[Seoul Incheon International Airport]

 

A flight from Beijing, China, landed safely at Seoul International Airport. Someone just arrived. A man was dragging a black-coloured luggage slowly towards a car. “Ni hao!” that person greeted the taxi driver.

“Ni hao!” the taxi driver answered. The driver wanted to ask where he wanted to go but he seemed stuck with the language barrier. He only knew that particular greeting in Mandarin.

“Send me to this address,” he handed the taxi driver a piece of paper. Written there was his destination. He felt relieve; at least this person knew how to speak English.

After a few minutes zooming along the highway, the taxi finally arrived at the location. It stopped somewhere in Bangi-dong, a great neighbourhood in Songpa-gu. This neighbourhood was near to two great parks — Olympic Park and Seokchon Lake, which were fabulous for walkers and good for runners as well. He paid the taxi fee and went out from the car. “Xiexie!” he didn’t forget to thank the taxi driver.

There he was. Standing in front of an uninhabited house. “Full House, wo lai le,” he said to himself as he took off his sunglasses.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Class 7A]

 

“A new transfer student has arrived today,” the homeroom teacher announced. “Come in!” He called the new student. A guy with a headphone draped on his neck came in. A “Whoa …!” exclamation filled the whole class.

“Introduce yourself,” Mr. Kim Byung-man told him as that guy stepped in front.

“Ni hao … Wo shi Jung Yong-hwa. Wo cong Beijing lai. Xiexie,” he greeted them with relaxed expression on his face. Some of them showed confused expression. Perhaps, they did not understand what he was saying.

“Yong-hwa, you may sit over there,” Mr. Kim pointed an empty seat beside the bookworm, Song Joong-ki. Yun-ho stared at the new transfer student, scanning him from head to toe.

“Ni hao,” Joong-ki greeted his new tablemate. A nod from Yong-hwa. “Ni keyi shuo Yingyu ma?” Joong-ki asked that hottie.

“I do speak English,” he replied.

“I’m Song Joong-ki. You can call me Joong-ki,” he introduced himself to the new student.

“Yong-hwa,” he replied. He could see those girls were hissing to each other.

“Whoa, he’s from Beijing. He’s hot. Doesn’t he?” this kind of statement made by the girls around him. Anyway, this guy shoved his hands in the pockets, acting like he didn’t care.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Foreign Language Class]

 

Ji-yeon was practicing the dialogue that Mr. Stephen gave last week. She wanted to do well on the next test.

“Annyeong, Fish Ball!” A familiar voice caught Ji-yeon’s ears. She looked up and it was Si-won, already standing in front of her with a smile that could mean bad luck, thought Ji-yeon.

Si-won looked at her, waiting for a reply. She ignored his greeting and kept reading the dialogue, acting like she didn’t hear him.She did not want to look at that face again.

“Whoa, this Fish Ball has hearing problem I guess,” teased Si-won. He pulled out a chair from the table in front and sat right in front of Ji-yeon.

Automatically, Ji-yeon’s face flickered an annoying look. Still, there was no single word coming out from .

He felt disgusted being ignored in such a way that made him looked like an idiot. “Yah!” he hammered on the table.

It gave her a slight jolt. She looked at him.

“You! You nearly killed me yesterday!” he snapped at her.

“So?” responded Ji-yeon carelessly.

“Yah! Don’t you think you need to apologize? Huh? Yah, look at this!” he pointed his wound on the forehead.

“I know,” she replied as she looked at the dialog.

“I know?! Eish …!!!” Si-won seemed unsettled with that kind of reply from Ji-yeon. “Yah, if you really know then, aren’t you suppose to say sorry?” he asked her again.

“Excuse me, Mr. Choi Si-won, can’t you see I’m practicing?” she complained demurely.

“Huh! Don’t tell me you are taking it seriously when I told you to study hard. What has gotten on you?” he asked more, unsatisfied.

“Study hard. Like you’ve told me to,” she told him.

“I can’t believe this …” murmured Si-won. “Is it darn hard for you to say sorry? If this wound appears to be a scar, will you take responsible for it?” he asked her with serious tone.

She lifted her head and said, “I will, but it will cost you something,” she said to him cryptically as she blinked her eyes.

“Translate this for me,” she handed him the dialogue sheet and smiled. Before he could give further reply, Mr. Stephen’s voice echoed in that class. He had no choice but to sink on his seat.

“Nimen, zaoshanghao!” he greeted the class. “Anyway, has the new transfer student arrived?” he asked them. Silence from them. “It’s okay then. Let’s get started,” he said and at the exact moment the door flung opened.

“Laoshi, duibuqi. Wo lai wangle,” Yong-hwa apologized.

Mr. Stephen knew it was him — the transfer student from Beijing.”Ni shi Jung Yong-hwa ma?” he asked him to assure.

“Dui,” he confirmed.

“Lai,” Mr. Stephen asked him to come in.

“Xiexie,” he answered. Unexpectedly, he sat just a few meters away from Ji-yeon. Si-won stared at Yong-hwa and felt a bit uneasy. Why Si-won? Perhaps you felt a bit threatened now?

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Music Studio]

 

IU was trying her best to strum the guitar. But she couldn’t. Her left thumb was hurt. Someone was watching her from outside.

“Need help?” a question echoed in that studio.

She lifted her head. Before she could reply that question, the person had already sat beside her.

“I’ll do the strumming and you make the chord,” Yun-ho said as he sat even closer to her. Her face blushed and she felt nervous. “Ready?” he asked her.

She gave him a light nod and she made a chord whereas Yun-ho strummed it slowly. “What song is this?” he shot her another question as his eyeballs glued on the notes written on the paper.

“Haven’t thought of it yet,” she said.

“Aren’t you going to sing it?” he asked more.

“I haven’t finished with the lyrics yet,” she answered him.

“How about you hum it?” he suggested doing humming for the song.

She did the humming.

“Sounds pretty good,” he complimented her. He stood up and patted her head. “IU, fighting!” he said as he disappeared from her sight.

Unknowingly, there was someone who had been standing outside watching the two of them. Seeing Yun-ho left, that person put on the headphone again on his head and vanished.

That girl pondered for a while as she touched her head and smiled. She brought back the memory when Yun-ho saved her from some bastards on her way back home from the studio last year. She had always had the feeling that she wanted him to know. She confessed to him before that she liked him, but Yun-ho laughed at it. He thought it was irrational to fell in love with someone who was too much younger than himself. This 18-year-old hoobae tried to get the 25-year-old suspended sunbae’s attention. As for Yun-ho, she’s just like a sister of his that needed protection and not some personal attentions. He had been denying what that girl felt for him. But still, he kept appearing in front of her all this while. So what was his intention anyway?

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[School Cafeteria]

 

“Oppa!” someone was shouting.

Si-won turned back and drew a heavy sigh.

“Oppa, wanna eat with me?” Tiffany asked him as she offered a seat beside her.

He didn’t answer but sat on the opposite table.

“What’s wrong with oppa?” she asked herself.

“Yah, are you going to eat alone without us?” someone startled her. It was Jessica with the rest followers — Yoon-ah and Sunny.

At the same time, someone sank on the seat right in front of the girls. Pairs of eyes glued on him. He was having a yogurt drink. There was a dead silence from the four girls.

“Who is he?” Sunny hissed to Jessica.

“I have no idea,” answered Jessica. She lost her words; she couldn’t even lift her head up and look straight for a flower boy was sitting right in front of them.

The girls were blushing without them knowing it. They were amazed at the appearance of the guy as if they were looking at a blooming flower in the middle of a garden and they as the wild bees, trying to approach that particular flower. Tiffany nudged Sunny as a signal to make a move on him.

“You startled me,”mumbled Sunny but she managed to make the first move. She slowly sank beside him. “Annyeong, oppa,” she greeted him. “I’m Sunny,” she introduced herself to that guy.

Unfortunately,that guy did not hear her nor noticed her. A headphone was stuck on his head. So, she got no respond. Slowly and carefully, her forefinger touched his arm. That guy’s head steered to her as he took off the headphone from his head.

“Shenme shir?” he asked her. Sunny was astounded. The rest were also motionless. “Dui buqi,” he said and stood up and made his way out from the cafeteria.

As soon as he left, the four creatures cried, “He’s hot!!!!!” and could not shut their mouth from talking about him.

At the other corner, Ji-yeon was having her lunch with Huiren.

“Are you free this weekend?” Huiren asked Ji-yeon as she took a sip of coffee.

“Wae?” asked Ji-yeon to get an explanation.

“I won a voucher at Lotte Department Store,” she informed her.

“Really?” Ji-yeon couldn’t believe her ears.

“So, I was thinking to share it with you,” she told her with a smile on her face.

“Jeongmal?” asked Ji-yeon with a bright look on her face.

“Yes,” she assured her.

All of a sudden, a familiar paper was put on the table right in front of her. “Now, where is my ‘sorry’?” asked Si-won. Surprisingly, he really did the translation. Now he had come to get a ‘sorry’ from her.

Huiren who was sitting beside Ji-yeon noticed the translation that he had made. Ji-yeon looked at him. She was nervous. She didn’t expect this to happen. She thought that guy would not do it predicting that he had such an ego to help those who were out of his standard. Besides, she was just saying it to give him a kick. She didn’t know that he was taking it seriously. Her plan had gone awry. She looked around. Their conversation started to gain attention from the other students at the cafeteria. “S-s-sorry,” admitted Ji-yeon at last. She was stammering.

“Mwo? Can you speak a little bit louder please,” commanded Si-won.

“S-s-sorry,” said Ji-yeon once again, still stuttering.

Looking her in nervousness was quite interesting to him. “Louder please,” he ordered with a smirk. He can see the expression on her face had changed. He was feeling smug after his success on irritating this particular girl. He wanted to irritate her more. “I said, louder!”

Ji-yeon could feel the heat on the tips of her ears, glowing and steaming now. She realized that this guy was now playing and instantly her nervousness vanished. “Excuse me, are you deaf or what? You got hit on the forehead but your ears got damaged instead?” snapped Ji-yeon. Si-won was taken aback by the sharpness in her voice.“I did say ‘sorry’ just now. Didn’t you hear it?”Ji-yeon hissed at him. She gave a peek to her surround. Many pairs of eyes were glued on her.

“Guys, did you hear it?” Si-won asked the other students at the cafeteria and everyone answered no. Some shook their head. Some chose not to take part in this stupid game of Si-won’s.

“Yah, Fish Ball. They didn’t hear it either. So did I. Could you please turn up the volume of your voice?” he asked her. “I want three times ‘sorry’ from you. First, ‘sorry’ for bumping on me, second, for throwing rubbish on me and third, for making my precious forehead bleed. Araseo?!” he commanded her with glaring eyes.

“Yah …didn’t you hear it? She did say sorry just now,” a tensed voice heard from somewhere.

Si-won’s head spinned around, searching for the person who owned the voice.

“Choi Si-won-ssi, you can mess around with anyone you want. But this person is someone you can’t mess around with,” said Yun-ho who appeared from behind Si-won.

Si-won could not believe his ears. “Who do you think you are? Don’t tell me you are the freak boyfriend of this freaky,” Si-won asked him soberly.

“Maybe you are right, but I’m more than that to her,” he answered him as he grabbed Ji-yeon’s hand and dragged her out from that place, totally ignoring whether she had finished her meal or not.

Si-won’s pride hurt and this had made him even angrier. “Park Ji-yeon!!!!!” he shouted on top of his voice. He felt very insulted. Someone from afar was watching the chaotic incident. Seeing Choi Si-won shrieked out of his lungs had made a curve of smile on his lips. What was he smiling for? And who was this smiling person?

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Home Sweet Home]

 

“Unni!” Lauren called Ji-yeon.

“Ne?”Ji-yeon answered.

“Our school will be having a school trip soon,” Lauren told her.

“Really? Have fun!” said Ji-yeon as she patted on that little girl’s head.

“We will be going to Seoul Grand Park,” she informed in cheery tone. “But…” she looked glum.

“Wae?” Ji-yeon asked her.

“It’s a trip with parents,” murmured Lauren. Since her parents were still in Canada, so she probably couldn’t join the trip.

Silence from Ji-yeon. She did not know how to answer her.

“You can go with her,” Mr. Park suddenly spoke.

“Me?” Ji-yeon was startled. “Dad, it’s a trip with parents. I’m not even a parent yet,” she tried to defend herself.

Lauren looked at her without a single blink.

“Are you kidding me with those eyes?” Ji-yeon asked her.

Lauren shook her head.

“When you were in Kindergarten, it was Lauren’s mother who had replaced me to go to your school trip. So, perhaps you can do the same on behalf of her mother?” suggested Mr. Park. “Trust me, it’s going to be fun. You were once a kindergarten student too,” he assured her.

“Yeah!” Lauren cheered. “Eonni jjang!” she added.

Ji-yeon smiled at her enigmatically, she wasn’t interested to go. Anyway, you had no choice right?

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Lotte Department Store]

 

“Is she your yeodongsaeng?” Huiren asked Ji-yeon as she looked at the girl who was clinging onto Ji-yeon’s hand.

“Aniya. She’s a cousin of mine. She will be going to a school trip soon. I was thinking of buying her some stuff. Children stuffs, you know,” explained Ji-yeon. Imagining herself being in a school trip with a kid was a nightmare to her.

“Annyeong …” Huiren paused, trying to remember something. “What’s her name again?” she asked Ji-yeon.

“Lauren,” answered Ji-yeon.

“Oh, annyeong, Lauren!” greeted Huiren.

Lauren did not answer, but a smile curved up on her pouty lips.

“Whoa, you really cute!” Huiren complimented that little girl. At the other corner, someone was also wandering around in that mall. He stopped at the music instruments store. A guitar had caught his attention. He ended up buying that guitar and strapped it behind his back with a satisfied look.

Ji-yeon and Huiren made their way to a footwear store. “Whoa, this one sure is classy,” Ji-yeon took a look at the silver-colored shoes.

“Ji-yeon-ah, take a look at this,” Huiren pointed another shoes.

Ji-yeon walked towards her, as Lauren’s hand slipped from Ji-yeon’s grip. Both of them were so amazed with the shoes.

At the same moment, Lauren’s eyes were caught to a clown with lots of colorful balloons who were walking by in front of the footwear store. Without informing Ji-yeon, she made her way to the clown as if she was hypnotized. She followed it and hoped to get one of the balloons.

As for Ji-yeon and Huiren, they were still busy with the shoes, not noticing that Lauren was no longer with them. Both of them were totally engrossed with the shoe topic.

The clown noticed a little girl was following him from behind. “Would you like to have one?” the clown asked her.

Lauren nodded.

“Do you have money?” he asked and Lauren shook her head. “Well, you can’t have it for free,” told the clown.

She stood still as her eyes were staring at the balloons.

“Sorry kiddo, I was thinking to give it for free, but my boss will fire me for not making any profit today. You look so cute by the way,” complimented the clown and left Lauren standing there, alone.

Someone noticed how pathetically Lauren wanted the balloon and he voiced out, “Excuse me, can I have a balloon please?” He went near the clown.

The clown stopped. “What color?” the clown asked.

This particular guy waved at Lauren and she drew near. “What would you like?” he asked. His eyes were fixed at Lauren. “Pink?” he made a suggestion when Lauren didn’t answer him.

She nodded lightly.

“Give me the pink balloon please,” said the guy.  He handed her the balloon as he paid it to the clown.

He watched the clown left and then turn to look at Lauren. “Do you like it?” he asked.

She answered with a nod.

“Are you alone?” he asked another question.

She gave him a shook.

“You must be lost,” decided the guy.“Let’s find your parents. Where are they?” he asked her.

“Molla…” murmured Lauren. She was not looking at the guy. Her eyes fixed on the balloon she just received.

Meanwhile, at the footwear store …

“Huiren, this one looks so cute. It must fit well to Lauren. Don’t you think so?” Ji-yeon asked her for corroboration. “Look at this Lauren. Do you like it?” she looked beside her. “Lauren?” Ji-yeon was shocked to find Lauren was not there with her. She looked around but there was no sign of Lauren. “Huiren …” cried out Ji-yeon as she walked towards Huiren. “Huiren, what should I do?” she was trembling.

“Wae?” asked Huiren, not noticing what had happened.

“Lauren …”

“Lauren?” Huiren looked around and realized that they had lost the child. “What should we do?”Huiren asked her back. They quickly went out from the footwear store and started looking around to each store at the same floor.

“I’m dead,” Ji-yeon said tremulously. She was feeling so bad getting excited over the shoes and now she had to face the problem she gained from being so careless. She didn’t expect thing like this to happen.

“Let’s go to the Customer Service Counter,” suggested Huiren.

“What are we going to do there?” asked Ji-yeon without thinking. She seemed lost.

“Yah, don’t you want to report about a missing child?” said Huiren as she dragged Ji-yeon to find the Customer Service Counter in that huge mall.

Ji-yeon followed without resistance. She felt like she had lost her soul. She couldn’t think straight for she was really worried about what had happened.

In the meantime, Lauren was in a safe hand of a nice guy who entertained her while looking for Lauren’s parents.

“Pororo!” said Lauren, pointing to a toy as they walked by the toys store.

“You want to go in?” he asked her.

Lauren nodded with a bright smile. She slipped her hand into that guy’s hand.

He felt something strange. He looked down and saw this little girl’s warm hand had grabbed his hand. It made him smile. It’s been a long time since someone held out his hand like that, he thought. He had never held anyone’s hand in his entire life except his mother’s gentle hand. This was something which felt so refreshing to him. So they walked into the shop and looked around for something interesting. Lauren found one she liked and the guy again light-heartedly purchased the toy.

At the same time, an announcement was made about a missing child from the Customer Service Counter. “Attention to all customers. A five-year-old little girl is missing. Her name is Lauren. She has a long hair with a hair band. She wears pink-colored velvet gown and has the look of a multicultural family. Please bring the child to the Customer Service Counter as soon as possible.” The announcement echoed at the whole mall.

The guy heard the announcement and noticed that the details clearly pointed to the little girl who was standing beside him. “What’s your name?” he asked her to assure.

“Lauren,” she told him.

He knew it was Lauren — the missing child mentioned. So he brought her to the Customer Service Counter.

“Ji-yeon unni!” cried out Lauren as they arrived at the counter. They drew nearer the counter. Ji-yeon stood there, looking morose. She didn’t even hear Lauren’s call.

“Yah, Ji-yeon-ah, it’s Lauren!” exclaimed Huiren as she snapped Ji-yeon on the back.

Ji-yeon quickly steered her head and saw the little girl was standing right there in front of her eyes. She let go a sigh of relief. She ran towards Lauren to get her. “Where were you just now? Why did you leave without notifying us? You made me worried, you know? I think I’ve lost my soul,” said Ji-yeon non-stop. “I’m sorry Lauren,” she confessed at last. She reached out her hands and hug Lauren who was smiling.

“Gwaenchana, unni,” said Lauren. Her eyeballs were looking at the guy.

Ji-yeon released Lauren from her embrace. “Next time, don’t do anything stupid like this again, understand? I swear I won’t give in to your hypnotizing look and bring you out for shopping if you don’t promise me you won’t,” demanded Ji-yeon.

“Arasseo,” Lauren answered sweetly.

“Um?” Ji-yeon raised her eyebrows as a mean to get the exact answer from Lauren.

“I promise,” said Lauren. “You don’t need to worry, unni. I was with this nice man and look what he bought me! A pink balloon and a cute toy! Oppa, gomawo!”

“Oh?” Ji-yeon who was so worried just now didn’t notice Lauren was holding things like that. Ji-yeon looked up and saw him stood there beside Lauren, looking down at her. Ji-yeon stood up and tried to make sense of what really had happened. “Yah, are you planning to kidnap this little girl?” Eventually she came to this conclusion.

“Unni, he brought me here,” explained Lauren.

“Oh?”Ji-yeon tried to gather her senses.

“This oppa was the one who found me,” said Lauren.

“Ah …” Ji-yeon was embarrassed for accusing him without thinking.

“She’s lucky that I found her, for today. Next time? Only God knows. Don’t be such a careless next time,” advised the guy and made his way.

Ji-yeon’s closed her eyes in embarrassment. She looked at Lauren and sighed. Now she had this mind-boggling questions running wildly inside her head. ‘He looks familiar. Where did I saw him before? Who are you?’ Ji-yeon’s thought whispered.

 

*   *   *   *   *

TO BE CONTINUED