I was almost out of breath when I arrived, and the realization of how unfit I was had hit me. Tucking that thought away for the time being, I could see that my family had managed to all meet together. Seeing that made me felt a bit better, and as bad as this is going to sound, I was slightly glad that there was no more waiting needing to be done. Yet at the same time, I felt a teeny bit guilty for not exactly being there when they came out.

From where I was standing, I noticed how Seohyun had her phone out, but as soon as the young girl saw me approaching, she put it down. This was then followed by an annoyed expression, and soon my other family members stopped talking to one another, where they then turned to look in my direction.

Mixed expressions from excited to, ‘Where have you been?!’ were plastered on their faces. I was preparing myself for the awaiting long lecture that Dad was going to give me, as I slowly made my way over to them.

———————————————

I sighed for what felt like the millionth time, “I told you that I was going to the bathroom!”

“So it takes you an hour to do your business, but on top of that, you left your fourteen year old sister behind, all by herself?” said Dad, mostly emphasizing on the last part.

Slowly breathing in, I bit down my tongue and decided it was best to not say anything more.

After a long pause, my Auntie had decided to step in and speak, as an attempt to relieve the tension in the room, “As long as nothing happened, then it should be alright, right? Don’t be so hard on Eunhee.”

My father didn’t say anything, but the look on his face told me that I was dismissed. Exiting the lounge room, I then entered my room and huffed in annoyance, as I closed the door. I admit; it slightly irritated me how my parents were always caring so much about my younger sister, compared to myself. I honestly don’t remember getting that much care when I was her age.

Thinking about this upset me even more, so I decided that it would be best to text my boyfriend, in an attempt to forget about this and feel better. We’ve been secretly together for quite a long time by now, but I still felt a little giggly to say the word, ‘boyfriend’ out loud.

“Huh? What’s this? This…this isn’t my phone?!” I cried, while coming face to face with a shiny black cover, of an iPhone.

I put the device down and began frantically searching for my own phone, only to stop and stare at the phone a little more. That was when I had finally come to the conclusion that my phone must have been switched when I was in a hurry at the airport. There was no other way that this expensive phone could suddenly show up out of nowhere; unless there was actually someone out there who really did love me that much. But then again, why would my own mobile phone just magically disappear?

“Oh my goodness, how can I be so careless?!” I screamed, while shaking my head in frustration.

Plopping myself onto my bed, I rolled around on it restlessly, while trying to figure out a possible way to meet that stranger again. The thought of my parents knowing about this just stressed me out even more.

I instantly stopped squirming when my bedroom door opened. Seohyun stood there with a perplexed expression that was then followed by her slowly asking, “What are you doing…?”

“Nothing,” I quickly replied with my poker face.

She couldn’t know about my dilemma, either. It’s not that I don’t trust her, it’s just…okay, she might run off and secretly tell Mum, because she trusts her. But the thing is, I know my mother won’t be able to keep something like this away from Dad. It’s hard to tell them things, when I know how badly they will react to it. That’s mainly why I always try to find a way to fix things by myself. If there is absolutely nothing that can be done, and I am extremely stuck, then that’s when I think of asking the people around me for help. But, I also have this thing where I have to think of the right person to tell. I just don’t want the person that I end up telling my concerns to, to react like how my parents would, with a majority of the things that happen.

“Well food’s ready,” said Seohyun.

She then left the room, as I let out a worried sigh, thinking back to this whole exchanging-phone-fiasco.

“Ah! I wonder if…” I took out the phone that I had managed to quickly hide underneath my pillow just before Seohyun had entered, and clicked the button that made it light up.

A photo of a little white dog appeared as the background. Wondering if that was his dog, I then proceeded to put my finger over the ‘slide to unlock’ button, hoping that I would be able to find something out about this person; hopefully then, that could somehow lead me back to him.

Of course, my plan didn’t work out, as that familiar password security code had shown up. It reminded me of the time when I tried to have a little peek at what Kyoko’s password code was on her phone, only to earn myself a slap on the arm.

Right at that moment, the iPhone in my hand began to vibrate. I dropped it onto my mattress, and stared at the screen as it continued to buzz. The call was coming from a private number, and every buzz made me panic even more.

At the last minute, I decided to take a risk and answer the call. I had to keep in mind that there was the possibility of it being a family member of some sort, and that could turn out to be really awkward. But then there was also the chance of it being the stranger himself. Anyway, even if I wanted to back out, I already had the hand-held device placed next to my ear.

“Hello…?” I said rather cautiously, as I quickly closed my bedroom door. Seohyun happened to leave the door open as she left, and the idea of someone eavesdropping on me, was making me feel a little paranoid.

There was a sigh of relief over the other end, as that familiar deep voice spoke, “Ah, I’m so glad you picked up! I was afraid you wouldn’t.”

As strange as this is going to sound, I don’t think I have ever felt so glad to hear a stranger’s voice; seriously, if I could describe it, it would feel as though an elephant has been lifted off of my shoulders.

I let out a light laugh before speaking, “I was actually really close to not picking up though. I don’t know, it just feels a bit awkward answering someone else’s phone.”

Since I was feeling a little nervous, I had began to twist my long hair around my fingers out of habit. It wasn’t a common thing for me to be starting a conversation on the phone with someone whom I don’t know. Aside from telemarketers and such, this type of thing just doesn’t happen to me. Judging by his voice and from his height from what I remember, I have this tiny feeling that this person is at least three years older than me. I could be wrong, but then again, you know…I could be right?

“Well it’s a good thing that you did. Anyway, I’m sure you’re aware by now that we have our phones switched. I tried looking for you, but you kind of disappeared into the crowd.” he said, and I could hear a slight frown in his voice.

My cheeks turned pink from the memory, as I remembered him trying to stop me.

“Sorry about that.” I mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

“That’s alright,” he assured, “so, I was wondering if it was possible to meet up somewhere, and exchange them back?” he asked.

“But…” I made an uneasy face and was thankful that he couldn’t see it, “what if you were secretly some crazy stalker, who kills me on the spot, and—” Quickly covering my mouth, I began hitting it once I realized what had just slipped out.

Laughter could be heard from the other end of the phone, as I mentally kicked myself. We haven’t even met yet, and I had already managed to do something stupid.

“Hahaha, that’s understandable,” he said. He honestly didn’t sound offended at all, which was a good thing. He then continued on, “I promise you that I’m not like that at all; honestly, I wouldn’t normally do this, so…is there any way for you to meet me tonight at around nine?”

Before answering, I quickly glanced at the little clock on my table which read eight o’clock. Deciding to agree with his plan, we then came to an agreement of where to meet. It was a good thing that he wasn’t so insanely far away, which meant that traveling wasn’t going to be that big of a deal. After I double checked everything, and made sure that he wasn’t one of those weirdos that just wanted to trick someone into standing outside in the cold for so long, we hung up.

The only problem now, was to think of an excuse to get outside.