Alone
Stranded ♥Comments please? :)
I sat on a cold metal bench in between a park and a narrow street, with nothing but the clothes I had on my back. I was totally helpless. A foreigner in a foreign country. I hunched in on myself, cupping my face in my hands and letting myself cry. Soft weeps escaped from me, but I didn’t care. I deserved to cry, and no one was around anyways.
“Wah!” I heard a voice say. I didn’t bother looking up, they’d soon walk right past me anyways. “What are you doing here by yourself?” The same voice asked. It was a male’s voice. I instantly froze. It must’ve been some guy trying to pick up a sad and desperate girl.
I lifted my tear-streaked face, ready to fight if I needed to. I was shocked at seeing his face, and it seemed he was shocked in seeing mine. It was Yang Yoseob. YANG YOSEOB. From Beast!!
“Wah, a foreigner…” He mumbled. “Uhhh, Ima sorry.” He said in very broken English. “Bad? What bad?” His accent made me smile just the tiniest bit.
I tried to wipe my tears from my face. “A lot of things.” I said in Korean.
“Wah!” He gasped again. “You speak Korean?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
He took a seat in the empty space next to me. “What are you doing all alone here in the middle of the night? And why are you crying?” He asked with genuine concern in his voice.
“I came here to vacation and practice Korean for a month and a half while the rest of my family is on vacation in Italy. And at the airport, everything of mine was stolen. My luggage, my money, my cell phone. Everything except this bag.” I lifted up the small pink duffel bag for him to see. “They won’t accept me at the hotel I’m supposed to stay at because the reservation ticket was with all my stuff, along with my ID.” I felt tears start to spill down my cheeks again. Heavy, hot tears. They wouldn’t stop flowing. My eyebrows caved. “And now I have nowhere to sleep and no money and no way of contacting my family!” I cried harder and harder, pressing my hands against my face again, my shoulders shaking.
“Oh…” Yoseob said, perhaps taking in everything I’ve said. “What’s your name?” He finally asked.
I drew my face away from my hands. My name? How could he be asking that at a time like this? “M-my name?” I choked.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“Leah…” I said.
“Reah.” He repeated and I almost laughed.
“Lay.”
“Lay”
“Uh.”
“Uh.
“Yeah.” I said, looking away from him.
“Leah, I’m very sorry.” He said while patting my back. “If you want, you could stay with me. I warn you though, I have five rowdy roommates, but it’d be better than out here on the streets.”
“What?!” I exclaimed, whipping my face towards him. “Really? You mean it?”
“Yeah.” He smiled his classic Yoseob smile.
“But, I mean, but—“
“I know you might not like the idea of staying with strangers, but…” He trailed off.
“What? Oh no. I know who you are.” I smiled. He looked up at me, surprised. “Yang Yoseob.” I grinned. “From Beast.”
His jaw dropped. “You know Beast?”
“Excuse me, but I didn’t learn Korean just because I felt like it. I love Korean culture, and so obviously, I listen to the music as well.” I explained, quite proud of myself.
“Wow.” He smiled. I didn’t know what to say anymore. I had a place to stay!
“Oh, but how can I ever repay you?” I questioned. “I have no money…”
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay us.” He said sweetly, but then a mischievous look crawled on his face. “Well…you could repay us by taking care of the house. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping…all that stuff.”
“Of course!” I nodded furiously. “Of course of course!”
“It’s settled then!” Yoseob stood up triumphantly, his hands on his hips. He held out a hand to me. “Let’s go!”
“Oh…” I muttered. “Weren’t you going somewhere before this?”
“Yup, shopping! But that’s your job now, so it can wait.” He beamed.
“Goodness.” I said in English, and he cocked his head at me. I slipped my hand in his and let him help me up. It was odd, because my high heels made me only about an inch or two shorter than him. I felt strange and ungirly, standing next to a singer that I loved who was surrounded by cute, skinny girls all day. Not girls like me, who were short, but slightly curvier. I wondered if he disliked that. I let my hand fall out of his as we began walking.
After a long silence, I noticed Yoseob looking down at me. “Don’t those hurt?”
“What?”
“Your shoes.”
“Hm?” I glanced down, almost forgetting that I was wearing silver extremely high heels. “Mm, yeah, but they’re all I have right now.” I looked back ahead. Before I even knew what was happening, the ground disappeared from under me. “Eeee!” I squealed, without thinking better of it. I flailed around, almost hitting Yoseob in the face.
“Relax, relax!” He laughed, obviously finding the whole thing hilarious.
“What are you doing?!” I exclaimed, trying to free myself from his arms.
“Carrying you. You shouldn’t hurt your feet like that.”
“I’ll fall! I’ll fall! You’ll drop me!” I panicked, wrapping my arms around his neck, trying to pull myself up more.
“Hey! I’m pretty strong!” Yoseob said indignantly, but playfully. “Besides, you’re not heavy, don’t worry.”
“Ahhhh!” I sighed.
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