*"Saem" is short of "seonsaengnim", which is "teacher" in Korean, I believe.

After two years of living a new life, Haneul had decided to go back to Korea alone to finish her studies. She wanted to get into Information Technology, and wanted to get into KAIST, in Daejeon just an hour south of Seoul by KTX (Korea Train Express). Her parents had wanted her to stay in Seoul, though, since they sold their house in their hometown, and it’s nearer to the university she wished to get into.

She only agreed, they probably even did her a favour. As much as she wanted to come back home to her roots, she didn’t have anything else to come back to apart from bad memories and one other reason: Lee Seokmin.

Even just thinking about meeting him again makes Haneul feel as if her stomach’s churning for no reason. It wasn’t hate that she kept feeling about him. She never once blamed Seokmin for the horrible things she had to live with everyday at school. What she felt about Lee Seokmin was like butterflies in her tummy and every second of him in her thoughts felt like they were multiplying.

Two long years of being apart from him was nothing compared to literally her whole life being beside him everyday — unless of course, her last few days in Korea were counted. Over 730 days wasn’t enough for Haneul to get rid of her feelings for the boy, which built up over thousands of days, and over thousands of reasons that is everything Lee Seokmin.

Making it less easy for her, she was always reminded of him whenever she looked at the sky. It used to be something she did whenever she wanted to see Seokmin but couldn’t. She once spent a whole day on the hills staring at the sky because Seokmin wasn’t allowed to go out that day and see her. Who would’ve thought something she loved doing had become something she almost began to dread.

Plus, leaving without telling her best friend slash crush — as well as confessing through a letter on the day she left — wasn’t the way to go. For all she knew, Seokmin could be so mad at her that he would refuse to speak to nor even see her.

She knew. She knew what she did was wrong, that it was most probably her biggest mistake. That was why she didn’t want to go back to her hometown either: to run away from those regretful decisions.

The loud repetitive sound of her phone’s alarm echoed throughout her hotel room. She d for her phone under her comforter to shut it off. Once found, the alarm was shut off when Haneul slid her finger across the screen, finally returning the peaceful silence in the room. She let out a tired sigh, wishing to go back to sleep, but with so many things to take care of and set in such a rushed period of time, not even another five minutes of sleep was allowed for her.

‘I spent forever adapting to Vegas’ timezone, now I gotta adapt to my previous timezone again. What a life,’ Haneul told herself in her thoughts as she sat up, lifted the comforter off her and placed her feet down onto the ground.

She stood up and stretched a little before walking up to the windows and opening the curtains, revealing a whole wall of glass which allowed her to see the view of the city the hotel seemed to be well-known for.

The weather that day was calm and pleasant, quite perfect actually. The sun rose and gave light to the clear blue sky, and the temperature too was not too warm nor too cool. Perhaps it was a sign that everything would go well!

Nevertheless, Haneul couldn’t help but feel anxious. She felt her Seoul dialect wasn’t as polished as she’d like it to be — the only practice she got with it was when she was taught by other Koreans in Vegas when they would have get-togethers.

She put on some comfortable casual clothes and went on her way to her new high school to fix her enrolment. She had to take care of other things regarding school since she would’ve missed three quarters of the school year by the time she started.

Haneul made sure she had all her documents she needed and as soon as she exited the hotel, the guard had called a taxi for her. She thanked him and gave him a giant smile before entering into the vehicle.

The driver asked for their destination and she replied with the address of the school. The taxi started moving and Haneul started to relax in the car, and then looked out the window to see the skyscraper buildings. ‘This is going to be my home for a while,’ she thought while grinning at the thought. Can you blame a girl who had just returned to her roots yet also experiencing a start of something new?

For Haneul, taking a taxi may be expensive but it was the most efficient way to get to her destinations without getting frustrated since they take you to pretty much anywhere you need to go to anytime. She wasn’t quite familiar with taking the bus either since she always walked home from school with Seokmin. Back in Vegas, she was always dropped off by her dad every morning and picked up by her mother in the afternoon.

Moving to Seoul was Haneul’s first step and time in being independent, and although it worried her about what might happen, she was also excited at what she can achieve with her own skills and abilities without having to lean on her parents or relatives.

On that day, she opened a new door for herself.

The taxi stopped in front of the school. Haneul paid her fare and got off. Before making her way through the school gates, she stood there. She looked at it, and smiled. In Vegas, she felt extremely different, her English back then was very limited too. They had a very different way of living compared to what she was accustomed to her whole life.

However she looked at that school. No doubt it’ll be different from her hometown too, but at least it’s not a drastic change. At least, she hoped.

Haneul took a deep breath before walking in. The time on her watch showed it was only quarter to noon, and she wondered if it was lunch time. She was quite excited to see how her life would be there but she hasn’t prepared herself to see the students yet. Haneul was meant to start the next day, she was only there to fix her enrolm