a/n Dialogues in Italics are spoken in English.

Just a few weeks after the start of their final year of middle school, the trio i.e., Hae Rin, Da Yeong and Benji had made plans to watch a movie in the theater over a weekend. After the two girls had lunch, they shopped a little before they headed over to Bae's bakery to help them let Benji off duty early for the movie.

After they were relieved for the day, they took turns to get out of their employee uniforms. Hae Rin was the last one to do so and when she was done, she knew they had to rush off quickly to collect the tickets from the booking counter before they are given away to someone else.

As she was about to run out of the store, Mrs. Bae called out to her, “Hae Rin-ah, take this.” She placed a to-go cup on the counter, “the kids ordered it for you before they went out.”

“Thank you, ahjumma,” she thanked Mrs. Bae with a bow, then grabbed the cup off the counter and quickly turned around, only to dash into someone and spilling almost the entire content on herself but also getting some on the stranger as well.

“Aish!” she cursed, not because the drink was hot but because she was running out of time to change into another top. However, the stranger mistook it to be her annoyance and apologized repeatedly with a heavy foreign accent and then a lot more in English.

She looked up at the foreign sounding stranger to say she was alright but she just stood there mesmerized, with hanging slightly open. In front of her stood, the most attractive boy she has encountered in her life. He looked Korean yet not entirely Korean.

The boy stood nearly a foot taller than her, his dark ash brown hair neatly trimmed and stylishly kept, a very sharp nose, thin lips, slightly plump cheeks that adorned soft freckles. As her eyes finally landed on his honey colored eyes, her heart did a flip inside her chest.

She noticed his lips move but her brain processed no sound. Her train of thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone else speak fluent Korean. Her cheeks reddened being caught staring as she turned to look at the other person, who happened to be a Caucasian girl.

“We are really sorry about the inconvenience. My friend here,” she spoke fluent Korean as she pointed to the boy beside her, “he wants to know if he can compensate you in any way. Like get you the same drink that he spilled and maybe get your shirt washed?” she said, while the boy nodded his head as Hae Rin looked at him.

Hae Rin was about to reply, when the bakery’s door opened and Da Yeong called out, “Hae Rin-ah! Are you coming? It’s getting late,” she pointed to her watch. Hae Rin turned back to the two people standing in front of her, “Tell him it’s not entirely his fault and that I’m alright. Anyway, I’m sorry I have to hurry.” She bowed to them and rushed out immediately.

“What took you so long? Were you hitting on someone?” Benji joked before he exclaimed, “Holy ! What happened to you? Are you alright?” Hae Rin nodded. “Do you wanna change? We can wait some more.”

Hae Rin shook her head, “We don’t have time for that. Remember that guy told us to collect the tickets half an hour before the show time? Let’s just take a taxi. I’ll get changed in the women’s room there.”

Benji nodded and walked over to the end of the curb to flag down a taxi while Hae Rin glanced into the bakery through the glass window, hoping to get a glance of the boy from earlier. “Are you alright?” Da Yeong asked while she nodded.

Over the next few days, Hae Rin happened to accidently stumble upon this beautiful boy over here and there. The boy who introduced himself as Aiden on their first meet after their café accident, initially tried speaking with her in English and when she didn’t react, he eventually carried around a book in his hand from which he read some broken Korean sentences to converse with her.

Since he lived in the same neighborhood as Da Yeong and Benji and also attended the school in the same locality as hers, their paths crossed more often than one would expect for accidental encounters. And every single time they came across each other, he made sure that she knew of his presence.

No matter his attempt, she hardly responded to him. For one, she felt really shy around him that she didn’t know how to react to him. For another, she wasn’t sure if he’d reciprocate the feeling and even if he did, if he’d still stay the same even after finding about her genetic condition that she has been working hard to conceal from others for so many years.

Her childhood trauma of people alienating her and even calling her names such as an alien, a witch etc. after they discovered her heterochromia, had encaged her in insecurities that albeit her father and her twin saying otherwise did nothing to get her out of it. So she didn’t want to get hurt by getting close to this boy she has started liking.

The more she encountered him, the more she liked him. Despite her efforts to thwart him, he always tried to converse with her even with limited Korean. But at the same time, he also knew when he had to keep himself in check, especially when she was feeling uncomfortable with something he said or did.

Hae Rin has gotten a part-time job recently at the bookstore that she used to frequently visit. The store was owned by an old couple who wanted some rest from the store. So they have recently hired two part-timers, Hae Rin and a college student named, Yerim.

One fine evening, Hae Rin was at her job, arranging the bookshelves at the back of the store, when the doorbell clanged notifying the arrival of a customer. Since Yerim was manning the checkout desk, Hae Rin decided to continue with her work.

However, a moment later, she heard Yerim calling out to her. So she got down the step ladder, just as Yerim came into her view. She looked a little flustered as she said, “Hae Rin-ah, can you help me with this customer? He is speaking English.”

“Of course I can, unnie. No worries.” She dusted her hand against her dress and walked out of the row of shelves, “So how may I help you?” she asked the customer in English as she walked over to him, only to take a step back in surprise.

There stood the cute boy Aiden himself, looking equally surprised, “Oh, Hae Rin? You work here? Wait, did you speak in English just now?” he exclaimed the last question a little loudly, making Hae Rin jump a little. Her entire face had turned beet red on being caught red-handed, so she quickly turned around and was about to run away, when he stopped her, “Wait! I’m just a little surprised you lied to me for so long. But it’s okay,”

She whipped round to face him, “I never lied to you. You just assumed it yourself that I didn’t know English, didn’t you? So totally not my fault,” she defended herself while he smiled widely.

“Fair point,” he said with a smile while she realized that he was just teasing her and that she had fallen right into his trap.

“You stalker!” she blurted out, trying to hide her tizzies.

“Hey! That’s not fair. I had no idea you worked here. I wanted to get some books and my friends suggested me this place. Also I never stalked you,” he looked horrified as he defended himself.

It was now Hae Rin’s turn to let out a soft chuckle, “Relax! I was just kidding. I just started working here less than a week ago. Nonetheless, it was a sight to behold to see you get flustered for once. And I’m sorry that I hid that I knew English. You were a stranger, albeit a cute one, a stranger nonetheless.”

“You think I’m cute?” he exclaimed, his eyes jumping in excitement.

“Is that the only thing you heard out of all the things I said?” she almost rolled her eyes while he laughed out loud. “Anyway, what books are you looking for?” she asked while he handed her the sheet of paper in his hands on which the lists were written down.

Hae Rin read the list, “Aiden, some of these books are elementary level Korean books or story books. Are you aware of it?” Aiden ears turned a shade darker.

“Mom wants me to learn Korean. So she ordered me to get these books. She said this way it would be easier,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

She placed her fist over to control the laughter and when she was sure she had it under control, “That’s a nice way to start. Your mom’s got a point. Anyway, I’ve got these Korean books in stock but about the English books, I’d have to check the inventory. And even if we don’t have it immediately, we could order and get it for you, although you might find it easier to do it yourself.”

“Yeah, that’s possible. But then I have to find some other excuse to come visit you. So I guess, I’d order them here and use that as an excuse for now,” he commented, smirking while she glared at him, playfully.

“You know you are welcome to visit the shop any time as long as you don’t disturb my work. There’s a study café/li