A young male, barely out of his teens, stood in the crowded airport. His hand automatically flexed against the single hand carry he held, his moody eyes scanning the scene of bustling people. The usually unexpressive lips thinned into a single line, his brows furrowed. To any passerby, it was grimace. To a female, it’d be the epitome of a cold, attractive prince.

 

“Did you see an enemy?” The question was coughed out by the security, his eyes unable to meet the younger’s gaze even as he indicated for the passport to be presented.

 

He snapped out of his reverie, his hands purposefully slow as he extracted his passport from the corner of his bag. His eyes never stop moving over the view of his native airport, even as he accepted his passport back and slowly made his way into the departure hall.

 

It’s going to be a while before he’d be seeing this airport again Kris thought wistfully, finally turning his back on the place that was his home.

 

“Welcome aboard.” The familiar mandarin greeting had his mouth tilting upwards a little before he moved on to his seat, missing the slight swoon emitted from the stewardess.

 

Pausing by the aisle next to his seat, Kris carefully stored his belonging by the overhead cabin, noting the dark blue carry-on that was neatly stored next to his. On its own accord, his eyes drifted down and locked onto the back of a brunette’s head. Lowering himself to his seat, Kris was careful not to make too huge a movement, watching as the female positioned her camera at another angle to capture the afternoon sunlight streaming through.

 

The sudden announcement (by a foreign language that was soon going to be his daily companion) by the flight crew had the female shifting on her seat, finally exposing her frontal profile to him. The unexpected revelation had him forgetting all about his manners as Kris soon found himself looking at a young girl around his age leaning back against her seat, shutting off her camera. (In the recess of his mind, Kris registered that she is Korean from the way she responded to the announcement.)

 

As though his gaze compelled her to do so, she turned and caught him staring at her openly before speaking to him in that confusing language which had him snapping out from his daze. His face remained unchanged even when he felt flustered on the inside.

 

Before he knew it, he’d muttered a “Sorry” in English, a telltale sign he was losing his cool.

 

“Oh.” She gasped softly. Kris noted her voice was smooth; light.

 

“Erm…” She struggled visibly, an internal debate going on with herself before she shook her head. “Seatbelt.” Was her wobbly reply, pointing at his unfasten belt, before she turned and looked out of the window, away from him.

 

Silence reign between them as the flight went well underway, with her once again fiddling with her camera and him focusing on the movie playing on his screen. A light tap on his shoulder, along with the delicious smell of food, was enough indication to tell him lunch was served. Slipping the headphone off, Kris pretended not to be entranced by the way the girl beside him wove her answer as though singing a song, patiently waiting for his turn to be served.

 

Unwrapping the foil, Kris took his first sip of his juice, once again unknowingly peeking at the girl and had to force himself not to stare. In the time it took for him to be served; mere seconds if not a minute, top, half her main course was gone as she took a dainty sip at her tea. Kris couldn’t help the continuous shift of his eyes from his food to her, watching in bewilderment as she cleared her food in the next ten minutes while he barely touched his.

 

As though finally catching on his undue attention on her, she once again turned to him with an adorably quizzical look. 

 

“Yes?” Her monosyllabic question had him shaking his head at her.

 

“Nothing.” His deep voice held more than a hint of wonderment.

 

Once again, silence lapsed while he returned his attention to his food and her, to her show. Using the napkins provided, Kris made a quick pat on his mouth and felt the weight of her stare from beside him. Turning, he caught her staring at his untouched muffin.

 

Taking it by the plate, he quietly offered it to her. 

 

Kris watched as her eyes lit up, swinging her gaze from him to the muffin and back again. He couldn’t help the grin the spread on his face as she muttered a soft gratitude and seemed to pause in her action, simply staring at him, before shaking herself from whatever trance she was in. 

 

The quiet between them lasted till the announcement that they’d arrived in Seoul, but Kris noted it wasn’t the uncomfortable stillness that happened between them initially. Standing to his full height, Kris easily reached up into the overhead cabin to grab his own duffel and hesitated. Moving his hand to the left, he grabbed the blue carry-on down and extended the baggage to her.

 

“Yours?”

 

She nodded, retrieving her bag from his grasp, their hands brushing with each other’s momentarily. Yet, that short span of time was all he needed to imprint the softness of her hand into his memory.

 

“Thank you.” This time, her voice was louder, her pronunciation with a slight accent of her own as she gave a slight bow. Kris could only smile in return, grabbing his own bag before indicating for her to move out first. 

 

He watched with a somewhat sinking heart (now what is this all about?) as the surprisingly tall girl proceed smoothly through the immigration check point before disappearing from his view altogether and wondered why he felt the need to sigh in regret.

 

 

 

It took him another hour before Kris found himself in the cab, handing over a piece of paper with the written address of the company to the driver. As the cab moved, Kris leaned back on his seat, his eyes now actively taking in the new view of Korea, a country that is soon to be his second home, while letting his mind drift back to the girl in the plane.

 

“Sir, we here.” The broken English snapped him back to reality as Kris dug out the neatly folded cash from his wallet, paying the driver with an additional tip before he unloaded his baggage. 

 

Staring at the nondescript building, Kris wondered if he got the right address until his eyes caught the faded posters of the legendary DBSK stuck onto yellowed window panes.

 

Yep, this is it. SMEntertainment. The place that would be his home for the years to come.

 

Dragging his luggage with him, Kris knocked on the deserted front door and stood back waiting. As minutes passed without another soul in sight, Kris took the hint. Making a trip around its perimeter, he spotted the security booth by yet another entrance.

 

Ah, so the backdoor is the entrance.

 

A uniformed officer stepped in his path on his approach, planting himself firmly between Kris and the door while speaking in a language he has no clue of. Kris bit off the frustration.

 

“I’m a trainee here, sir. Trainee. An artist? China trainee?” He tired to concise his sentence to those which majority of the Korean population seemed to understand.

 

His English caught the male off guard, he paused and stared at him.

 

“Pan( fan)?” He asked.

 

What?

 

“Pan? No, trainee. Tra-nee” Kris tried once again. Whatever does he mean by ‘pan’?

 

“No pan( fan). Sorry.” The guard began to usher him back. 

 

Closing his eyes briefly, Kris reopened them and focused on the older male, watching as the other flinched visibly and took a small step back.

 

What did he do now?

 

A familiar voice broke the sudden tension between them as Kris heard another pair of footsteps shuffling closer behind him.

 

“Annyeong, ajjusshi.” The voice greeted, pausing by them as the guard spoke in rapid Korean.

 

The girl turned to him, her eyes widening as recognition filled her gaze. 

 

Had Kris been immature, he would have pointed a finger at her and shouted ‘You!”. Fate has its way sometimes, Kris thought, unable to believe that standing in front of him was the girl from the plane a few hours ago. 

 

She’d changed to sweat pants, a plain tee and sweater, Kris noted, an ensemble that may looked plain on others, but highlighted her slim figure to her advantage in this case. He also noticed she’d tied her hair up in a high ponytail with stray tendrils of hair running loose, giving her an even younger image while she on her popsicle.

 

“H…Hi. Why you here?” She tried, English obviously not a fluent language to her.

 

Kris tried again, hoping for her understanding to be better than the guard’s.

 

“I’m a new trainee here. From China. SM casting? Audition.”

 

Understanding dawned. She turned her back on him and translated to what he hoped was the correct meaning. 

 

Apparently, she understood him well enough when the guarded look on the other male evaporated, an embarrassed smile appeared on his face while he motioned for him to proceed. The girl bowed to the guard before indicating for him to follow her, swiftly grabbing his hand carry along with her, leaving Kris with his luggage.

 

A kind soul, the thought flitted through his mind, thanking her while she opened the door for him to proceed before her.

 

And a glutton. Kris had to compose his expression when he saw the various ice creams she had in the plastic bag she held. Digging through it, she

extracted a chocolate cone and offered it to him.

 

“Thanks.” His voice sounded gentle, a first in his case as Kris shook off the implication as they stopped by a large wooden door.

 

Giving a quick series of knocks, the girl opened the door at the command of the occupant, pulling him in after her.

 

“Kevin, you’re finally here. How was the trip? Sooyoung here told me you had some trouble with the security. I’m sorry. I should have informed them about this.” He looked up and met Lee Soo Man’s friendly gaze.

 

“It’s alright. No problem about it. I got in thanks to her.” Kris stuck his chin out in the girl’s (who had already finished her popsicle) direction.

 

“You haven’t been introduced to each other, have you? Kevin, I want you to meet Choi Sooyoung. Sooyoung here is about to debut soon with her group called Girls Generation.” He then turned to the girl and spoke in Korean, but Kris knew the gist well enough as he heard ‘Wu Yi Fan Kevin’.

 

Sooyoung turned to him and smiled, offering her free hand to him.

 

“Nice to meet you.” This, she said fluently as though it wasn’t the first time speaking that sentence in English.

 

Kris clasped her smaller, slimmer hand in his and marveled at how well their hands seemed to fit one another’s.

 

“Sooyoung is the same age as you, so don’t be too formal with her. And I see you’ve been influenced by her gluttony, huh?” Lee Soo Man indicated to the uneaten ice cream in his hand with a chuckle.

 

Sooyoung interrupted with a few words, preparing to make a move when she halted and turned to look at him.

 

“See you, Kevin ssi.” She flashed a proper smile at him, teeth and all, and left him stunned in the office.

 

 

 

 

Kris has started out this journey with just a goal in mind; to become a successful idol. But as he watched the retreating back of the girl, Kris knew that his goal has somehow altered; expanded.

 

Now, his goal has also included the need to get to know a certain Choi Sooyoung better.