(Backstory, present picks up on chp 1)

It was cold. Cold. As. , she mentally noted as she trudged through the dimly lit back streets of Seoul. It was snowing again, it had been for most of the day and it had started to accumulate on the pavement in soft, white wisps. Bigger flakes were falling now and she wondered if maybe there would be a lot of snow come morning. A strong gust of wind pulled her hood off her head and let a mass of spiraling reddish orange curls free in its midst. Rachel jerked the hood back on and stepped up her pace, it was already getting late and she was sleepy to boot, but she had to see him one last time before her family moved back to the states. The redhead sighed, and pulled out her phone, sending a fast text message.

"I'm on the corner where the coffee shop is"

Her phone chimed almost instantly.

"Mom is still here, wait."

"Seunghyun its snowing -.-"

You , she thought to herself and jammed her gloved hands in her jacket pockets only to catch sight of Seunghyun's mother leaving. He had mentioned that she was going to vist his aunt, and he promised her that he would stay home to meet her. True to his word, Seunghyun was not with her. She waited maybe another minute before she started inside the apartment building and up the stairs to the 5th floor. Her phone was ringing but she silenced it as she finally got to level 5. 
Rachel cop-knocked on the door hard, and a shocked looking Seunghyun swung it open.

"Stop that," the chubby Korean teen hissed as he pulled her inside quickly and shut the door behind them,"before you get me in trouble."
"No trouble, just a death sentence." She said, exploding into giggles as she kicked off her boots. Seunghyun had been one of the only friends she made during her family's 3 years in South Korea. He had the misfortune of having her sitting beside him in class, and became her default translator for the first year until she learned enough Korean to manage. He didn't like her at first, but she had grown on him. Rachel had learned that Seunghyun was something of a loner, an outcast but not bullied. Just kept to himself a lot and didn't say much. She had guessed it was because he was the school fat kid. They made one weird looking duo thanks to that. The fat Korean guy, and the tiny, stick thin American girl who was 16 but looked closer to 12.

"Oh ," Rachel got big eyed then smirked,"what if I got caught here? Would your mom kill me too?"

He shot her a disguted look. She knew he hated bad words, but she couldn't help it. "Kill you and make me watch." He deadpanned.

She pulled her jacket off and began to unwind the fluffy scarf from around her neck as she padded down the hardwood hallway to his room. She knew the way, having been over twice before. Rachel pulled open the curtains over the large window and watched the snow falling , glowing against the street lights and thought of the finality of everything. There would be no more Korea tomorrow. No more being the odd man out at school, no more making stupid mistakes when talking, no more anything. But at this point it also hit her that there would be no more Choi Seunghyun sitting beside her every day and it made a deep, sinking feeling in her chest. She always thought it would be no big deal, if anything she would be happy to move back to America and have a normal life again.....but this feeling. What the hell is wrong with me, she thought, still standing in front of the window when suddenly she felt the beginnings of tears burn in her eyes. Rachel gave a little scoff at her own stupidity and swiped her hand under her eyes as fast as she could manage but it was too late.

"You ok?"

His voice cut through the silence and it was at that very moment she realized that she was not OK. She wanted to stay here in Korea not because she liked the country or even because she had gotten used to living there, she wanted to stay because she didn't want to leave him. It was like a light switch. She liked him. A lot. Did he maybe feel the same way about her? She would never have a chance to know because she was leaving tomorrow. Oh God, she knew she should have just stayed home tonight and left things with a goodbye letter and been done.

"I'm good, just watching the snow." She whispered before rubbing her eyes with her hoodie sleeve one more time. 

"Omo, are you crying?" Seunghyun was at her side and staring at her in the most concerned looking way until she finally knodded in agreement. And then the flood of tears came.

"Why couldn't you just play it cool and not ask!" She swatted his hand away from her shoulder, but he persisted, asking her why, telling her he thought she was happy to be moving back, reminding her that she had in fact said all of that last week even. He told, in a joking way to try and make her feel better, that now she wouldn't have to be stuck hearing his horrible English every day either.

"So you aren't going to miss me at all?" She wanted to do anything to make this horrible, crushing feeling go away. Scream, cry, punch the walls, anything. Anything.

"Well yea, of cou-"

She cut him off, "I gotta tell you something, maybe it will be easier since I'm leaving tomorrow," she sniffled, "or maybe it will just make things worse. I don't know."

"You're freaking me out right now....please, don't cry anymore, pleeeeease. What's wrong?? Just tell me!" He pleaded with her.

"I wish I could stay here. Yea, I said I wanted to leave and was ready to go but I guess I realized just now that I'm not. I'm really going to miss you, so I guess I'm telling you that I'm really going to miss you," She trailed off before finding her voice once again,"and I wish I could go back or have more time or something so that I can not realize right now on my last ing day that I really, really like you."

Seunghyun blinked a few times, and ran the words through his head, making sure he heard them right. His English was less than great, and she wasn't bothering with Korean anymore. Did she just admit she has a crush on him? No way. He would have never figured that one, not in a million years. Sure, he was secretly all about Rachel but he literally gave up on that after a few weeks, insecurity had slammed that door. He started to think what if? What if he had said something before this, last year, even a few months ago....

Rachel was putting her arms back into her jacket, scarf dangling around her neck. He had been silent for a good five minutes, that awkward silence that she wanted to excuse herself from and never come back to. She reached for the door, feeling stupid enough aready "I should start heading home, before my parents think I'm lost."

He caught her wrist and spun her around.

"Don't go yet, take a picture with me first. So I don't forget your pretty face." A hint of a smile crept into his round face, and Rachel blushed so much that she was sure her cheeks would catch on fire. He pulled his phone from his pocket and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, trying his best to not act overly nervous. Reality was, Seunghyun could feel his heartbeat pulsing in his ears and he was trying to control his hands from shaking. 

They both side eyed the camera, giving their best hard- impressions before the flash went off once. A second flash, and Rachel pressed her fists against her cheeks making a cutesy face while Seunghyun make a wink complete with cheesey smile. She threw her fingers up in the double victory sign for a third photo and turned her head to flash him a smile. The he kissed her. He kissed her and the entire world stopped for a few seconds, the desperate, achy feeling in her chest was gone if only for a moment. His hands found hers as she pulled away from him, face bright pink. There was that silence again for what felt like forever.
"So," she finally spoke up, a step above a whisper. But that was all she could say. So. So what now? She knew what now, that she would walk out the door in a few minutes, go home and tomorrow be on a plane back to the states and that would probably be it. 
Seunghyun tucked a stray piece of her hair back behind her ear and smiled, gently kissing her forehead, and used her Korean name. "Bora, if you ever come back to Korea, I'll be here waiting."
 

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