Something that I learned about Seungmin quickly was that he didn't care much about the normal way of doing things. When he had said that he would help me with Korean, I expected for him to baby me and give me little beginner's books while explaining the alphabet. Instead, he showed up outside my window at five in the morning, dressed in plain jeans and a black sweatshirt with a backpack slung over his shoulder. 

I tiredly looked at him, rubbing away the sleep from my eyes as my brain tried to process that Seungmin was actually in front of me. Seungmin pointed at the window and motioned for me to open it. In my dazed state, I managed to do so, but only after fumbling around for a moment. 

"Go change. Quick. We go out."

I blinked. Was he serious? 

"I teach you," he stated, as if it explained everything. 

I blinked again. Seungmin was actually in front of me. Oh my god. He's actually here. Glancing down at myself, my cheeks burned at the sight of my old SpongeBob pajamas. 

"Quick quick," Seungmin said. "Go change."

With a horrified look, I reached out and pulled the window curtains over to block Seungmin's view. I scurried to change out of my clothes and into something less embarrassing. My heart pounded in my chest as I began to wonder what the heck I was supposed to do. Was I going to sneak out with Seungmin?

Breathing into my hand, I cringed at the smell and tip toed out of my room towards the bathroom. My ears caught the sound of Grandpa in the living room, watching the morning news. I winced when the floorboards creaked, and quickly made my way to the bathroom, hoping Grandpa wouldn't catch me. 

By the time I got back to my room, Seungmin was inside, standing by the wall across from my bed. He was looking at the pictures I had crudely taped up in a mess of a collage. His fingers traced the outlines of the figures as he looked at the pictures with interest. He glanced up as I entered, looking sheepish at getting caught. 

"My sisters," I said in Korean, despite knowing my accent was horrible. "Rachel and Olivia." I pointed at the picture his hand was on. 

It was of me and my sisters sitting on the front porch a few years back. It looked as if we were crying, though the truth was, we had laughed so hard that tears had begun to stream down our cheeks. Mom had taken the picture after we pranked Dad by staining his hands blue with dye. It was hysterical to us at he time to see our cool and composed father with blue skin that wouldn't go away. 

"You miss them?"

I nodded, feeling my lips tug into a sad smile. "Yeah," I said. 

Seungmin returned my smile with a reassuring one before walking towards the window. "We go?" He was already sticking half of his body out of the window, not waiting for my response. 

All I could do was follow after him. 

"Where are we going?" 

I looked around, seeing the sun just rising on the horizon. I knew nothing about the area, so what ever Seungmin was planning, I had to rely on him the entire time. 

"Come."

I followed him, walking a step behind as he led me somewhere. 

"Where are we going?" I repeated. 

He didn't respond. I wasn't sure if it was because he was ignoring me, or if he didn't understand me- or maybe he didn't know how to say what he wanted to- but in the end, I was left answerless. So, I settled for following him in silence. 

Grandpa's house and Seungmin's house were the smallest and the oldest on the street. While the other houses were fairly new and up to housing standards and styles, theirs maintained an older rustic appearance. Mom and Grandpa had told me about how Grandpa had built the house for Grandma exactly to her liking, which was why Grandpa refused to change anything about it.

"For her, I would build castle," Grandpa had said proudly. 

Seungmin's grandpa had built their home as well, though I liked to believe that Grandpa's house was more special. 

Our street was fairly short, maybe a quarter of a mile,  and led to the main road. From the main road on, it was free territory filled with shops, restaurants, cafes, the arcade, the gaming cafe etc. I stuck close to Seungmin as he walked down the street. I didn't expect any places to be open, but sure enough, shops were already opening up and street food stands were cooking food. 

Seungmin walked up to one of the stands and greeted the man warmly. The man glanced over at me, and I did my best to muster up a smile. The man said something, but I didn't understand, so Seungmin spoke up in my place. Whatever Seungmin said made the man nod and go, "ohhh" before simply smiling at me. Seungmin spoke again, and held up two fingers. 

Two skewers were handed out towards us. I blinked in confusion as Seungmin handed me one and took the other. Then there were two cups filled with some kind of soup being held out towards us. We both took one, though I didn't know what to do with it. Seungmin looked at me expectantly, and I felt my cheeks redden. 

I didn't want to seem picky, but whatever was on the skewer smelled nothing like anything I had ever eaten (neither did whatever was in the soup), and I wasn't sure if I was ready to just take a bite out of it. Sensing my hesitation, Seungmin dipped the skewer into the cup then took a bite. He nodded at me afterwards to follow suit. Glancing down, I saw the odd tan thing on the stick and I couldn't figure out what it was exactly. The soup wasn't any better. Slowly, I followed Seungmin's actions and dipped the skewer into the cup. I raised the skewer to my lips. Seungmin already bought it. I couldn't just not eat it, especially in front of the man who just sold it to us. 

I took a hesitant bite, and chewed slowly. The flavor was odd, though not in a bad way. I wasn't sure how to properly describe it, but it wasn't bad. 

"I like it," I said honestly. 

Seungmin breathed out in relief before continuing to eat. "Odeng," he said to me at one point.

"What?"

He pointed at the stand, were there was a picture of the food. "Odeng." Then he pointed to the food in my hands. "Odeng."

"Odeng," I repeated. 

After we finished, Seungmin paid the man, and we continued walking. Every now and then, Seungmin stopped and pointed at something, telling me what it was called while I repeated it back. 

For some reason, I was at ease with Seungmin. Maybe it was because he was genuinely kind, and it showed through his actions. Maybe it was because he wasn't awkward around me, and treated me like a friend. I wasn't quite sure what, but something about Seungmin was calming. 

When we arrived at a cafe, we finally sat down, and Seungmin opened his  backpack. He laid out two books in front of us, one in Korean and the other in English. He flipped the Korean book open and showed me the first page. In English, there were explanations about the Korean language. A chart on plastered on the page, showing different characters and the sounds they made. 

"We practice sound first," Seungmin said. 

He went through all of the characters with me, making me repeat after him. Each time I messed up, he smiled and shook his head, never getting impatient with me. 

"I'm sorry," I said after I kept messing up. 

"No worry," Seungmin insisted. "No worry. I help."

I sighed. "I know, but I won't always have you for help."

A confused expression crossed his face. I opened my mouth to rephrase my statement, thinking that he didn't understand me. But instead, he spoke with an incredulous tone. 

"Why no?" His eyebrows knitted together as he leaned forward in his seat. "Felix," he said seriously, "you always have me."