"Be kind to our neighbors Jungah. They just arrived from the USA. You and Jenny should be respectful. They may not be used to having noisy neighbors, our walls are really thin"

"Yes mom. We'll try to keep it down." I told her while rolling my eyes at her in secret

"Jungah can you please throw the garbage outside?" She My aunt called out from the kitchen

"Sure thing Auntie" I shouted. I stood up and went outside to throw our garbage away. 

I glanced at the house next door to take a short glimpse at the new neighbors. They have s boy who is roughly the same age as me. 
He was sitting at their swing all alone.  I wanted to come and talk to him but I'm afraid he'll get mad at me.

One afternoo, I saw him planting little seeds to their garden. He will always tend to it before going to school and even watch over it after school. 

When we are at school, I badly wanted to get to know him. I wanted to hang out with him but I can’t. 
He exudes an aura that is hard to penetrate especially for girls like me. 
There are also a lot more others who wanted to befriend him but just like me, they are all scared that they will just be ignored
It also doesn’t help the fact that he is a native English speaker. He find it really hard to speak Korean so We weren’t able to communicate well with him too. 

In class, he will always be sitting on that table very near the window. He I would always sneak glances at him. 
Whenever I was able to muster enough courage to talk to him, he will no longer be there because he already went straight home. 
That has been our cycle until middle school but suddenly everything stopped. 
His family moved back to United States but he stayed. 
He stopped going to class despite staying behind. I don't even see him at home anymore. 
I was clueless all throughout this year but I still decided to take care of his beloved plant. 

No one knew where he was or what he’s been up to. 
I continued with my life and decided to move on from that boy next door. 
His plants bloom like a into beautiful roses. 

"Jungah unnie, you have to see this" Jenny shouted from the living room. 
I ran to the living room frustrated and saw him. 

I can’t believe it. 
he was really really there. He was standing with 4 other boys looking stylish.

"Is that…?" I asked still not believing my eyes

"Ne unnie, It's really aron oppa"

Now everything makes sense. 
He missed school, He's rarely home., he was a trainee all these years. 

I felt relieved now knowing where he was all these years. 
I was on my way home from cram school when I saw a man looking at the roses in his home's garden. 

"He's home" I smiled inwardly. He was really here and he's looking at the plants. 
I was very near our door when I hear someone call out to me. 

"Jungah" 

I turned and saw him looking straight at me.

"ME?" I asked confused

"yes you, I don't see anybody with us" 
His korean improved greatly which was the very first thing I noticed

"Welcome home"

"Hello, the flowers bloomed very beautifully. Thank you for taking care of them while I was gone"

"How did you know?" He laughed pointing at their cctv camera. 

I face palmed myself. 

"That's what neighbors are for. Congratulations on your debut”

“You saw?” he asked shyly

“Of course I did. You’re all that our neighbors have been talking about.”

“I’m embarrassed and flattered at the same time” 

“Don’t be. Our neighborhood were so proud of you. I’ll probably head in first, I had a long day. Nice seeing you again and NU’EST fighting!”

“One more thing Jungah” 

“Hm?” 

“Thank you for everything”

“The flowers are nothing oppa” 

“I’m not just talking about the flowers. I knew what you’ve been doing all these years but I hadn’t have the guts to say thank you to you personally. I knew you dealt with our racist and bully classmates in middle school. I knew but I wasn’t able to tell you thank you about it personally. So thank you for everything Jungah.” 
He gave me a rose he just picked in his garden. I smiled at him before waving goodbye.

Today was surreal for me.
I framed the rose he gave me and looked out in the window again.
Life would’ve been perfect if I got to look at Aron playing with his dogs every day. 
For now, I’ll just be happy he’s home.