“Oppa!! Wake up! I think we’re here!” I shouted excitedly in my friend’s ear which made him jump up from his seat in shock. Not a good idea in a moving bus as he was very quickly thrown back in his seat. Needless to say he didn’t seem too happy with this and the fact I had raised my voice in a public place.

“Yura-yah…” He started, letting out a sigh. “We’re in Korea now. I know you have grown up in England and are more accustomed to the way people act there, however you LOOK Korean so while you’re here, please try to act a bit more…” He looked like he was looking for the right words to say so it wouldn’t hurt me. “Just try to not stand out too much, promise?” Somehow I felt it was not really the thing he was thinking of, but I just quietly nodded.

“I’m sorry, oppa.” I gave him the puppy-eye look I knew most guys can’t resist. Hey, let’s face it, if you’re good at something then use it to get it your way. My specialty just so happened to act cute when I wanted to. Which wasn’t that often though, but necessary in situations like this.

He just chuckled and let it go. As I knew he would. If there is one thing that will capture almost any guy’s heart, is a girl acting cute and innocent. It was almost like putting a big sticker on their foreheads with the label ‘ERS’ on.

I was right when I said we had arrived. The bus really did pull into the station just a few minutes after I had woken my friend up and we finally got back on the nice, solid ground. I preferred walking over anything, so staying on a bus or a plane or what’s worse – both – for too long was not the ideal way to spend my day. Once we got out luggage and got out by the taxi parking spaces I heard someone happily calling my friend.

“YAH! Yoojin-ah! You little rascal! Finally!” Followed by another guy literally pouncing on my friend. I just stepped a bit back and giggled at the bromance unfolding in front of me where the two guys were hugging and happily greeting each other. And I stood out? Really?

“So you managed to get a girlfriend over in England? And such a cutie as well! She’s a keeper!” The guy turned to look at me and I just looked back at him with that face that just yelled out ‘you-must-be-joking-right?’ followed by a loud laugh breaking out of my mouth. Yoojin oppa wasn’t that bad looking, he was 4 years older and ambitious, but the thought of me dating him felt like committing . Just wrong in general. He was one of those people I took care of when they first arrived in England and we soon were as close as real siblings would, but no more than that.

“Eh, don’t be ridiculous! She’s my dongsaeng that I met while in England. She and her dad were a big help for me and I worked at their restaurant. I told you about her last time, didn’t I?” He explained and I perked up at the fact that he had talked about me to someone else. It was nice knowing I was somewhat important to someone, but I was also immediately curious to know what exactly was said. Nevertheless, I went on with the introductions.

“Hello. My name is Lee Yura, I was born in 1993. It’s nice to meet you.” This phrase I had practiced so often and it felt a bit overused. I had to use it with every single new student that came to study in England. As per normal, it was important to also let them know my age. I looked a bit older than other kids my age and we all know how important age and politeness is for Koreans.

“1993? Woah, really?” This was not really the answer I was waiting from him, more like something along the lines of an introduction, however I just gave him a little nod and turned to my oppa with an expression that would say something along the lines ‘and-who-the-hell-is-this?’.

“Oh, yeah, this is my friend from way back in elementary school. Kim Taekyun, we’re the same age.” He introduced me and the person called Kim Taekyun slightly bowed to me as I did the same in return.

“So you’re my oppa as well then.” I said with a bright smile on my face and I could just see the guys face light up. I did not know what was the obsession with the word ‘oppa’ for Korean men, but I swear they would do anything just to hear it. Especially from cute girls. Thank goodness I fell into this category. Continuing from this, he took the liberty of taking care of my luggage while we were moving to his car. Apparently he was the one that was supposed to pick us up and take us to my oppa’s place where I would be staying until I found what I came looking for. I still got interested looks from people and I swear some took pictures of me, but I couldn’t care less. I was more interested into looking around and everything. It was so weird. The Korean community in England was quite close so I still saw a fair bit of them over there, but here… It was just Korean anywhere you looked. With only a few westerners mixed between them, but only on rare occasions. Everything felt just so new, so different, but also strangely comforting – like a home would. In the car I didn’t talk much. The two men were so busy catching up, letting each other know about what’s been happening and just life in general, that I was a bit forgotten in the back seat of the car. But this I definitely did not mind. All that was in my mind was that I was here now and I had to start thinking about how to find her. Ok, yes I admit, I should have thought things through before I came here, obviously. But what fun would that be? I had a few clues to start off at. Y grandmother from father’s side had some information on where my mother lived at the time of the divorce and that was my first starting point right there. It was very likely that she had moved by now, but I was determined not to give up until I find her.