Red: Japanese | Blue: Korean  | Black: Flashbacks/Memories/or other places

"Otou-san," Aika replies, "you should be resting a little, your health conditions get worse everyday." "Aika, you're just like your okaa-san," he replies, "your mother was always telling me to rest a lot." "Why do you mention about okaa-san a lot?" Aika asked, "I don't know much about her." Aika pours some herbal tea in a cup for her father to drink, she glances at the jar of money she collected from selling jewelry, "Just a bit more, otou-san," Aika replied, "just a few more yen and I can get money for your surgery." "You work too hard for us," he replies, "save some for yourself and the apartment bills." "I divided the money, I sell bracelets for the apartment bills, I sell earrings for us and I sell necklaces for your surgery." Suddenly, her father starts coughing, Aika runs to the kitchen to get his meditcations for his disease. "It's just a cough, Aika, I'll be alright. Just go to school and I'll call your okaa-san's sister and brother-in-law." he said. 

Aika leaves her apartment, she was in her black and white school uniforms, "I took off from school for a week now," she whispers, "just because of otou-san's coughing problems." Aika walks down the stairs to the front door of the apartment, she sprints all the way to her academy that was two blocks away from her apartment home. "Seems like awhile since we've seen you at school, Aika." one of the girls said. "Shut your mouth," Aika replies, "just that I haven't been to school for a week, doesn't mean that I have to be mentioned all the time, Ayane." Aika walks into the academy, she goes to her locker, until Ayane slammed it shut. Aika waits until Ayane opens her locker, Aika slammed Ayane's locker back even harsher, Ayane's fingers got caught on her locker. "Your fault for shutting my locker first." Aika replies, going to the stairwell. Once Aika got to her classroom, she spots her friend, Mika sitting by the window. "Mika, sorry I haven't been at school," she replies, "I had to take care of my otou-san." "I know," Mika replies, "I heard that you slammed Ayane's locker and her fingers got stuck." "She deserved that anyways, Ayane's a brat." After four classes, Aika got a call from her uncle, she was asked to go back home early to take care of her father since he had another heart attack. Aika asked Mika to go home with her since she was her close friend that she can trust. In the hospital, Aika and Mika waited in front of the emergency room. "Oji-chan, how is he?" Aika asked. "He had a heart attack while he was eating his rice porridge that your Oba-chan made," her uncle explains, "does he usually have heart attacks when he eats food like that?" "Not so often," Mika replies, "I've been to Aika's apartment most of the time and when he eats rice porridge, he doesn't usually have heart attacks." "I could've sworn that the rice porridge tasted just like Aika's and my sister's," her aunt replies, "probably his tastebuds changed over the years." "Oba-chan, Oji-chan, can you please stay at the apartment for a while?" Aika asked, "I missed so many days of school and I have to make up so much work, can you please day over for a few months or years so my Otou-san can get well?"

Meanwhile in Seoul, Korea...

Kang Joon exits his academy, he looks around for the black limo that was going to pick him up. Until his cell phone rung in his pocket, "It's omma," he replied, "why is she calling me now?" Kang Joon presses the green button on his phone and answers the phone. "Omma, what is it?" Kang Joon asked. "The limo won't be able to come and pick you up," his mother replies, "ask your friends to take you back home." "O-omma?!" Kang Joon yelled. His mother cuts the line, he angrily puts his phone in his pocket, he walks to his friend and said, "Min Hyuk, can you take me home, my omma said that the limo isn't coming here." "Sure thing, my friend," Min Hyuk replies, "I'm always available to take you home." Kang Joon enters Min Hyuk's car, then he starts the car and drives off to the mansions, "See you later, Kang Joon," Min Hyuk replies, "if you wanna get out of the house, call me." "Alright, I'll probably see you later or tomorrow." Kang Joon called out. Kang Joon enters his mansion, the servants in the mansion started to panic about something. "What's all the commotion?" he asked, placing his backpack on the couch. "Your mother, has fainted again." the maids said nervously. "Sh*t!" Kang Joon said, quietly. He runs up the stairs and tells the servants to call an ambulance quickly. He found his mother in the middle of the hallway on the second floor, after calling the ambulance, they took his mother away into the ambulance truck. "Damn it!" Kang Joon replies, "no wonder why she cut off the lines for the phone, she fainted after that." He noticed his mother's phone on the floor, Kang Joon picks up his mother's phone and places the phone in her bedroom. "I'll be going back to Japan soon," he replies, "how will omma recover back?" 

"Min Hyuk, I'm coming over to your place," Kang Joon replies on his phone, "I'll be walking there." "Joon! Are you out of your mind!" Min Hyuk exclaims, "my house is one mile away from your place!" "Never mind that," Kang Joon replies, "I'll call a cab." Kang Joon clicks the red button on his phone to end the call, he waves to a nearby cab and got driven to Min Hyuk's place. Min Hyuk lived in a traditional Korean home, which was huge, but there was no second floor at his place. Min Hyuk waited outside of his house, he motions Kang Joon to come towards him. "Your omma fainted again?" Min Hyuk asked, kicking a small rock on the cement. "Yeah," Kang Joon explains, "she's thinking too much about the past." They both entered the house, Min Hyuk's mother welcomed Kang Joon with a contagious smile. "Annyeonghaseyo, Kang Joon," she replies, "do you want something to eat or drink?" "May I have some Yangparing?" he asked. "Sure," she explains, "I'm currently making some right now, you two can hang out in the living room while I get the Yangparing ready." Kang Joon and Min Hyuk goes into the living room, Min Hyuk's younger sister comes out of her bedroom, fixing her messy bun. "Why's Kang Joon here?" she asked, taking out the hairtie from her messed up hair. "Mina, go get yourself in shape," Min Hyuk replies, "you look like your hair got tangled up in tree branches." "Keun hyeong, you're so mean!" Mina whines. "She's only sixteen, she acts like this all the time when I make fun of her." Min Hyuk explains. "I can see that." Kang Joon replied, awkwardly. "No need to get awkward, this is your house too." Min Hyuk said. "I've never seen your sister before." Kang Joon said. "That's because she's either with her friends or at my samchon's house, but she's mostly at my Samchon's house because my omma grounds her and she's over there for a month or a week even a year or two to restrain herself." Min Hyuk explains. "Okay, that makes sense." Kang Joon said. The Yangparing was finished, Min Hyuk's mother places the plates of Yangparing on the table with two cups of water. "Where's Mina?" she asked. "She just woke up from her beauty sleep, she's fixing her hair." Min Hyuk explains. "Min Hyuk, you behave more better than your sister," she replies, "you're more like your abeoji your sister is just like your Imo."

After staying over at Min Hyuk's place, he decided to sleep over for a night and go home tomorrow. Kang Joon slept in Min Hyuk's room, they both shared one room together since most of the rooms were taken or used for other business. "I'll sleep on the floor with you," Kang Joon replies, "I like sleeping on traditional flooring with a sleeping bag or a Korean Yo mattress." "We also have Japanese futons if you perfer that too." Min Hyuk replies, digging in his storage closet. Kang Joon waits for a while, until Min Hyuk pulls out the Korean Yo matress out of the closet, "I'm okay," Min Hyuk replies, "can you still speak Japanese?" "I can, but my omma forbids me to speak the language in the house." Kang Joon explains. "Why does she forbid you to speak Japanese?" Min Hyuk asks, "it's just a language and yet she makes a big deal about it?" "My abeoji was Japanese, so he mostly spoke Japanese," Kang Joon explains, "he lived with me until I turned seven and he passed away, I also grew up in Osaka, Japan, so I learned mostly Japanese, I also learned  how to speak Korean when I was two."  "Wow," Min Hyuk replied, "I couldn't even talk when I was two years old." Kang Joon laughs a little bit, but he understood because he knows that boys are slow at speaking. Min Hyuk looks at the picture that Kang Joon was holding, a young girl was smiling in the photo. "Who's she?" he asked. "Her name is Akiyama Aika," Kang Joon explains, "Last name is Akiyama and first name is Aika." "Wasn't she the girl you met in Kyoto or somewhere? When you were in grade school in Japan?" Min Hyuk asked. "Yeah, I wonder how many years its been since I've seen her," Kang Joon replies, "that's why I am going back to Japan next week to visit her and my abeoji in Kyoto." "I'm not sure if she's in Kyoto anymore," Min Hyuk replies, "it's been almost a few years since you've seen her, she probably moved somewhere else by now." "I met her friend before, it was just two years ago, her friend should remember me." he said.

Aika, her Oba-chan and her Oji-chan and Mika stayed at the hospital for one night. Aika was the one that was worried about her father the most, he was the only one left in her family. "He'll wake up by tomorrow," the doctor explains, "I think he should stay here until we have enough medicine for his disease, because right now, the drugs that we used are all out, we're going to bring some in next month or so." "So, how much is the hospital bills if my brother-in-law stays here?" Aika's Oba-chan asked. "Well...if it's about a month, I'd say about fifty-thousand yen, but I'll lower the bills by a thousand yen." he said. "Should we pay now?" Aika's Oji-chan asked, "just so we don't have to pay later on." "I'll think about it." the doctor replies, looking through papers. The doctor leaves the room, then Aika's Oba-chan said, "Aika, you can stay at Mika's house for now, we'll watch over your Otou-san." "Oba-chan, I can't," Aika cries, "I can't leave my Otou-san alone, he's the only one I have in my life now." "Aika, he'll be fine," Mika replies, in a soft tone, "your Oba-chan and your Oji-chan will watch over your Otou-san when he comes back to his regular health." "Okay, please take care of him," Aika replied, "I can't let him die now, he's my only family member I have left." 

Mika and Aika took a cab to get to Mika's place, Aika cried the whole way over there. "Aika, your Oba-chan and Oji-chan will be there for you," Mika replies, "if you're alone, I'll always be with you as a sister, I care about you a lot." Aika uses her sleeves to wipe her tears away from her face, once they got to Mika's traditional Japanese home, Mika and Aika enters the house. "Aika-chan, it's been a while since you came here," Mika's mother replies, "how's your Otou-san?" "He's fine, but he's been sick for a while, his health is getting worse everyday." Aika explained. Mika's phone vibrated, she excuses herself and goes to another room that was in the hall. "Hello?" "Mika-chan, you remember me?" someone asked. "Kang Joon-kun?" Mika asks, "how have you been? It's been a while." "I'm doing great," Kang Joon replies, "is Aika-san there with you?" "Aika's here, you wanna talk with her?" Mika asked. "Sure, we haven't talked in a while." he said. Mika goes to the living room, Aika was sitting on a pillow and Mika hands her phone to her. "Who is it?" Aika asked. "Just say something to him, he's someone that you know since grade school." she said. "Hello?" Aika asked, "are you someone that I know?" "Aika-chan, I'm Kang Joon, I was your friend from grade school." he explains. "You..are..Seo Kang Joon-kun?" Aika asked, "how long has it been since we've seen each other?" "About ten or twelve years, I am coming to Japan next week," Kang Joon replies, "well..where do you live now? Did you move?" "I still live in Kyoto," Aika explains, "everything sort of changed when you moved to Korea." "I'm coming to Japan next week, so you want to meet at the airport in Tokyo?" Kang Joon asked, "I wanted to see how Japan is like now." "Alright then, I'll be at the airport when you arrive," Aika explains, "I'm staying with Mika right now, so I guess you would like to stay there too." "Sure, I don't mind," Kang Joon replies, "I'll stay with you and Mika for now."

"Kang Joon-kun said that he'll stay here," Aika explains, "he'll have nowhere else to go anyways." "Plus, I'm not sure if they have enough yen for a hotel either," Mika replies, "the hotels here are more expensive these days as well." "We'll be seeing him within a week later or so..." Aika said. "I'll ask if my parents can let him stay," Mika explains, "I'll be sure that he will have a place to stay." Mika leaves the room, she talks with her mother while Aika sits and waits for Mika to come back. 'Come to think of it...' Aika thought, 'it's been...like three or four years already, has it been that long...?' "He can stay here," Mika replies, "there's an extra guest room in my house, so he's able to stay here with us." "Well, that's good," Aika said, "I'll have to talk with him while he's here." 

A week was almost there, Kang Joon could not sleep at all. Min Hyuk was fast asleep while Kang Joon was awake, 'Aika...have you changed these past years since we've seen each other...?' Kang Joon thought, "I have a feeling that you're still that naive girl from elementary...but you've changed a little.' Kang Joon hears the door slide open, Min Hyuk waks up from the lights that . "Omma? What are you doing here at this time?" Min Hyuk yawned. "Just came to check on you both." she explained. "We're not little kids anymore, omma," Min Hyuk said, "you can check on Mina, she's only like...sixteen, she's still a child. I'm already eighteen." "I'm just checking." she said, sliding the door. Min Hyuk goes to the light switch to turn the lights off, he sits on his yo matress and looks at Kang Joon. "Sorry, my omma does that all the time," Min Hyuk explains, "we have no locks on our door, so she always has to check." "It's fine, I was still awake." Kang Joon explained. "Why were you still awake?" Min Hyuk asked. "Aika-chan..."

End of Chapter 01

Chapter 02 preview: 

While Kang Joon was in the Incheon International Airport, he was concerned about his mother's health condition. But, he told himself that it wasn't the time to think about his mother's health conditions. Within a few hours later, Kang Joon's flight got to Tokyo, Japan, Aika waited for him by the luggage area. Kang Joon went to the luggage area, and saw Aika waiting for him. "Aika-chan..."

End of preview