“See you later, Irene-ah, oh wait, not Irene, Joohyun-ah,” Michael Bae patted his only daughter’s back repeatedly as he hugged her. “I’ll text you once I get there, okay?”

The daughter hummed in response, still clinging to her father as if he was going to leave her forever. She pouted whilst pulling away slightly, her eyes were busy looking away.

“Aigoo..., no sulking,” the father couldn't help but emit a short chuckle, pinching the girl’s nose playfully. The latter only whined in return.

“Have a safe flight, Dad,” the young girl flashed a smile once the well-suit gentleman got into the elevator.

Her father nodded whilst pressing the buttons on the elevator, waving a hand as the metal door spilt the two’s sights. The one called Joohyun let out a sigh before getting back to her apartment.

Her name was Bae Irene, but as for 3 months ahead, she was gonna be called with her Korean name, Bae Joohyun. The only reason why she changed her nickname was that she was going to stay in Seoul for her last assignment in college. She was currently studying accounting and in order to graduate from Mays Business School of Texas A&M University, she had to collect one approved paper and one season of experience of work in a company. Michael Bae, her father, recommended this one company which he knew the owner of pretty well. In fact, the owner’s son, the head manager in the company in Seoul, was Joohyun’s senior back in high school. So there was no reason for her to decline the offer. And here she was now, living in an apartment by herself, about to jump into the life of Seoul that she had left a long time ago.

Joohyun headed to the kitchen, grabbing a glass then pouring some water. She leaned against the kitchen counter before taking a gulp of her drink.

“Dad’s right about this apartment,” she found herself whispering, a smile displayed on her face. “It’s so quiet here,” she looked out of the window, observing the people. “I’ll finish this stupid assignment and graduate. This should be easy.”

“This should be...”

♡

The elevator opened, revealing Bae Joohyun bringing a big plastic bag of her stock for a week. It was her second time coming into the apartment with a big plastic bag, which also meant that she had been staying for a solid one week. She took a step out, only to be stopped by many workers in a white uniform. She carefully walked to her room where more workers were seen gathering.

“Where the heck are all these people coming from?”

She might be bad at memorizing but she clearly remembered that the apartment’s workers’ uniforms were coloured blue, not white. She read their backs.

“Ah, the moving-in workers,” her mind said. “Well, guess who’s gonna have a new neighbour.”

“Please be careful with the piano.”

She was stopped by a freaking tall guy in a Hawaiian shirt who suddenly came out of the room beside hers. She took a quick glance, only to get her neck sore a bit due to the height difference, before rushing into her room with no words. The taller’s head followed her direction with mild confusion before getting asked by a worker, “where do we place the piano, Sir?”

Joohyun put the plastic bag on the table, taking out a can of coke then collapsing on the couch. She had this little fight in her mind; to come out and say hi to her new neighbour or just ignore him.

“Well, I’m only gonna be here for three months, right?” she took a sip of her coke, putting her chin on her free hand, her eyes were rolled as if she was thinking about something that really mattered.

“I’m not gonna talk to anyone unless there’s something necessary,” she decided after a solid two minutes of thinking, placing her drink on the table.

“Wait,” she got off the couch, only to be stopped by the thought that suddenly hit her like a bus. “This guy has a piano, maybe if he can play some therapeutical instruments, I’ll introduce myself,” she beamed at the thought of opening herself again to new people after one week locking herself from the public.

Later in the evening, she started staring at the screen, time to get to work. She only left the table with nothing but her laptop, her phone, her precious book where she wrote everything there, some snacks she bought this morning, and of course a cup of tea just in case her eyes started to give up. It had only been a week but she started getting busy with tasks, she even skipped her dinner and had late breakfast for the past three days.

Her phone rang right after ten minutes of working.

“Jesus Christ,” she almost fell off the chair, grabbing her phone after cursing at whoever shocked her during work time. A frown suddenly appeared on her face as the contact name showed on the screen.

“Hello, Mom,” she accepted the call after collecting strength.

“Good morning, darling, what are you doing?” a soothing motherly voice was heard, causing Joohyun to feel how her heartbreaks of missing the voice’s owner.

“I’m working and it's evening now.”

“Oh, right, yes, timezone differences. I forgot,” a chuckle followed her words.

“How was Mexico, Mom? Were you having fun there?” Joohyun leaned her back on the chair, recalling when the last time she met her mother.

“Mexico is great, sweetheart. The people are so nice, one of them even almost brought me a puppy,” again she could hear her mother giggling. “I also brought some Mexican recipes books, I’ll cook for you some once you get back.”

Joohyun couldn’t help but emit a chuckle a little. Her mother was a doctor who worked for an animal rescuers company in America. Every once in a month she travelled the world to save and help animals. And this year, the company held a big event which made her mother’s schedule totally full. It was once little Joohyun’s dream before she figured out that she had allergic to some mammals fur. Joohyun left America before her mother got back, so that was why she missed her so bad.

“How’s Seoul, sweetheart?” her mother asked after ten seconds of silence.

“Ah,” Joohyun quickly got her sense back again. “It’s fine, I guess. I mean this is where I was born so I think it’s calling me to come back and stay here for a while.”

“That’s right, my girl,” her mother let out another short chuckle. “Have you gone to the temple and prayed for your grandmother?”

Ah, yes, that was what her mother asked after she finished packing her bags a week ago.

“Mom, Busan is about three hours from here and I’m still dealing with my work,” Joohyun randomly drew a circle on her laptop pad. “But I’ll visit the temple when I get time, I promise.”

“Oh, since when did my girl become ambitious?”

Since I got this stupid assignment, Joohyun’s mind answered.

“Okay, but make sure you have someone with you when visiting the temple, will you, dear? Granny has always wanted to see at least two persons visiting her. Oh, have you talked to your neighbours? Are they nice?”

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