"Christie, I'm leaving" I said to Christie while her eyes were tearing up. She nodded, and gave me my bags that she insisted on holding during the whole ride to the airport. Then, she caught me by surprise when she put her arms around me and cried into my shoulder. I smiled a bit, and patted her on the back a couple of times, comforting her.

"Yejin... the truth is, I know you get bullied in school," Christie said, pulling away from the hug to stare into my eyes. My eyes got bigger in surprise, because Christie was a year older than me, how did she know?

"H--How..?" I stuttered

"I just... do. There are people talking about you in my grade, too." She said quietly, "I hope that you will not suffer any more when you go to Korea. Whenever I see your face on the bus just makes my heart break, you know? And I thought that if I just stayed quiet and was a good friend, you will stop caring about the bad things being said to you. But... I didn't know it was this bad." She said, taking notes out of her pockets.They were the notes that were all over my locker. Embarrassed, I took them out of her hand and walked over to the nearest garbage can, throwing them away.

"It's okay now, you don't have to worry about me. See, this is why I never told you, since I knew you would cry!" I said to her. She just looked at me with sad eyes, nodding.

"I'd better get going, Christie," More nods from her. As I walked away from Christie and waved my hand at her, my heart broke when I saw her get down on the floor, crying, hard. 

***

I took a big breath of fresh air as I was waiting for a taxi outside the airport. When a taxi stopped for me, I got in, trying to hide my face from the taxi driver. I was so used to my life back in CA, where everyone would judge me, even strangers. The driver then turned around at me curiously.

"Why is a pretty lady like you hiding your face?" the driver asked. I looked up at him in surprise. Was I just called pretty? My whole life, I've never been called pretty.. 

"So, where do you want to go?" the driver asked. As I looked at him closely, he looked like he was in his twenties, or maybe he was even a teenager. I talked to him in my fluent Korean,

"Main SM building, please."

The young man looked at me again. "You know, you look like my little sister, she's around sixteen.." he said, going on and on about his family. "I have school, too, but I gotta earn money for the both of us, you know?"

He started to open up to me, so I did the same. "Actually, my brother works to get me money, too." I said. The young man-- or should I say, teenager, since he goes to school-- suggested something for me.

"Today's your first day in Korea, right? You look young... have you thought of a school to attend? It would be nice if you come to our school. And we can be friends, too! You can call me Minhyuk." Minhyuk said. Then he started driving to the SM building. Seeing that Minhyuk was struggling with driving a little, I could tell he just recently got his license. He was in high school, after all. 

The car finally stopped and Minhyuk turned around to speak to me. He told me to give him my phone so I did, and he then put his phone number in it. 

"I hope to see you sometime!" he said, happily. I nodded, taking out my wallet to pay the driver.

"No, no. It's okay. Just go!" Minhyuk laughed with all of his white teeth showing from his smile. I kept trying to give him money, but he refused. Then he got out of the taxi and opened the door for me, telling me that I should just go. Sighing, I gave up. When I got out of the car, Minhyuk held out his hand. He wants to me to the building?! We just met! I thought. As if he read my mind, Minhyuk chuckled and said,

"It's just a handshake, nothing to worry about." I felt all of the pressure leaving me when I shook his warm hand. We then parted and he left with his taxi.

***

"Number 6?" a voice called out, and I saw a nervous girl walk up to the auditioning room where all of the judges were. I'm next, what do I do? I thought in my head.

After a while, the same girl walked out, laughing. Did she make it? Why is she so happy? 

"Did you get accepted?" A guy finally asked.

"No! I got rejected!" the girl said, still laughing.

"Then why are you so happy...?" the guy asked again. By now, everyone there was looking at her.

"One of the judges were from EXO K!" the girl yelled, spinning around in circles and bragging about how she shook the member's hand.

"Number 7?" the same voice from before called out. I slowly got up and flattened out my skirt before walking in the room. When I saw the three judges, my mouth dropped open. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Would he notice me? Would he realize who is in front of him? Should I act like I don't know him? I really needed an answer, because right now, I was so conflicted.

A/N: Yes, it's Minhyuk from CNBLUE. He's just so cute omgg I had to add him somehow into the story haha!