I shoved the last bit of my bread in my mouth as I opened the gate and unlocked the front door. I was having a quick after school snack due to the fact that I forgot to pack lunch.

My parents were overseas on a business trip so I had no one to nag me about lunch.

My neighbour Ms. Kim was standing at the doorway with a pan of cookies. The fresh smell wafted towards my nose and my mouth watered.

"Come in!" I chirped happily.

Ms. Kim was always welcome in the house, she always smelled like freshly baked goods and a hint of home.

My house always had the scent of my mother's signature Channel No. 5 perfume or some other type of expensive scent. Nothing more, nothing less.

Ms. Kim's daughter, Hana, was a kind-hearted girl with a warm smile that was one year older than me. Though we have lived in the same neighborhood for years, Hana and I never developed a strong friendship because of our different interests.

Ms. Kim's husband, Mr. Shin, was a retail tycoon, a trustworthy business partner of my dad and the possesor of a distinct rumbling stomach laugh that would echo through the entire house.

Ms. Kim smiled as she set the plate of cookies down on our cold marble counter.

"How are you doing alone? I heard that your parents won't be back for another month or so," she fussed.

I chuckled. "Oh Imo* it's not like it's the first time. You don't have to worry and check up on me every time!"

She faked an offended expression: "Check up on you? I thought we were just hanging out!"

We both laughed.

"Michelle, Hana is going to Korea on an exchange for 2 months so she won't be here, just so you know."

Hana was a nice girl, but I didn't talk to her much. I knew she always wanted to go back to Korea; she was a hardcore Kpop fan and she loved the culture.

I was happy for her. It was her dream to go to Korea and I'm glad that she got to do it during her senior year in high school. However, Ms. Kim knew that Hana and I didn't hang out. So I waited for her to reveal the reason she decided to pass along that information.

"Hana's exchange partner will be staying here while she is over in Korea, his name is Oh Taecyeon. So, I was thinking that maybe you could show him around school and stuff so he doesn't feel alone here. You're one of the few Koreans here in the town, so I figured that you would make him feel more comfortable. It's a big cultural difference and I'm not sure how good his english is..."

Ms. Kim droned on and on about her worries for Hana's exchange partner, so I tuned her out. It wasn't a problem, really. The guy could fend for himself, probably. 

"Yes, Ms. Kim. I'll do my best," I said with a smile. 

As she headed back to her mansion across the road, I pushed it out of my mind.

By the time I headed upstairs to my room to Skype my best friend, Jessica, I had forgotten all about it. We talked about my successful campaign for student council president and about seeing a movie with some other people, just some typical high school girl stuff.

I didn't even bother to remember to his name and I thought nothing of it. 

I had no idea that that name that I heard for the first time that day would be the name of the man that would change my life. I had no idea that the person with that name would make my knees weak and heart pound; make me cry and make me laugh.

Because I didn't know what love was, and I didn't know the meaning of loving someone with everything you have. I didn't know that I would fall in love. I didn't know that I would be his and he would be mine for just a very short period of time. I didn't know that I could love one guy for so long.

We were still strangers back then.

I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of the buzzer, still half in dreamland. I wanted to believe that I still was. Who would ring the buzzer at 9:00am on a Saturday morning?

The buzzer sounded again. This time, it was more insistant than the last ring. It seemed that the person at the door kept his or her finger on the buzzer for longer this time.

After debating on ignoring the buzzer sound that I now knew wasn't a fragment of my imagination, I decided to roll out of bed.

After fastening my messy hair into a low ponytail, I dragged my jeans up my hips and threw on a simple black t-shirt. I shuffled down the stairs and opened the camera to the outside of the fence with a very fake smile on my face.

"Hello!" I chirped as I saw Ms. Kim's face. I pressed the "open" button to the gate and unlocked the front door.

"Oh, Michelle! There you are! Come come come, quick!" I barely rammed my feet into my Converse that were conveniently sitting by the door before Ms. Kim dragged me across the street into her front lawn.

Ms. Kim's house was a large mansion similar to the size of ours in area. However, our house was built tall, resembling a castlelike structure while Ms. Kim's house was a flat bungalow. Our property's landscape constituted of minature replications of famous natural sights around the world and a small forest while Ms. Kim's landscape consisted of a variety of multicoloured flowers that she planted and waters herself and fresh green grass. Our property was surrounded by a large, intimidating black ivy fence that was the height of four grown men standing on each other's shoulders while Ms. Kim's property was surrounded by an electronic white-picket fence that was the height of a small toddler. Our property was secured with the tightest surveilance that detected and reported any motion tot he surveilance room in my father's library when activated while Ms. Kim's house just had a simple lock on the door.

"Now, Michelle. Remember how you promised me to show Taecyeon around?" I dumbly nodded. "Well, he's coming today! Hana's dad picked him up from the airport and he'll be here anytime now!"

Ms. Kim looked strangely excited. She acted like it was her own son coming home. 

Still unable to grasp the reason behind Ms. Kim's excitement nor fully wake up, I sat dumbly on Ms. Kim's lawn chairs and waited for the arrival of this exchange student boy, spacing out. 

"Oh! There they are!" Ms. Kim nearly leaped out of her seat in anticipation.

I awkwardly stood up and watched as Ms. Kim's husband, Mr. Shin, pulled up on their driveway in his BMW M6 sports car. The windows were tainted on the sides and I peered curiously at the car until Mr. Shin came out of the driver's side.

My greeting to Mr. Shin was caught in my throat as the most gorgeous guy I've ever laid eyes on stepped out of the passenger's side with an air of arrogance.

Author's note:  Hey guys, this is my first chapter! It's short, I know. Please comment and tell me if you like it or give me some constructive critisism about my writing style. :)

*Imo: aunt in Korean. You can refer to all your parent's friends as aunts.