“So... you’re really doing this? I’m really doing this? This is really happening.” The third sentence she uttered was more of a statement than a question, really.  My best friend and I were sitting in the living room of our shared apartment in New York City, packing up literally everything I owned that hadn’t already been sold or donated.

Kat and I’d been friends for ten years.  We’d met our freshman year of high school.  I was the shy newbie and she was the mouthy veteran, and somewhere along the road, our roles had been reversed.  After high school and college together, we’d both left Canada for NYC in search of greatness.  We’d both had crappy jobs the past two years, barely scraping by.  Thankfully, both of our big breaks had come in the form of a request from an old friend.  Not a request, a plea. 

Henry.  I remembered him fondly as my dorky, underclassman lab partner who’d weaseled his way into both of our hearts.  He had certainly made something of himself since high school.  A Korean pop-star to be exact.  (Which was ironic, considering the kid was Chinese-Canadian.  Go figure.)  We’d kept in contact since he’d been signed under what he’d told me was a significant record label in Korea.  We mostly kept in contact, mostly in the form of silly texts and snapchats.  He’d occasionally send my links to subbed youtube videos of him on various Korean shows.  Those were always entertaining.  As were the music videos.

About two months ago I’d received a particularly frantic phone call from Henry.  It was odd for two reasons; the first being that we only ever texted, the second, that he called me at noon on Tuesday.  When I answered, nothing could’ve prepared me for the sting of words thrown at my ears.

“Allie!  I know this is gonna sound absolutely crazy, but is there any way you and Kat’d wanna come to Korea?  s gotten crazy.  Kris left and everything has just gone to hell!  They need English tutors.  I told them I knew two really great people for the job, so if you say ‘yes’ I can get tickets booked and there’s an extra apartment right next to Exo’s dorm.  It’ll be perfect.  Say ‘yes’, please, please, please?” 

His run-on sentence had left me speechless.  Kris?  Tutors?  Exo?  Wah?  He’d said all these things as if I’d understand them without further explanation.  I did not.  After a few moments of silence, I responded.  “Uh, hey Henry.  It’s real great to hear from you.  I’m well, thank you for asking.  No, I do not know who Kris is, why he left, what an Exo is, or who needs tutoring.  Would you kindly clarify?” I said snarkily.

After probably the longest phone conversation in my life, (which, incidentally got longer when Kat got home from work and we put ol’ Hen on speaker to explain himself,) I found myself, and my best friend, agreeing to quit our jobs.  We agreed to pack up our lives, hop a plane to Seoul, and tutor some kids who called themselves “Exo”. (Apparently, they’d lost their only English speaker, the one called “Kris”, and it was imperative they all learnt to speak it in his absence.  Or, so we’d been told.)  At that time, I knew very little of the world in which Henry lived called “k-pop”.  So, for our final two months in New York, while tying up loose ends, Kat and I studied our asses off.  We did not want to arrive in Korea looking like total imbeciles; ignorant to Korea and all it’s celebrity goodness.  (If you can call it that.) 

So fast forward to the present.  Kat and I were both able to quit our jobs.  However, Kat still had one more week at the ad agency she was temping at, while I had finished out my run as a sub in the NYC public school system yesterday.  My flight left tomorrow.  Kat was freaking out.  So was I.  However, I have never been one to show it, so my freaking was more… internal. 

“Why aren’t you freaking out, Allie?  I don’t understand.  You’re moving to a foreign country.  We don’t even speak the language.  The food there is weird.  You’re flying alone.  You don’t speak the language!” She shrieked. 

I sighed and tossed a few more shirts into my suitcase.  “Calm down, Katherine.” I smiled at her as she glared at me, knowing she hated anyone calling her by her full name.  “At least I’m going to be the one there on my own for the first week.  Besides, Henry is picking me up at the airport.  He said he’d show me our new place and our office straight away.  It’s going to be fine.  It’s going to be an adventure!”  I’d said the last bit with a smile for both our benefits.  “Besides, we’re only signing a six-month contract to tutor these kids while they’re on hiatus.  Whatever that means…”

“Okay.” She threw her hands up in defeat.  “Alright.  You’re right.  We already conquered New York.  We can certainly handle a few Asian pop-stars, right?” She looked at me hesitantly.

“That’s the spirit!” I grinned at her. 

I awoke with a cramp in my neck, just in time to hear the flight attendant announce our arrival to Seoul, (in about five different languages.)  I tried to stretch as best as I could in the limited space of my coach seat.  As I felt the wheels touch down on the runway I pulled out my phone.  I waited until the flight attendant gave the signal before switching my phone back on.  I had five texts waiting.  The first four were well wishes from my folks, sister, and Kat.  The last was from Henry, saying he’d be twenty minutes late, but to gather my things, find a soda and wait for him. 

“Awesome.” I huffed aloud to myself, finishing my replies.  I was not a stranger to travel, nor solo travel, but I had been really excited to see Henry when I arrived.  Cool it Al, you can wait twenty minutes for the guy. 

I exited the plane and found my bags relatively easy.  Thankfully, most signage in the airport was also in English.  I slung my backpack over my shoulders and pulled my long brown hair out of its ponytail and ran fingers through it.  I sniffed the front of my shirt.  “Ew.” I said aloud.  Travel stink.  Maybe it’s a good thing he’s not here yet.  I gotta change.  I clumsily drug my two full-size suitcases behind me into a bathroom stall.

As a habit, whenever I traveled, I kept a change of clothes and toothbrush in my carry on.  After some interesting maneuvering with my bags in stall, I’d managed to change into a fresh outfit, comb through my hair, brush my teeth and re-touch my makeup.  I don’t think you could call it makeup considering it was a shadow of what it’d been when I’d applied it that morning.  With a sigh of relief, I exited the bathroom and made my way over to a bench.

After scrolling through instagram for what felt like the millionth time, I looked at my watch again.  Twenty minutes had turned into forty minutes.  I wanted to be patient, but my curiosity for what lied outside the walls of the airport was getting the better of me. 

I picked up my phone to dial Henry just as someone sat beside me on the bench.  The dude was wearing baggy sweatpants, high tops, and a hoodie pulled up to cover most of his face.  I observed him digging for his ringing phone somewhere in the depths of his pocket.  He pulled it out and grunted into the mouthpiece.  I was so busy eyeing the guy that I barely realized Henry had also picked up.

“Hen! When are you coming to get me?”  I said in a mock whiney voice.  “I just want to see this country already!  Get your here already!  Come pick me up!”

The hoodie next to me turned and I finally caught a glimpse of the face beneath.  I couldn’t help the squeal that escaped my lips as I jumped up to hug him.

“Henry! You’re here!  I’m here! Can you believe it?” He clamped a hand over my mouth while flashing me a huge Henry-grin. 

“Hi Al.  It’s really good to see you, too, but you gotta shut up and follow me out to the car first, okay?” I nodded along with the hand that was still attached to my face, shooting him a murderous look of confusion.  “Don’t kill me, I’ll explain when we get in the car, I just can’t afford to be seen right now, okay?”  I nodded again, this time he removed his hand.  He took the handles to both of my rolling suitcase and started walking without another word.  I stared after him for a moment before shaking myself out of my trance and running to catch up with him.  There was a black sedan parked at the curb just outside with a nicely suited man standing next to it; the driver, I assumed.  Henry handed him the bags before climbing into the backseat and motioning for me to follow.

It wasn’t until the door closed behind me that I noticed how heavily the car’s windows were tinted.  “Good Lord Hen, you could be hiding meth in here.  These windows are dark.” I commented.  He chuckled and shot me an award-winning smile.  “Geez Hen, did you get new teeth?  Those things could blind somebody!”  I reached my finger out and poked his teeth.  He grabbed my hand with both of his and held it against his chest with a sigh, eyes closed.  I was rather taken aback, but waited until he spoke.

“It is real good to see you.  Really, really good.”  He paused for another moment before releasing my hand and opening his eyes.  The driver got in and he relayed something quickly in Korean before turning back to me.  “So, sorry about the creepy airport meeting.  I would have come sooner, but there was another idol group that flew in at the same time as you, so the airport was crawling with fangirls and cameras.  I  had to wait until things died down a bit.  The fans know my schedule better than I do and seem to show up… everywhere.” 

I smiled at him. “It’s cool.  I had the chance to change and stuff before you got here.”

He looked down at my attire and back up to my face with a scrutinizing look.  “And this is the outfit you chose?”  He said, incredulously.

I hit him on the shoulder.  “What’s wrong with this?”  I looked down over my outfit.  I had thought my dark skinny jeans and v-neck t-shirt looked just fine. 

Henry smiled.  “The cordi-noonas will be dying to get their hands on you.”

“Cordi what?”

He chuckled.  “We’ll take things slow.  First things first, let’s show you where you’ll be staying and then get you to the office to meet the guys.”

The car pulled up to a high-rise apartment building, next to seven others that were identical.  How I was ever supposed to remember this one in particular was a baffling thought.  The driver had both my suitcases waiting on the curb when I stepped out of the backseat.  Henry was about to follow when his phone went off.  He answered with a frown.  I heard him have a short, clipped conversation in what I assumed was Korean before he hung up the call.  “Damn it.”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Please don’t hate me.  I gotta get back to the studio.  Like, now.”

“It’s cool.”  I said hesitantly.

“Oh! I almost forgot!”  He rummaged through his pocket and brought out a slip of paper and a small plastic key.  “The elevator will recognize your key and take you up to the twelfth floor.  Your apartment number and code are on this.”  He said while putting them into my hands.  “There is food in your fridge, so go eat something and relax.  Jin,” He nodded towards the suit, “Will be back to get you in two hours to bring you to the office and I will meet you there, okay?”  I nodded.  “Well, either me or somebody else.  But I will definitely be meeting you for dinner tonight, okay?”  He looked at me with hopeful eyes.

I smiled at him and nodded.  “I’m a big girl.  I’ll be fine.” 

I hiked up my backpack on my shoulders and drug my suitcases into the lobby behind me.  Thank goodness for automatic doors.  As I made my way towards the elevator it opened.  Whaa…  I entered it and looked at the buttons.  Just as Henry had said, the number twelve was already illuminated.  The doors closed and up I went. 

When the doors opened on the twelfth floor, I grabbed both my bags and stumbled my way out of the elevator.  My backpack was slipping off my shoulders and one of my suitcases didn’t want to turn the corner.  I yanked.  Nothing.  I yanked again, this time it moved much more than I had anticipated.  It and myself went flying toward the floor.  I closed my eyes and braced myself for impact.  It never came.

“Gwaenchanha?” I heard a deep voice say.

I opened my eyes and stared up into another pair of brown ones.  The only response I could come up with was, “Huh?”

“Dangsin-eun migug ibnikka?”  He asked. 

I looked at his concerned face a bit more.  Cute and... familiar.  I would never have expected such a low voice to come from face that childish.  That’s when I realized I’d been staring and I still hadn’t answered his question.  Also, he was still holding me in mid air; a pose, rather like a dip you’d see in a dance routine.  

I blinked a few times.  He coughed and set me upright, straightening the backpack on my shoulders.  He righted my over-turned suitcase and then brought his questioning eyes back to mine.  “You are… new?  American?”  He asked in broken English.  

“I… yes.  I am Canadian and new.  Henry is my friend.” I watched his eyes light up at the mention of Henry and he started chattering in rapid-fire Korean.  

He stopped himself when He realized I wasn’t following any of it.  He smiled at me.  Dang, kid.  You could kill a girl with that smile.  And I thought Henry had nice chompers… I thought with a blush I hoped was just in my head.  

“Allie or Kat?” He asked.

I’m sure I must have looked surprised.  “Uh, yeah.  My name is Allie.  You are…?”

He pointed to himself and grinned.  “I’m Chanyeol!  Nicetomeetyou!  I’m friends… Henry.” He said.

“Oh."  I said, wracking my brain to remember why I knew the name and nodding.  "Cool.  Kat and I will be the new tutors for Exo.”  I said, knowing he probably didn’t understand.

He nodded his head enthusiastically and grabbed hold of my suitcases, waving me to follow him.  After throwing caution to the wind, I did.  When we arrived at the door labeled “1212”, I looked down at the paper Henry had given me.  Sure enough, this Chanyeol kid hadn’t steered me wrong.  He deposited my bags in front of my door and pointed to the one directly across the hall labeled “1211”.  I noticed someone had used a red sharpie to cross out the 12, but it was still visible. “Exo live here!”  He said.  

I nodded in reply.  I smiled at him, unsure of what to do now.  “Thank you for your help!”

He nodded again, a bit over enthusiastically, and then punched in a few numbers on the keypad next to his door.  With another smile and a wave, he was gone.

I stood there for another moment, breathing.  I hadn’t noticed until now how much my heart had been racing.  Whoa Al, calm down.  New country, new people.  It’s cool.  Is he part of EXO?  Ugh!  I should have studied them more!  Stop lusting after your potential new students!  You're twenty-five years old!  For all you know, he’s probably only 18!  Exasperated with myself, I looked down at the paper in my hands and began punching in the code.  He sure doesn’t sound 18.  I grumbled to myself as the door to my new home clicked open.  I sighed.  Here goes nothing!   I stepped inside.