Title: Ambient Light

Characters: Kris/Yi Fan and Hyerim/Hui-Lin (Wonder Girl

Poster by woobabylove0904.

Luoxi? Nanpu? Huijiang? Hyerim suddenly couldn’t remember what subdistrict her family had recently moved into. She desperately tried to recall their new address, but it wouldn’t come to her.

The only thing that did come to her mind was the one landmark she could think of. The very first place she’d visited with her mom, the day after their family had moved to Guangzhou City in the Guangdong Province. That was the thing with China. There were too many levels of places.  

She decided she’d try to ask the tall guy standing next to her in the cramped subway car. She didn’t want to miss her stop and end up in a different city or province.

“Excuse me,” Hyerim tapped the shoulder of the tall guy, who turned around quickly.

She found it odd that the tall guy had a rough head of yellow-blonde hair. This was China. Men had identical suits, identical glasses, and identical neatly-combed black hair.

“Would you happen to know what stop I need to get off of to get to the Shengyulin Cantonese Teahouse?”

The guy raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re a foreigner, aren’t you?” It took a moment for Hyerim to smooth out her creased frown.

“Excuse me?”

The guy shifted his position, grabbing the car’s handle bars with the other hand. “Nanpu. It’s coming up right here. You’d better get ready,” he replied.

As if on cue, the subway announcer broadcast the approaching stop, Nanpu. Hyerim looked down at herself, making sure her bag was with her. All too quickly, the subway car rolled to a stop, and Hyerim struggled to keep her balance.

The tall guy moved to let her pass him to the exit. “I hope you won’t get lost again, Miss foreigner,” he remarked, as Hyerim made to thank him. Again, the frown scrunching her eyebrows made it difficult for her to react.

She ended up murmuring something inaudible before she found herself out the exit and standing in the station. The subway car chugged on behind her to its next stop.

Readjusting the straps of her bag, Hyerim made her way out to the open city. The Teahouse stood right across the subway station. From the Teahouse, Hyerim knew where to go. With a sigh, she checked the time to make sure her mother wouldn’t be worrying. Her breath fogged in the winter chill. She blended herself into the street crowd, thick with heavy winter coats, and began her way home.

 Hyerim’s father, Mr. Woo, was a highly sought-after business man in China. Hyerim’s family had lived in China since she was 5 years old, and she was now a second year in high school. Years in China had been more than enough for Hyerim to grow to love the beautiful, traditional country and its reserved, delicate people. To hear the word ‘foreigner’ uttered to her like some racial label, was an offense on a serious level.

“Mom, do I look Korean to you?” Hyerim asked her mother in Mandarin. Really, it was her most comfortable language. Korean had recently become more confusing to her, due to her recent years at the Hong Kong International School, learning and using mostly English.

“What kind of question is that? You are Korean,” Mrs. Woo replied in Mandarin. Her fluent Mandarin perfectly matched Hyerim’s and Mr. Woo, the businessman’s. “Although, if you’re asking like that in your beautiful Mandarin, I have to be honest Lim… you kind of look… Taiwanese. You know, just a little bit.”

Hyerim shook her head at her mother, but Mrs. Woo was too busy with the rice cooker to notice. Hyerim bit her lip in thought. Taiwanese hadn’t been it. Taiwanese wasn’t considered ‘foreign’ in China. The guy on the subway car had meant really ‘foreign’, Hyerim could tell it in his voice. But what kind of ‘foreign’, she couldn’t exactly point out.

“Mom, do you consider yourself a ‘foreigner’ here, in China?”

Mrs. Kim didn’t look up from her kitchen work. “That’s a peculiar word to use, Lim-ah. Truthfully I’ve never been much into patriotism. Korean, American, Chinese… it’s all the same honey. People. Why, are you feeling a bit out of place here, Lim-ah? Don’t worry about it. We just moved here! Being new means the same in every country. You’ll get used to things!”

The new girl at school. Hyerim didn’t think that meant ‘foreign’ either.

“If you’re really feeling that out of place or just not all there about this, than how about you get yourself involved in some extracurriculars at school? That’s always a good way to feel like you really belong. I don’t think you’ll have a problem adjusting here, sweetie. I’ve never seen you not get along well, anywhere. I mean, you have flawless dialect! If anything, people would probably treat you like a foreigner in Korea, you with your Mandarin-accented Korean words. Taiwanese, I tell you, Lim-ah, Taiwanese,” Mrs. Woo said, chuckling to herself in amusement. Hyerim’s mother continued fumbling around the kitchen, preparing dinner. Hyerim went on watching her mother for a bit, before shuffling out to her new room.

There were boxes that still needed opening and arranging. She started school tomorrow. She didn’t really feel like wracking her mind with some careless word a stranger had said to her.

But, ‘foreigner’ was really a word Hyerim did not like to associate herself with. She was, Korean-Chinese-Taiwanese. Taiwanese, mostly because she looked it, although she spoke it some too. But it wasn’t exactly a question of what language one spoke or what country one has lived in, either. Hyerim didn’t know what it was. But somehow, she understood what the guy had meant in a way that she couldn’t explain. He had seen through her. Of course, people could, on a whim, guess that she wasn’t Chinese. But this word, ‘foreign’, was different. Hyerim knew the word wouldn’t leave her so early tonight. So she decided to just let it hang there, in the front part of her brain. During dinner, and before she went to bed. And even, on her way to school the next day.

Her first day of school was normal. The kids were shy and polite, the teachers smiled. Hyerim liked the cleanliness of the school, and the routineness of going through the school’s lesson hours, being a part of the normal.

“How did you like your first day?” Mrs. Song asked. The day was over and Hyerim’s new teacher seemed genuinely interested to know about Hyerim’s adjustment to the school. The woman was young and gorgeous, but had an air of responsibility that gave her the feeling of a trustworthy mentor.

“It was fine. I enjoyed your sociology class, Mrs. Song,” Hyerim replied. The school seemed to be emptying fast. Hyerim could see kids already out on the streets through the windows.

“Thank you! I’m glad. Do you have any particular questions?” Mrs. Song’s gorgeous eyelashes seemed to echo her brightness with every blink.

Hyerim felt as if her mother’s voice had gravitated into her mind to speak for her. This was what she got for attempting to ask her mother about advice. “I was wondering, do you know of any extracurricular clubs or sorts that you would recommend?” A voice in the back of Hyerim’s head began pleading for Mrs. Song to say no.

“Oh, are you interested? That’s fantastic!” Mrs. Song brightened even more than her original one-hundred percent enthusiasm. “I was actually hoping I could ask you. I’m actually in charge of an International Club here, and I know you’re a multi-cultural student… We’re actually meeting up in a few minutes! Would you like to join us?”

Hyerim’s jaw dropped open. She could have sworn this had been her mother’s plan. But Mrs. Song’s glowing energy made it impossible for Hyerim to refuse.

“That would be great,” Hyerim replied.

Blonde..? Some straw strands, when caught at just the right angle, did seem to gleam slightly like gold threads. But, still, blonde.

“Welcome to the International Club. My name’s Yi Fan.”

He held out his free hand, the other, caressing a beautiful Canon Rebel DSLR Camera, securely fitted around his neck.

“I’m Hui Lin… you must not remember, but I sorta met you yesterday on the subway… I had to ask you for directions because I couldn’t remember where to get off.” Hyerim clasped her hand to his, unsure whether it had been a good idea to mention the subway or not. His hand was much larger than her dad’s. He had cool, roughish skin.

 “I didn’t think you’d remember, Miss foreigner. But now you know where to get off, right?” Yi Fan smiled, letting Hyerim’s hand go.

Hyerim nodded. She bobbed like a goldfish, wanting to remark in some way, but she couldn’t find the right words.

“Wanna get going? We have to take the subway.”