Chapter I

She was finally there. Julieth finally arrived.

New York City seemed to be buzzing with life in every corner. Every time Julieth turned around, she saw people going back and forth in the subway; calling (most likely yelling) for a taxi or walking around like there was a fire behind them. Despite the noise and everything she felt like finally she was accomplishing something. After the painful break up with the man who she supposed could be her other half and a lot of self-thinking and reflecting she came up with the idea to leave her country (Colombia) and look for some luck in the States.

First thing in the year 2011, she looked for universities specialized in photography around the States until she found the one she was looking for. Tisch: School of the Arts, in New York City. She was a 25 years old woman majored in Graphic Design but she always wanted to be a photographer, so she was willing to change even her location just to achieve her dream. One of her best friends, Andrea, encouraged her to apply for the Special Program and she even help Julieth to get a scholarship to study abroad. Also, thanks to Andrea’s boyfriend, Javier, who studied high school at the States; Julieth could get where to live during her stay.

So, now, she was standing in the middle of the airport waiting for someone to pick her up. She hadn’t had to wait for too long when she visualized a girl looking around with a white board with ‘Julieth’ name on it. She was wearing ripped old jeans, white t-shirt, gray vest and a hat on top of head; Julieth approached her and the girl immediately smiled at her, her sky blue eyes tingled and her long sleek hair swung behind her back.

“You must be Julieth, right?” The blonde spoke in a soft voice despite her bubbly appearance. “I’m Mia, nice to finally meet you!” The blonde hugged her briefly.

“Uhm, hi…” Julieth chuckled a bit while the girl led her to the parking lot between curious talking about how the hell they were supposed to escape from the traffic.

Once in the neighborhood, Mia parked in front of an old fashioned building with four floors and a bunch of stairs at the right side of the alley. Julieth smiled recalling all those movies she liked where New York was the main stage, it always involved a firefighter stairs. Mia helped her with her luggage and both went to the 4^th floor, and then to the last apartment. When Julieth stepped inside the foyer she could appreciate the interior of the place, it had 3 bedrooms, a shower, a small kitchen, a living room and a dining room.

“Come! This will be your room,” Mia opened one of the rooms and Julieth liked it immediately, it has peripheral view to the street and the closet was really spacious.

“It’s really nice,” she commented and Mia nodded. Both girls heard some noises from the front door and suddenly a brunette with light brown eyes appeared in the room.

“Oh! Hi!” She greeted Julieth. “I see you’re finally here!”

“Jules, this is Tess Murray, she’s our other roommate,” the brunette lent her hand to Julieth who smiled and shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you!” Tess almost bounced in front of Julieth.

“Likewise, Tess,” Julieth hugged her. “I’m Julieth Tovar.”

“Okay! Introduction done!” Mia clapped her hands. “Let’s proceed with your bags, shall we?”

“Are Steve and Eric coming later?” Tess’s tone was kind of teasing.

“Eric called at noon…” Mia went to the first bag and ped it to avoid any further question.

“Who are Eric and Steve?” Julieth asked anyway.

Tess squealed happily and proceeded to explain who those two gorgeous men Mia was talking about were.

It was around 7 in the evening when Julieth was sitting in the quiet café that belonged to Tess, the after mentioned together with Mia were sitting with her while waiting for the other two men to arrive. When the entrance’s bell rang, Julieth turned her head just to be taken aback by two good-looking Asian males coming inside. The tallest of them wore black jeans, gray loose shirt and black jacket; the other was slightly short than the first one and he wore dark blue jeans and a light blue shirt. Tess waved at them and both walked towards them. The description Tess had told Julieth didn’t even made justice to how handsome they were.

“Hey, what’s up?” The tallest man spoke.

“Finally the work load is done, Mr. CEO?” Mia smiled so wide that Julieth thought that her lips must been sore. “Great! Look, she’s Julieth Tovar, she’s our new roomie. Jules, they’re…”

“Eric Mun,” said the tallest and smiled like a kid, all his face glowed with excitement. “He’s Steve Jung, we’re roommates too.”

“Nice to meet you, Eric,” Julieth giggled at how handsome and polite this man was.

“Actually, we live just in the apartment in front of yours,” Steve told her. “Nice to meet you, too,” the slim man dropped his next to Mia and hid his face between his arms. “I’m hungry, give me some food!” He whined and then pouted in front of Mia, who just rolled her eyes. Julieth giggled again, they looked cute together.

“A bit bossy, don’t you?” Mia snorted and messed his hair affectionately, Steve cursed.

“Hey! No cursing in front of my girl!” Eric hugged Mia protectively and the girl just shoved her tongue to Steve.

Julieth knew, by Tess, that Eric and Steve were from South Korea and both were living in the States for 5 years now. Eric was the young CEO of a small recording company, while Steve was one of the shareholders and a composer in the company. Eric was 32 years old, and Steve still was 31. Julieth was awestruck by both successful men and felt really encouraged to achieve even more things on her own.