Jessica Cho brushed her chestnut brown hair out of her eyes. She watched her three-year-old son, Jaiden, run around in the living room to her apartment. Pacing back and forth, she kept glancing over at her cell phone, praying that it would ring. Jessica was expecting a very important phone call; one that could change her and Jaiden’s life for the better. She glanced at the manila folder on her coffee table. It contained professional photos of her son for his portfolio. Although he was only three years old, he always loved being in front of the camera. He was the highlight at family gatherings, always taking center stage with his charm. Even though Jessica lived in Bucheon and carried the last name Cho, she was American. Jaiden was Hapa: Half-Caucasian and Half-Korean. His Korean features stood out the most, with a hint of Caucasian. He was quite the lady charmer. No matter where Jessica went with him, she would get stopped by strangers to gaze at his beauty. It was getting close to dinner time and deciding on preoccupying her mind; she walked into the kitchen and glanced in the cabinets for some food to fix. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to choose from as they were starting to look sparse. Sighing out loud, Jessica decided to head to the mini market to grab a few items with the small amount of money she had left.

                “Jaiden, let’s go get some food. Araso (Okay)?” Jessica said as she scooped him up and sat him down to put his shoes on. She grabbed a light jacket for him and zipped it up, kissing his nose when the zipper reached the top.

                “Eomma (mommy), bbo bbo (kiss).” Jaiden said as he puckered up his lips. Jessica giggled and kissed him on the lips.

                “MUAH!” Jessica said as she squeezed Jaiden in a humungous hug. She slipped on her shoes and grabbed a light coat, as well as her purse. After locking the apartment door, they headed down the stairwell and walked down the road to the corner mini market. Jessica grabbed a small hand basket as Jaiden held her hand as they roamed through the aisles.

***

                Eli had just gotten home from a busy day at work. Being a member of a popular KPop group, U-Kiss, was very rewarding but required a lot of hard work. His stomach growled noisily as he headed to the fridge to see what he could chow down on.

                “Aish! You have got to be kidding me…” Eli said with frustration as he picked through the almost-bare fridge. “Guess that’s what I get for not being home a lot.” He opened up a few cabinets and found the same dilemma. He grabbed the wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans and flipped through the money that was inside. Noting that he had some money to buy a few things, he grabbed his set of keys and headed back out of his apartment to go to the mini market that was a few minutes down the street. He hoped that no one would recognize him. Slipping on his sunglasses and sliding his baseball cap down further, he stepped onto the sidewalk and arrived at the mini market ten minutes later. After picking up a hand basket at the entrance, he started to browse through the aisles to calm his aching stomach. He had just started to put some items in his basket when he felt a tap on his upper leg. Eli didn’t know what to think. The spot he was tapped on was kind of low for a female fan to be tapping, unless she was a erted one. He decided to ignore it and see what happened next. Moving a few steps forward, his eyes looked at some items on the shelf. A minute later, he felt another tap on his leg. He heard some giggling, and hesitantly turned his head around just enough to look behind him. The funny thing was that there was no one behind him. Scratching his baseball cap, he turned back around and stood for a minute pondering if he had worked way too hard and was imagining things. Eli shrugged and picked up an item of food, studying the Hangeul on the package. After placing it in the basket, he felt another poke. Quickly, he turned around to face the perpetrator to try and catch him or her off-guard. Yet, he was surprised to find a small boy staring up at him.

                “TAG! You’re it.” The boy giggled and ran in the opposite direction down the aisle. Eli burst out into laughter and slipped his sunglasses off, putting them into his coat pocket. He decided to walk fairly quickly to try and catch up with the boy. “BBBBBBOOOOOOOOO!” The boy yelled as Eli turned the corner, giving him a near heart attack. Without time to react, the boy sprinted off down the aisle and got behind a woman that Eli could only assume was his mother. The boy grabbed on to the back of her coat, causing her to turn around. Eli froze as he gazed at the woman. Her chestnut hair glided around her face. She was Caucasian, which made Eli glance at the boy. He hadn’t noticed at first, but he could tell that the boy had some Caucasian features as well. Eli observed the boy talking to the woman and then grab her hand, pulling her in the direction towards him.

                “Jaiden, what are you doing? Silly boy.” He heard the woman say as she was getting closer towards him. Two minutes later, they were standing directly in front of him.

                “Annyeong haseyo (Hello). Je ireum eun Jessica imnida (My name is Jessica).” She said as she bowed slightly.

                “Annyeong haseyo. I’m Eli.” He said as he bowed back. “So, this must be Jaiden.” Eli said as he looked down and smiled.

                “Oh, you speak English? It’s nice to meet someone who does. I’m not used to speaking it so much here. I’ve noticed I’m starting to forget how to speak it at times.” Jessica said, smiling. She picked up Jaiden and rested him on her hip.

                “Yeah, I speak English. I was actually born in the US and moved here when I was 18.” Eli said as Jaiden reached out his hand. Eli stretched his hand out and gave Jaiden a high-five.

                “That explains why you speak it so well. I’m from the US, too, but I’ve been here for the past five years.” Jessica said as Jaiden started to become shy and turned his face into her neck. “I’m so sorry, do you know Jaiden? He seemed like he knew you for some reason.” Jessica asked as Eli shook his head.

                “Nope. I was just doing some browsing and picking up a few groceries and he tapped me on the leg to play tag.” Eli said as Jessica turned her face to look at Jaiden.

                “Oh my goodness, I apologize. Jaiden made it seem as if he may have known you from somewhere. I thought he was with me the whole time. Apparently not. I swear, he’s going to keep me in tip-top shape chasing after him everywhere we go.” Jessica said as Jaiden looked at his mom and then glanced at Eli.

                “It’s no problem at all. He’s very cute. He wouldn’t be a boy if he didn’t have some mischief and playfulness in him.” Eli said as Jessica nodded. Eli’s stomach rumbled loudly, causing Jaiden to burst out into giggles.

                “Goodness, it seems like you’re in the same predicament we are. Jaiden and I came here to grab some items to make dinner because we hardly have anything left in our apartment. I’ll let you get back to getting some food since you must be starving.” Jessica said as Eli started to slightly blush.

                “Excuse me. My stomach is trying to speak on my behalf. It was a pleasure meeting the both of you.” Eli said.

                “Annyeong (Goodbye)!” Jaiden said as he waved goodbye.

                “Annyeong, Jaiden. It was nice meeting you. Nice meeting you, too, Jessica. Have a great night!” Eli said as he bowed slightly.

                “Same to you!” Jessica said as Eli walked around them. He tapped Jaiden lightly on his back. “Tag! You’re it!” He said loud enough for him to hear. Jaiden looked over Jessica’s shoulder and stuck out his tongue. Eli chuckled at Jaiden’s reaction and then turned around to go search for a few more items before checking out. He knew his stomach wouldn’t allow him to wait much longer.