You are sitting at your dining room table with your mother and father. Your mother is talking about one of her crazy childhood adventures. Your father is smiling and nodding; pleased with the mood of the atmosphere. You are laughing hysterically as your mother goes in detail about how she fought off three boys twice her size. Your father had not been feeling well the past few months due to blood pressure issues. However, his health has been improving in the past couple of weeks and they decided to surprise you with a visit. Your mother continues to make animated gestures with her hands and facial expressions as you pause to exhale and wipe the tears from your eyes.

Your mother finally ends the story with, “Since then, I have never let him live it down.” Your mother gives your father a sideways glance and your father raising his hands in submission. She then stands up and puts her hands on her hips as if she were some kind of superhero striking a pose. “Da Eun-ah,” You look expectantly at your mother waiting for her to answer. "I couldn't find any gochujang at the local market for ddeokbokki. Could you pick up some for me?" Ddeokbokki was your favorite snack growing up and your mother always made some when you came home to visit. However, since  your father had been sick, he wasn’t allowed to travel and  had to stick to a heavily regimented diet which consisted of mostly fruits and vegetables and no meat.

“Yes,” you answer as you pull yourself up from your chair. “You know which brand to get Da-Eun right?” Your mother starts. “You can’t get the cheap brand because your father doesn’t like the taste of it..” You zone out. Your mother always used to take you to the market with her to buy goods. You lived in a rural part of Korea where there were few grocery stores. These markets had fresh produce and products that the region was famous for. There was one brand that your mother absolutely adored and always bought during your shopping trips. It was one made by the Choi family that lived a couple of miles from you. It was extremely hard to find in Busan.

You stand up and head to the island where your bag is sitting before you feel a nudge. “Are you ignoring me, Lee Da-Eun?” You turn around and face your mother who now is standing condescendingly with her hands on her hips. Your mother was known for her strong, steadfast personality. Your mother used to be the “bully” of the neighborhood when she was in elementary school. She wasn’t very pretty. However, she wasn’t ugly. She had a round face and chubby cheeks that were slightly blotched due to many years of working outside on the family farm. “I used to go shopping with you all of the time. I know what kind to get,” you reply defensively. You were never good at using sarcasm, nor did your mother appreciate it, so generally stuck to the truth.

“You know to check the packaging right? Make sure that you buy the the Choi’s gochujang! I don’t want you buying the cheap stuff.”  “It was one time, Mom. I was in a hurry because you told me to rush and I forgot.  It happens.” “It happens to you!” “It happened ONCE! I don’t know why you are making such a big deal out of it.” Your mother starts hitting you and you cry out. “Ya, Why are you hitting me?” “Because you aren’t moving fast enough! Go! Go!” You grab your bag and  rush out the door like a squirrel and slam the door shut. You breath in deep breaths as your hands rest just above your thighs. You were never like your mother when it came to personality. Like your father, you were pretty easy-going. Your father was always the one who calmed your mother down. Your mother liked to pick little fights with you and your father. Fortunately, you’ve never gotten into a serious fight with your mother.

A door opens and shuts next door. You see your neighbor locking the front door to his apartment. You quickly shoot straight up and run your fingers through your dark brown hair before your neighbor turns your way. “Yo,” you say quickly before he can greet you first. You watch him tilt his head ever so slightly as he wears a questioning yet amused look on his face. “Yo,” he says simply as he pulls out his handphone and walks towards the elevator. Upon his leaving you promptly facepalm yourself and roll your eyes. You sound like one of those American rappers. You suddenly picture yourself dressed in oversized pants with a hat tilted to the side. You through your head back and laugh so loud you hear rustling in your own apartment. Before your mother can come out and assault you again you rush down the stairs.

You walk through the aisles of a market a couple of miles from your apartment. The market was especially busy since you got there just before dinnertime. The sounds of clanging and hollering filled the air. You move quickly to the last stand on the right corner of the market. Your eyes meet a cute guy who seems to know you. He flashes you a big grin. You do not recognize him but you give a half-smile back and quickly walk away. You quickly grab a jar and pay the vender. You check the container and you are satisfied that it is still in-tact. Your mother never let you live down the day when you bought the wrong gochujang. You could only remember two things about that day. One, it was raining. Two, that night, your mother and father got into a big argument. Your parents never fought. At least, not when you were around. They were yelling all night and didn’t stop until two o’clock in the morning. You shook off the thought and made your way back to your bike which was parked near what appeared to be a Thai restaurant.

You hum SNSD’s ‘Taxi’ as you climb up the stairs. As you reach the top of the stairs and turn the corner to your officetel your eyes widen. Your door is wide open and you hear a commotion coming from inside. You rush in to find your mother and someone else leaning over your sink while your father stood safely behind the island in your kitchen.  At first you are confused. Your mother yells as she barks out orders to the guy standing next to her. “What’s going on?” You say this so quietly it is as if you are asking yourself the answer to the question. No one notices. “YA!” Three heads spin around to face you, each pair of eyes portraying different emotions. Your mother’s eyes contain the passion of a thousands suns, and not in the good way. The stranger whom you now recognize as your neighbor looks scared with a dash of frustration. Your father simply looks tired. It takes all the strength you can muster to not laugh at the comical scene.

“You don’t have to stay. I’m sorry my parents dragged you into this” Your neighbor looks up to meet your eyes. “Oh, it’s alright,” he replies light-heartedly as you both make your way out the door. You leave the door cracked open. “I am glad I was able to help even a little bit. You know, your parents have two completely different personalities. Your father was pretty calm while your mother acted like your sink overflowing was the first signal of the apocalypse.” “That’s my mom. They’re the perfect yin and yang. Thanks again” “Anytime,” he says as he walks back to his officetel. “I’ll hold you to that.” He scoffs playfully at your remark before going in and shutting the door. A wave of embarrassment sudden washes over you. You have lived in here for a three years and you still didn’t know his name. He had moved in a month ago. He has the corner room so you were his only neighbor. You make a note to yourself to visit him, or at least get his name the next time you see him.

You go back inside to your parents and overflowing sink. “Okay, so let me get this straight. You were cooking and the sink started to overflow?” Your mother nods. “You  tried to stop it but you couldn’t so you asked the neighbor next door to help?” “I actually went around to every door. Nichkhun was the only one who answered. You have horrible neighbors. In my day, if you went to someone’s door they would answer immediately. Right, honey?” Your father simply nods. He was never known for being a man with much to say. “Nichkhun..” “Your neighbor Nichkhun, who helped out today? Haven’t you even spoken to the boy?” Your mother patronizes. “He’s a handsome kid. You should get to know him. I thought I taught you to how important it is to get to know people. You college students always have your noses inside a book.” He just moved in Mom. I’ve been busy with midterms.” You take hold of your mother’s arm and lay your head on her shoulder. “Don’t you want your daughter to be a pediatrician?” You look up with your infamous puppy dog eyes.

“Aigoo, my child,” Your mother gripes as she runs her hand from the top of your head to the the back a few times. “Umph,” your father remarked. Your mother simply laughed. Your mother never made ddeokbokki since you all spent another hour talking before they left that evening. You stood outside waving as your parents rode past the officetel and into the distance. Tomorrow you would have to call your landlord and possibly a repair company. Fortunately nothing else was damaged. ‘It should be a quick fix,’ you thought. You didn’t know a lot about sinks and pipes and such but you hoped this wouldn’t become an issue since money was getting tight after you bought a new handphone. ‘It can’t get any worse right?’

AN// Sorry the last line is overplayed. Also, sorry if this is starting out a bit boring. I want to create subplots as well as the main plot, NichkhunxYou. I tried to leave a few loose ends and depth to ‘You’ the character. Constructive compliments and suggestions are welcomed if said nicely. Honestly, this took forever to right because I wanted to make this as realistic as possible. Stay tuned for more!