[Mina's POV]

 "Do I really need to go to Seoul?" I asked my mom once again. Puppy eyes was my only weapon left against her.

 "Yes!" My mom raised her voice as she dropped the plate from her hand into the sink. "And that's final, Jeung Mina!" She turned around and pointed her finger at me.

 "But-" I was shut up by my mother's icy glare.

  I heaved a deep sigh and walked out of the kitchen.

  I could try to pursue Mnjun.. . I stopped at the base of the staircase as the idea popped up in my mind. Nah... I sighed again and began to climb the stairs.

  I kicked the door of my room open and went towards the big queen-sized bed standing against one of the walls. I dropped on it face first and groaned into the soft satin covers.

 "I don't wanna go!" I whined into the bed. I raised up my head and huffed out a ragged breath.

  I quickly scrambled off the bed and went to get my phone from the study table that stood across the room.

  I opened my contacts and searched for a particular phone number. After finding it, I punched the call button and raised the device up to my ear.

 "What's up-"

 "Soojin, meet me at Gwangali beach in ten minutes." I hastily cut my best friend off.

 "What happened?" Soojin immediately knew something was up.

 "I'll tell you when we meet." I said and ended the call.

  I stuffed my phone into the pocket of my shorts and grabbed a cardigan that was laying on my bed. I dashed downstairs, through the door and towards my destination.

----

  The beach wasn't that crowded as it was almost eleven p.m.

  I stood on the shoreline and stared at the twinkling lights of Busan in front of me.

  Why are my parents sending me to a summer school? And abandoning me at some strangers' house?! I'm old enough to be left home alone!

  I was woken up from my internal rant when something cold touched my right cheek. I turned around to find my best friend standing with an iced mint tea - my favorite - in her hand.

 "Spill it." Soojin handed me the iced tea and sat down on the white sand, patting her hand on the ground next to her.

  I sat down too and took a long sip of the iced beverage.

 "My parents are sending me to a summer school in Seoul." I began.

 "What?!" Soojin shrieked. "Why?!"

 "They're going on a two and half month cruise and don't think I can be left home alone." I continued as I stared straight ahead. "And I'll be staying at a family's friend's."

 "Why? You could've just stayed at my place. My mom wouldn't have minded you staying at our home. In fact, she would've loved if more people were staying at the house."

  Soojin lived with just her mom. Her parents divorced when she wasn't even born and Soojin has never seen her father. And she was the only child.

 "I know, right?!" I raised my arms in frustration. "But they said it was better for me if instead of wasting my time by doing nothing, I started putting more effort into studying." I rolled my eyes and took another sip of my iced tea.

 "Well, they're not wrong..." Soojin commented mockingly.

 "Han Soojin!" I yelled out and Soojin covered her head with her arms, knowing what was coming to her. "You're no better than me!" After placing my precious iced mint tea on the sand next to me, I started hitting her arms.

 "Sorry, sorry!" The girl whined as my hits became stronger and stronger. I obeyed as I felt tired already. "Babe, you know I was just joking." She rubbed her abused arms with a pout.

 "Yeah, I know." I showed Soojins's head to the side with my hand and got back to sipping my precious.

 "You!" Annoyed, Soojin fixed her short grayish blonde hair; she always hated when someone messed with her hair. "But do you really have to go to Seoul?" Soojin asked, getting back to the topic.

 "You think I didn't try to talk to my parents? They said it's already settled." My shoulders deflated.

 " to be you." Soojin said with a pout. "It'll be boring without me, won't it?"

 "I dunnno, they said the family I'll be staying with has a son our age." I said nonchalantly as I was finishing my iced tea.

 "Why did you leave out the most important detail?!" Soojin started shaking me, using all her strength, almost making me choke on my drink.

 "Oh shut up!" I said with a couple of coughs. "I guarantee you that he's some kind of nerd or a ert." I pointed my index finger at the girl in front of me wearing a sly smile.

 "You never know! Maybe he's as handsome as some kpop idol? Then what?" Soojin raised her eyebrows in anticipation. "You've been single all your life!"

 "I don't care if he's the hottest guy on earth, I don't need anyone besides you and my family." I said and threw my arms around Soojin.

 "Let me go!" Soojin whined, but I only tightened my hold around her. She hated skinship, too.

 "Promise me you'll come to visit me in Seoul." I said with a pout.

 "Yeah, I will. Now, let me go!" I pecked Soojin's cheek and let her go. "You're so disgusting, Mina!" Soojin shrieked as she frantically wiped her cheek.

 "Love you, too!" I laughed while my best friend looked at me like she was ready to kill me.

----

  When I came back home, I found everyone sleeping already.

  I quietly stalked up the stairs and to my room, trying my best not to make any noise; my whole family was light-sleepers, except me - I slept like a dead deer.

  I didn't have the energy or time - it was almost half an hour past midnight - to wash up before going to bed, so I got changed into my pajamas and got under the covers with my laptop, typing up another post for my blog.

  I posted about everything on my blog: things on my mind, problems I was facing, trips I took with my family and ect. My blog was my passion and everything I did related to it, I wanted it to be perfect, flawless.

  Photography was my passion too. A lot of my pictures ended up on my blog.

  My blog had over ten thousand followers. It was mind-boggling to me that so many people actually read the stupid things I wrote and liked my pictures.

  Writing also helped me to live through some difficult times in my life. That's why I treasured my blog even more.

  After posting a new post on my blog, I placed my laptop on the nightstand next to me bed and got ready to sleep.

----

 "Mina, are you ready?" Mom hollered from downstairs.

 "I'll be down in a minute!" I angrily shouted back.

  I looked around my room for the last time. The summer will fly by quickly and I'll be back in no time. I reassured myself again.

 "Feeling down, sis?" A voice behind me asked. I turned around to find my nineteen-year-old brother leaning against the door frame.

 "You think? I'll be studying during the summer, how can I be happy?" I said, mocking myself. He just nodded in understanding. "And I'm leaving Soojin."

 "And what about me? Won't you miss your older brother?" Minki pointed to himself, feigning hurt.

 "No." I stuck my tongue out at him jokingly.

 "You little-" Minki brought me into a headlock and started messing with my hair.

 "I just did my hair, you dip!" I started hitting his side, but just received a loud cackle in response. "Let me go!" I shrieked in my dolphin voice.

 "Okay, okay!" Minki let me go with a wince. "Control that voice of yours." He said as he placed a hand over his ear.

 "Then don't touch my hair!" I yelled out in frustration as I fixed my hair in front of the full length mirror standing next to my study table.

 "Don't forget to write. I might be busy, but not that busy to not check my emails." Minki patted my head with a warm smile. I hummed in response and brought my arms around his waist.

  Even though I was quite tall myself, Minki was taller than me by almost twenty centimeters.

 "Jeung Mina!" My mother's booming voice made me and my brother jump.

 "You better get going or you'll be kicked in the by mom." Minki snickered, earning himself a slap on the stomach from me.

  Minki took my suitcase and carried it out of the room and down the stairs.

  I took my phone and beloved camera - to maybe take some pictures on the way to Seoul - and made my way downstairs.

  There I found my mom, step-dad, Minki and Soojin waiting impatiently.

  Yes, step-dad.

  My biological father died in a car crash when I was only fourteen years old. It was hard for me to let dad go and accept another man as my dad.

  My parents got married very young - only nineteen. They were madly in love. My mom learned that she was pregnant with Minki only a few months into the marriage and after two years, I was born. I was so happy to have young parents to take care of me.

  After my dad died, mom took care of us by herself. It was hard on her to have two kids and work at the same time. But as the time went, my mom found herself a man.

  My mom said she fell in love for the second time in her life after my dad. At first I didn't even want to see my step-dad, but as time went on, I warmed up to him. Mainly because he truly wanted to get along with me and my older brother. Even if we pushed him away, he did everything to gain our trust and he promised to never make mom sad.

  My brother and I didn't call him 'step-dad' or 'dad', we called him by his name - Minjun. We found it more comfortable and he didn't mind it.

  My mom was a stylish, young woman who always wanted to be in charge of everything, she was a big persona in the fashion world, too, so she was quite a perfectionist. She was a fashionista; she knew how to dress - fancy-looking clothes were her favorite -  and always dressed the whole family. We couldn't leave the house without her approval on our clothing choice. I found my style with her help, but still experimented with styles because of her. She had a difficult personality and temper, too. As for Minjun, he was quiet, really nice and kind.

  It might sound like they weren't even close to compatible, but, surprisingly, they fit well with each other. And I was happy that there was someone to help my mom.

 "What took you so long?" My step-dad asked with a playful smile.

 "Ask this idiot." I said as I planted a kick on Minki's .

 "You!" Minki was ready to take me down in a wrestling match - like when we were kids - but our mom stopped him from doing so by hitting him on the head with her sunglasses.

 "We need to get moving! Take the bags to the car." My older brother wasn't stupid; he immediately obeyed mom's orders since he didn't want to get hit by her six inch heel.

 "Don't forget to text or call me, okay?" Soojin came up to me and I threw my hands around her, earning a dissatisfied grunt.

 "Okay, but you still can read my blog." I whispered into her ear. No one, except me and Soojin, knew that I have a blog.

 "But I still want to be the first to get the details." She whispered back and I let her go.

 "Okay, okay. If you insist." I said mockingly, earning a sour look from Soojin.

 "You are ready to go!" Minki came back from outside where the car was parked and announced. And we all went outside.

  We got into the car while Soojin and Minki stood at the entrance of my house. As Minjun started the car and drove out of the driveway, Minki and Soojin saw us off.

  I waved to them and turned back to the front. I hope this summer goes by quickly..

----

  The ride to Seoul was a plain torture.

  Mainly because all I thought about was the summer school.

 "We're almost there." Minjun announced as he turned left into a street lined with big, posh mansions.

 I was both happy and sad: happy because the long ride was finally over, sad because the calm, I-am-doing-absolutely-nothing-today summer days were over.

  The car turned into a driveway of one of the mansions. I looked through the window.

  The house was a big traditional mansion; the complete opposite of mine - a modern, contemporary house. But it was definitely beautiful.

  I got out of the car and helped Minjun as he was struggling with my suitcase.

  The big front door opened and a middle-aged man ran out and up to us.

 "It's so good to see you, Minjun!" He beamed at my step-dad.

 "You haven't changed, Dongchun!" My step-dad gave the man a hug.

 "And I guess this pretty lady here is Hyejin?" The man gestured to my mom. I figured they haven't met, even though my mom and Minjun have been married for almost three years.

 "Yes, I am. It's really nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you from my husband." My mom offered her hand to the man to shake, but the man took it and kissed the knuckles, earning a giggle from the woman.

 "You're still the same ladies man, Mr. Shin." Minjun hit the man's shoulder playfully, while the male winked in response.

 "This must be Mina." The man asked - but it sounded more like a statement - when he saw me awkwardly standing near the car.

 "Nice to meet you." I timidly bowed.

 "I was so excited when I heard you were coming to Seoul. I'll finally experience what it feels like to have a daughter." Mr. Shin offered a big toothy smile. "Now, let's not stand out here! My wife is even more excited to meet these beautiful ladies." He winked at me and my mom and made his way back to the house. We all followed after.

  The foyer was beautifully decorated: marble floors, exquisite paintings, flower bouquets sitting nicely on glass end tables, two staircases on both sides of the room leading up to the second floor, and to top it all off - a beautiful chandelier hung from the tall ceilings.

  Mr. Shin led us into a room that was on the left. It was a spacious living room. The floor of the living room were also marble, cream-colored couches stood forming a U shape in the middle of the room, a glass coffee table with another flower bouquet on it in the middle with a furry rug underneath, large plasma TV hung on the wall in front of the middle couch.

  But my eyes caught the pretty, young-looking woman sitting on one of the couches. She wore an airy yellow sundress, her black hair was up in a nice updo.

 "Honey, the guests are here!" Mr. Shin exclaimed and the woman stood up.

 "Minjun, long time no see!" The woman came up to my step-dad and hugged him.

 "You haven't changed a bit, Jieun. In fact, I think you've gotten prettier." Minjun complimented the woman.

 "Thank you!" She slapped my step-dad's shoulder playfully and turned to me and my mom. "So this must be your lady?" She gestured to my mother.

 "Yes. Jieun, meet my wife Hyejin." Minjun placed his hand on my mother's back and introduced her.

 "You don't even comprehend how excited I was to meet you!" Mrs. Shin brought my mother into a warm hug.

 "Trust me, you can't." Mr. Shin whispered as he stood next to me. I already like this man! I let out a giggle and the two women brought their attention to me.

 "And who's this young lady?" Mrs. Shin came up to me and asked.

 "My name is Mina, nice to meet you, Mrs. Shin." I said with a small smile and bowed.

 "It's nice to meet you, too! And call me auntie!" The woman gave me a hug. "I hope you and our Hoseok will get along!" She beamed. Hoseok? Are they talking about their son?

 "Speak of the Devil." Mr. Shin announced as I heard someone's steps behind me.

 "Hoseok, meet Jeung's daughter Mina!" Mrs. Shin said and I turned around to take a look at their son.

  The Hoseok that everyone were mentioning definitely exceeded my expectations; he was no nerd. He was quite tall, his black hair was down, his bangs hiding his forehead, a black v-neck t-shirt hugged his torso snuggly, his biceps fully showcased, and he wore gray sweatpants.

  In all, he looked handsome.

  He was leaning against the archway, his arms crossed in front of his chest. His face remained stoic as he looked me up and down. I wore black hot pants, a gray crop top with a black bomber jacket on top, and I had my feet kicked into simple black-gray-white sneakers. I felt giddy and uncomfortable under his intense gaze, but didn't show it and returned the same gesture. I wondered what was he thinking.

  Then our gazes locked. He did something that made my blood boil in anger: he his lips as a smirk formed on them and without saying a word, he cockily turned around and left.

  What's with this guy?!