I stir awake as my alarm went off with the familiar upbeat tune of BTS in replacement of my piano music that usually played softly in the background. I don't know why, but I just can't sleep without music. All I know is that silence is creepy as hell, especially, at night. Usually, it'd be piano music since playing anything else might distract me from sleeping, but from time to time, it's nice to play soft, sad ballads.

            After some thought, I finally turned off my alarm just to hear the last few notes of Yiruma's Serenade in E before getting up to get ready for class.

            I'm glad my morning routine includes me getting dressed first because since I don't have a private bathroom and living with- basically- strangers, I can't live with them seeing me in my sleeping clothes just yet. It's not that I'm wearing something ridiculous like a onesie, I just don’t like letting people see me under dressed. If I can't get myself to wear sweatpants in public, there's just no way in my post-sleepy state.

            As I finish slipping in a sweater and grabbing the last few items I need for the bathroom, I head towards the door, but was stopped when I heard a couple doors closing and then voices. At first, I couldn't distinguish who was talking until his deep voice resonated through the door and into my eardrums. The second voice, however, was very unfamiliar and it was probably the one guy who didn’t show up for dinner last night. I liked his voice too. It wasn't that deep like Changkyun's, but it was very soothing and cute?

            "You should meet the new girl," Changkyun stated bringing me back to reality. "She's so nice and cute too.” I couldn't help but roll my eyes and blush at the same time. I could almost see him wiggling his eyebrows at the other male hinting that I’m available and up for grabs.

            "Isn't she young though? I heard from Auntie that she's starting new at the University," the man replied. “Good age I would assume for you?”

            "It's only a few years apart, hyung," I can imagine Changkyun waving him off like it's nothing. "But you know I am thing-ing with that girl in my music theory class."

            That made me a little sad that Changkyun was almost taken, but I do feel since we're living together now he's going to be like family. And I would say, he does feel like an older brother, especially, last night when we were talking. It wasn't much of a romantic vibe, but a comfortable, family talk.

            “Anyway, you should stay a bit to talk to her and eat breakfast with us. This is the only chance you’re going to get where I’m cooking,” Changkyun suggested.

            “You cooking? I may have to pass on that,” he laughed. “I really wish though, but I have to finish grading my students' work. They'd be furious that I didn't finish grading it yet and whine about not being able to see their grades."

            "You work so hard, hyung. You need a break and get married or something! You’re nearing your thirties.”

            The man chuckled. “Changkyun, we just got off summer break.”

            “And you were teaching summer courses. Ugh, what’s the use of changing the mind of a workaholic? Just make sure you stop by Jeonghun’s café to pick up something.”

            “Already planned on it,” the male laughed, and it was quite a very handsome laugh. I really can’t help, but just fall for just his vocals. I hope his face matches his beautiful voice.

            I grew a little silent and I assumed that the men left. I was about to open the door when two knocks rattled the door. I opened it to find a smiling Changkyun.

            “Morning, Seoul! As a celebration for the start of a new day and your first day of school, I have prepared a nice breakfast downstairs,” Changkyun announced.

            “Aw, how sweet,” I smiled back at him. “I’ll be down in a bit. I still have to brush and get this face ready.”

            “Oh, thank goodness because I haven’t made the pancakes yet. Well, I made the batter, but I still need to put them on the stove,” Changkyun laughed. “So please, take your time.”

            “You won’t get lost, right?” Changkyun and I stood in front of the door as I was about to leave for my first day of university.

            “I don’t think so…?” I pursed my lips together.

            “I’m uneasy of letting you go by yourself, but I believe in you. The whole town might seem confusing, but if you think about it, we live in like a horseshoe so if you go left and keep going left till you reach the hump of the shoe then there’s the university. There’s also signs that point to where school is. It’ll only be a 10-minute walk.”

            “Doesn’t sound too bad,” I nodded my head. “I better get going before it gets too late.”

            “Don’t worry, you have plenty of time! Be safe and have fun!” He waved me off as I began my journey. I’m feeling some regret of not exploring yesterday; however, I did arrive late to town and spent most of the day unpacking so I did have a good reason not to come out. Maybe I’ll meet a friend today and they’ll show me around today after school. That is if they have a similar schedule and have the time… I sighed and pushed myself along the sidewalk.

            The town is cute. It looks so old fashion yet, modern. I silently watched people come out of their homes and greet their neighbors, having small conversations with the man who owns the grocery store. I can tell he owns it because the store is called Cho’s market and the woman earlier greeted him with a ‘Good morning, Uncle Cho!’ This all reminded me of Sesame Street because all the buildings are so close to each other and everyone knows one another, and the community just seems like one big family.

            As I got closer to the university, it seemed that the signs pointing towards the school got bigger and bigger or at least anything that revealed to be part of the campus. I finally reached the front gates of the school and was astonished to see how big and beautiful the campus looked in real life that it didn’t feel real at all. It wasn’t something I was used to in Seoul. Sure, there are areas of the Universities that have large patches of grass, but this looked like a field of just green grass and trees. The main building of the school was very large as well like it could pass off as the White House in America or even like the University of Washington. I really wanted to study abroad and yet; it was just too expensive. There are probably many other buildings behind for the different subjects like art, sciences, and whatever exquisite thing a student is majoring in. Considering that this town has a population of only several hundred people, this school could be its own town.

            “I just have to find the main office somewhere,” I muttered to myself and continued walking up the path in between the large front yard.

            “Woah, hey, HEADS!” Of course, whenever someone calls heads, no one is going to duck because they’d look stupid for ducking when the flying object isn’t heading their way and yet, they’d still look stupid when they get hit by said flying object. And I felt the stupidest because barely anyone was around the area and so I had to be one to duck.

            I immediately crouched down and grabbed my head as the pain circulated around the sore spot after the ball was hurled in my direction and smacked me right at the side of my head. “Ouch…”

            “Ay, score!” I thought people were nice in this town…

            “Uh, no score,” the taller boy pushed away his friends and his steps came closer to where I crouched. “Hey, sorry about that guy over there; he’s a jerk. Are you alright?”

            He placed a warm hand on my shoulder and his hand, literally, covered my whole entire shoulder. Why are his hands so large? I looked up and couldn’t help, but to blush a little. Are all the guys here this handsome? This is honestly like the internet joke where all the boys at my school are ugly and other boys at another school are hot.

            I slowly nodded my head. “Are you sure?” He questions again. “Jongin kicked the ball pretty hard.” He lent out his hand and I gently took it. His hands were very large in my small ones and rough too. He had a couple of callouses on his fingers and I wondered if he plays an instrument or even lifts weights. He seems like a guitar type of guy.

            “Thank you,” I softly say, being too flustered by this extremely handsome guy.

            “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new here? You can say that I know everyone in this small town and yet, I don’t know you,” he flashed quick smile showing off his pearly whites.  

            “Yeah, I just moved here yesterday.”

            “Ah okay,” he nodded his head. “So that means you don’t know where everything is yet either, right?”

            I nodded. “I spent all yesterday unpacking so I didn’t have any time to really go out exploring.”

            “Oh, I see. But you know exploring by yourself isn’t that fun. Maybe, I can take you out after school or something to show you?”

            I was probably as red as tomato by now. But me and my big mouth… Why do I always seem to play hard to get when I’m not! I just get so flustered and very anxious of what is happening when things happen so suddenly. “I don’t know…”

            “Come on, I’ll be your first real friend,” he proposed.

            “Will our schedules work out though?”

            “Good question… um… did you get your schedule yet?”

            “Hey, Chanyeol hyung, what’s the hold up? Hurry up and bring back the ball!” Probably his friend, Jongin, was the one calling out to him.

            Chanyeol rolled his eyes and quickly picked up the ball to kick it back to his friend while throwing up his arms in the air in a way to tell him that he was bothering him.

            “No, I was actually on my way to find the front office before all this happened,” I replied.

            “Oh, I can take you there now and then we can figure out if I can take you out or not,” he winked.

            “Will your friends mind?”

            He waved his hand. “Eh, don’t worry about them. They can fend for themselves without me.”

            We started to walk away with each other before his friends called out again. “Hyung, where are you going?”

            “I’m taking a really pretty girl to the office!” He shouted back and waved his arms good-bye.

            Once again, I’m mad blushing because of this insanely cute guy was calling me pretty. Already my life here is becoming more and more suitable for me and way better than my life back at home in Seoul. I felt more noticed. This might just be the beginning since I’m the new face of the town and later, I’ll just be another familiar passing face.

            “You can tell by now, but I’m Park Chanyeol by the way.”

            “I’m Park Seoul.”

            Chanyeol tilted his head to the side. “Eh? Seoul? That’s such a cool name! Are you from Seoul?”

            I nodded once more. “My parents aren’t the most original people.”

            “What? Your parents are pretty original. How many Seouls have you met?”

            “None.”

            “Exactly! Pretty original to name your child that in my opinion,” he laughed. “But hey, you’re a Park too and Parks are pretty awesome people~”

            I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, except I’m short.”

            “Yeah, you’re a little on the smaller size, but that’s okay! Size doesn’t matter!”

            “For a guy, I expected size to matter,” I stated with a raised brow.

            He choked at the slight inappropriate joke. I giggled at his reaction and was glad that he understands the meaning behind it as well. “You’re a terrible person. I like you though.”

            We finally arrived at the front office and Chanyeol helped me introduce myself and collect my things. It was probably better and easier since Chanyeol knew the front desk lady. She even gave me my books that I was to get myself, but he sweet talked her into getting it for me.

            “I had dinner at her house once. Her husband is a professor here and I was working on a project with him, so I met up at his house and they offered me dinner. They have a daughter too and I could tell she was interest in me. She’s weird though and wasn’t my style,” Chanyeol explained as we left the office. “Okay, let’s check out this schedule of yours.”

            After a minute of scanning my schedule, we came to the conclusion that Chanyeol and I nearly have a similar schedule where I start class 10 minutes before his and that he finishes class 15 minutes before my classes are done only one Mondays, Thursday and Fridays while on Tuesday and Wednesdays, Chanyeol is only able to take me to my first class since he’d be in class and labs the whole day. I did mention to him that it’d be a lot to wait for me that long and then he proceeded to tell me not to fret and that he won’t mind waiting for me.

            “Your classes seem to be a bit scattered. Have you figured out what you’re majoring in?” Chanyeol looked over my schedule once more as he led me to each of my classes, so I know where to go when I finish them.

            “Not really. I did give it some thought, of course, before I graduated high school, but I still don’t know.  I’m not specifically good at anything,” I pursed my lips. I don’t really like talking about myself like this. I always feel like I’m complaining or wanting attention like I want to be told that I’m good at things, but in all honesty, I’m not good at things.

            “There must be something.”

            I shrugged my shoulders. “I barely passed any of my math classes, I’m decent in science, I don’t like history, not into literature even though I took all the higher level classes, I’m not a great instrument player so music is a no go, I like Tennis, but not good enough to make any major teams. I don’t know… I can be good at things; however, I just can’t see myself doing one of those subjects for long term.”

            “I see what you’re getting at,” he nodded his head. “Sometimes I just tell myself that in the real world, I won’t actually need to calculate the velocity in order to play fetch with puppies. We still must learn it and master that skill, get your career, and then you may never have to see it again. Fake it till you make it, you know?”

            “You’re right,” I sighed. “What about you, Chanyeol? Do you already have a major?”

            “Yeah, well, I’ve been here a long while. Of course, we just met so you wouldn’t have known that. Anyway, I’m going to be a veterinarian. I’m trying to get very qualified, you know, so that’s why I’ve been here so long.”

            “How long have you been here?”

            “Eight years…” my jaw dropped. “I first started majoring in music because I love music. I play the guitar, piano, drums, rapping, and singing, you name it! But I thought about taking over my parents’ pet clinic. I’ll take you there sometime. Um, yeah…”

            “That means you’re a lot older than me,” I pursed my lips, joking around.

            “Yeah, I figured. You seem like a cute freshman,” he smiled. “How old are you by the way? 18?”

            “Yep, I turn 19 next month though,” I added. “I just have to add in that part to ensure that I’m at least a little older.”

            He laughed. “Ah, so there’s a 7-year difference,” it was Chanyeol’s turn to purse his lips. “A little young still, huh?”

            I wasn’t sure where he was getting at, but I knew it meant he wasn’t up to dating someone who is 7 years younger than him. Seven is close to 10 so it’s nearly a decade apart. I brushed it off. I shouldn’t even be getting into a relationship at the start of school. I should focus on my education and getting my life together first before anything else. “I’m an only child so you can adopt me to be your little sister though!”

            “Sounds fair enough,” he smiled once more. “So, does that mean you’ll be calling me oppa then?”

            I was starting to get comfortable being with Chanyeol that my true self was slowly seeping out and that started with my sass. “Ooh… not so fast buddy.”

            “It’ll be a start of something new, you know,” he clapped his hands. “I know many girls don’t call their guy friends that until they’re closer, but I think we’ll be okay, and it’ll be the start of us becoming closer.”

            “Okay, oppa,” I responded giving in to him.

            “Ah, maybe I might have to rethink about the ,” he shook his head. “I’ll see you after school,” Chanyeol winked at me as he dropped me back off at my first class.