I woke up on Saturday morning, confused. Where was I again? It took me about 5 seconds to remember. What can I say? The  bed  was really comfy. I was in my Umma’s house in Seoul. The soul of South Korea. With walls painted blue and the comfiest bed in the world, I could have stayed there for the rest of my life. Until I remembered Sanghyo. I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach, pulling the pillow over my head. That idea had been so stupid. But I didn’t regret it at all.

I grumpily sat up and threw the pillow back onto the bed. Then I went and found a towel and shower things among my stuff that was still scattered in boxes around my new bedroom. I took a long, hot shower, and I took my time. I figured that I needed a day off... Right? Until I stepped into my room and was reminded of the mess of boxes and suitcases. My OCD went off and I quickly got changed and began putting everything away. 6 boxes later, my stomach rumbled and  I remembered breakfast. I vaguely wondered why no one had come upstairs to see if I was awake. It was already almost 10.

I went downstairs to find the kitchen. Somehow I ended up in some sort of library room, and I backtracked. I hadn’t really gotten a look around the house when I got here yesterday, so I honestly didn’t even know where the kitchen was. I decided to continue wandering the house until  I found either the kitchen or someone who could tell me where it was .Eventually I fond the living room/ parlor, where Umma was watching a live performance of some pianist.

“Umma,” I said, sighing in relief.

“Awake, huh?” She turned and smiled at me. “I guess you’re finally hungry. Breakfast is on the table, but you might have to microwave it.”

“Where is the kitchen?” I asked.

“Oh,” she widened her eyes in surprise. “I forgot. I still need to give you a tour of the house, don’t I? The kitchen is down the hall, to the left.”

I nodded and walked in the direction she had pointed. On the table, I found some cold bacon and pancakes. I microwaved them and drank some banana milk I found in the fridge. I was addicted to the stuff.

When I was about halfway through my breakfast, Umma walked in, holding a cup of hot coffee. She carefully sat down in the chair across the table from me, watching me eat. It was kind of creeping me out. I set down my fork and looked at her. She began talking.

“Heechan, I want you to know that there are certain things… expected of you while you are staying here. Pay attention to this, because it is important.” She certainly had my full attention now. What would she say? Probably just tell me about some sort of chores. I hadn’t noticed anyone else living here to take care of the house for her.

“It is now known that I have a daughter. People will be wondering about you, and I need to present you to the public before they start to come to their own conclustions. In short,” she looked at me sternly; totally different from the warm, smiling Umma I met yesterday and this morning. Was she bipolar or something? Aish. “In short, you need to live up to my expectations and do just as I tell you too. Arasso?” I took a long drink from my milk carton and nodded. “Good. I will be introducing you to lots of important people. You need to make a good impression to help my popularity go up. Today, Gang Daeho here will take you shopping to get you anything you might need.”

The man in the black suit from yesterday walked in, bowing. Huh. I had assumed he was the chauffer or something. Maybe he was my Umma’s only staff. I greeted him with a smile. He looked…mean.

That afternoon, Gang Daeho and I walked through the local shopping area. I couldn’t believe how expensive everything was, but Gang Daeho told me not to worry a bout it.

“Just get whatever you need. Your Umma wants you to look nice.” He was actually a lot kinder than my first impression of him had been. I think my Umma scared him.

‘Whatever I needed’ turned out to be not nearly as broad as I though. She had given him explicit instructions to get me ‘Suitable clothes for a young woman’ that would ‘Give off a good impression’. That meant no rips, no graphics, pretty much no casual clothes at all. She wanted me to get nice clothes to show me off in. But no matter what Gang Daeho tried, there was no way he could get me into a dress or a skirt. We settled on nice pants and a fancy shirt with jewelry. But since she hadn’t put any parameters on other things, I managed to get other cool stuff to make up for it, like a new phone case and a Bigbang CD. I even managed to convince Gang Daeho to get me an awesome pair of lace-up boots, as long as I promised not to wear them to ‘meet important people’. I crossed my fingers behind my back. In the end, I left pretty happy. After all, ‘Important People’ no doubt included K-Pop groups.