“Yongguk who’s house is this?” It had been a short but silent ride from his parent’s house and Rian hated not knowing what Yongguk was thinking. “Yongguk, what’s wrong?” As Rian and Yongguk continued further into the home Yongguk finally decided to break his silence. “I shouldn’t have brought you here.It was a mistake.”

“Not it wasn’t. They were bound to meet me at some point right?”

“You’re a human being and you deserve to be treated like one and deserve nothing less.”

“It’s okay it’s nothing we haven’t experienced before.”

“Those are people who don’t know us. Those are people who’s opinions don’t matter. But my own father…”

“Yongguk you have to calm down.”

“How can you be so calm about this? If you had…”

“…if I had what? Heard the things he said about me. Heard him calm me a black , and basically that I wasn’t good enough for your family, that I’m an embarrassment...” You stood face to face with Yongguk ”…You mean if I heard that?”

“How did you heard that?”

“The bathroom door was pretty thin.” Yongguk moved closer to embrace her but she stepped away. “Why didn’t you tell your parents I was black.”

“I told them you were a foreigner.”

“Why not just be straight-to-the point and say that I’m black. At least then it wouldn’t have been so much of a shock. Telling them a foreigner only says that I wasn’t born in Korea, but do you know how many other countries are in the world?”

“I’m sorry I just didn’t think of it that way.”

“ ‘You didn’t think of it that way.’ How can you not think of it that way? We’ve been dating too long for you not to consider these things.”

“Why are you angry with me?”

“Because you’re not being honest.”

“What are you talking about. I’m being honest with you right now. Until recently I hadn’t talked to my parents in nearly a year and when I did mention you to my parents we had just started dating and honestly I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out, so I decided to play it safe.”

“Play is safe! Is dating me like carrying around some container of hazardous waste? You sound a lot like your father right now, and if you weren’t sure that this relationship was going to work out then why even bother with it at all.”

“That’s not fair. No one goes on the first date thinking about marriage unless they’re crazy.”

“Yeah well you don’t go on a first date thinking you’re going to break up either.” Rian began began to walk away when she tunred back to face Yongguk. “So let me ask you something Yongguk did you tell your father we slept to together or was it simply based on a stereotype.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Are you serious?”

“It wasn’t intentional. it was an accident. I was talking to my parents about settling down and they started pressuring me about starting a family and I kind of said something that might have mislead them to think we had .”

“How do you accidently tell your parents we had ?”

“They asked me when I was going to start a family and before I could think, I told them I was working on it.”

Rian held her hands on lower back and closed her eyes. “Please don’t lie, but have you deliberately told anyone else that you and I slept together? I want an honest answer.”

Yongguk swallowed and stared at Rian “Yes, but let me explain.” Rian opened her eyes and began to move towards the door, and as she passed Yongguk he reached for her wrist, but his hand was swatted away. “Just listen to me for a second.” Rian maintained her silence as she reached for the door. “Rian, where are you going?”

“I just need some time to clear my head.”

…

Yongnam pulled up to his house surprised, to notice that the lights inside were on, especially considering that he lived alone. He carefully unlocked the door and opened the door to be greeted “Hello? Who’s in here?”

“Long time no see.” Yongnam turned around to be greeted by his younger self.

“Yongguk? What are you doing here?” Yongnam got two beers from the fridge and offered one to yongguk.

“Visiting mom and dad.”

Yongnam placed his things in the counter. “I didn’t know you were all talking again.”

“We aren’t but they really wanted to meet Rian.” Yongguk downed his whole beer in one go.

“Your girlfriend from America?”

“…yeah.”

“…Considering that I don’t see her around…” Yongnam playfully looked around the room and under some magazines. “…and how you just downed that beer, I’m guessing that it didn’t go well?” Yongguk silently nodded his head in agreement. “I’m going to go on a whim and assume that Dad, wasn’t happy?”

“Nope.”

“Well in my experience most problems resolve themselves by just talking about.”

“I tried but she didn’t’ want to listen, and left.”

“And you didn’t go after her?”

“Nope. She wanted to alone, and so did I.”

“Yongguk have you forgotten what kind of a neighborhood I live in or any idea what time it is?”

“I don’t know six.” Yongguk rubbed his eyes out of irritation.

“Yongguk, It’s one o’clock in the morning.”

Yongguk opened his eyes and looked out the window to see that the sky was pitch black. All the time Yongguk had spent trying to clear his head had been longer than he thought and time had gone faster than he realized. “.” Yongguk pulled out his phone and saw that all his missed calls were from his parent’s house, but none from the one person he was concerned about the most. Yongguk dialed Rian’s number and hopes she’d pick up.

Tell me what you say now
Tell me what you say?
You said that you would come again
You said that we would remain friends but
You know that I do not depend on
Nothing or no one

Yongguk picked up Rian’s phone that was hidden underneath the couch. “Can you stay here in case she comes back while I’m gone?”

…

Rian had walked for about 2 hours until she decided to settle on a park bench and only intended to catch her breathe for a second, but she ended up falling a sleep.

“Excuse me?” Rian felt someone shake her shoulder as she started to open her eyes she was greeted by a blinding light. “Excuse me miss, are you alright.” Rian sat up and rubbed her eyes as two police officers questioned her. “Do you speak Korean?”

“Yes” She quickly said as she rubbed her head.

“You can’t stay here, do you have someone who can come and get you.” Said the male officer.

Rian started to reach for her phone to call Yongguk but thought against it. “No, but I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure this neighborhood isn’t safe at night?” Questioned the female officer.

“Yes, I’ll be fine, but could you tell me how to get to the Red Hotel?”

“The Red Hotel?” The officers questioned.

“Yes I’m staying there.” The officers talked among themselves and decided to offer Rian a ride, considering she was a good three miles away. As Rian stepped out of the car she continued to thank the officers for their kindness. Rian appreciated the car ride, because even though it was brief it gave her some more time to think about her and Yongguk’s disagreement earlier. As she entered her room she kicked off her shoes and sat on the bed as she began to feel regretful.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said about his father. What I should have done is given him a chance to explain.”

Rian ran her hands though her pockets searching for her phone, only to find nothing. “Did I leave it at the park?” Rian continued to check the floor and her jacket pockets, to turn up with nothing. Rian picked up the room phone but realized she didn’t know Yongguk’s Korean phone number. I’ll just go by Mrs. Bang’s house tomorrow and ask if I left it there. Plus It’ll have an excuse to talk to Mr.Bang.”

Rian rolled pulled her covers up and switched her light off.

…

Yongguk was still continuing his search for Rian. Each minute that she wasn’t with him, and he didn’t know where she was he became angrier and angrier. How could I let her walk out? I should have noticed how late it had gotten? We shouldn’t have argued in the first place. Yongguk stopped and started to think that maybe Rian had gone back to her place, when he realized that he didn’t even know where she was staying.

“Hey!” Yongguk turned his head in the direction of the voice. “You new around here?” Once they came closer Yongguk saw that there were three guys. They were the type of guys he feared Rian would run into.

“You look a little lost.”

“No. Just looking for someone.” Yongguk wasn’t in the mood.

“Who? Maybe I can help you out.”

Yongguk started to walk away. “You wouldn’t know her, so forget about it.”

“You mean that hot foreigner!” One of the men shouted. Yongguk stopped and turned to face the men. “Oh you mean the black chick?” Another chimed in Yongguk walked back towards the men. “Yeah the one with the body so thick and curvy I could-” The guy didn’t finish because he was cut off by Yongguk’s fist meeting his mouth. Yongguk punched the second guy in the gut. Yongguk was about to finish the last when he started to get frantic

“…please don’t! We were just messing man.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

Yongguk grabbed him by his collar and held him to the brick wall. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not. she was talking to some cops and then they drive off with her. I swear.”

Yongguk shoved the man into the brick wall and continued in the direction of the nearest police station.  

*a/n I know this chapter was kind of eh but I promise the next will be better. This is more of a transition chapter, so sorry if it was uncool.