-HANA POV-

“Thank you for flying with Asiana Airlines, the current time in Incheon is 5:18 am...”

I tilted my head back onto the headrest in relief as the stewardess continued to drone on about de-boarding instructions before repeating herself in Korean. Four years of dreaming of coming to South Korea was about to become a reality. I was so nervous and excited that my arms were shaking. I couldn’t even trust myself to open the overhead compartments to grab anything just yet. Hold it in Hana, don’t look like an idiot American who came rushing to stalk your kpop idol!!!!  I had to laugh at myself because actually it was true. Thankfully the other person in my aisle had already left so I waited patiently until most of the passengers had made their way past me. Grabbing my carry-on, laptop, and backpack, I nervously exited the plane and walked down the hall. Even though the walls were a blank grey, I looked at them curiously. The only sound in the near-empty gate was my carry-on dragging along the floor, the clickety-clack gait of plastic wheels against the floor somehow seemed louder than usual. As I watched others sleepily walk ahead of me, I realized it was still dark outside because I couldn’t see anything through the glass-paned walls of the hallways. However the airport was almost like a piece of work itself. Gorgeous. I reached in front of the sliding glass doors that lead out into the main section of the airport.  I thought to myself, My God, I’ve done it. I’m about to step into the world I’ve always dreamed about! MBLAQ, I am about to see you guys live for the first time!

-END OF POV-  

The sliding doors whisked opened in front of Hana, the slight push of air played at curled ends of her long brown hair. After what seemed as an eternity of hesitation, she straightened up and confidently walked out the doors and into the main terminal. There were no flashing lights. No people with signs being held up. No screaming fan girls. Just a normal airport terminal that was practically empty at such an early time in the morning. Only a few early risers were walking past her with cups of coffee in one hand and briefcases in the other. Hhmmm… wow it’s so quiet. What was I thinking, nobody going to be here at this time in the morning?! Too bad there's no celebrity around or something. But then LA’s airport would already have a line at security even at this time in the morning!, she thought to herself. Looking around, she smiled to see Hangul written literally everywhere! Sure, there were English directions showing the way to the exit, to the restrooms, to the ticketing desk. But it was like brain overload for Hana. Muttering under her breath, “Dammit, I should’ve paid more attention to memorizing Hangul. Writing has always been my weakness.” Unfortunately there were no stores open except for a coffee stand at the end. She followed the signs to the exit and walked outside. The darkness outside shocked her, she turned to look back and realized that the airport was was so brightly lit that they probably could get away without actual street lights. Turning her back to the welcoming lights of the airport, Hana knew she needed to get moving along. No time to waste. She turned to the street and peered down the strip of dim lights over a lane that was meant to be a taxi lane. There were only two taxis sitting there. The first one was a bright yellow that reminded her of the taxis back in the US; however it had in big black letters ENGLISH SPEAK.  Aha! I guess that means he’ll understand me! She started making her way over & set her bag down to turn to speak to the driver. Before getting a word out, a tall man in a business suit pushed to the side and leapt into the back seat. He shut the door, barely clipping Hana’s leg and shouted to the driver something in Korean. The taxi driver dashed in and took off without even acknowledging Hana’s presence.

Oookkaayyy…. Well there’s always this one! She turned to the other taxi and almost cringed. It was dingy and dirty, the car had dents all the passenger side of the car as if it had been in an accident. The taxi driver was slumped over his open door looking her over like he didn’t care one whip about anything at this ungodly hour of the morning. He took a long drag of his cigarette before making a motion towards her. Without a word, he grabbed her bags and put them in the front seat. He walked back around the front of the car and looked at her with an annoyed look before he opened his door again and pulled it shut with force. Hana took this to mean that she should just get in. Fumbling with her backpack, she ran to the back door and pulled….. nothing. She pulled again, still wouldn’t open. Hana couldn’t help but start to get a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach that she just ignored. It’s just that I don’t know what is going on. I’m just excited, is all., she thought to herself. The taxi driver grumbled as he got out and fidgeted with the door before it would finally yank open. She settled down into the back seat and nervously waited for him to ask her where to go. He turned and said, “Odi?” Thank God for Korean dramas because otherwise Hana would have no clue what he meant. She handed him a piece of paper which had the address of an online friend she had made. He looked at it, took a few more drags of his cigarette until it was done, then set the meter. With the cigarette held between his dry cracked lips, he shifted the car to head to south Incheon. Hana sent up a prayer, Oh God, please just let me get there safely!

What should have taken less than 10 minutes actually ended up taking over an hour. By the time the taxi pulled up in front of her friend’s apartment building, Hana had pretty much imagined every terrifying thing that could possibly happen to her. She didn’t care if it was even the right building or not, she scrambled out to grab her bags from the front seat. She threw the driver a $50 USD bill and yelled to keep the change in English, caring not if he understood or not. This friend of hers was actually someone she had met in an online MBLAQ fandom forum and later befriended through Facebook and Twitter. Her name was Mina and although they’d never met in person, she felt like she knew her better than anyone else.  They’d spent the last two years dreaming of meeting together and going to an MBLAQ concert together – which was exactly the reason why Hana was now in Korea! Hana ran a fan-based website for MBLAQ fandom. Mina was a president of a local fandom group too. She said that they always welcome foreigners who come and take them around to do things together. Thankfully, Mina had kept in touch with her by tweeting over the last week or so. She turned her phone back on and opened the email from Mina that contained her phone number and address. Dialing quickly, the phone pulsated a warning notice of roaming charge. Crap, it’s going to be an international call from my phone.  She quickly ended the call before it could get a chance to ring. Hana hurried into the building lobby and asked the clerk at the desk to ring Choi Mina who was in unit #901. No answer….  After another few minutes of broken English and broken Hangul from both sides, she was ushered into the landlord’s office and given a hot coffee… black, just the way she hates it. Over the next hour of trying to sip down the bitter drink politely, she found out that Mina had left town on emergency awhile ago but left behind a key. After photocopying her passport for the landlord, Hana rode the elevator up to the 9^th floor. She was too tired to acknowledge the two men get in behind her, wearing sunglasses indoors and it wasn’t even 8 o’clock in the morning yet.

**ding**

The doors noisily grounded open on the 9^th floor and Hana dragged her stuff behind her. She walked down the hall, looking at each door to figure out which one was the apartment was #901. Finally she stopped in front of a door littered with stickers and flyers that had been taped to it over the last week or so. Odd… she tweeted me just before I got on the flight. It’s as if she hasn’t been here in several days. Sighing a breath of relief as she felt the key give way to the lock and turn as it should have, she cautiously crept in while the 2 men from the elevator walked past her. Hana took one step in and gave out a nervous gasp when the hall light went on. She had forgotten about entry motion sensors that are typical in Korean homes. There were two dirty pairs of slippers haphazardly lying on the ledge leading into the main room and another one still in the plastic with a sticky note on it. Hana grabbed up the plastic package and walked into an empty apartment. Her smile quickly turned into a puzzled look. It was empty.  Literally empty. There wasn’t any furniture whatsoever. The patio door glass was covered in newspaper. Hana’s tired mind was reeling. What was going on? Where was Mina? She put her bag down to check her phone for any new emails or tweets or posts. Nothing…. She held up the plastic package with the sticky note and tried to read it in the shadows of the dark room. It had only one word scrawled on it….

Suddenly hands grabbed her sides and before Hana could even utter a word, everything went black.

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OMG!!! My first chapter of my first Seungho fanfic. Already 4 subscribers and I'm flattered that ANYONE is going to read this. Don't worry MBLAQ is still to come. Please post comments or come to my wall to let me know what you think. Silent readers are always welcome but I hope you'll speak up :)