Chapter 2

Leo came home late from his harsh soccer practice feeling very exhausted. He kicked his shoes off of his feet since the laces were already loose anyway. His mother noticed his actions when she came over to greet him and started nagging at him that she forgot all about the greeting. Luckily for Leo, she got interrupted by the annoying sound of the ringing phone. Leo's mother went over to the living room to pick it up and answered the phone in English, 'Hello?' thoughe she instantly altered the greeting to Korean when she realised that the caller was from their home country.

Leo then fixed his shoes according to how his mother had arranged the other shoes. Once he was finished with the simple task, he huffed and was going to retreat to his bedroom. He only paused when he suddenly heard his friend's name – Cha Hakyeon coming out from his mother's mouth. In a flash, he ran towards where she was.

Leo's mother raised an eyebrow at him but continued speaking to the person on the phone, "I'm afraid that Taekwoon doesn't know anyone by that name, but thank –"

"I do! I do know him!" Leo interrupted with urgency. Despite N's annoying and cheerful personality that contrasted his, he was glad that someone had finally gotten through the invisible walls that he had set up around himself. It was a first for him. Anyone who confronted him before would disappear with just one look that he gave them. Leo had gotten used to it – but N was just... different. He was stubborn and persistent and refused to let his only friend go. Leo remembered that even on the last day that they saw each other, N clung to him and gripped his clothes tight as if he did want to let go for a very long time. Anyone would have ran away if an opportunity came around, but not N. Not his 'lifelong friend' –

Leo's mother covered the telephone speaker with her hand and told her son, "No, Taekwoon. We moved here so you could have friends in here. You shouldn't try and contact your friends from back there. Trust your umma, your friend will forget you eventually."

"No! No... He's different! He's my lifelong friend, umma!" Leo admitted not only to her but to himself too. She, however, simply stared at him in disbelief and hanged up after a goodbye. "It was our neighbour," Leo's mother explained to him, frowning, "They said that a boy called Cha Hakyeon left you letters at the end of each month. She said that she accidentally read one and that it only really contained simple messages like 'How are you?' and some other things... She wasn't able to read his handwriting properly apparently."

"Send the letters here..." Leo whispered, still thinking over in his head the things that he just heard. "Can you ask her to send the letters here?" He asked a little louder.

Leo's mother shook her head. "It's expensive, Taekwoon. And it would be better if you forget about your friends in Korea because they would forget about you soon enough. I need you to focus on your studies as well as soccer, okay?"

Leo chewed on his bottom lip and remained silent. After hearing her words, he felt even more homesick. He was in their house in America but it was not his home. Listening to English was a pain but speaking was even more of a hassle. He did not belong in America.

Leo sat on a neatly arranged bed and his eyes were focused on the television right across him. The singing competition that his mother loved to watch was on and somehow, he too, grew accustomed to watching it because of her. After having spent such a long time in America, Leo still found it rather challenging to understand the Americans' fluent English. He was able to catch some words, but there were still quite a few that he had to think over twice or thrice. Listening to these singing competitions ta