THREE : WHOLE NEW WORLD

A few weeks after the interview, Nana had always been on her toes while expecting something by mail to arrive at the house. In 2 months' time, a tetragonal white envelope embroidered with the logo of Hanyang University on the top left corner arrived. Leaving the rest of the letters on the closest table Nana saw, she scurried off up the flight of stairs straight into her room. Her fingers trembled at the sight of the letter as her legs failed her and she wobbled down on the thin mattress of her bed. Cautiously, she tear the letter and pried it open with extra care as if it was a precious child.

Slipping her fingers in, she felt her heartbeat quickened against her ribcage and she just prayed it would not burst by the time she get to read the letter. Fishing out the letter that came with a catalogue and a few fliers; Nana who never once saw an acceptance letter could not fathom whether it’s a good or bad sign to come across so many colourful papers before her. Finally, she found the right piece of paper and breathed in before she started reading. There was the logo; the letterhead, Nana’s address and the salutation began with her name displayed with bold letters.

Dear SHIM NANA,

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMME AT HYU – SPRING 2013 SEMESTER

Congratulations for successfully completing the Admission Test, Korean Language Proficiency Test and your Interview.

Therefore, we would like to extend our offer of your study to Undergraduate Programme for Spring 2013 semester to the following details:

i.                    Programme        :               Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Chemical Engineering

ii.                   Duration             :               4 years

iii.                  Entry level           :               Year  1, Semester 1

iv.                 Scholarship          :               Hanyang International Scholarship Program (HISP)

Please be reminded that the student’s registration for Spring 2013 is compulsory, failure which your status will be recorded as non-registered student and unauthorized from the University’s Spring 2013 semester.

Congratulations and wishing you all the best in your study.

Thank you.

The letter ended with a huge signature and a man’s name whom Nana was thanking profusely at as she held the piece of paper close to her. Okay, you’re probably wondering why Nana received an international scholarship. Well, she’s actually half Chinese, but she bears a Korean name. From her birth certificate, Nana found out that her late mother was a Chinese and according to the rules, she was eligible enough to apply for it. Hence, Nana considered that luck is on her side and although she has never met her late mother, she thanked the lady whom she thought was always looking down on her from the heavens above.

Finally, all her hard work paid off. From studying until she literally bled her nose off until filling the application all on her own effort; from the application form to bank balance certificate until the TOPIK scores she had to take. And don’t be fooled by her appearance, Nana may sit at the far corner of the noisiest and most rebellious thick-headed herd of cows' class, but she is actually one of the top students in her school. The other students always thought she was the most imprudent girl they’ve ever met, but Nana actually went to the Principal himself to tell him to remove her name from the top scorer list and put her at the very bottom of everything. Nana wanted nothing from the school, not even pity.

All Nana wanted was to be left ALONE.

And the Principal agreed with her; not wanting to end up in any brutal position or igniting any kind of violence that seem to radiate from a student called Shim Nana. But little did Nana know it wouldn’t be the same for her once she started life as a university student. Shaking her head rapidly, she placed the memory to the furthest part of her head and kept it there. She didn’t want to reminisce anything about school, she wanted to just forget everything and leave it all behind her. Okay, enough with the drama, Nana. Safe that for the soap opera!

♦

Around mid February, Nana had all her stuff pack in a few bags and she was ready to go. Her step-mother actually coaxed her into letting her send Nana to the university. “I’m so proud of you, Nana. You’re going off to study and not many kids around here have achieved that. Well, that excludes your brother, but it’s expected from an honor student like him,” the lady ranted off on her own as Nana loaded her things into the car.

“Nana, I was talking to you!” Hwang Mira decided to become the mother-figure she never was after Nana turned 15 and she seriously wanted to choke herself to death when Mira started using her whiny voice. Seriously, could you even get surgeries for increasing one’s pitch? She scowled at herself as she tried to hide the chuckle she wanted to express on Mira’s fakeness. “I was a little occupied, Mira,” Nana would never apologize, ever. She just kept on carrying her stuff into Mira’s Rio and she was really glad that most of her stuff could fit into the small car, not that she had many things to begin with.

The lady kept blabbering on and on about whatever claptrap she was involved in and telling Nana about what Xander was doing back in his university; some ty project that Nana didn’t give a single flying . Mira shut her trap right after she saw Nana gave her the look she call ‘Murderer Glare’ and Nana was finally satisfied with the quiet ride as they hit the highway. But perhaps, the look still didn’t scare her off her brain as she attempted another conversation. “You should call me ‘Mom’ in front of others, okay Nana?” and Nana snorted a reply at the lady beside her and finally plugged her earphones in.

Once they reached HYU, Nana felt giddy with excitement, but she didn’t want Mira to know. They were given directions to head off to the Gaenari Hall; the dormitory for female students and Nana took in the beautiful view of her surroundings. The last time she came here, she was too occupied to appreciate anything other than a park, a field and the Admission Test hall. As Mira parked the car quite far from the dorm Nana would be staying at, she cursed under her breath. You’ve got to be kidding me.

Unloading all of her belongings, Nana went to the office of the female dormitories to check on her assigned room. She sighed with relief as she saw her name on the 3^rd floor. Thanking the lady sitting behind the grey plastic table for handing her key and informing her that the orientation would begin the next day, Nana took off and went back to Mira to retrieve her things. Silently, as Mira was busy chatting up with whomever it was on the phone, Nana grabbed as many things as she could handle and headed for the building she would be staying at; her soon-to-be heaven.

After another trip, Mira was still on her phone, so Nana took off and never returned back to Mira. As she was peacefully unpacking her things, her phone buzzed and punching the button with extra effort since it was an antique, she answered the phone. Noticing who the caller was, she waited for Mira to blabber whatever nonsense she was going to come up with. Or maybe she wants to see me before she goes back. A small voice within her had the courage to hope and when she heard the single sentence that came from the caller, Nana loathed herself for giving the pleasure of hope. Hwang Mira was a hopeless case, period.

“You’re settled, I’m sure, so I’ll get going then,” and that was the last time they ever talked. No ‘goodbye’ or ‘take care’ or ‘eat well’ or maybe anything. Once again, Nana despised herself and tossed the phone to her already made bed. She continued unpacking and organized her things the way she liked it and finally, as dinner time approached, she was done and gave herself a good pat on the back for her achievement. As she lay on her new bed, she stared at the window, and she almost weep since the size of it was noticeably larger than what she had in her own room and she could actually slide them open to enjoy the cool zephyr that wafted into the room mixed with her lavender fragranced air freshener.

The next day, everything happened like a rush to Nana. The introductions, the talks after talks after talks, the games and many other things breezed past like a gust of wind for Nana that finally the day came to end and she never really noticed it. Probably it was the fact that she had never been out of the hell hole called home, and probably because she didn’t socialize much back in the days. On the next day, they were once again divided into groups to be given a tour of the university. Nana decided, after half an hour of walking around the huge university compound, that she would give it a rest for herself and stayed behind on a bench she saw nearby at their last stop.

Carefully, she took out a piece of empty paper and a 2H pencil to quench her thirst for drawing. She decided to go for single white heather.

Good luck.

She kept on her sketching and shaded on the opposite side of the sunshine and she felt contented with the presence of just her empty paper now filled and her 2H pencil. “That’s pretty. What flower is that?” A voice came up from behind and it took all of Nana’s courage not to shriek a bagful of blasphemes at the guy who loomed over from behind her; scrutinizing Nana’s sketching and her. “What the actual…” and before she could end her cuss word, the guy shushed her with a finger to her lips and a dimpled smile. 

Another update after a very short time. Guess I'm having an adrenaline rush which I'll change to writer rush instead. Okay, not funny. But I'm in no mood to joke either. What the hell is wrong with me anyway?! XD I hope you enjoyed reading :D

Plus, this chapter is dedicated to yet another good friend of mine who lurks around AFF to read stuff on YulSic. You know who you are, babe. She's the only one, among my friends that is, who goes to AFF like me here in our Uni. She wouldn't read or come across this fic, but I still appreciate her presence. And she never judges. So, just wanna say love you a lot, A. I'm sorry I've been forcing EXO into you despite your love for Jay Park :)

Updated; September 2
Edited; December 1