Here's another chapter!  Please Comment!  And Happy New Year everyone!  

***

Two days later, Taeyeon arrived at Laguardia Airport in the mid-afternoon.  She didn’t have much with her.  Just a small backpack and a carry-on wheely bag.  She walked out of the terminal and pulled out a her list of New York Buses that could get her into Chinatown where Minjun lived.

 

She waited by the street, not noticing as another woman her age pulled up beside her.  She was on her phone.

 

“Mmm… Yes, my flight just landed.  I’ll get a suite in Midtown Manhattan… I’ll call him once I settle in… Yeah, I’ll tell him you say hi… Yes, I brought my Gucci bag and shoes…”

 

This caught Taeyeon’s attention as she turned her head.  It was all in Korean, making her notice.  Maybe they could share a cab together.  However, the sight of the young woman made her think otherwise.

 

The young woman was in a designer short sleeved dress with tall high heels on.  She wore lavish classic jewelry with her long hair flowing down.  She looked beautiful… and filthy rich.  Her name was Jung Jessica, not that Taeyeon would ever know.

 

“Yeah, maybe I’ll buy him something from Armani… He won’t think that is too cheap will he?”

 

Armani… Cheap?  Oh please.  Taeyeon let out a tiny scoff. 

 

The young woman looked over and gave Taeyeon a glare, making Taeyeon shut up.  She found her bus, going into Manhattan, sort of near the area where she needed to end up.

 

Jessica Jung didn’t appreciate being laughed at.  Sure, she could deal with girls gossiping and loathing her behind her back, but not being laughed at. She watched as Taeyeon walked away, noting her tiny body and casual wear.How was she laugh at Jung Jessica?A commoner.

 

Taeyeon reached Chinatown an hour and a half later.  She found her older brother’s apartment with her minimal English and mandarin skills to navigate herself through Chinatown.  He lived at 30 Pell street – the closest part of Chinatown to TriBeCa.It sort of seemed close to the heart of the neighborhood.  He lived right by a Chinese candy shop and a furniture shop.  It was so crowded and lively – it seemed like a fun place to live.

 

Just as Taeyeon reached the building an old man came out.  Taeyeonopened it for him and after he came out, she slipped in.  She walked her way up to the third floor, going to apartment 3B.  She knocked on it rapidly.“Yah, Minjun oppa.  It’s me!  Minjun oppa!  It’s Taeyeon – Oppa!”

 

The opposite apartment’s, on the other side of the staircase, door opened. There was a young Caucasian woman who appeared.She was pretty and thin with white skin, red hair, green eyes.She wore a short purple satin robe that was open, showing off her sleeping boxer shorts and a black lace bra.  Taeyeon looked to the ground awkwardly, not knowing where else to put her eyes.

 

“Who are you looking for?”  The woman asked in English, groggily.

 

Taeyeon, surprised by the English for some reason, jumped.  She scratched her head.  “Ah…” She said slowly, trying to collect her thoughts in English, “Have you… seen… Minjun Kim?”  It actually came out better than she had expected.

 

“Minjun?”  She asked curiously.

 

“I mean, Jun,” Taeyeon corrected herself.  She forget her brother went by Jun in America, to give English speakers an easier time.

 

“Oh Jun!” The red-head woman said, getting it now.  “Oh, you must be Taeyeon.  His little sister, right?”

 

Little Sister… Taeyeon understood that one.  “Yes, me,” Taeyeon nodded as she pointed to herself.

 

“Oh, sorry hun, but he moved out.  He doesn’t live there anymore.”

 

“Doesn’t live here…” Taeyeon translated to herself.  But this the return address on every letter he sent with the money.

 

“He moved out four days ago,” The red head woman added.  “Or well, some of his buddies moved him out for him.”

 

Taeyeon tilted her head.  She understood the words, but not the context.  “What do you mean?”  She asked slowly.

 

The woman closed her robe and walked over to Taeyeon.  She leaned against the door and let out a sigh.  “I told Jun not to, but I swear he doesn’t listen when he has an idea in mind, ya feel?”

 

Taeyeon connected the words and nodded.  Her brother was a stubborn sometimes.

 

“But… he needed more money.  He got involved with another gang.”

 

“Gang?” Taeyeon asked in Korean.  She shook her head and asked in English, “Why?!”

 

The red-head nodded, “Money, I guess.”

 

Taeyeon felt a pang of guilt hit her stomach.  She sighed.  “Oppa, really?”  She asked herself in Korean.  She then looked at the woman.“Do you… know… where he is?”

 

The woman shook her head.  “No, I haven’t seen him since he left for work four days ago.”
 

Taeyeon wanted to hit something.She didn’t know the name of where her brother worked, just the area.  “Write down the name… and address… of where Jun… works? Please.”

 

“Of course,” The woman nodded  .She wrote down in Taeyeon’s iPhone notes of a bar and dinner on the upper west side.

 

“Thank you,” Taeyeon nodded as she bowed her head.She began heading down the stairs again.

 

“Hey, Taeyeon,” the woman called out from the third floor banister.

 

Taeyeon looked up and tilted her head in question.  “Yes?”

 

“Good luck in finding him, and when you do, tell him before he goes back home that my door is always open if he wants an American go-around before he leaves.  Free of charge since he’s leaving.”  She gave a wink and then disappeared back into her apartment.

 

Taeyeon did not understand a goddamn word she said.But either way, she continued down the stairs.

 

***

“Awe come on, Jason,” Dylan pleaded his friend.

 

“I said no,” Wooyoung laughed as he pushed his friend off of him.  

 

“Laura, Melanie, and Clara will be there!  It’ll be the party of the summer.”

 

Wooyoung shrugged, “Too far.”

 

“It’s just in Queens with a pool – flushing Queens.  Koreatown.  The closest thing you have to hometown.”

 

Wooyoung laughed at his poor attempt of persuasion. But no way in hell was Wooyoung going to go to Koreatown.  His father and brother had family over there, and didn’t want to encounter that awkwardness.

 

“No thank you, I’m too lazy.”

 

“You always say that,” Dylan grumbled.

 

“Look, Dylan, I will see you later.  Have fun with Laura, Melanie, and Clara.  Okay?”Wooyoung said as he patted his friend on the shoulder.  “I’m going to eat.”

 

Dylan sighed, “Dude.  You’re a lost cause sometimes.  All three of them have the hots for you.”

 

“That’s sweet of them.”

 

His friend laughed and said, “Okay.I’ll see you later, Jason.”  He ran across the street to Columbus Circle to meet up with some more friends.

 

Wooyoung walked over to the other side of the large Time Warner building, across from the Rose Jazz Center, to the small dinner he loved.  He sat down in the booth and had his favorite Korean hyung walk up to him.

 

“Minjun Hyung,” Wooyoung smiled.

 

Minjun shook his head.  “It’s a beautiful day outside during your summer vacation.  And you’re alone… in a diner.  That’s kind of pathetic, Wooyoung-sshi.”

 

“I prefer being alone,” Wooyoung shrugged.

 

“Aish, at your age I was chasing after girls,” Minjun countered.  He put down the cup of coffee and said, “I already knew when you walked in.”

 

“Hyung, you’re my favorite,” He smiled.

 

“I know, I know-“ Minjun stopped immediately at the sight he saw.  Wooyoung watched as he went still and stared at the glass wall.He looked out the window too to see a pretty Korean girl.  She was very pretty, very pure looking.  She had large eyes and pale skin.  She wore jeans and a loose graphic T-shirt of Batman and Robin; her varsity jacket was tied around her waist.  She had a bookbag slung around her shoulder and a small blue carry-on bag.  She was staring right back at him.Girlfriend maybe?  She looked like she was the same age as Wooyoung.

 

After a moment of hesitation, Minjun ran outside.  He ran out to her and hugged her tightly. “Yah, what the hell are you doing her, Idiot?” He asked loudly enough for Wooyoung to hear and understand.

 

“Oppa, you haven’t called me!  I’m worried!  And I have no money back home!”

 

“Taeyeon, it’s not safe here-“

 

“It’s not safe in Korea!”

 

“They have people watching me here,” he explained in Korean.  His voice was hushed now, and he was speaking rapidly.  “If they see you here, they’ll know something is up and I owe money to more-”

 

“Oppa, Nichkhun’s appa found a job for you!In Korea.  It pays well, and it won’t be too hard anymore.  I promise.  Oppa, let’s just go back to Seoul-“

 

“You make it sound way too easy, Taeyeon-“

 

“It is that easy though,” The girl, Taeyeon, countered.  “Oppa, quit your jobs here.  And we can go back to Korea and pay off the money to SM.”

 

“Taeyeon, you don’t understand,” Minjun countered, grabbing her shoulders.  “To get you the money I owe to SM, I had to take some money from other people here in the States.  These people, I didn’t realize until recently, are worse than SM.”

 

“Oppa,” Taeyeon muttered.  There was a bit of shock in her voice.

 

“Get out of here,” Minjun said as he patted his little’s sister head.  “Go back home.  I have to do some work now.  I’ll be back home soon-“

 

“Hey, Jun!  Come with us.”  There was a white male and a black male standing in dark suits, who were in front of a black car.

 

“Oppa,” Taeyeon looked at him cautiously.

 

Minjun kissed his sister’s head.  “Seoul.  Go, I’ll be back soon.  I promise.”

 

Wooyoung knew that Minjun was lying, and so did Taeyeon.  Her eyes began to water and she looked at him.  “You said that to me three years ago.”

 

“Just wait a little longer, Taeyeon-ah,” he said softly as he made her let go of him.  The two men in suits grabbed him by the arm.  Jun shrugged them off.

 

“No, wait, please, let my brother go,” Taeyeon cried out in Korean, grabbing onto one of them.

 

The white man shrugged her off of him.  They all got into the car and Taeyeon ran up to them.  She began banging wildly on the car for her brother.  She ran into the street with them.

 

Wooyoung didn’t know why because his common sense told him not to, but he ran outside, dropping down money on the table.  He ran up to Taeyeon and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her out the way of getting hit by a car.

 

Wooyoung pulled her out the way as she hit him.  “Yah, Are you crazy?!”  He asked her.

 

“Let go of me!”  She shouted angrily  .“Don’t touch me.”  She looked for the car and when it was already too far, she let out an angry huff.  She then glared at Wooyoung and cursed, “Who the hell are you?”

 

“A friend of Minjun-hyung,” he muttered under his breath.  “You know, you might have a death wish.  You should go to an institution for that..."  He looked at her softly.  "I’m Wooyoung.”

 

“Why are you getting into other people’s business?”  She asked hotly, putting her hands on her hips.

 

“A simple thank you would suffice,” Wooyoung countered.

 

“No one asked for your help.”

 

“Ah, what’s the matter with you?”  He asked, wiping his brow.  “I just saved your life!”

 

Taeyeon looked down sheepishly. “Thanks.”

 

“No problem.”  Wooyoung said shortly.  He sighed and leaned against a car and said, “How do you know Minjun-hyung anyways?  Girlfriend?”

 

Taeyeon laughed and pushed back a loose strand of hair behind her hair.  She was pretty in this moment too, not when she was banging wildly against a car.  She looked like an angel.

 

She shook her and said, “No. Absolutely not.  He’s my actual older brother.”

 

“Ah, he’s talked about you before,” he said.“The Dongsaeng.  Taeyeon?”

 

Taeyeon nodded.  She went into her bag and pulls out a bag of white bean powder and sighed.  “I was going to make him food too.  Aish, the stupid bastard.”

 

“Bean Paste?  You carried Bean Paste on a plane?  You’re dedicated.”  Wooyoung noted with a smirk.

 

“Don’t laugh,” Taeyeon sighed, intending to throw it in the garbage.

 

“Yo, Jason!”

 

Taeyeon looked up and saw a white boy running towards them.Wooyoung turned and noticed that it was Dylan.

 

“Who is that beautiful angel?”  Dylan asked.

 

“My friend’s sister from Korea, Taeyeon,” Wooyoung explained in English.

 

Dylan smiled at her and winked, causing Taeyeon to look at him appraisingly.  It’s not like she could understand the conversation particularly well.

 

“Is she coming to the party with us?”  Dylan asked.  “I’ll show her a good new york time-“

 

“No,” Wooyoung said sternly. “Don’t think about it.”

 

“Wait, but she’s ready to party,” he said as he jerked his head over to the bag of white bean paste.  He then ran at Taeyeon, grabbed the bean paste out of her hand, and began to run.

 

“Oh ,” Wooyoung muttered.

 

“Why?What’s wrong?”  Taeyeon asked.

 

“ing idiot,” Wooyoung muttered in Korean before running after him.  “Yo, Dylan, that’s not what you think!”  Wooyoung quickly ran after him.

 

Taeyeon watched as the two boys ran.  Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed her suitcase and began walking to catch up to them.  Wooyoung and Dylan made it all the way to the entrance of the Time Warner building before Wooyoung tackled Dylan, causing the bag to break in Dylan’s face.  He breathed some in by accident and began coughing.

 

An allergic reaction.

 

“Awe, crap,” Wooyoung muttered. “Come on, Dylan.  You .  Stay with me.”

 

Taeyeon walked over to them and bent over.  “Oh my god!  Is he okay?”

 

“Clearly not,” Wooyoung said as he began dialing 911.  People began to huddle around him.

 

“Why did he take my bean paste?”  Taeyeon asked as he began to brush bean paste away from Dylan’s face.

 

Wooyoung put the phone up to his ear after he was done dialing. “He thought it was drugs.”

 

“Eh?!”  Taeyeon asked, astonished.  “Is he dumb?”

 

“A little.”

 

***

Jessica walked out of her hot shower and looked out to beautiful midtown manhattan from her suite.  She picked up her phone and noticed that she had a missed call from Ok Taecyeon.

 

She raised an eyebrow before calling him back.

 

“Sister,” Taecyeon said on the other line.

 

“Ah, what do you want, Taecyeon-ah?”  She asked coldly as she walked to the window that looked out to the east side of New York.

 

“Have you met up with Wooyoung-ie yet?”

 

Jessica frowned and lied, “Yeah.”

 

“Liar,” Taecyeon snickered on the other side.

 

“Ok, so if you already knew the answer, then why did you call?”  Jessica asked.  Her voice was cold as ice.

 

Taecyeon scoffed.  “Curiosity to your answer.  When you see him, promise to send my regards.”

 

“Why would he want to talk to you?  He hates you,” Jessica said before hanging up the phone.

 

How annoying, she thought.

 

***

They ended up at Roosevelt Hospital, which was only a few blocks away.  Taeyeon and Wooyoung sat next to each other for a few hours before a doctor came out.

 

Wooyoung stood up.“How is everything?”

 

Taeyeon stood up too, impressed by this clearly Korean young man.  His English skills were really good, but he had the accent that proved he was from Korea.  She wondered how long he lived here?

 

“He will be okay,” explained the doctor.  “It’s just a bad allergic reaction.  We contacted his parents, and he should be back on his feet by tomorrow.  You two can go.  His parents will be home soon, and he’s knocked out.”

 

“Thank you, Doctor,” Wooyoung nodded as the Doctor walked away.

 

Taeyeon turned around and asked, “Is your friend okay?”

 

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Wooyoung sighed, letting out a sigh of relief.  “Look, I’m going to the bathroom.  I’ll be back in a few minutes.  I’ll meet you outside and take you wherever you need to go.”

 

“You don’t have to-“

 

“I owe it to your brother,” Wooyoung explained.  “Just meet me, okay?  And don’t pass anyone anymore bean paste.”  He smirked before walking away.

 

Taeyeon glared at him before walking with her suitcase outside.  She sat on of the benches and sighed.She wondered where her brother was, if he was okay.  Maybe he was home already.

 

“Excuse me, are you Taeyeon Kim?”

 

It was a police officer with tan skin and brown hair.  He stood in front of her with the badge, uniform, gun, and everything.  Taeyeon was amazed to see a real NY cop - they looked exactly like they did in the movies.

 

“Yes, I am.”  Taeyeon nodded as she stood up.

 

“That was your bean paste?”

 

Taeyeon took a minute to put all of the words together.“Yes, it is.”

 

“Ah, okay.  Can I see your ID please?”

 

She didn’t get that one.  “What?”

 

“ID?”

 

“ID?”

 

“Yes, your ID,” the police officer said impatiently as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

 

“What is ID?” Taeyeon asked slowly.

 

The police officer looked at Taeyeon like she was crazy.  “What’s ID?”  He repeated.  “Come on, Kid.  Don’t give me a hard time.”

 

Taeyeon didn’t get any of that.  So, maybe she would try a different tactic.  “I am not from here… Korea.I live in Korea.”

 

The police officer nodded, now understanding the difficulty.  “Ok.Passport?”

 

“Ah,” Taeyeonsaid, getting that. She went into her bookbag and pulled out her passport.

 

“Oh, you’re only seventeen,” the police officer nodded.  Taeyon was about to object to that, but she realized her confusion.  In Korea, she is considered to be 18, while in the western world it is seventeen.

 

“Yes,” Taeyeon nodded.

 

“What’s your reason for being in the United States?”  The police asked as he continued to flip through her passport.

 

Taeyeon only understood United States, everything else was a mess.  “What?”

 

The police officer took another deep breath.  “Why… Are… You… Here?”

 

Taeyeon didn’t entirely get it, but before she could respond, she felt an arm come around her.

 

It was Wooyoung, trying to charm his way out of this.“  Baby, let’s go back to my place- oh …”

 

“Ah… Jason Jang… why am I not surprised,” the police officer smiled darkly.  “Your girlfriend even?”

 

Wooyoung shrugged.“It wasn’t drugs, Officer.  It’s Korean Bean Paste.  It’s not an issue.”

 

“Well, the question was she intending to sell them.”

 

Wooyoung scoffed in disbelief.  “Seriously?  That’s stupid – she’s been in the country for less than a day.  She was throwing it out.”

 

“Well, now that you’re involved, Jason,” the police officer sighed as he put Taeyeon’s passport in his pocket.

 

“Hey!”  She squealed, trying to reach back for it, but Wooyoung pulls her back by her shoulder.

 

“I have to check further into it.  I’ll give it back in a few days or something.I know all of your information, Jason.  She’ll be with you I assume,” said the police officer.He then looked to Taeyeon and said, “Stay in the city.  And stay out of trouble.”

 

As the police officer walked away, Taeyeon looked up to Wooyoung, shoved his arm off of her.  “Why does he have my passport?!”

 

“He’s annoying,” Wooyoung muttered to himself.  He looked down to her and said, “Ok?  Where do you want to go?”

 

“My brother’s place in Chinatown, but I can get there myself.”

 

Wooyoung rolled his eyes and said, “Not an option.”

 

“Aish, you’re demanding, Wooyoung-ah.”

 

He shrugged coolly.“Well, A) because it’s too late for a girl, a foreign girl, to walk around.  And B) I said this is for your brother.Understand?”

 

Taeyeon nodded.

 

“And I have a car anyways.”  They began walking when Wooyoung gets a phonecall from Tiffany.  He ignored it.  He decided that he’ll call her back later.