Annoyed he clicked his tongue as he quickly walked down the hallway, constantly looking over his shoulder. “Aish... why did these guys have to appear here?” And he had thought they wouldn’t find him on this New Year’s Eve party.

As suddenly quick footsteps echoed behind him, his pace got even faster and he then disappeared in one of the rooms near him, before a group of men turned around the corner.

Letting himself relax a bit, he let out a sigh of relief. “It’s really not my day...”

“Who are you?”

Startled by the sudden voice he turned around and pressed his back against the wooden door.

In the middle of the room sat a girl on the ground. She wore a pastel pink long dress which seemed to be too good for being sat on the ground.

The girl with the darkbrow eyes looked at him expectantly. “Well, uhm... I... uhm...”, he stuttered and then asked, “A-Aren’t you the daughter of the host?”

Yeah right, he had seen her down in the haal. Even in the huge crowd of people the daughter of the house’s owner stood out.

A small sigh escaped her lips and she looked down on her hands. “Yes, I am...”

He furrowed his eyebrows. She didn’t seem to be that happy about it. His gaze then turned to the balcony door and he remembered why he had actually came into this room.

“Well, I’m sorry for interruption... I’ll be going now.” With faste steps he walked towards the door and opened it.

“Why don’t you take the door?”, the girl asked. Rather than scared or surprised over his actions, she seemed more... curious.

“Because-“ Suddenly someone knocked at the door and the next moment it was opened zestfully. A group of men stood in front of the door, looking into the room.

“Excuse us, Miss, but have you seen a man? About this high, with dark hair and a black suit?” The girl turned around just to see that the man wasn’t there anymore. She only shook her head and the men left again.

“Because of them.”, the man then ended is sentence and appeared from behind a curtain. A bit surprised she winced but then turned around. “Did you do something wrong?”

With a sigh he leaned against the doorframe and placed his hands in his pockets. “Something wrong? Well, if you ask me, I wouldn’t say so, but they...”, he nodded into the direction of the door, “ they definitly are the opinion I did something wrong.”

“And now they are looking for you.” “Exactly. That’s why I have to go. The farther, the better.”, the latter he mumbled to himself. The girl tilted her head. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know yet.”, he said and shrugged. Honestly it annoyed him a bit that she kept asking questions but well, they’d never meet again anyways, “Maybe Japan or so.”

As the man mentioned the country’s name, her eyes began to glow and she got up from her seat. “Japan?” “Yeah. Or maybe the states, but I guess Japan is-“ “Take me with you.”

He nodded a bit. “Yeah, Japan’s definitly a better choice and – what?!” As he realized what she had said, he almost fell. In shock he looked at the girl.

“Take me with you. Please.” “Wait, wait, wait. You want me to take you with me? Wh-Why?!”

“Because I want to go.”, she explained sincerely. There was a short silence between them before he began to laugh. “You are kidding me, right? I mean: Look at you!”, he pointed at her and the room, “Why would you want to leave? You have a great house, expensive dresses and rich parents! You probably have the perfect life.”

He still laughed but as he saw her expression, he realized that she was totally serious.

“Please...” She looked sad and also a bit desperate. Seeing her like this somehow made his heart feel heavy.

“You really are sure about this?”, he asked and made a step back into the room, “It will be a long journey. And we won’t be able to take a plane or sleep at hotels.” Or else they’ll find us...

She nodded determined. A sigh escaped his lips and he made a dissmissive hand gesture. “Pack your things. But don’t take to much.”

A wide smile formed on her lips and she nodded again. She quickly changed from her dress into something more comfortable and then got a backpack from under her bed which seemed to be already packed. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask any further.

“Don’t you take anything with you?”, she asked as they stepped onto the balcony.

“I’ve got everything I need with me.”, he told her and looked for a good place for climbing down. Luckily they were only on the first floor. Beside the balcony was a grid with ivy which seemd to be quite resistable. “I’ll go down first.” Practiced he climbed down the grid and landed on the ground safely. She handed him the backpack first, before carefully following him. He couldn’t help but grin at the sight of her courage. But still he felt kind of bad. Somehow like he was kidnapping her. When she reached the ground and stood beside him again, she looked back up to the balcony.

“You still can go back now.”, he told her but she shook her head and turned around. “Let’s go.”

Slowly they walked through the garden away from the house. There was silence between the two of them until he finally said. “I haven’t introduced myself, yet. I’m Kim Bum.”

“Kim SoEun. Nice to meet you.”, she answered and smiled lightly before they lapsed into silence again.

And so their journey began, accompanied by the fireworks which welcomed the new year.