Stephanotis: the desire to travel.

Chapter 1:

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

My sister. That was my sister. Sitting next to some random guy in our house. My jaw dropped.

You see, my sister is paranoid - in all senses of the word. She’s the type who would overreact if you told her you were going to be home five minutes later than expected. The sister I’d known for years would never willingly let a guy into the house; much less wear a short skirt in his presence. That’s another thing. She was crazy over skin. Literally – she insisted that we both always cover ourselves up whenever we were in others’ company. Every day, without fail, she’d wear one of her many turtlenecks and long jeans (not the stylish, tight-fitting kind). Then she’d go out into society and make life a living hell for me.

That’s my sister. I’d stopped listening to her ages ago, like when I turned seven. By then, I’d figured that she must have had some kind of mental illness. It must have had something to do with our parents, or maybe their loss had driven her over the edge. They died tragic deaths just weeks after I was born, leaving my dear sister to fend for us and raise me. She was eight at the time. Often while I was growing up, she’d remember the times when our parents were with her and cry. Whereas I couldn’t be bothered to mourn what I’d never had.

“Rin,” she muttered, standing up and laughing nervously. “Um, meet our guest! He’s my new tutor.”

I glared at her, making her squirm. That’s another thing: she could read me like a book. She knew that I was furious with her right now – not to mention scandalized.

“You’re not being very polite,” she gritted through her teeth.

Shrugging nonchalantly, I replied, “What’s that to you? You never really cared about societal norms… before today.”

She winced. Just like I knew she would. Her hands traced the scar on her left elbow – an old habit she’d never broken. The silence reigned for an awkward few minutes before she sent an apologetic glance at the visitor’s direction.

“We need to talk,” she muttered, giving me a meaningful look as she steered me out of the room.

I waited until we were just out the door before I let the bomb drop. “What’s he doing here? What happened to your severe social anxiety disorder?”

“What?”

I rolled my eyes in exaggeration. “You know what I mean. The weird rules, covering yourself up freakishly in public, paranoia, fear of talking to people… remember that time when you got stuck in that massive crowd, and people started to –”

“That’s enough,” she snapped. “Things have changed now.”

“Since yesterday?” I asked skeptically.

She pinned me with another glare. “Why are you acting like this?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the guy slip into the hallway, looking extremely uncomfortable. He probably wanted to leave this instant, to get away from the weird sisters. Let him go – he’d be doing himself a favor by sparing himself all the pains of undergoing my sister’s torture.

“Who are you, and what have you done to my paranoid sister, Dara?” I questioned, loudly.

“Rin,” she hissed. “I need to brush up on my Korean.”

“Oh?” I gasped, dropping the act immediately. “Why?”

A deep flush spread over Dara’s cheeks. “I’m going to South Korea for a year – to work.”

“And I supposed you thought I would stay here on my own, living the life of a happy street rat?”

“No. That’s the other thing. You’re coming with me!” a light shone in her eyes as she whispered the news to me.

“Why are you whispering?” I asked loudly, trying not to let the impact of her words sink in.

The guy cleared his throat, attracting Dara’s attention. She swung around to face him. I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for the guy to evacuate the grounds before I really exploded at Dara. She was moving to South Korea and didn’t want to tell me about it?

“Er, if this isn’t a good time…” he trailed off, looking more than slightly out of place.

Dara intervened immediately, “No, it’s okay. Really, Rin was just kidding around.”

At the same time, I nodded furiously. “Yes, this is an extremely bad time. Come back later!”

Dara turned to me with a murderous expression. “Rin!”

“Dara!”I mimicked.

“Go. To. Your. Room,” she punctuated. “Now.”

“I don’t think so,” I grunted, grabbing my coat and beanie from the railing and stalking through the door.

Once I was out in the fresh air, I felt better. Sighing, I went over the last few minutes’ events in my head. Too many changes to comprehend – Dara’s sudden change in attitude towards life, politeness, moving to South Korea… all in the course of five minutes? It was enough to drive anyone nuts. Heck, I was fifteen and in the middle of my studies. Did Dara really plan on uprooting everything and moving to a new country on the other side of the world?

I scuffed at the ground with my sneakers. Maybe I could cool down before I went back to the war-zone. That way I’d be able to think clearer and possibly even succeed in arguing with Dara over this. There was no way we’d be migrating to South Korea for a year. I’d never let this happen.

*****

Dara sighed, directing her gaze at the front door, which was just swinging closed as she watched. Biting her lip, she turned to the shocked young man standing some few feet in front of her and forced a smile.

“Sorry about my sister, she’s a bit headstrong.”

His soft jet-black hair waved as he shook his head. “That’s too mild.”

Surprised, Dara giggled, a sound that filled the silence that had grown. The boy grinned, feeling more at ease now. His warm brown eyes encompassed her own, instantly making her relax. She knew now that she’d made the right choice of tutor. There was no way her paranoia would act up in his presence.

“Annyeonghaseyo, jeoneun Kwon Jiyong imnida.”

“Huh?” Dara sputtered, nonplussed.

Jiyong smiled at her, winking. “Let’s begin your Korean lessons, shall we?”