Xiumin's POV

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of something burning and the fire alarm. I threw the covers off the bed and ran downstairs to find my mother standing on a chair in the kitchen with smoke going everywhere. "Hey!" I shouted and ran over to her. She was poking at the fire alarm on the ceiling and succeeded in turning it off. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, then coughed. Her eyes were watering from the smoke.

"Stand outside for a bit." I pulled her to our balcony and opened the doors for her. Then I went back to the kitchen. I had no idea what to do other than wave my arms stupidly to fan out the smoke. Even though it probably wasn't polite or a good idea, I opened the door to the apartment, since the kitchen was the first room when you walked in. A girl around my age walked by and giggled, as I hadn't gotten dressed. I smiled and nodded before hiding away in the kitchen.

"Do you need help?" she asked, poking her head in.

I blushed and stood behind the counter. "I think I'm fine," I lied.

She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "I'll go get my fan. It's two apartments over."

I sighed. From the balcony, my mother called, "Is everything under control?"

"Yeah. One of our neighbors is going to get her fan to help."

As if on cue, the girl ran back in with a giant fan in her arms. I had been expecting a small plug in fan that people put on a desk or table, not a full out floor fan about the size of a middle school student. "Woah." I helped her put the fan in the corner of the kitchen and plugged it in. After everything was set up, I said, "I'm so sorry about that...but thank you."

She waved a hand as if brushing off the comment. "No problem," she said. "By the way, I'm Eun Mi."

"Ah," I shook her hand. "I'm Xiumin."

"Chinese?" Eun Mi asked.

"No, Korean. It's just a nickname." I leaned against the counter.

The girl nodded in understanding. "I see. One of my other friends is Korean and has a Chinese nickname."

I nodded excitedly and said, "Me too!" It was probably ridiculous, but I had been getting overly excited about everything since I moved to Korea. It must have been the air...

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "By any chance is his name Chen? Kim Jongdae..."

I almost jumped on top of the counter, but thankfully, I didn't go that far. "Yes!" At that moment, my mother walked in. "This is one of Chen's friends!" I said.

She nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ha Eun." Eun Mi introduced herself. "Well, I've wasted enough time trying to make breakfast. I have to go to work now." My mother ran upstairs to get into her waitress uniform.

Eun Mi and I stood awkwardly for a bit. "Well, ah, I'll just get my mother some breakfast to eat on the bus." I turned to put some toast in the toaster-carefully, after what had just happened-and pour coffee into her mug. All the while I could feel Eun Mi's eyes on my back. Once, I turned around to find her staring at the back of my head, but she quickly looked away. Thankfully, my mother came downstairs.

"Oh my god!" Eun Mi exclaimed. "You look so beautiful."

My mother blushed and subconsciously twirled a strand of hair in her fingers. Of course, she did look beautiful, and I smiled proudly. "Thank you, sweetie," she said. I slid her breakfast to her over the counter and gave her a kiss. With that, she left.

"You look just like your mom," Eun Mi said after my mother had left.

I smiled. "Thank you."

"But you're so skinny," she added.

"So, you know Chen?" I asked, eager to change the subject.

"Yup," she sat down at the bar table. "I'm Luhan's girlfriend."

"Oh!" I said, probably a little bit too surprised. She and Luhan probably made the perfect couple. Her hair was long and black and beautiful. She had sparkly brown eyes, like Luhan, and a dimple on her cheek when she smiled. Beautiful people should be together. "So, I'm guessing we go to the same school, then."

Eun Mi nodded. "Speaking of school, did they tell you about the picnic?" I nodded. "Let's go together!"

I bit my lip, remembering the day before. Luhan had wanted to go to the picnic with me... I told Eun Mi and she immediately said that she would text him and say that she would take me. "Now, go get dressed," she laughed, a hand covering her eyes.

I ran upstairs. There were a few possible combinations that I could wear, but I wasn't sure which one. Thankfully, the school wore uniforms the rest of the year, so I wouldn't have to go through that ordeal every day. I decided on a black shirt and a pair of pants. Even though it was sweltering outside, I was too embarrassed to show off my thin legs. I ran downstairs and apparently terrified Eun Mi. "Oh my god!" she shrieked. "You're not going to wear that."

I barely had time to protest before she dragged me up the stairs and into my room. "I don't have a lot of clothes that fits me," I admitted as she opened the closet to find about 5 pairs of shorts that were obviously not for someone my age and some T-shirts. But Eun Mi seemed pleased by what she saw. She went back and forth between hangers and finally pulled out a pale blue shirt and gray shorts. "You know that those shorts are really small, right?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You have the body of a model." She shoved the hangers of clothes towards me. "Here."

She stepped out of the room and I got dressed. I frowned at the shorts, but decided to trust her. I peeked out of the room. "Ta-da."

Eun Mi hopped from one foot to another. "You look like an idol, oh my god!" I blushed. "All the girls will be staring at you."

"It doesn't matter to me," I admitted.

"What, are you gay or something?" she asked in shock.

Forgetting everything that my mom told me, I shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. And does it really matter?"

She smiled and shook her head. "No. Gay people are cool." I rolled my eyes.

We walked out of the house and down the street. "We actually live pretty close to school. We can walk together." Eun Mi laughed a little.

She was right. We did live pretty close to the school. We were there in about ten minutes. "Wow," I said. The campus was beautiful. There was around two acres of green grass in front of the school, and even more around it. Already, a few kids were sprawled out on the grass and some people were setting up grills and tables. There was a white walkway leading to the 4 story b