to face him.

“Oh,” Youngjae says suddenly realizing that he said it in English so I could understand him. Was he meaning to say it in Korean? “Nothing,” he says shaking his head and quickly shaking it off.

“Why would you hate to be Daehyun?” I wonder.

“Well, just meeting all of the people and saying hello when in reality you don’t want to remember who they are. It’s just that aspect I wouldn’t want to be,” Youngjae says.

“Oh, okay.” I look at Youngjae until something pops in my head. “Ah, that’s right, if you wouldn’t mind, could you translate something for me later?”

“Translate?” Youngjae asks.

“Yeah, it’s an article from the newspaper. I don’t really understand Korean. Do you think you’d be able to?” I ask with pleading eyes.

“I guess.”

“Yay, thank you,” I say immediately hugging Youngjae. I feel him tense up underneath of me and quickly pull away. “Sorry about that.”

“N-no,” Youngjae stutters, “it’s alright.”

“It’s typical in America to hug when you’re happy. Is it not here?” I ask.

“Um…it is,” Youngjae says thinking about it. “Although it may not happen that frequently, I’m pretty sure that people still do it.”

Youngjae and I stare at each other for a while in awkwardness. “So,” I say breaking the silence. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, anything,” Youngjae says with a smile. He must like to smile a lot.

“Did you know my parents?”

“Your parents?” he asks looking at me questioningly.

“Yes, my parents. I want to know why I saw them on a Korean newspaper, that’s why I need you to translate.”

“Oh, yeah,” Youngjae says nodding his head.

I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that people here know my parents. Why, I’m not exactly sure, but the way that they’re looking at me, it has to do something with them recognizing me or when Youngjae announced my name to the whole room. There just has to be something, right?

Daehyun’s POV

I follow along with the guy who said that my mother wanted to see me. Along the way, I talked a little bit with people in order not to appear rude. I don’t know why my mother wants to see me and I don’t know why she had to send a guy to tell me the order instead of coming and getting me herself. Actually, no. I’m happy that she sent the guy because then Sophie wouldn’t know anything and she doesn’t have to see my mother.

Why did I have to lie to her in the first place? Why couldn’t I just have told Sophie who I really am? Why couldn’t I have told her that this is my house that we’re staying in instead of telling her that we’re staying in Youngjae’s house. True, he does live here, but this is my house, not his.

“You wanted to see me?” I ask finally reaching my mother.

“Daehyun, it’s been too long,” she says standing up and hugging me. She was sitting up at the table watching everyone.

“What is this party for? Isn’t it a bit too early to be throwing a party for my welcoming? I mean, you normally throw parties at night,” I say getting right to it.

“I knew that you would run away if you knew the party was tonight, so I just scheduled it a little early,” she explains. I look at what my mother is wearing and I’m very glad that she didn’t come over and get me. She’s wearing this very expensive dress and has her headpiece in. Yes, if I told Sophie that this is my mother…I don’t actually know what she would do.

“Okay, but yes, it’s been very long since I last saw you,” I tell her in an attempt to change the subject.

“I see you brought a friend. Sophie is her name?” she asks.

“Yes, Sophie is her name,” I say. “She’s my best friend and she has been for six years. I’m not planning on changing that, just so you know,” I tell my mother because I don’t know what’s going to come out of next. “She’s going to be staying with us for a while because of her parents. Their funeral is here.”

“As what I’ve heard,” my mother says. Wait, how does she know Sophie’s parents? If I just ask her how she does, she’ll only dismiss the question and carry on the conversation in the direction that she wants. For now, it’s better to not ask anything and just see what my mother does.

“Yes, everyone apparently seems to have heard it,” I tell her after remembering what those guests said before.

“Are you ready?” my mother suddenly asks me.

“Why are you asking me if I’m ready?”

“It’s a simple yes or no question, Daehyun,” my mother says. “Are you ready?”

“If you’re talking about me taking my place then no. I’m not ready.”

“I guess my question could’ve been taken two ways, but I was talking about your life changing. Are you ready?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” I ask refusing to answer the question. I see her glare at me and that is never a good sign. I sigh. “I guess I’m ready for my life to change. Why?”

“Good,” she says a smirk coming across her face. “I knew you’d be.”

My mother doesn’t answer my question. What is she talking about my life changing? I hope it’s not what I think it is.

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What does Daehyun's mother mean for his life changing? What does the article in the newspaper say about Sophie's parents? Why would Daehyun want to lie about his family to Sophie?

Chapter 3 is here. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed :D