Chapter 2

As they boarded the aircraft, Jennie clutched Rose’s arm and she seemed to be shaking a bit.

‘Are-are you okay?’ asked Rose, feeling a bit worried.

‘Y-yes, I’m fine. It’s just – er – it’s just that, well, you see, I’m a bit scared of – uh – flying…’ said Jennie, rather quietly.

Rose nodded sympathetically.

‘I know how you feel. I used to be afraid of flying to. But I got used to it after a couple of times. It’s just the occasional bumps that still get on my nerves a bit. It’s ok though. I’ll be here for you.’ Rose said, but immediately cringed to herself at the last part of her sentence.

But Jennie didn’t seem to mind Rose saying that. In fact, she seemed more at ease once Rose had said that she would be with her.

Once they got in the plane, they went to their designated seats. Rose and Jennie were surprisingly put together on the window side of the aircraft. Jennie had briefly mentioned before how she preferred sitting next to the window when flying, and remembering that conversation, Rose immediately offered to sit on the aisle side, so Jennie could sit next to the window.

During take-off, Jennie seemed to be all jumble and nerves again, so Rose took hold of her delicate hands, and held them tight, but not too tight. Jennie looked at her and smiled.

After take-off, the flight attendants came round with beverages and the usual stuff.

‘Are you going to watch a movie?’ asked Rose, taking out the remote.

‘Let’s watch one together!’ decided Jennie.

So they did. Rose let Jennie pick one – some Korean drama – and the two watched it. Halfway through the movie, there was a break-up scene with the dude and the girl, and Rose heard Jennie make a sudden weird sound.

‘…know how that feels like…’ she mumbled.

Rose was confused, but quickly connected the dots and figured that she must have recently broken up with her boyfriend.

Hopefully she doesn’t start crying about it…thought Rose. I really would not know what to do if she did. I mean, none of my friends have ever even had boyfriends yet – well, except for this one girl who I wasn’t really friends with but my friend was friends with her so – oh that’s getting too complicated, never mind. Anyway, I think she met up with some dude on a dating app or something, and if I remember correctly, he was just some dude looking for someone to “bang” with, but unfortunately for her, she found out the hard way…ha ha, I just realised how single I am…

Luckily for Rose, Jennie didn’t start bawling her eyes out, though she did end up falling asleep before the movie had finished, and rested her head on Rose’s shoulder. Rose flinched at first, when she felt Jennie’s head make soft contact with her shoulder, because no-one had ever done that to her before. But looking down at her peaceful-looking state, Rose smiled and drew up Jennie’s make-shift blanket a bit higher up, so Jennie wouldn’t get cold.

After a direct flight of a painfully long 10 hours and 40 minutes, the aircraft finally touched down at Incheon International Airport (international airport in Seoul, Korea….i think). There was a lot of hustle and bustle with getting all of the exchange students from both groups into one organised groups, and two of the boys had already gone to the bathroom and trashed it by writing insults on the mirrors.

I seriously don’t understand how people like that could be invited to this kind of event, thought Rose, when she found out the disturbing news.

‘Boys are so stupid,’ mumbled Jennie, sliding her arm through Rose’s.

‘I couldn’t agree more,’ agreed Rose with a smile.

……

About an hour later, the group of exchange students had left the airport, taken the private coach to the dorms they would be staying in for the entire duration of their stay in Korea, and been assigned their rooms. When one of the instructors announced that Jennie, Rose, and another girl who was due to arrive a bit later, were to be in the same room, Rose felt she could leap with joy. The two felt like they had been best friends from childhood ever since they got off the aircraft.

Of course, there was still a good deal of stuff they didn’t know about one another.

Like the time when Jennie went to inspect the bathroom of their room and found a hideous hairy spider in the corner behind the toilet. She came bolting out, screaming as if she had seen some ghost! She grabbed hold of Rose’s arm and held it ever so tightly, and shaking with so much fear that Rose also felt a bit spooked. But when Jennie told her what had made her bolt, Rose had to try so much to not laugh. She ended up sounding like a dying seal.

‘A spider?’ she repeated, a bit unsure if Jennie was playing with her.

Jennie gave a small nod, her eyes as wide as – well, think of something that’s really big and insert it here -, and Rose knew full well that she was telling the truth. So she went to the bathroom, with Jennie trailing closely behind her, at a safe distant. Rose saw the spider, that had found itself in the middle of the small bathtub. It looks like such a sad, miserable creature…thought Rose. She found a dustpan in one of the drawers and quickly dusted the spider up, trying not to hurt it, and deposited it outside the door of their dorm. She watched it slowly recover from being cramped up, and scurry away as fast as it’s hairy legs could carry it. Once the spider was gone, she went back into the room and Jennie immediately rushed out, giving her a hug.

‘Thank you so much for getting rid of that thing Rose! I have a phobia with those creatures, and they always half-scare me to death.’ she said, sounding extremely relieved.

‘No worries!’ replied Rose, making a mental note that Jennie was afraid of spiders. That’s something else that I now know about my new friend!

After that small commotion, they got their stuff organised, and put their school stuff in their bags, as they were to go to school the following week, which was only 2 days away. As they were putting their books in, Rose’s eyes wandered to Jennie’s backpack and almost fell over. Oh wow! Oh WOW!!! That’s a Louis Vuitton Crocodilian Leather Backpack, which, if I’m not wrong, is worth at least US$79,000, or if you convert it to Won, it would be…hmm, let’s see…er… ₩91819330.00!!! Don’t ask me how I know all that. In other words, SHE MUST BE DAMN RICH!!!

Jennie caught Rose staring at her bag, as if it was the most expensive as thing in the world (which in this case, it was. Trust me, search up “the most expensive bag in the world” on Google), and she quickly tossed it underneath the bed, like it was a rag doll or something.

‘Oh wait! Don’t do that! You might damage it!’ cried Rose, diving underneath the bed to retrieve the bag.

‘It’s ok. Just leave it there,’ said Jennie, sounding a bit cold.

So Rose left the expensive as bag where it was, and stood up. She was about to ask Jennie if she was alright, but Jennie turned and left the room. Rose went to catch up to her, but when she opened the door and looked out into the hallway, Jennie was gone. Confused, Rose went back into the room and sat down in the small armchair next to the window. Ok, that was a bit weird…she thought. Maybe her ex-boyfriend bought her that bag and it reminds her of him…??? What am I even thinking??

At that moment, the door of the dorm opened and a girl walked in.

Rose turned and looked up, then almost fell out of her chair.

The other girl who was sharing their dorm had arrived.