By the time I stopped crying, I was just a sad teenager. Sixteen, entering high school. I’d had my heart broken a year earlier by a boy named David. I had no friends. My Appa was the only person I was close to. By my seventeenth birthday, his hair was almost all gray. How he’d managed to raise me alone for eleven years is beyond me. It had to have been the most stressful thing he’d ever done. I admired him, I adored him, I looked up to him, and I loved him. I didn’t want to get close to anybody else. I didn’t want to feel the pain of them dying or leaving. So I kept to myself. I hadn’t even cared when my dad told me we were moving to Korea. I was happy he had taught me Korean before he took me to his home.

As a twenty-year-old, I was walking around Seoul, looking for places to shop. I needed a new wardrobe—my jeans, t-shirt and Chuck Taylors look just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it was still comfortable and me, but I wanted something new.

I bent down to tie my shoe, thinking I was out of anybody’s way, but I didn’t see a pair of guys coming towards me. I only noticed them when one of them ran into me.

“Aish, I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” he said immediately, speaking all in Korean. I smiled and brushed myself off, taking the hand he offered to help me up. I was glad I didn’t have to speak English here.

“Ah, I’m fine. No worries. Even if I wasn’t already crouched, I’m pretty close to the ground anyway…” I trailed off when I saw his face. A flash of the hospital came to mind. “I know you…” I added quietly. He wasn’t a dork anymore, though. Oh no, he was very handsome and his hair was platinum blonde, making him look like an angel.

He cocked his head to the side for a moment before realization dawned on his face. “Omo! You’re that girl from the hospital in America years ago!” He spoke in English now. He smiled that eye smile I have thought of every day since that day in the hospital. That day… “What are you doing here?”

I blinked and smiled at him. “I live here,” I replied in Korean. “My father and I moved here a few years ago. The States just weren’t doing it for us anymore.”

He laughed a beautiful laugh. My heart did a funny thing, but I ignored it.

“How’s your Eomma? And your Appa? I’m so glad I was old enough to remember you,” he said fondly. My heart sank and my expression fell.

I cleared my throat and glanced at the guy beside him. “My mother passed in the hospital that day.” I forced a small smile. “But I hope your friend made it okay.”

Daesung looked uncomfortable for a second, but then he looked embarrassed. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Um, this is my friend Jiyong. We were just going to meet up with the rest of our members for some lunch.” He looked at Jiyong.

Jiyong and I bowed to one another. “Maybe you’d like to join us, if you aren’t busy, uh…? I didn’t catch your name.” He laughed softly.

I nodded and smiled. “Soo Yun. And I’d love to join you lovely gentlemen. What did you mean by members?” I asked as I stepped in between them, in the space they’d made for me to walk with them.

They looked at each other, laughing. “We’re in a band. Big Bang,” Jiyong told me.