Seriously, Diary?

Who sits and stares at a complete stranger in a train carriage? Especially when there’s like fifty of you and one of them. Okay, more like ten or something. But Jesus it doesn’t stop it being weird.

Mila

Mila squirmed in her corner of the train carriage, the exceptionally comfy first class seats losing their appeal minute by minute. A combination of motion sickness, a particularly volatile journey and the extremely unusual passengers sat opposite her was officially starting to put a serious downer on her day. She just wanted to get to Seoul in peace. She did not need this.

Every few seconds or so they’d punctuate the staring contest they seemed determined to have with her with a brief moment of conversation in rapid-fire Korean. They’d have bricked it if they knew she could not only hear them but also understand every, single word they were saying. They were seriously freaking her out.

One of them shifted in their seat, nudging the one next to him with a sharp jab of his elbow. He was cute, but short. Staring down at her feet she acknowledged all 167cm of her body. With a brief smirk she realised she’d be taller than most of the other passengers in her heels. Coughing softly into her hand she scrambled for her headphones in her bag, hoping to any deity she could remember that she’d be left unnoticed and invisible if she listened to her music.

She glanced up once. They were still staring. With a solemn gulp she turned the volume up on her music and stared out of the window. She still had no idea what was on this playlist, half the upbeat songs felt cheap against her ears. Sure she could understand Korean, that didn’t mean she had to like Kpop. Her tutor had recommended she listened to the language in any way she could. Music, dramas, anything. At one point she remembered him recommending dating. She scoffed, her teacher clearly over-estimated her dating capabilities. She could barely talk to a guy in her own language, never mind her second one.

It’s not like she didn’t want to walk over and be able to flawlessly, effortlessly, perfectly flirt with the opposite gender. But every time she tried, someone got hurt. She grimaced as she remembered standing on one man’s foot two nights ago because she forgot the ‘no shoes in the house’ rule. Never again. He seemed seriously offended she entered his apartment in her best date shoes, even went as far to glare at them, which was just rude. She’d pulled out all the stops to look nice and what did she have to show for it? A train back from Busan to Seoul and a serious bruise to her ego due to the fact she didn’t get a job because she wore her date shoes indoors. Who holds interviews in their own home? No matter how nice an apartment it was. What was she supposed to think?

Pinching the bridge of her nose she rested her head on her arms. She sincerely felt 100% done with Korea, and she’d only been here a few months.

‘Hey, are you okay?’ She felt her spine stiffen at the voice.

Korean. Young. Male. Attempting to speak English. How sweet.

 It was barely audible above the over-zealous din of Kpop blaring through her headphones. Lifting her head carefully, she brushed her thick dark hair from her eyes and slipped back her headphones and nodded gently at the concerned guy in front of her. He was the short one she’d caught staring at her before, his angelic smile nearly made up for his height. Nearly.

‘Are you sure?’ He inquired further. Scratch that, this guy was annoying and his accent was terrible. She already nodded, right?

‘I’m fine. Thank you.’ Mila assured him in Korean, tilting her head gently and smiling softly. She’d always been complimented on her smile, it would’ve made angels cry, and she knew it. He stepped back, blushing suddenly and bowing as he shuffled back to his seat. Mission accomplished.

Slipping back into the blurry sounds of Kpop she rested her head backwards in her seat and pretended to nap only to be stirred by the sound of bells. What sort of Kpop song had bloody bells as an intro? Suddenly intrigued she tapped the screen of her phone just as a chorus of voices boomed through her brain. Yelping she jumped again, this was why she tended to keep the volume low. She felt blood pump into her cheeks, colouring her normally pale and unresponsive skin pink. Mila Lee did not blush.

Cursing silently in English she shoved her headphones into her bag again and retrieved her notebook. When music betrayed her the only thing left to do was write. She hoped filling the lines on the paper would distract her from the attentive gaze of concerned guy and his friends. Her notebook was date book, her diary, her journal; her life was contained in this small leather book. Every day of her life for as long as she could remember was written in notebooks just like these. She scribbled furiously, explaining exactly why she was in such a foul mood. After pouring her heart out Mila instantly felt a little better about herself and a little guilty that she’d been so off-hand with the guy from before. She glanced up at him, deciding it was time to change the young men from creepers to creepees. She studied each member of the Creeper Party closely, scrutinising their appearances. They all seemed to be close in age. They were all ridiculously attractive. They appeared to be quite close to the two older men travelling with them, along with a team of women who looked like they knew every beauty secret in the elusive how-to-look-perfect-all-the-time book. I mean who has eyeliner that flawless on an early morning train?

Evidently the nice guy was exhausted. He along with a few of his companions were sleeping soundly, despite her obviously noticeable outburst earlier. Mila scanned their faces, attaching memorable features to them so she wouldn’t forget. Blood surged into her face again when her eyes me those of one male who obviously wasn’t that tired. He had earphones in, and his messy hair screamed ‘take me I’m yours’. He watched her for a few moments, silent confidence oozed from his pores, his eyes were amused. He seemed on edge, waiting for her to do something. Shifting uncomfortably Mila narrowed her eyes and smirked at him gently, one corner of her full lips lifting up and her eyebrow rising automatically to join it. He smirked back at her.

Mila couldn’t help it, she stuck her tongue out. He did the same. She chewed at her lip before filling her cheeks with air and puffing her face out, the guy attempted to copy her but ended up snorting half way through. Giggles erupted from and she cursed herself and the guy who was watching her with evident curiosity. She glanced out the window and guessed they were only about a half hour away from Seoul.

She sat back in her seat and rested for the reminder of the journey, trying her hardest to ignore the burning stares she was attracting from most of the Creeper Party again. The guy had obviously said something about her brief but childish interlude and now she was even more of a marvel. Brilliant.

Mila wasn’t sure what she was doing when she all but leaped at the chance to get off the train, it took her until she as half way back at her apartment, until she was nearly drowned in the noise and excitement of busy Seoul to realise that she’d left her most precious possession on the train.

A few miles away the members of EXO congratulated each other on a successful fan event in Busan by ordering in fried chicken and having a well-deserved night in. But as the other members organised challenges and punishments Kim Jongin seemed more preoccupied with the small, leather notebook he’d picked up somewhere than his favourite food and his usual idea of fun.