The past few weeks have been good. Nothing new really. Just calling my family every two days or so, going to the dance studio and focusing on my school work. Youngdo and I have gotten closer and he has also become closer with the rest of the friend group as well. I think he secretely has a crush on Isabella but I haven't confirmed it yet. There were a few times when he stuck up for me with the other korean students. Soon after he found out about my being bullied by them and them not knowing I was actually fluent in korean. It was nice, having someone who could relate to the other side of me, and didn't judge me like the others. 

Right now Jordan, Nick and I were leaving class and walking to lunch to meet up with everyone. We walk into the cafeteria and immediately I hear Youngdo yell my name with excitement, telling me to bring the guys and come sit with him and his friends. He hadn't realized he was speaking korean to me, causing the others to begin whispering while the other koreans laughed. He finally understood and went back to english. The guys and I walked over taking our seats. 

"Sorry about that, I forgot" he said. 

"That's alright" I say smiling to reassure him. Youngdo smiles back, then turns to Jordan and Nick saying hi. The guys introduce themselves to the rest of the table seeing as how this is the first time we've actually talked to the other three boys.

"Hello, my name is Hyunwoo" he then point to his left "This is Joowon" in that moment I noticed how Joowon hadn't really aknowldged us. "And this is Dohyun" he says looking to his right. The guy smiles at all of us saying hello. Jordan and Nick begin to introduce themselves. I let them finish before I decide to speak.

"annyeonghaseyo, mannaseo bangabseubnida. (Hello, nice to meet you)." I say bowing slightly, making Joowon look up for the first time. 

"Wow, your Youngdo was right your korean is good!" Dohyun says

"I don't think it's that great, but thank you." I say. We all begin to talk about random things, eating our food, when Isabella and Rebecca join us, noticing that we weren't sitting at our usual table they gave us a confused, but amussed look and sat down saying hello to everyone. I couldn't help but notice how Youngdo's face lit up a little when Izzie spoke to everyone. After a while we had gotten pretty comfortable with each other, but it still seemed like Joowon was not interested in speaking with the rest of us. 

"Hey is everything ok? You haven't spoken much." Rebecca says, reading my mind as she looks at Joowon. He looked up but Dohyun speaks for him. 

"Yeah, he isn't normally very talkative." and we all leave it at that, going back to our own conversations. After a while lunch was over, so we all began throwing away our trash and Nick saked what class everyone had as we were leaving the lunch room. Everyone else said there different classes, and then Joowon and I both said spanish, looking at each other when we noticed. 

"Well then" Becky starts "I guess we'll see you guys later" and everyone walks in different directions. I can feel Joowon looking at me so I look back up at him. deciding to speak first. 

"Since we have the same class, we can walk together, i-if you want." I say, but he doesn't respond making me nervous. "Or you know we don't have to, I don't want to be a bother, we can just go our seperate wa..."

"We can walk together" he says, holding my arm and stopping me from walking away. 

"O-ok". That was all I said before we began to walk. As we were walking it was silent, his presence was demanding but compossed. I couldn't help but remember what my friends were saying before about us looking alike. I still think the idea is ridiculous. I mean really? I'm the president's daughter? No way. I push the thought out of my head and continue walking. We almost get to class when we both hear someone yell from down the hall. 

"Oppa!" we turn and I see the one person who probably hates me the most, Seoyeon Dong. She approaches us, glarring at me with intensity making me avert my eyes to the floor due to becoming uncomfortable. "Oppa, wae geunyeowa hamkke ibnikka? (why are you with her?" she says, crossing her arms and looking down on me. Joowon looks at Seoyeon, then me, and then back to her before responding. 

"naneun dangsin-ui oppa cheoleom boinayo? wae na-ege jilmun-eul hago issseubnida? (Do i look like your oppa? Why are you asking me questions?" He says looking down at her coldly. "geuligo neo (and you)" he says looking at me. "dangin-eun modeun salamdeul-i dangsin-ege i bangbeob-eulo chilyoleul hal su isssseubnikka? (And you. Do you just let everyone treat you this way?)" he says. Seoyeon scoffs and looks at me while she replies to Joowon. 

"dangsin-eun geunyeoneun hangug-eo malhal sueobsneun, sum eul nangbi haeseoneun andoenda. babo wangtta. (You shouldn't waste your breath, she can't even speak korean. Stupid outcast." She says as she grins and pushes past me. I sigh, feeling defeated once again, looking down at the ground before Joowon speaks. 

"seuseulga e daehan eotteon jonglyuui salam eul gojib haji anhneun iyuneun mueos-ibnikka? (What kind of person doesn't stick up for themself?)" He says, sounding upset, even though I wouldn't know why he would be. It takes me a second to answer. 

"amuli dangsin-i salamdeul-i byeongyeongdoeji anhneun eotteon geos-eul algo jonglyu. (The kind who knows that no matter what you do people won't change.)" I say back, looking up at him. He doesn't say anything, just loks at me as if he's studying me. "I'd rather stay out of everyone's way" I add looking back down. Right then the bell rings. "Great now we're late" I say turning and walking a little faster to get to class, assuming Joowon is following me. I reach the door, and a little nervous I turn the knob and open it. Everyone in the class looks up at Joowon and I as the teacher stops talking. 

"Hola Haeun, tan agradable de ustedes a unirse a nosotros. Veo que ayudaste Joowon encontrar su camino. (Hello Haeun, so nice of you to join us. I see you helped Joowon find his way.)" she says. "Bienvenido al espanol de clase Joowon (Welcome to spanish class Joowon)." she directs to Joowon. 

"Lo siento Sra." I say, feeling the need to apologize for being late. I go to the back and take my normal seat. Surprisingly Joowon follows, and sits next to me in the seat that is normally left empty. The teacher goes back to inroducing the lesson for today as we get out our books. 

****

After spanish I didn't see Joowon for the rest of the day. I had one more class and after that I went back to my room. I had been laying on my bed for a while now. I read a book, watched tv, ate some snacks, even played games on my phone and now I was starring at the ceiling. I began to go back to earlier today. When we ran into Seoyeon. I still couldn't understand why Joowon seemed so upset about it. It's not like he knew more. Or that she was mean towards him. Maybe he was just irritated because I put him in an awkward sittuation. Whatever the reason I decided it was no big deal. My phone began to ring in my hand. I raised my hand from my stomach and saw it was Isabella. I answered it. 

"Hello?"

"Hey Haeun, where are you?"

"In our room. Why, whats up?"

"Nothing, are you going to the bonfire tonight? Everyone else is, even Youngdo and them."

"That's tonight?" I ask. The bonfire is something we do every year down by the beach. It's like a huge party and everyone normally ends up going. It's a lot of fun, and I could use some fun. 

"Yeah are you coming?"

"Yeah I'll come."

"Alright I'll meet you in our room so we can get ready and Nick is driving us down to the beach in an hour and a half."

"OK" I say. we hang up the phone and while I'm looking for clothes she walks in. We figure out what we're wearing and begin to get ready. We talk about a bunch of random things before Isabella brings up the sittuation with Seoyeon.

"So I heard about your run in today with the evil korean princess". She says I chuckle before sighing 

"Yeah, she doesn't really like me, and I feel bad because Joowon had to be bothered with it." 

"I heard he stuck up for you, put Seoyeon in her place" she says laughing 

"I wouldn't call it that."

She sighs looking at me with a sympathetic smile. "I just don't understand why you don't stick up for yourself when it comes to the other koreans"

"I don't see the use." I say. Before she can say anything in response I get up and walk towards the door. "Now lets go we have a party to get to!" I say, she smiles walking out of the door, I trun off the lights and lock up before we leave. 

We walk down to the parking lot and go to Nick's car, seeing Rebecca, Jordan and a few others already sitting inside. I get a text from Youngdo with his name appearing as "gajang chinhan chingu (best friend)", he asked if he would see me at the bonfire. I reply yes and buckle up as we pull off with the music blasting. 

****

We leave the car a block away and walk down the board walk towards the beach were we can already see the huge bonfire and hear the music blasting. We finally arrive and see everyone dancing and having a good time. We meet up with Youngdo, Hyunwoo, and Dohyun who are talking to, what I'm assuming, are friends they've made since transferring to our school. 

"Hey guys" I say as we approach them. 

"Hey" Youngdo says side hugging me with a cup on his hand.

"There better be only juice in that cup young man." I say smiling up at him 

"Im older than you." he says grinning at me and I scoff. 

"Hey where is Joowon?" Nick asked as everyone realizes he isn't around. 

"Oh, don't worry about him" Dohyun says "He decided to stay in, probably studying or sleeping or something."

We let it go past that point and begin to pass drinks around. We ate food, talking to each other laughing and having a good time dancing while the music continued to blast. At a certai point I began to walk away from the party for no reason in particular. I was having a lot of fun, but I also really loved walking a long the beach at night. I figured I take a little break from all the partying. As I was walking I began to think about my father. Being honest I thought of him a lot more lately, maybe because my friends have asked so many questions. I think they worry I am more hurt than I put on. I don't think thats the case. It's not like I walk around sad all the time or dream of finding him and going to meet him, but I have always been just a little curious. I sometimes wonder what happened. Why he decided he didn't want me.

"You know you shouldn't frown like that" I hadn't realized I had stopped walking and was now facing the sea, I look over and see that it's Hyunwoo "I hear it gives you wrinkles" He finishes, standing next to me and turning towards the sea. I just continue to look at him not having anything to say. "Besides, you're to pretty for that" he conitues looking down at me with this warm smile that gave me this weird new feeling in my stomach. I look down and chuckle a little, once again not having a response. 

"So, were you not enjoying yourself?" he asks me 

"What do you mean?"

"The bonfire. Were you not having fun? Is that why you left?"

"Oh, no thats not it, I was, I just decided to walk for a little, I like walking here at night." I giggle "Cliche I know" he laughs a little. 

"And you?" I ask

"Me what?"

"Were you not enjoying yourself?" he looks down at me before responding. 

"No, thats not it" he says using my words "I was just looking for someone". He continues to look down at me, a smile appearing on his face and it takes me a while before I smile back, realizing he was referring to me. And once again I find I have nothing to responde with, so I break eye contact and look back at the sea. 

"Do you want to keep walking?" he asks

"O-ok" i say and we begin to walk. It was silent for a while, but the silence was calming, it didn't make me uncomfortable, I was content with it. I decide to break the silence. "So, why did you come to find me?" I asked

"Because I'm curious"

"About what?"

"About you" he says, causing that weird feeling in my stomach again. 

"What about me?" I ask, barely above a whisper now

"I don't know, if I'm to be honest." he says. "Can I ask you something?" he says as he grabs my hand, stopping us from walking and sitting us down on the sand

"Ask away" I reply 

"I know you're half korean, but what else?"

"I'm black, well half I guess. My mother is black and my father is korean." 

"Is that how you learned korean? Your father?"

"No, I've never met my father."

"Really? Why not?" he says but before i can say anything he continues "You know what I'm sorry, I fear I'm being ot personal" he says chuckling

"No it's ok. I can't reall tell you why. I mean I have no memory of him, no trace of him ever existing other than myself. My mom and I don't really talk about him. She never has said anything bad about him, even though he left her to take care of me on her own. And I carry no hate or anger for him. I guess he just didn't want me, and thats ok I guess." 

"How could he not?" Hyunwoo asked, looking down at me. I really couldn't figure out how he did that. How he made me get these feelings in my stomach.

"I don't know" I say. "But my mom was a really good dad, so I don't feel like I've missed much. She might not be korean but things like family and culture are very important to her. She made sure I was fluent in korean and understood the culture at a very young age. She never wanted me to feel disconnected with that half of me" I say smiling just thinking about my mom. 

"What about the rest of your family?" Hyunwoo asked 

"Well I have three younger siblings, two twin brothers and a sister, but we don't have the same dad and I'm the oldest. I guess you could say at one point their father was like a father figure to me too, but I never was as connected with him as they were, and that never bothered me. I guess I just always knew he would leave too." I say, realizing how much I have said, with it being to late to take it back. Even still it didn't seem like Hyunwoo mind. If anything he stared at me as if he was putting pieces together. Trying to figure me out. I couldn't figure out why I was so comfortable with sharing this with him, but I did so I continued. "So really, it's just my mom, my siblings and me. We don't have the best life ever, but it's worth the challenges, being with them is worth it. We always seem to pull through."

"That sounds beautiful" he says 

"It is" I say, laying down on the sand and looking up at the stars. Hyunwoo follows my lead. 

"So is that why you don't speak korean, even to other koreans?"

"I guess, I mean growing up I never really had anyone else. And here the other koreans don't like me. They don't consider me korean, and aren't always the nicest to me so I just try to stay clear of them. I guess only speaking english has just become a habit." I say 

"Well you can now, because you have us, me and the guys, you have me." he says. "We wont judge you, and we will be there for you now." he finishes. I smile and we let things become silent again. Eventually Hyunwoo's curiousity gets the better of him once again. 

"So do you really not care? I mean you really never miss your korean family? Your father?"

"You can't miss something you never had." I say meeting eyes with him. 

"Yeah I guess your right" he says. He seems a little concerned so I smile at him, he smiles back and we just stay like that. Enjoying each others compony as we lay on the beach underneath the stars, and the butterflies in my stomach.