On The Other Side Of The World...

Pushing my front door open with much effort, I let out a puff of air as I kicked the shoes cluttered by the doorway. Pushing the door open a bit wider, I turned to Ava and smiled.

"As you can see, my place isn't much. Hopefully you'll be able to manage while we work in this mess of an apartment." Sending me a light smile, Ava observed her surroundings, stepping over a few pairs of my brother's Nikes.

"It's fine. My apartment isn't any better so I totally understand." Ava said, dismissing the mess by the front door. Taking off her shoes, I felt a bit sorry that she had to roam the messy apartment in her white socks. More so, I knew I'd be embarrassed once she got home and saw that her white socks were completely dirty. "So, shall we head into your room to start the project?" Clasping her hands together and stretching her lips to create a smile, I was surprised at her bluntness and hesitated.

"My room?" Noticing how the smile had quickly disappeared from her face, I shook my head. "Yeah, let's go." Following me, I made my way down the hall and took a right turn to open my bedroom door. Mind you, I didn't need Chunji- I mean, Tyler going through my things again. As if the last time hadn't embarrassed me enough. Watching as Ava's eyes wander around my room, my eyes twitched in suspicion. Turning back to me with a smile on her face, she shifted from her right leg to her left.

"Your room seems to be completely different than what I thought it would be." Mustering a smile onto my face, I moved to my desk, motioning for her to take a seat by my desk. 

"Well, what did you imagine to be my room?" I questioned as I moved all the useless junk off my desk and into my closet.

"I imagined something Spartan. A messy place, but a place where you could comfortable. More like-" Just when I was starting to get the picture, she stopped speaking and sent me a smile. "Never mind. Don't take this to heart though. I'm not saying you're the type to be boring." Sending her a reassuring smile, my smile slowly faded as she turned away. For some reason, the picture of a tattered home that was very much like she had said, Spartan, was etched into my mind.

"Sera?" Brought back to reality, Ava shifted in the chair. "We need some supplies. Do you think you can get the markers and a few pieces of copy paper out?"

"They're right by my desk." I answered as I stepped forward to look for them.

"I don't see them. I saw a pack outside in your living room I think. Should I go out and get them?" Standing up, she looked eager to look for it herself, but being raised by parents like mine, I couldn't let her. It wouldn't be very polite having a guest do everything when they came over.

"No, I'll do it. Just sit here and wait for a moment." I turned to head out of the room when I was stopped by her.

"My throat is a bit dry. Do you have anything here that I could drink?" Ava coughed as she held . 

"We have water and soda. Which one do you want?" I asked, being polite once again. I hated the awkward tension between the both of us and more so because there was no one around except for us. No embarrassing mom to pop up or annoying brother to bother me. It was awkward.

"Water will be just fine." She beamed and I nodded, leaving the room to get the wanted items. Taking a look around the living room to find the markers, I grew frustrated as I couldn't find them anywhere. My eyes twitched in suspicion that Ava had lied to me, but I calmed myself down. She couldn't have lied. At least, she wouldn't have right? It's not like she has the reason to anyways. Maybe she didn't notice the pack of markers in my room. Feeling uneasy with having Ava in my room (perhaps it was because I had this pink, frilly, and girly diary there), I rushed back to the room to see Ava standing by the shelves filled with my stuffed animals.

"Ava, I couldn't find my markers." I blurted out, nervous at the sight of her by the shelves containing my stuffed animals. Turning to face me, she held up my pack of markers sheepishly.

"Yeah, I actually found them on your desk after you left." Handing them over to me, I felt a tiny bit more at ease as we began to create a poster for our lesson plan by gluing multiple pieces of paper together to make a big poster.

For some reason, I felt uncomfortable thinking about her staring at my stuffed animals. Not that she was doing anything creepy with them, but it made me feel unsettled, like there was something behind them that was waiting to be discovered.

It wasn't long before I would find out.

New York City Airport Days Later...

Yawning and stretching his body, he stood from his seat as other passengers passed him. Rather than sitting first class, he had gone for the cheaper ticket as he wasn't the same idol he had used to be. Heck, he wasn't even an idol anymore. No one cared about him.

Flicking his sunglasses over his eyes, he followed the crowd to the luggage pick up, practicing his English along the way by reading the signs. The sudden flood of English hurt his eyes as he averted his gaze elsewhere. With a tight grip on his beloved camera, he moved past the crowd of people in hopes of grabbing his luggage and leaving to the hotel. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't tired. The large eye bags were clear evidence that proved he was. The flight of having to go from Seoul to San Francisco to New York was tiring despite being seated the whole trip. 

Grabbing his blue luggage, he left the airport, managing to grab a taxi. Talking to the taxi driver made him realize he probably wasn't the best English speaker out there. His English still needed to be improved. Within an hour, he found himself standing in the middle of a neighborhood- in which he was sure that it was anywhere but near his hotel.

"Gosh," he muttered in Korean. "Where the heck am I?" Pulling his heavy luggage along with him, he continued to walk around, spotting several hotels that weren't his. Pulling his phone out and dialing his one and only hyung that he believed could help him, he asked for directions- not that he was much help anyways. Managing to find his hotel after a good three hours on the streets, he opened the door to his hotel room sweating.

After a nice shower and a few snacks he had brought along, he picked his camera up and headed out of his room to explore the city. Hopping into the elevator and then getting off in the lobby, his eyes wandered over to a girl with dark long hair. Feeling uneasy about her, he found himself inching away from her direction and heading for the rotating door. When he had stepped out onto the streets, he felt something bump into him, nearly causing him to drop his camera. 

"Ah- I'm so sorry!" The girl gave a apologetic bow and his eyes widened at the sight of the girl. It was the girl he had been trying to avoid in the lobby- how did she get out here so quickly? It was confused him but nonetheless, he muttered a few words of being okay in English and walked away.

There were quite a bit of flyers lying around the city and it was interesting. He had taken all the flyers being passed out just for the sake of learning or practicing his English. He had to admit he was pretty proud that he managed to find his way around the city for the next four hours. Settling at a cafe for a snack, he found himself looking through the flyers, reading the English words printed on them. When he came to a flyer about the newest ninja movie, he paused and found himself staring at the sword the ninja held.

The ninja held a sword out as if he was threatening to attack him or anybody that threatened to hurt the female that was behind him. For some reason, he felt a sense of guilt as he stared the flyer. This was how things should be, right? The guy protecting the girl. Somehow, he knew that realistically, it should've been the female in front protecting the guy. Feeling guilty by staring at the flyer, he threw it away as he grabbed his cup of coffee and left the cafe.

Later That Day...

The figure didn't like the cold feeling that covered the room. Not a bit. Had it done something wrong? The figure was nervous from the odd atmosphere of the room but concealed her worries with a poker face as she waited for the person to acknowledge its presence. 

Slam.

Startled by the sound the object made against the desk in the room, the figure's heart skipped a beat. With his face seemingly dark, he motioned for the figure to come closer. 

"I gave you a specific assignment to follow. Don't step out of the line before speaking with me first." His voice was already deep, but his voice went even deeper as he spoke. The figure maintained a poker face as it got down on its knees and apologized.

"I'm sorry, however, I thought it would be of our best interest to get who we really needed first. The girl is useless to us in terms of the book and she'll only hinder our progress. I figured that interacting with the boy would be more of our interest as he is the one in possession of the book." The figure spoke quickly, not wanting waste any of his time. 

"You know how to say it. She's only useless to us in terms of the book." He sneered, moving closer to the figure. "I control all movements for this plan. If you screw up, you wouldn't even think of surviving once we go back." With a frustrated sigh, he dismissed the figure. "Just leave and remember to stay within your lines."

"I have something else to propose." With an arched eyebrow, he faced the figure.

"Well, spit it out." He said impatiently though he had given the figure a few seconds.

"I've already located her memory holder. I'm suggesting that we destroy it."

"What happens if we destroy it?" He questioned, getting the gist of things. A frown was already evident on his face as the figure continued.

"Simple. She'll die. The memory holder isn't just something that'll hold your memories for free." The figure spoke. "It comes at a price and it's your life. You must very literally, protect it as if it's your life. Once it gets destroyed, you'll die." Seeing that the male wasn't responding, the figure tried to get an answer from him. "Shall I go on with this plan?"

"No. Absolutely not." His face darkened even more as he faced the figure. "Like I said, stay in your lines. I have my reasons for making these moves. Don't do anything to her memory holder besides thinking of ways for her to activate it. I don't care what way you have to use to get her to activate it, but don't harm her. If anything goes wrong, remember, your life will be in danger. Now leave." With a single hand movement, the figure was dismissed, leaving it very angry.

Opening its eyes to be greeted by the sunlight that streamed in from its window, a frown was placed on its face. Just what exactly was this girl? Standing up and staring out the window, its eyes could spot a familiar someone moving about on the street. It seemed as if the girl was heading out somewhere, fighting with her brother.

"There's history between those three. I just know it." The figure muttered. "There's more than just being enemies."

The figure was right.

Somewhere along the lines of being a eight year old, was when that 'more' happened.

A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating for... three or more months. Time really flies by and to be honest, very recently I was busy. As of right now, I am experiencing what seems to be a writer's block. Urg, I'm so sorry and it would really make my day if any readers would just give me some feedback on my story. I kind of forced this chapter out so it will seem lacking compared to my other chapters. In which, please support some of my newer stories as well! They're all about school life and I am using a new writing style for these stories, so if this chapter was just that bad, please don't assume that these are equally as bad xD. Thanks for reading!

Simple Heart: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/879765/simple-heart-romance-schoollife-bap-jungdaehyun-daehyun

The Heart's Pain:http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/880522/the-heart-s-pain-schoollife-yongguk-bap-daehyun