I finally touched down in South Korea. Where all my dreams were set and all the future plans were being held.

When I got out of the arrival area an unbelievably pretty girl covered in pink accessories and clothes and with an astonishing eye smile was waving at me with a banner that showed my name. Jackpot! I thought to myself, imagining me fist pumping the air in victory. As I walked over to her she held her hand out and said “Hi, I’m Tiffany Hwang, call me Fany. My family is gonna be your homestay while you’re still settling in.” I just stared at her in disbelief. How could someone have such a pretty smile? And I’d get to see it every day? My smile again would only continue growing bigger by each passing moment. “Oh sounds cool, it’s great you can speak English ‘cause I don’t know a single word of Korean.” I said with a bit of worry.

“Don’t worry yourself about that,” she said reassuring me.

“I’m gonna be there with you 24/7 or at least close to it.” She began to laugh after saying that and her eye started to form those perfect crescent moons again.

“But one thing, your voice is pretty deep, do you have a cold or something? Would you like a drink before we go” Tiffany looked at me with both a worried and puzzled look as she sad that.

Oh sh*t, think of an excuse quickly or your cover will be blown, I thought to myself.

*Cough* *Cough*. “I do feel a bit under the weather, but my voice has always been pretty deep just like my mother’s.” I said wiping sweat beads from my forehead.

Pretending to be a girl is going to be a lot harder than my original opinion, I’m going to need to be on my toes for a while until it becomes natural. We got into Tiffany’s car and started driving away from the airport. From looking outside the window I could tell it wasn’t Autumn here. It was just the start of spring and all the flowers were starting to bloom and we passed by a few beautiful cherry blossoms. I was amazed to see those for the first time, they really were as cool as they were on Korean dramas or on the Animes I had seen. We finally reached Fany’s house which was reasonably big and had quite a modern style to it. I could get used to this life. Fany finished parking and got all my bags out of the boot then showed me to the room. Everything was completely pink which took me by surprise. My eyes widened at the sight of pink bed sheets, pink wardrobe, pink walls and curtains. You name it, it was pink. “This is my room, you’re gonna be rooming with me in the meantime, unless you want to sleep in one of the guess rooms, I don’t really mind which.” She said obviously hinting she wanted me to pick her room instead. I can’t lie though, her innocent expression in hopes of persuading me to stay were definitely working in her favour.

“I don’t want to impose on your privacy or disturb you Fany, you sure it’s okay?” I waited for her response. She looked like she also was thinking about whether my presence would also cause a nuisance to her. In the end she shook her and said “Nah it’ll be cool rooming with you, we can get to know each other better.” She said again pulling out that irresistible eye smile.

I couldn’t say no to the offer.

She then began to take her shirt off and I quickly covered my eyes and yelled “Fany what are you doing?!”

“Just getting changed into something more comfortable, don’t be shy we’re all girls here.” She said with the most relaxed tone. I turned around as quickly as I could and said,

“I don’t think we’re close enough to be changing in the same room so could you please inform me next time before hand?” She finally put a shirt on and said to me,

“Ugh Harry, don’t be so uptight. Relax a bit?” That tone was almost a perfect copy of the irritated lady at the airport back home. There was silence for a few minutes and I decided to break it before it go too awkward. “Hey Fany, we should do something, you should show me around town. Come on let’s go!” I exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as possible. Her eyes lit up and nodded in agreement. She took me to the nearest café, I had to admit I was pretty dam hungry. The airplane food just wasn’t satisfying enough for my liking. I was scanning through the menu; only looking at the pictures and English words I could find, as the waiter came to get our order. That moment was the moment I saw her. The one that just took my breath away. “Hey TaeTae, I didn’t know you were working today.” Fany said as she was also looking through the menu.

“Yeah they called me in today ‘cause Sica felt unwell. Who’s the tall chick, Fany?” the waitress asked looking at me.

“Fany, what did she say?” I whispered to Fany to not attract her attention.

“She wants to know who you are, I’ll introduce you. This is Taeyeon Kim, she goes to the same school as us and in the same grade.” She finished speaking to me and went back to Taeyeon.

“This is the international student Harry, she’s from Australia.”

“I-I-It’s ni-ice to me-e-et yo-u.” Taeyeon said in her best English as possible. She held out her hand for a shake. I stretched my arm out to return the favour and as our hands met my heart started to beat extremely fast. At that moment I thought I had already fallen for her.