Acquaintances

Melanie wasn't sure how she ended up standing in front of a three storey, fancy looking house. She wasn't usually the kind of person who would be up for a summer job when she could just spend her entire day slacking in her room, dancing to some music or even catch up with her TV dramas. But all she knew now, was that she needed the money, and she was good with kids.

Scanning the paper she was holding onto once again, she took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. The loud ring sends her shaking once again.

"Calm down Melanie. It's just 2 weeks. 2 weeks and you'll be walking away with 200,000 won. That's not hard. You can do this. Do it for the money. Do it for.." and before she could finish her self encouraging speech, the front door flew opened, hitting her in the face with a loud 'bang'.

Melanie fell onto the floor, shielding her face with both of her hands and screamed 'ow ow ow ow' for god knows how many times.

"OH SNAP ARE YOU OKAY?" A male's voice was heard and she attempted to lift her hands off just a little bit to check out the person who was responsible to her state of being at the moment..

"YOU?" Both Melanie and Hansol shouted simultaneously.

"Well I don't understand why you guys need to hire a babysitter just to look after Sofia. I mean, I could do the job!" Hansol stood in front of his parents with crossed arms, overlooking both of them as they pulled their luggages into the living room.

"Hansol. You know perfectly well why we couldn't entrust Sofia to you." Hansol's mom gave him a pointed look, in which her husband responded with a chuckle.

"My boy, don't tell me you're going to rot in this household for the next 14 days just to look after your sister." He added.

Hansol pursed his lips. "Hm. Good point pa. So does that mean I could hang out with the guys for 2 whole weeks without having to come back home?" He said with a glint in his eyes.

"Not really. Your curfew is at 7PM. Remember that. I will ask Mrs. Lee to check in on you every night." Mrs. Chwe shook her head disapprovingly at her son. It's not that she doesn't trust his son to hang out with his friends. And it's definitely not that she dislike her friends, as she treats her son's best friends like her own children. But because she understands her child well enough that he would never get his holiday work done if he stays outdoor the entire time and that he wouldn't know his way home at that rate.

"Fine. But why not just ask for Mrs. Lee to look after Sofia?" He asked as he went into the kitchen for a drink.

"Ah. Mrs. Lee have work during daytime. So we can only expect her to take care of Sofia at night. And by the way, why are you so against the idea of having a babysitter over. I think she's the same age as you. Be nice to her will you?"

Hansol shrugged as he washed his cup.

"Mommy! Daddy! Where are you guys going? Can I come?" Sofia came running down the stairs, exclaiming after seeing that two huge luggages were being placed in the living room.

Mr. Chwe brought his young daughter into his arms and ruffled her hair. "I'm sorry princess. Not this time." He said.

Hansol can see that his sister was close to tears as she pouted. "Oh boy." He thought.

"We will be back in no time. And we promise to bring you lots and lots of goodies from Japan. But for the mean time, can you be a good girl for daddy and mommy? A big sister will be here later to accompany Sofia so that you won't be lonely, okay?" Mrs. Chwe hugged her daughter lovingly.

"Okay." The thought of candies and chocolates brightened Sofia a little as she hugged her parents back. "But what about Sollie? Will he be staying with Sofia?" She pointed at her brother who was walking towards their direction.

"Sofia. I told you not to call me that." Hansol face palmed himself. 'Sollie' was his sister's special name for him. Which he despises a lot. He could still remember his friends' collective laughter after finding out about his little cutesy nickname when they were hanging around his house. It was a nightmare.

"Of course Sollie will be here with Sofia." His father ignored Hansol's request and pinched Sofia's cheeks softly.

The doorbell rang, breaking the family's small moment together before the adults depart for their trip to Japan. (Except for Hansol who wasn't too fond of huddling together and share kisses among each other.)

"Hansol honey would you please get the door for me? I'm sure it's the babysitter." Mrs. Chwe waved her son off.

"Ugh that wasn't even a question." Hansol shook his head and opened the front door absent mindedly. Thinking that he would meet eyes with a complete stranger, but he was responded with a loud 'bang' instead.

Scrambling out of the door, he saw a girl who looked oddly familiar on the floor, desperately clutching onto her face for dear life, while screaming in pain.

"OH SNAP ARE YOU OKAY?" Hansol asked, realizing that he just hit a person in the face.

The girl lifted her hands and even through a small gap, he saw the familiar eyes that he could recognize anywhere.

"YOU?" Hansol shouted, pointing at the girl who was no longer a stranger to him.

In his mind at that very moment, several thoughts ran in his head. Positive and negative thoughts, all at the same time.

"Oh god, out of all the people in Seoul, why must it be her?" He chanted repeatively in his mind. And he wasn't sure if the heart beat that was threateningly fast was a good sign or not.

"Oh dear are you alright?" Mrs. Chwe exclaimed after seeing that a girl was on the floor looking like she was hurt severely (not really). Hearing the commotion, Hansol's mom went out to check if anything happened and well, she was right.

"Oh um, it's nothing major." Melanie recovered from the shock of meeting that "stupid blockhead with a stupid personality with an unbelievably good looking face" (which she screamed in her mind), and lifted her hands completely. She was surprised that there wasn't any hint of blood oozing out of her nose. She stood up, while patting invincible dusts from her pants.

The woman who emerged from the household smiled at Melanie and nodded her head. "Oh it must be my clumsy son here. I apologize on behalf of him. He can be a real klutz at times." She patted Hansol's shoulders. ("mom!" Hansol hissed quietly at his mother.)

"Ahh. So this this must be that jerk's mother. I see where he got his eyes from." Melanie thought, but quickly composed herself and bowed 90 degrees to her supposed boss for 2 weeks. (well she IS her boss since she's the one paying) "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Chwe. My name is Melanie Kim." Melanie put on her brightest smile.

"The pleasure is mine Melanie dear. Oh, and I see you and my son have known each other for quite some time now?" Mrs. Chwe gestured for Hansol to greet Melanie properly. But he looked away, with a hint of red on his cheeks, which did not go unnoticed by his mother, who smiled a bit at her son's unusual self.

"Um.. How should I put this. We are... acquaintances?" Melanie pursed her lips.

Mrs. Chwe nodded with a knowing smile. "Oh how awful of me to allow you to stand out here under the scorching hot sun! Come in and make yourself at home!" She gestured for Melanie to enter their household.

Entering the Chwe's residence, Melanie noticed that the house was clean and neat. No speck of dust could be seen anywhere. Despite the modern exterior, there were loads of antiques that looked like it could cost a fortune. She made a mental note to never touch those expensive looking decorative items or else she would have to, in turn, pay the Chwe family.

"Hello! You must be the babysitter! I'm Mr. Chwe!" A cheerful looking man came out from what seems like the dining room with a young girl in his arms. The girl looked around and met eyes with Melanie and her eyes brightened up almost instantly. The girl wriggled out of Mr. Chwe's arms and ran towards a surprised Melanie.

"Are you going to be Sofia's friend?" Sofia tugged Melanie's shirt gently and reached for her hand.

"Aish such a precious child!" Melanie thought to herself and smiled. She grasped Sofia's hand gently and nodded. "Of course I will be Sofia's friend. Will you be Melanie's friend?" Melanie said and pointed at herself, which Sofia responded with a hard nod and an adorable, toothy smile, and proceeded to hug her new found friend.

"I'm glad Sofia likes you, my dear." Mrs. Chwe stated, happy that her daughter wasn't as moody as she was before now that she found a companion. And she was grateful for Melanie.

"Oh yes. We need to rush to the airport soon. Melanie, you can stay here as long as you want for 2 weeks. But if you must be home, you can leave Sofia with Mrs. Lee at 6PM. She is our nanny but she has work during daytime. That's why we need to hire a babysitter to look after my daughter when she's not around. A guest room is ready for use if you like to stay behind. Hansol here will take you around, right?" Mrs. Chwe explained and elbowed her son who was apparently, not paying much attention.

"What?" Hansol replied, confused.

"You don't have to worry about cooking or groceries as Mrs. Lee will cook all the meals at night. You just need to heat it up with the oven. If you or Sofia crave for snacks, feel free to rummage through the fridge. Just make yourself at home! I'll entrust my daughter to you for now. And Hansol! Behave." Mrs. Chwe rambled on.

"What?" Hansol replied, again with a confused tone.

Mr and Mrs. Chwe both kissed Sofia's cheeks and hugged her gently. (They were about to reach for Hansol but he recoiled before Melanie would even have the chance to witness all this.)

"Bye mommy and daddy. Sofia will be a good girl and be best friends with big sister Melanie! I will also protect Sollie because I am a big girl now!" Sofia puffed her cheeks.

Hearing his nickname he was afraid of coming from Sofia's mouth ever so naturally, he heard a choke and a giggle that was loud enough for Hansol to realize that Melanie, too, caught on to what Sofia just said.

After bidding farewell, the couple drove off, leaving the three of them alone in the house.

"So...... Sollie? Can you please show me around now? Do you wanna come along with me and..... Sollie, Sofia?" Melanie was trying hard to hold her laugh. Hansol scoffed and face palmed himself. He was so embarrassed he figured he should just hide in his room for the rest of his life and never come out, ever.

"Okay! Let's go Sollie!" Sofia went over to push his brother, gesturing for him to start the tour.

"Yea Sollie. Don't wanna keep the ladies waiting huh?" Melanie couldn't take it anymore. She laughed so hard she felt the need to clutch her stomach. Sofia being the clueless one, started laughing too, actually for no reason at all.

Thus leaving Hansol to knock his head against the front door repeatively. "Good god let this end." He thought to himself.

Hello dearest readers!

This was supposed to be a one shot but as I kept writing, I realized the plot would be much much longer.

I'm afraid that ya'll would have to wait really long for one single chapter so I decided to split it into a few chapters. Not a long story, but prolly around 4-6 chapters?

And for those who are not sure how Sofia looked like....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsH9Km5JL4