The morning was crisp and clean, refreshingly sweetened by the lingering moisture from last night’s showers, as Junsu’s plane touched down on the tarmac.

After eight years being away from the country of his birth, and the city of his heart, he found himself awash with excitement and smiling brightly as he made his way off the jet bridge and into the bustling terminal at Incheon. The place is alight with activity. From businessmen and woman moving swiftly from area to area, their rolling suitcases stalking a half step behind them, to the smiles and boisterous cheers of loved ones welcoming their missed family members and lovers home, the sight it almost as picture-perfect as his heart remembers.

He’s home. Finally, home.

The past few years had been hard.

Living so far away from family and familiarity, in a country where no one rarely ever noticed him, accepted him, or believed in him, while he extensively trained every day until every muscle –every fiber of his being– throbbed with excruciating pain, he had always agonized over the worry that his effort and determination would be for naught. But it had been worth it. He had impressed his instructors, his trainers, over time. His talent, rivaling some of their greatest graduates, had improved so rapidly that before he knew it he had become the best of his fellow students. Garnering accolades from those who knew him, it wasn’t long before a company based out of Seoul came to know of him. The audition was short, not as long as some he had done before and he had feared that the shortness of it would determine an unpleasant outcome. But that hadn’t been the case. The company offered him a place within their organization immediately, heartily telling him in some karmic blessing that it was time to come home. And, he was grateful for it.

“I’m home...” he sighed happily. “Finally home.”

The taxi ride from the airport to downtown Seoul, and his new apartment was relatively long; longer than he remembered it ever being; but it gave him time to think about his future and all the things he couldn’t wait to do in the city he had once called home so long ago. Watching his renewed world pass by in flashes through the vehicle’s side window, he couldn’t help but smile at how much the city had changed but not. He’d missed the hustle and bustle of crowded sidewalks, the scents and smells wafting from sporadically placed and welcoming food stands, the ever-present echoes of trendy bars and noisy karaoke clubs, and the warming comfort of being part of a centric community where mutual respect and care was assured. It was like heaven on earth, and he couldn’t wait to finally get back into the swing of things and return to that beautiful existence once more.  

His apartment, a fifth-floor walk-up, wasn’t as nice as his new company had made it seem. But, it was clean. With a living space barely big enough for a small couch, a chair, and a television stand, he couldn’t help but wonder if its sheer size of the living room had been chosen with specifics in mind. As if the company was subversively telling him that he’d be far too busy to ever entertain, so why bother? The small kitchen, large enough for just one person to move around comfortably, was adequate. It had a small island in the middle where the cooktop sat, a small refrigerator and sink, and just enough cabinet space for a single on the go. It was ok, he thought, though the lack of counter space left much to be desired.

The bedroom, however, was larger than he expected. Plenty of room for the size of bed he was accustomed to, and definitely enough room for a few dressers to compartmentalize his small, but growing wardrobe. He loved how bright and airy the room looked, with its vaulted ceiling and crisp white walls, and the large windows sporadically placed throughout, that opened up the room to beautiful scenery just beyond the glass.  

The bathroom, just off the only bedroom, however, was a serious disappointment. The apartment wasn’t large enough to house more than one so, the so-called master bath, was all that he had, and it was unbelievably tiny. The solo sink was shallow, the lone cabinet to hold bathroom linens only offered one drawer of storage space, and the standing shower was so small that he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to fit in it comfortably. The lighting was horrible and the fixtures looked like they hadn’t seen a modernization upgrade since the mid-seventies. It looked so out of place, in comparison to the rest of his new home, and he didn’t like it.

Stepping from the bathroom with a frown, too disinterested in testing out the tiny amenity, Junsu made his way to the plush queen-sized bed and literally fell in. At that moment, smiling gently and quietly thanking those on high that his new company had at least managed to send someone over to put fresh linens on the bed, he deeply snuggled into one of the fluffy white pillows and let out an errant sigh.

It was nice. Comfortable.

Good to be home. he thought.

Two days later, Junsu found himself in the downtown area of the Itaewon district enjoying a lovely afternoon lunch of rice, beef, pickled radish, and sautéed summer vegetables at a small little local family-owned restaurant across the street from the area’s main subway station. The afternoon was relatively quiet, even though the streets were lined with people from every walk of life, every nationality and country of origin, going about their busy lives and enjoying the beautiful spring weather, their daily outing, or their once-in-a-lifetime vacation.

For the first few days, Junsu had spent much of his time just settling in. While the company had made sure that he would have adequate living space, they neglected to stock some necessities and Junsu had ventured out to pick up a few things. After grabbing some fresh linens, a few pieces of cookware essential to his daily life, and needed cleaning supplies and toiletries, he had managed to only take up a few hours of a relatively uneventful and unscheduled day. With nothing really to do, he decided that for a while he would just wander.

There had been so much he had missed in the last eight years, and he was sure he would stumble upon something new and exciting if he gave himself the chance.

By early evening, after spending a few hours adventuring around the city, Junsu found himself back at his apartment. Situated on the outer skirts of the Itaewon district, it was a fairly quiet neighborhood, and the niceness of it was growing on him. He could really see himself making the place a real home, a place where he’d want to stay no matter what his career or life dealt him.

Just down the hall from him, in apartment 5b, lived a sweet old widow named Mrs. Lee. Junsu had met her the morning of his first full day back when he had come back from the convenience store to find her wrestling with a heavy bag of groceries as she tried to climb the building’s narrow staircase. He had felt for her and offered to help her with her things. That encounter and the niceness of it had endeared Junsu to the old woman’s heart and she had begun to take it upon herself to check on him every now again throughout the day to see if he needed anything. She had told him that her husband had died a few years back and their only child lived overseas. She had spent the last five years living in the building with no one to really talk to. This made Junsu’s heartache a bit. She was such a nice old lady, and it was sad that no one seemed to care. Because of her situation, he had taken pity on her and in just a day’s time ended up liking the old woman like a grandson would love his grandmother. It was nice.

“She’s so sweet.” he thought when Mrs. Lee handed him some homemade Kimchi in a thick-bottomed glass container and told him to enjoy it.

Besides Ms. Lee, Junsu hadn’t had the opportunity to meet any of his new neighbors. She had supplied, during their early morning conversation that day, that most of the other tenants on their floor, of which there were three, were really the quiet sort. You rarely saw them during the day and she had suspected that they must have held full-time jobs, and worked long hours, simply because when they were home the lights were rarely on.

Junsu was slightly disappointed by this news, he had hope that he could find a new friend near his own age by proximity. But, alas, it seemed that that was not to be the case.

Sighing softly, Junsu inserted the key into the lock and opened the door of his apartment with several bags from his earlier shopping trip dangling from his arm. Kicking the door closed behind him, he ventured into the kitchen and unceremoniously dropped the bags on to the counter, before making a beeline for the living room couch. Exhausted by his daily outing, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dropped it on the small coffee table in front of the couch before laying down for a comfortable rest.

Though his bedroom housed a bed quite to his liking, except for the first night he had arrived, Junsu had ended up sleeping more on the couch than anywhere else. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in his own bed just yet and though it bothered him a bit he really just thought nothing of it in the long run.

Lazily slinging his arm over his eyes, Junsu settled into the couch and closed his eyes. As he began to dose off, some minutes later, he was instantly awakened by the sound of his phone buzzing across the table at his side. Sighing heavily, he reached out absentmindedly and grabbed it.

“Hello?” he questioned.

“Hey Su-Su, it's Me.” came a familiar voice on the other end of the line.

“Jennifer Noona?” Junsu immediately questioned, a smile creeping across his face.

“Yeah, it’s me,” she answered. “Just wanted to call and see how you’re settling in. Everything going ok?”

“Yeah,” Junsu answered. “It’s good.”

“How’s your new place? Decent at least?”

“Small,” he replied. “But the neighbors are nice.”

“Well, that’s good.” she giggled. “At least you’re in a place where you can make some new friends.”

“How’s everyone back your way?” questioned Junsu. “Is Mama Nancy still boarding that kid...what was his name...Xiaoli, from Taiwan?”

“Yeah, he's still here,” she answered, her voice sounding a little irritated.

“That bad, huh?” chuckled Junsu, instantly picking up on that all-too-familiar tone.  

“He’s such a brat,” she exclaimed. “What is it with some of these parents, huh? Do they deliberately spoil their kids rotten just so that they can send them overseas for study and then turn around and give them free rein to bug the crap out of their host family, just for laughs?”

“Probably.” Junsu laughed. “Or maybe they just love to torture you, specifically.”

“Not funny.” she pouted.

For a few seconds, there was silence and then Jennifer spoke up again.

“I miss you Su-Su,” she admitted. “It’s not the same here without you.”

“I miss you too,” replied Junsu. “It feels weird not having my big sister around, you know?”

“I feel the same.” she agreed.

“You do know that if this whole dancer thing doesn’t work out...” she ventured hesitantly. “You can always come back home.”

“I’d like it if...” she started, hesitantly, then stopped.

“I’m sure there are more opportunities to be a dancer here than there...” she clarified. “Better opportunities, I mean. And, I know mom would welcome you back with open arms.”

“You know, that whole the prodigal son returns kind of thing.” she quipped amusedly, as an afterthought.

“I know...” smiled Junsu into the phone. “And it’s good to know I have a home to go back to if I ever need to.”

“You do.”

“Well...” she sighed, with a slight disappointment lacing her voice, after a short moment of silence. “I really should let you go. I have to get a move on if I’m going to make it to work, on time. I just called to make sure you were doing ok. Figured I’d be able to catch you at this time...you know, time difference and all...”

“And, now that I know you are doing ok...I feel better,” she added.

“I’m doing good Noona.” Junsu comforted. “Real good. I promise. So don’t worry ok?”

“Ok.” she chirped.

“Tell everyone back home that I love them, and miss them, ok?” he requested with a conflicted smile on his face. “And, tell Mama Nancy that I’ll call to check in this weekend.”

“Ok, Su-Su,” she replied, the happiness in her voice evident. “Have a good night little brother!”

“Have a good day, Noona.”

As the line went dead, Junsu pulled the phone from his ear and couldn’t help but stare at the blank screen. Though he thought his life was going great, his career exactly where he wanted it, he still couldn’t help miss the pseudo-family that had practically raised him for the last eight years.

Mama Nancy, the head of his home away from home, was a wonderful woman. She cared for anyone and everyone, was unbelievably supportive in every way, and always took the time to make every child in her care feel special. Some would say that she even went above and beyond what normal families would call loving a child, but for Junsu, there was no other mom that could ever compare to the woman who deliberately chose to live for the good of her children, pseudo children or not. He loved her, even more than the mother that bore him. And for him, she would truly be his mom, no matter the lack of blood ties they did or did not hold.

When he had first moved in with her, and his new big sister, he had been very timid at first. Everything was new, everything was scary, and the thought of living with two people who not only looked nothing like him but presumably didn’t even speak his own native language was intimidating. A strange place, with even stranger customs and beliefs, the whole idea of living there had made him harbor a near resentment for the very need to travel so far away from home just to get the training his career path required. He worried that he wouldn’t fit in, that the family would treat him harshly due to their lack of familial bond, or that they would just simply ignore him. He had heard horror stories from others, speaking of times where host families would abuse and berate their charges, basically turning them into submissive and coerced slaves, and that frightened him the most.

But, all of his fears; his worries and doubts; had been quickly and immediately alleviated not more than five minutes after he stepped into his new home for the very first time.

He still remembers the moment when he had first laid eyes on Jennifer Noona. He had been very nervous when she had come up to him, smiling brightly. He didn’t know what to think of the tall blonde girl with deep blue eyes, looking at him so caringly. But when she finally opened , to speak to him for the first time, he had immediately found himself completely dumbfounded and pleasantly surprised, all at the same time. The words that fell from her lips hadn’t been a whining or grumbling disagreement, a distasteful disgusted remark, or a racially charged slur, as he had expected. It had been a surprisingly respectful and eloquently recited greeting, in his very own native tongue.

He came to find out a short time later that, in preparation for his arrival, she had been studying Korean for some six months just so that she would be able to talk to with him and make him feel more secure, more at home. That sincere effort immediately endeared her to his heart and from that moment on, always close, she became not only a sister of his heart but his closest and dearest friend.

And, he truly missed her.

Rolling over to his side, Junsu dropped the phone back on the coffee table and sighed at himself in a scolding manner. He couldn’t be like this. Getting homesick wouldn’t do him any good. The thought of knowing that he had a home to go to, should his career fail, was comforting but he didn’t want to dwell on its availability for too long. If he did, he did not doubt that the very idea of his home with Mama Nancy and Jennifer Noona would end up becoming some kind of crutch, and out. He didn’t want to give himself that. He wanted to stand on his own two feet, be the man he needed to be, and get what he needed to be done, done –without the necessity of a backup plan. That would be the only way, the only real way, he could prove himself, not only to the world but also to himself. He had to be independent. Be strong, unfaltering, and stick to the decisions he had made without looking back. Only then would he truly be able to say, with confidence, that he had succeeded in his goal.

The next morning, after a cheerful and polite –but short– conversation with Ms. Lee, Junsu left his apartment on a mission. His company had willingly given him some time to get settled, but over the last three days, he could help stem the curiosity that lingered in his mind. He had never seen the company offices –their studios and practice rooms– only having met its liaison when he signed the contract, so he really wanted to check out the place.

Hopping on the subway a few minutes later, he settled into an empty seat with a bright smile on his face. When he awoke that morning, the lingering loneliness brought on by his late-night phone call with his big sister pushed into the back of his mind, he had started thinking about his new career and couldn’t help but wonder about his place of work. After an hour debating, he ended up calling his new manager and asking if he could come in, just for a few hours, to check the place out. And, of course, the manager was happy to oblige their new talent, urging him to come in happily.

When he arrived at the company, he was immediately greeted by a short, dumpy older man dressed in a blue blazer over a white tee and matching blue slacks. He introduced himself as Manager Choi and for a few moments, the man just gushed about how happy he was to be working with Junsu and how much he was looking forward to getting started on the new dancer’s career. He then proceeded to give Junsu a quick tour of the building, showing him the lower floors where most of the lower-level office staff worked, and then taking him up to the second and third floors where most of the dance and recording studios were located. After the informal tour, they stopped outside of a pair of large doors on the third floor for a moment.

“This is the President’s office.” Manager Choi supplied. “He’s not in, at the moment, but I thought it best you be shown where it was. He will most likely want to see you first thing on your first official day.”

“It’s protocol, after all,” he noted.

After his tour, and after getting permission from his new manager, Junsu wondered around the offices a bit trying to get his bearings and mapping out the corridors in his head as best as he could. For some reason, he just seemed worried about accidentally getting lost when he finally came to work for the first day and he didn’t want that to happen. Once he had satisfied himself, feeling that he had the place pretty much memorized, Junsu decided that it was about time he gets some lunch. That morning he had only had a small bite, sugared cereal –which he knew he really shouldn’t eat– and now that unhealthy breakfast was surely gone.

Venturing out of the company offices, Junsu turned and headed down the street towards the nearest subway station located some three blocks from where he would eventually work. The day was relatively nice. There was a gentle breeze and the sun was out, but it wasn’t unbearably warm. About a block from his destination, Junsu stopped when the smell of something heavenly wafted past his nose. Turning to look, he noticed that he had managed to stop in front of a small bakery. Suddenly his stomach released a nearly furious growl in protest, seemingly screaming ‘feed me’. With an accepting nod to himself, he reached out, opened the door and went in.

The small bakery was cute. That was all Junsu could think. There was a large counter against the back, filled with pastries, loaves of bread, danishes, cakes, muffins, and all other manners of sweets, and the whole place smelled of sugar, spice, fruit, and rich coffee. The floors and walls were an opaque white that seemed to be speckled with little reflective flecks. With the sun filtering in through its large windows the room seemed to almost sparkle as if the sunlight had found its very own playground in which to play. The tables and chairs, wrought iron on the bottom and a beautiful shade of cool blue on the top, sat sporadically around the open area, as patrons of every walk of life sat quietly and enjoyed their coffees and sweets.

After ordering something simple, a small fruit salad and a medium Americano, Junsu settled down at a quiet table near the front corner of the restaurant and relaxed under the filtered sunlight –even though, secretly, he wished he could have partaken in something far more fattening. After nearly an hour of quiet contemplation and self-reflection, Junsu let out an errant sigh. It was so peaceful in that little shop. And, he liked it. Making a mental note to come there often, he smiled at the thought of his first choice for a favorite spot. He had made a good choice he thought. Close to work. Good food. Nice atmosphere. Tranquil and safe.

Or, so he thought.

For the last twenty minutes, from some six tables over, a man –dressed in a finely tailored suit and sunglasses, and hiding behind the day’s daily edition of the Chosen Ilbo newspaper– had been stealing glances at him without even a sliver of restraint. Junsu had first noticed the man when he had sat down, though rather faintly. It wasn’t until a waitress had come to Junsu’s table to check on him that he came to notice his audience. The gentleman was obviously interested in him for some reason but the moments between his quick glimpses from behind the newspaper wasn’t exactly enough for Junsu to determine his identity.

Junsu had tried to shrug it off to simple curiosity, thinking that perhaps the man may have thought that he looked like someone familiar, and tried to ignore him. But, after a while, it had begun to bother him. Deciding to leave, and head home, rather than confront the strange man, he put away his trash and headed out. Stepping out on the sidewalk, Junsu immediately noticed that the sunny day was starting to wane behind approaching storm clouds. It would rain, and rain soon.

“I better get home.” he sighed.

Turning towards the subway station, Junsu let out an errant sigh and made his way down the block until, seemingly out of nowhere, he heard someone shouting his name.

“YAH!” the voice echoed against the row of buildings. “KIM JUNSU!”

A/N: Chapter 1 and 1/2 of Chapter 2 will be dedicated to the story set-up. While most will find this a bit boring, it is necessary. I hope you will stick around because I promise it will get very good very fast. ^_^