~~~~Jin Ae's POV~~~~~

      “I can’t believe I have to do these kinds of stuffs this early in the morning and on the second day here too,” I whined as I tried to walk without stumbling and crashing onto the hard, concrete sidewalk ,which would probably result in me having a major concussion, due to the heavy grocery bags sagging on my arms.

      It was just my second day in Seoul which was the homeland of both my parents and yet I already have to run such exhausting errands for my mother. I haven’t even had time to get over my jetlag yet! The sun was glaring at me too, almost as if it was mocking me. I sighed as I kept on dragging myself to walk.

      My father and my mother had recently divorced, the reason being something that I would rather not remember, and my mother had been left without a job, the result being the landlord kicking us out of our apartment for lack of payment. Fortunately, one of our relatives was generous enough to offer her a job at her restaurant as a waitress and she even paid for our plane tickets to Seoul and rented a small apartment for us, taking care of all the necessities for us.

      So, my mom who was delighted to be going back to where she grew up and I had flown all the way to Korea from the United States and I was actually thankful that my mom had forced me to learn Korean when I was little for the first time. I was kind of stunned when the news came out of the blue since I had grew up in the States. However, the more I thought about it, the more I was glad that we would be leaving. Here in Seoul, I would have the chance to make new memories, happy memories that I would remember forever as long as I live, and maybe even make new friends that possibly bring out the real me.

      I have always been the girl who hid her true self from others and built up walls, shielding her most inner thoughts from everyone around her. So, I didn’t have many friends in school. I had friends but none of them had been able to make me open up to them and show them my real personality. They, like everyone else except my family members, knew me as the studious, antisocial girl who was always shy and hid behind books or, in other words, the nerd. When in reality, as you get to know me better and I am comfortable around you, the person that I really am was the total opposite of what you would have first thought. I was the bubbly and talkative girl with a sprinkle of playfulness who just wanted someone to see through her façade and bring her out of her shell. Yet, no one had really cared or tried hard enough to do that.

      “Ahh!!! Oppa!!” The loud, shrill screams of girls across the street reached my ears and almost made me deaf, drawing me out of my trance.

      “Aish…Why are they yelling so early in the morning? Geez…” I faced the direction where the shrieks had come from and saw thousands of uncontrollable girls, all of them screaming and jumping up and down, in front of what seemed to be a café.

       I tiptoed as I attempted to look at the sign that was displayed at the top of the café over the swarm of spazzing fangirls. “Handel…and...Gretel….Isn’t that the name of a fairytale? What a weird name for a cafe.” I rolled my eyes and turned away, continuing my journey back to my apartment.

       “Uh...It’s so hot!” I fanned myself and stopped walking as sweat dripped off my skin constantly. “A cup of iced latte would be perfect right now in the summer.”

       I stole a glance at the café on the other side of the road which was still surrounded by a mob of girls and bit my lips. “It wouldn’t hurt to go in there for a few minutes. I mean, I still have a few minutes before I have to go home. Hm…now, how do I get through those girls and into the café?”

      I eyed the scary group of girls in front the café before taking a deep breath. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

      I got into a running stance and counted to 3 before darting towards the swarm of girls, the grocery bags swinging left and right. I pushed, shoved and was tossed around before I was finally able to myself forward towards the glass door and entered the café. Eyes turned to me as I staggered into the packed room, my hair and clothes tousled like I had just came from war. Fortunately, none of my grocery bags were missing or I was sure that my mother would murder me when I arrived home. I quickly fixed my hair and clothes before quietly moving towards the counter with my eyes fixed to the floor, suddenly interested in my shoes as I tried to avoid the stares of the people in the café.

      “What are they all staring at? Do they not have anything better to do?”  I thought to myself as I waited in the long line stationed in front of the counter, my arms slowly becoming numb due to the heavy bags.

      While waiting, I scanned the room. Almost all of the customers were girls who were taking pictures rapidly, I swore that the flashes were going to kill my eyes, or giggling over something.  Plastered on the walls were pictures and posters of some guy who looked familiar but I couldn’t pinpoint who he was. Finally, after standing in line for what seemed like a century, it was finally my turn to order.

      I took the iced latte that was handed to me and thanked the guy behind the counter, whose name seemed to be Jongjin judging by the name tag on his red apron, before trying to squeeze myself through the crowd of people. Suddenly, the raging fangirls around me started to scream even louder than previously and shoved even more fiercely. I struggled to get to the door yet the girls wouldn’t bulge. Unexpectedly, someone bumped into my back and I was shoved forward. The screaming stopped for a moment and was replaced with gasps.

      I then noticed that I had been knocked into a warm body and my iced latte had been spilled all over the person’s gray, v-neck t-shirt as well as my white, short-sleeves t-shirt, creating a huge stain. I looked up slowly to see who it was that I had hit. My eyes widened with my mouth agape as soon as I saw the guy with the black, sort of frizzy, hair. It all dawned on me as I realized that he was Kim Jongwoon, or better known as Yesung of Super Junior. This was the café that Super Junior’s main vocalist opened for his parents and I just spilled my latte all over him when all of his fangirls are present. I was so going to be dead and I could already feel the piercing glares emitting from the fangirls who seemed like they were trying to bore holes into my whole being and make me vanish into thin air. I was right because the girls soon began to fire their angry remarks at me.

      “What the hell did you just do?”

      “What? Were you blind or something? Did you not see Yesungie oppa there or something?”

      “Look at what you did! Now, our precious oppa’s shirt is ruined by you!”

      I looked down and didn’t speak a word. However, it was different in my mind. I scoffed mentally as I thought. “Oh, please! If it wasn’t for all you crazy fangirls pushing and shoving, do you guys think this would have happened? And you guys dare to blame ME!”

      Yesung glanced at the fuming fangirls before looking me, wondering why I was standing there like a frozen statue without any reaction as they shouted at me. He lightly put his arm around me and gently pushed me towards the counter. My head shot up to look at him in surprise but did nothing to stop him as he led me behind the counter and into the backroom, a warm fuzziness spreading through my body.