Hazel had left Anna at the departure gates, waving madly. Anna waved back, trying to be happy about her adventure and not sad about the fact she was leaving her best friend and everything else behind.

“It’s only for a few months,” she told herself. Nodding, she handed her ticket to the flight attendant and boarded her plane. Settling down for a long trip, she decided to listen to some music, and fell asleep.

Much, much later, her plane finally touched down in Incheon International Airport. Standing and stretching the tiredness from her cramped legs, Anna left the plane with trepidation. As she made her way through the customs, she began to worry. Apparently someone from the boarding school she would be attending in Korea would be here to pick her up at the airport. But what if she couldn’t find them? What if they left without her? What if they hated her?!

Stopping for a moment, Anna slapped her face (and gained a few odd looks from other people in the airport) and told herself to shut up. Everything would be fine. With new-found determination, she strode confidently to retrieve her luggage and stepped out into the main airport.

Scanning around, it didn’t take her long to find a sign being held up high in the air with her name on. She couldn’t see who was holding it as the airport was so crowded with people holding different signs, but she went in that direction anyway.

Pushing her way through the crowd, she eventually reached the man holding the sign. He was a tall and burly man, wearing a black suit and black sunglasses. He looked like a bodyguard, and was flanked by a younger man, close to her own age with blond hair and a pout.

The tall man looked down at her. “Anna?” He inquired.

“Yes, that’s me!” She responded in Korean. He nodded and indicated to the doors. Taking her suitcase, he strode in the direction of the exit, leaving her and the blond boy to follow. The boy ignored her, preferring instead to walk to the exit while inspecting his nails, which Anna noticed were painted a bright yellow with little skulls on. She found this rather odd but decided not to comment on it. Not yet, anyway.

Anna caught up with the tall man as they reached his car. Sliding into the backseat, Anna withdrew her phone from her pocket to text Hazel and let her know she was there safely. Upon turning on her phone, she was greeted with a mass of messages about cats. She grinned.

While she had been looking at her phone, she hadn’t noticed the blond boy slip into the seat next to her.

“What’cha laughing at?” He asked.

Anna looked up in surprise. “Oh it’s just some texts from my friend in England about her cats and mine.”

The boy nodded. “Cats huh. I know a guy you’ll get along with then.”

Anna’s eyes lit up at this. Anyone who liked cats would be worth having a conversation with. Speaking of conversations, she realised she didn’t know this boy’s name.

“Uh, so, what is your name?”

The boy turned back to look at her, studying her for a long time and making her feel somewhat uncomfortable, before he shrugged and looked away. “Hongki. Lee Hongki”.