KIMMIE POV

I was raised as in conditions that could’ve been a lot better. The bathrooms were terrible, the schools lacked, neighbors were harsh, and so much more. But I got used to it. Everyone did…no one had that much of a choice.  Seoul was spoken of as a dream place, a place where only the luckiest people got to go. When word got around that 7 year old Nari was moving to Seoul because her dad’s job was transferred, everyone was suddenly her friend. The kids who pushed us into the dry grass on our way to school now opened the doors for us, and offered to hold our bags. Our closest friends who made fun of us jokingly like best friends should suddenly glared at me whenever I said something about Nari’s height, or mocked her high pitched voice. That’s when I started wondering just what was great about this …Seoul. I started researching about America. America-The land of the free, I wondered if every town had more than 2 stores, and if their toilets were better than ours. I was beginning to compare America to Seoul, trying to see which was better. I started to have dreams of going there, and I even made myself an “American name.” The parents and adults still called me Mi Young, but my friends started calling me Kimmie.

                During my ‘migug saram* obsession’ as my Umma likes to call it, I honestly did not notice that Jong Woon wasn’t home that often. Sure, call me insensitive, or a horrible sister, but I could care less. We weren’t that close to begin with. Of course when someone made fun of him, my sisterly instinct took over and wanted to protect him, but that wasn’t often. Most—if not all, of his protectiveness for me was hidden. Apparently every guy that has frowned upon me, been rude to me, or shoved me, has had a talk with my older brother, and with my attitude --sometimes…that’s not a small amount of guys. Some of them have gotten even more than just a talk, and some of them have may have been sent to the hospital, but I never knew that. He never told me. I found out through all the neighborhood kids and my other class mates. We were awkward, but I loved him. It was just an unspoken, silent, sisterly sort of love. That love ended shortly after he left, and it dissolved completely into hatred during Appa’s accident.

                About 4 months before the whole incident, a band named Super Junior ‘05 debuted into the Korean media industry. Jong Woon was in that band. Or…so I thought. His face was the same, but his hair was completely different, and they changed his name completely. It was as if they were trying to make him a whole different person. The new person was Yesung, meaning “Art-Like Voice.” I didn’t know a Yesung, so when I answered a phone to a familiarly deep saying he was Yesung, I wasn’t sure what to do. He called to tell us they were doing well, that he missed all of us, and he wanted to come down as soon as he could. He never did. Not until Appa was hurt.

                My parents both work at a local restaurant, well now only my mother does since my dad isn’t exactly stable enough to work at the moment. The first accident wasn’t exactly the biggest one, but it was just one small step until everything came crashing down. The second accident…was what ruined everything. My father liked to work really early in the morning, so he could come home and make sure the house was in order so my mom could leave for her shift. But because he works so early, he usually works alone. There are usually a couple of people with him, but this one morning, very little people were there, and no one was around my father at that particular time. As he was working 3 of his fingers were into a machine, nobody heard his screams and he had to wait for about an hour with his fingers in the machine, and he was saved just as the machine started to him in. He’s alright now of course, seeing that it was a while ago, but he still has problems bending his left hand. He needed to have a blood transfusion, and naturally we wanted the whole family there. We called Jong Woon about a million times, but he didn’t pick up once. Eventually, he came to the hospital with tears in his eyes. He was about 4 hours late. His excuse was that he had a schedule in Seoul,during rush hour and it was difficult for him to get home. Seoul. It was always Seoul.

                And now here I am, the place that stole my best friend away from me, and the place that kept my brother.

NARI POV

                Even after I left, I still called Kimmie as much as I could, so of course I knew more about her hatred for Seoul then her own mother. But that didn’t stop me from carrying out her Umma’s plans to make Kimmie a whole new person. Through our phone calls, and our rare videochats, I realized her false hatred for Seoul, but I also realized how much of a hermit she was becoming. She stayed at home most of the time, only coming out for errands or for school. She was always a bit introverted, but I guess after my departure she turned a whole lot colder. Her mom and I both knew that bringing her to Seoul for a couple of school years would not only change her, but it might even change her thoughts of Yesung. That’s why I agreed to her plan, even if I knew what Kimmie’s reaction would be.

                After Kimmie got over her initial shock, I dragged her inside before she could blow anything up. As soon as I shut the door I expected her to shout, throw the closest thing at me, or start charging towards me with a knife. What I didn’t expect was for her to sit on her large suitcase and stare at the ground solemnly.

                “Kimm—“I started to say.

“It’s alright Nar. I had a feeling this would happen…I mean, Umma’s been telling me to make something of my life…I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Where am I staying? Please don’t tell me I’m living with Jongwoon.” She said her face turning into disgust with her last words.

“It’s hard enough for you to be starting over in such a new place…I’m not going to make you live with him. You’re going to be living with me,” I slowly walked over to her and put her face in my hands like a mother would. “You’re going to have fun here arasso? You’re going to have fun, go to a new school and meet new people, and you’re going to come home to your Umma as a whole new person, and you’re going to make her the proudest mother alive arasso?”

She nodded after each of my sentences and I could’ve sworn she stifled a giggle near the end. But once I was done she looked at my eyes and smirked. “Whatever you say Umma~” She said playfully, putting me into a state of relief.

After about two to three hours we were finally through with getting her unpacked, making sure she knew the rules of my dorm, and we even made time to try narrowing down Universities she was most likely going to apply for.  When I finally managed to convince Kimmie to have a break I collapsed on my bed. I rolled over to the other side, towards my closet, hopped up and grabbed any random shirt. Mi Young had somehow made her way to the bathroom as I was pulling on a pair of jeans.

“Yah! Wash your face and get ready while you’re in there! I’m gonna take you out to eat~” I yelled as I heard the toilet flushing. Once I heard the water rushing, I scrambled to my vanity, and started rummaging through my endless collection of makeup. After I expertly swiped some on to my own face, I finally found the few powders and wands I wanted to test on Kimmie and placed them in my purse just as she opened the door.

“Can we get kimbap?” She asked, with hopeful eyes. “I’ve been wanting some ever since I stepped off that bus.”
“So sorry hun~ I’ve already choosen where we’re eating.” I said evily, but immediately felt guilty when her face dropped. “ Im going to take you out of Seoul for a little while though…that’s good right?”
I laughed when I saw her face do an immediate 360, and pulled her out of my room, grabbed her purse and walked outside.

While the receptionist…type person was keeping Kimmie busy with yet more rules of the building, I went outside and told the taxi driver to take us to Bucheon…which was just about an hour outside of Seoul. Once I payed him, I ran inside to grab Mi Young.

                After about an hour and a half of sitting in the car making small talk we finally arrived to our destination. With a familiar cute little pig sitting on the sign, we were parked right outside of the Don Day sam gyup sal ~ or pork restaurant. The only reason why the loud restaurant was so familiar to me is because I’ve taken my fiancé here many times on special occasions. Sometimes we even ret out the entire restaurant for a night if he and his band mates achieved something enormous.

                I walked in and took a deep breath and devoured the scent of all the meat and seasonings. Just entering a couple steps, you could see how busy and full it was inside. I kept a tight grip on Kimmie who seemed pretty happy to be surrounded by meat, and walked towards the first employee I saw.

                “Annyoeng~” I said, while waving. Since I come here often, most of the waiters already know who I am.

                “Ahh,Nari there you are! I was wondering why you weren’t with the group…” she said while trying to balance trays of uncooked pork on her hands.

                “The group?” I asked, glancing at Kimmie who looked like she wanted to pounce on the nearest table and eat all their food.

                “Yeah! They’re all over there,” she said while pointing to a corner near the back of the restaurant.

                “Oh no…” I muttered, as I saw around 20 men laughing and shouting around one oversized table. The table was visible, but in a room separated from the main restaurant. Since the room’s walls were transparent, teenaged girls with phones, cameras, and pens were banging on the windows and repeatedly taking pictures of the gigantic group.

As soon as I felt Mi Young’s hand slip from my grasp I knew that she had figured out who else was going to be eating with us. Most girls her age would be overjoyed, but she looked like she would rather kill herself then be having her dinner with the men of Super Junior.