Replay (2/?)
Replay
Chapter 2
This is the new title for What My Life Would Have Been Like....
Title: What my life would have been like... (2/?)
Author: sexy_pengwin
Genre: AU (sorta...), high school (definitely), humor (can't help it), romance (probably)
Rating: PG-PG13 (mostly for language later on and some themes)
Pairings/Characters: friendship!HanChul (pretty much guaranteed more later) friendship!HanMi (and again, maybe more later one)
This chapter: Kyumin. If you count it as that. (MENTIONED ONLY!) Also Yewook and possible Kangteuk if you want to look at it that way. Oh, and Eunhae, but again only if you want to look at it that way (for the time being at least) Heechul is mentioned... Ah yes, and Henry will be in here, but in person, not mentioned.
Summary: Hangeng wonders what would have happened had he not signed up for SM. He soon finds out when he wakes up back in China, 16 again. His family moves to Korea, where he finds that in life, there are certain people that will be there no matter what. Like Heechul. Oh joy.
Disclaimer: Nope! I wish....
A/N: Okay, so I apologize. It's only the second chapter and it's sorta/kinda filler-ish. I mean, it introduces you to what people we'll meet and all that stuff. And sorry guys, but Heechul isn't coming until later. I promise next chapter! I can't wait for him either! But my plans for him make me feel sad.... Pretend I never said that.
Warning: Again, attempts at all the Korean/Chinese stuff. I read the wikipedia page for education in Korea and all that crap, so I know a bit. But I'm still pretty much going by my North American schedule (or Canadian if American is that different.) So, yeah.... You guys understand, right?
Anyways! Enough rambling for the time being. I'm leaving that for later. Long story short, Hannie's really hard to write. Especially now. I see him as acts innocent but really isn't. Sungmin just happened to fit in here and decided to be friendly (and learn Chinese...?) I'm not the most pleased with this chapter.... I can't wait to write the next one, though! So hang in there.
Aish, rambling again. Habit, sorry. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I changed my deadline. I'm giving myself a week to write each chapter. Every Friday there should be a post, or earlier if I can (And I'll try) and so on. And because I found the two or three days ridiculous for me, considering I was just writing future scenes and a whole new story that I WANT to write for you guys, but none of the members fits the one person's personality.... because I initially wrote it as a side-story to something else. And... Yeah. I ramble too much.
I will leave you alone now. Read, enjoy... That kinda stuff. I'll just go and sleep.
---
I opened my eyes, waking up on my own rather than Mama having to get me up. Maybe it was because we were on the plane, and even just an hour gave me time to sleep. And this time I woke up, not to be in my room once more, but to look out the window at hundreds of tall buildings, busy streets, and masses of people running around like little ants. I tapped the window, getting Mama's attention, "Is that--"
She smiled, "Seoul. Say hello to your new home, Geng."
I returned to the window, pressing my nose up against it to get the best view of the city as possible before the plane flew out and towards the airport. What amazed me was just how big Seoul was. Mudanjiang was like a mere town compared to Seoul, and Mudanjiang was pretty big itself.
"Do you think you'll like it here?" Mama asked over my shoulder.
I shrugged, my eyes still on the city below us. There was no doubt that this move would change my life, whether it be for better or worse.
-oOo-
I had to bring the bags down the stairs to our new apartment. It was in the basement of the building, once again the cheapest one we could find. The apartment building itself was, thankfully, quite nice. But Seoul was a big city, therefore housing was ridiculously expensive compared to Mudanjiang. And so here we were.
Mama came in behind me with a lighter load. The excuse of being too elderly to carry such big bags never got old with her. "Very nice, Geng." She said, patting my back as I put everything down, "There's another one upstairs."
I held in my groan as I trudged up the stairs once more. When I saw there was not one big suitcase, but two, I did groan. My body ached from having to carry some of the bags from the airport, to the taxi, down to the subway, up from the subway... You get the picture. So much pain I didn't notice the bags the taxi drivers and others helped carry.
I tried taking both suitcases, one with each hand, but they were much to heavy for me. Even one felt like a thousand tons.
The lighter suitcase was finally secure in my arms when someone decided to yell. "Yah!" I dropped the suitcase out of shock. Just my luck it landed on my foot. Several Chinese words flew from my mouth, not all the nicest words either.
A guy who looked to be around my age (but with an adorable face like that, I wasn't all that sure) came up to me, "I'm sorry!" I looked up and the guy smiled. "I was just wondering if you wanted some help."
I just blinked, not quite sure what it was he was saying. I had only taken very basic lessons before coming, and most of the time I wouldn't pay attention to prove to my parents how much I didn't want to move. Now I regretted it.
His smile faded, "Hello? Can you talk?" He waved his hand in front of my face.
I continued to stare, going through the very limited vocabulary I had. "Uh..."
"Hyung?" A deeper voice called from farther back. I looked over the adorable one's shoulder to see a more severe looking guy come over to us. He was a little bit shorter then the first one--probably because he was younger and still growing-- and his hair was so messy I wondered if he brushed it this morning. Or ever. "Hyung, come on, we'll be late for the convention." he said quickly, gabbing the other's arm whilst glaring at me.
Finally I formed a (hopefully) coherent sentence in my head. Start with the bow. "I'm from China."
The slightly taller, cuter one's smile returned, "Ah! So that's why you're so quiet! Uh..." he put a hand to his chin in thought before saying, "I know a little bit of Chinese. My name is Sungmin." He put out a hand which I took promptly.
My eyes lit up at the first word. Someone here I could actually talk to! "My name is Han Geng. I just moved here!"
The shorter one rolled his eyes, "We're going to be late."
Sungmin glanced over his shoulder at his friend, "Be quiet. It's not like it's the only convention. I don't even want to go. I don't like video games, Kyu."
Kyu rolled his eyes and stomped off. I felt a little relieved to have him gone. He didn't seem all that... pleasant.
Sungmin sighed, "That's Kyuhyun. He's not normally like that. He's actually really nice..." He looked back at me and smiled, "Do you need some help?"
I looked at the suitcases, "Yeah. That would be nice. But," I watched as the front door swung closed, "He doesn't seem too happy."
"Who cares?" Sungmin waved it off, "I always go to his stupid video game things with him. I think it's better if I help my new neighbour."
"Neighbour?" I asked, "You live here?"
He nodded, "Yes. Third floor." He grabbed the handle of the biggest suitcase and hauled it up. The look on his face when he realized just how heavy it was made me laugh, "What do you have in here? Elephants?"
"Might as well." I said, voice strained as I lifted the other suitcase and began the descent down the stairs.
"Geng?" Mama yelled, "What's taking you so long?"
We finally made it down the stairs and through the door, "Mama..." I panted, "This," I put down the suitcase and pointed to Sungmin, "Is Sungmin. He lives here as well."
Sungmin lifted a hand, "Hello."
Mama's eyes went wide, "Oh! Can he speak Chinese as well?"
"Only a little." he answered.
I rolled my eyes at Sungmin's lie, "He speaks Chinese pretty well, Mama." I looked back to Sungmin, "I'm just wondering, do you go to Neul Paran?"
Sungmin looked down, "No, I don't. Is that the school you're going to?"
"Yeah. I'm going into the third year."
"But," he said a little more excitedly, "Kyu goes to Neul paran! He's a first year, but he's so smart that he takes mostly second year classes, and some third year."
I motioned for him to come over to the couch to sit, "Does that mean you've graduated?"
Sungmin shook his head, "No. I go to a special arts school. It's a little far, but I really like singing, and dancing, and playing instruments, and--"
"Art?"
He smiled sheepishly, "Yeah. Pretty much. But I went to the same middle school as most people at Paran, so I know pretty much all of them. I might be a year younger than you, but if you told me who was in your class, I would know everyone."
"Really?" That made me happy. I would know some people before even getting to school. "So... Who do you think might be in my class? Or who should I look out for?"
"Hmm..." Sungmin looked to be thinking really hard, "Uh... That all depends. What classes are you taking?"
"Uh... Well," I started, "I don't really know when, but I know for sure I'm taking math, science, Korean, English..."
"Obviously." Sungmin said quickly, but was a little more hesitant to continue.
I raised an eyebrow, "Having trouble?"
He nodded, "Yes. I'm not sure what-- Choice. What are your choice courses?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at his fumble. But if anyone had to laugh at a failed attempt to speak the other's language, he would be rolling on the floor had I tried my Korean more. "I chose to take dance. And gym." I looked around, trying to remember the others. Too much happening to bother remembering... "And business."
"Planning on being a business man?" Sungmin asked, an amused tone to his voice.
Shrugging, I looked down, "I want to have my own business some day, but it's a good thing to know."
"Hankyung," Mama said as she came in with a plate of her almond cookies. I frowned at the use of my new Korean name, "still has no idea what he wants to do." She glanced over at me, "I just hope that Korea gives him more opportunities than China could have."
I took a cookie, licking my lips. Mama hadn't made cookies for a while. It wasn't like I could fit into the conversation anymore, anyway. Mama wanted to show off her proficiency in Korean. She actually paid attention in the classes she took. But when Mama's hand smacked the cookie out of mine, she switched back. "Geng! You shouldn't eat that many!"
I dropped the cookie and tried to bury myself in the couch, looking like a little child who had just been caught stealing a cookie from the jar (or the plate). When I looked to Sungmin, who was trying his best to hold in a laugh. He recovered quickly, "So... You want to know who to look out for?" I nodded and he sighed, "Um... Dance class... You have a good chance that two of my second year friends, who are obsessed with dance., will be in your class. Lee Donghae and Lee Hyukjae. And you're almost guaranteed to have Choi Siwon in your business class. His family owns this huge store chain, so he pretty much has no choice but to take over eventually."
"Lee Donghae, Lee Hyukjae and Choi Siwon. Those were your friends in middle school. Is that it?" I asked, a little surprised that was all.
Sungmin straight out laughed, "Just because I'm friends with Kyuhyun doesn't make me as anti-social as him! There's a few others in your year as well, like Park Jungsu and his friend Kim Youngwoon. They're not as inseparable as Hyukjae and Donghae, but close. There's also a few of Kyuhyun's friends I know, like Kim Ryeowook and Kim Jongwoon. Ryeowook is in Kyuhyun's year, and I think Jongwoon is in yours. Don't know a whole lot about him. He was always really strange. I only know him because he's Ryeowook's boyfriend." I gulped, my mind going back to Zhou Mi in Mudanjiang. Sungmin tilted his head to the side, "Hyung? Are you okay?"
I pulled out a smile, noticing instead how the mixture of Korean and Chinese sounded so... odd. "Yeah, I'm fine. So," I decided to change the subject,"Jungsu, Youngwoon and Jongwoon are all in my year and Ryeowook is one of Kyuhyun's friends. Got it. Anyone else?"
"No, not really." But then his eyes widened, "Yes, actually." His eyes went dark, "Kim Heechul."
"Is there something wrong with him?" I asked obliviously.
"He's..." Sungmin shook his head, "Never mind. You can try to be his friend if you want, but I just don't like him." I looked at him askance, but decided not to bother. Then Sungmin pulled out his cellphone and got up. "Ah, I have to go."
"It's okay." I said, getting up as well and following him to the door, "Thanks for your help earlier, Sungmin."
He smiled back at me and put a hand on my shoulder, "No problem. It was nice to meet you. I wish you luck at Paran. And if you ever need help with your Korean..."
"He will need plenty of help." Mama said, coming towards us. I could feel her eyes boring into the back of my head, "He starts his lessons tomorrow. I just hope he pays attention in these ones."
Sungmin laughed one last time before leaving.
-oOo-
"Hankyung-ssi?" the teacher called from the front of the class. It was my fourth week of lessons, taking me right by my birthday without my realizing it. Mama was considerate enough to remind me I was now 17-- excuse me, 18 in Korea. She made me a little cake, and Sungmin stopped by to say a quick 'saengil chukha hamnida' (Is that right?) and gave me a little Korean chapter book to practice my reading. Now I was dreading the first day of school. That was on Monday. It was Friday.
I looked away from the boy I had been staring at. He had an even cuter face than Sungmin, his cheeks adorably chubby. I don't know why I had been staring at him. Maybe it was the confused look on his face as the teacher spoke slowly in Korean and faster in Chinese to explain. He was obviously struggling, and I was relieved that someone was worse than me in Korean. I looked up to the front, "Sorry."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the confused boy look to me, just like every other foreigner in the room. And then he went back to scribbling things on his paper.
"Now." The teacher said, once more speaking in her slow Korean, "We will pair up into partners. I want you to speak Korean. Tell each other about yourselves. It's good practice." And then the room was bustling.
A few girls came up to me to ask if I'd be their partner, I ignored them as I always had. I saw no one approach the boy, so I went to him myself, sitting down in the desk in front of him and trying out my much improved Korean, "Do you want to be my partner?"
He looked up from his scribblings and blinked at me, "Uh..."
I looked at the paper to see scribbles of Hangul. He'd been practicing. I looked back up to his face and smiled, "If you don't, it's okay."
"Sure." Was the quick reply. He put out his hand, "I am... Henry."
We shook, "Han Ge-- Hankyung." I pulled my hand away, shaking my head at my own slip-up. I was never going to get used to this. "You looked confused." I said, shrugging.
Henry's cheeks went red and he looked down, increasing the overall cuteness to him, "I'm... I'm confused by what she says."
"You're Korean is fine!" I said, and it even surprised me how good his was compared to me.
Henry swallowed, "It's not the Korean... I'm from Canada... And when my parents speak Chinese to me, it's not so hard. But the teacher speaks so quickly, and it's so accented, it's hard for me to understand."
So Henry wasn't confused by the Korean... He was confused by the Chinese? And the fact that he had come here all the way from Canada! Wasn't that right above America? I thought I had it bad, but what took me an hour and a half on a plane must have taken Henry almost a day. To be that far away from your friends... "You must miss them."
"Miss who?" he was writing out words again, probably only half listening.
"Your friends." Now even my mind was half on the conversation as I began to read what he had written. It looked to be... "Are you writing a song?"
Henry looked up, "What?" I pointed to the paper and he blushed again, reaching for the back of his head, "Oh... Heh heh. Um... Yeah. I don't know, I was trying to..."
"I wish I could write songs." I sighed, only now realizing we had switched to Chinese and he didn't seem to have a problem understanding me.
Henry shrugged, "It's not that hard. I don't know. It was an attempt, mostly just to practice... I start school soon, so I need to know as much as I can."
"I start school too. I came almost four weeks ago."
"Oh! Where are you from?" he asked, song forgotten.
"Mudanjiang." I said casually, but upon seeing Henry's once again confused face, I guessed maybe it wasn't as well-known as I had thought, "It's in the North-East."
He nodded, "I see. I'm from Toronto, the biggest city in Canada... But it's not really that big."
"Boys," the teacher said sternly, standing over us, "Why aren't you speaking Korean?"
Henry and I exchanged looks that showed we both wanted to laugh as the teacher stomped away to go yell at another group of girls who weren't speaking Korean either. The rest of the class was pretty good. I said good bye to Henry when class was over. Two friends already! I was both nervous and excited for my first day of school. Hopefully I would make more good friends. Hopefully.
---
I don't know about you, but Hannie seems a bit OOC... Maybe if I wrote in third person it would have been better... I dunno. Whatever. Hopefully it worked. It's hard writing in his point of view!
And Sungmin happens to know Chinese, yes! He likes learning stuff, so I figured I'd have him know some Chinese (a lot of Chinese...) and give Hannie a friend.
Anyways, I have to go take a shower and go to bed, so.... G'night! Gutten abend! I don't know any other way to say it... Not even French.... I hope you liked it....
Next Chapter
Chapter 2
This is the new title for What My Life Would Have Been Like....
Title: What my life would have been like... (2/?)
Author: sexy_pengwin
Genre: AU (sorta...), high school (definitely), humor (can't help it), romance (probably)
Rating: PG-PG13 (mostly for language later on and some themes)
Pairings/Characters: friendship!HanChul (pretty much guaranteed more later) friendship!HanMi (and again, maybe more later one)
This chapter: Kyumin. If you count it as that. (MENTIONED ONLY!) Also Yewook and possible Kangteuk if you want to look at it that way. Oh, and Eunhae, but again only if you want to look at it that way (for the time being at least) Heechul is mentioned... Ah yes, and Henry will be in here, but in person, not mentioned.
Summary: Hangeng wonders what would have happened had he not signed up for SM. He soon finds out when he wakes up back in China, 16 again. His family moves to Korea, where he finds that in life, there are certain people that will be there no matter what. Like Heechul. Oh joy.
Disclaimer: Nope! I wish....
A/N: Okay, so I apologize. It's only the second chapter and it's sorta/kinda filler-ish. I mean, it introduces you to what people we'll meet and all that stuff. And sorry guys, but Heechul isn't coming until later. I promise next chapter! I can't wait for him either! But my plans for him make me feel sad.... Pretend I never said that.
Warning: Again, attempts at all the Korean/Chinese stuff. I read the wikipedia page for education in Korea and all that crap, so I know a bit. But I'm still pretty much going by my North American schedule (or Canadian if American is that different.) So, yeah.... You guys understand, right?
Anyways! Enough rambling for the time being. I'm leaving that for later. Long story short, Hannie's really hard to write. Especially now. I see him as acts innocent but really isn't. Sungmin just happened to fit in here and decided to be friendly (and learn Chinese...?) I'm not the most pleased with this chapter.... I can't wait to write the next one, though! So hang in there.
Aish, rambling again. Habit, sorry. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I changed my deadline. I'm giving myself a week to write each chapter. Every Friday there should be a post, or earlier if I can (And I'll try) and so on. And because I found the two or three days ridiculous for me, considering I was just writing future scenes and a whole new story that I WANT to write for you guys, but none of the members fits the one person's personality.... because I initially wrote it as a side-story to something else. And... Yeah. I ramble too much.
I will leave you alone now. Read, enjoy... That kinda stuff. I'll just go and sleep.
---
I opened my eyes, waking up on my own rather than Mama having to get me up. Maybe it was because we were on the plane, and even just an hour gave me time to sleep. And this time I woke up, not to be in my room once more, but to look out the window at hundreds of tall buildings, busy streets, and masses of people running around like little ants. I tapped the window, getting Mama's attention, "Is that--"
She smiled, "Seoul. Say hello to your new home, Geng."
I returned to the window, pressing my nose up against it to get the best view of the city as possible before the plane flew out and towards the airport. What amazed me was just how big Seoul was. Mudanjiang was like a mere town compared to Seoul, and Mudanjiang was pretty big itself.
"Do you think you'll like it here?" Mama asked over my shoulder.
I shrugged, my eyes still on the city below us. There was no doubt that this move would change my life, whether it be for better or worse.
-oOo-
I had to bring the bags down the stairs to our new apartment. It was in the basement of the building, once again the cheapest one we could find. The apartment building itself was, thankfully, quite nice. But Seoul was a big city, therefore housing was ridiculously expensive compared to Mudanjiang. And so here we were.
Mama came in behind me with a lighter load. The excuse of being too elderly to carry such big bags never got old with her. "Very nice, Geng." She said, patting my back as I put everything down, "There's another one upstairs."
I held in my groan as I trudged up the stairs once more. When I saw there was not one big suitcase, but two, I did groan. My body ached from having to carry some of the bags from the airport, to the taxi, down to the subway, up from the subway... You get the picture. So much pain I didn't notice the bags the taxi drivers and others helped carry.
I tried taking both suitcases, one with each hand, but they were much to heavy for me. Even one felt like a thousand tons.
The lighter suitcase was finally secure in my arms when someone decided to yell. "Yah!" I dropped the suitcase out of shock. Just my luck it landed on my foot. Several Chinese words flew from my mouth, not all the nicest words either.
A guy who looked to be around my age (but with an adorable face like that, I wasn't all that sure) came up to me, "I'm sorry!" I looked up and the guy smiled. "I was just wondering if you wanted some help."
I just blinked, not quite sure what it was he was saying. I had only taken very basic lessons before coming, and most of the time I wouldn't pay attention to prove to my parents how much I didn't want to move. Now I regretted it.
His smile faded, "Hello? Can you talk?" He waved his hand in front of my face.
I continued to stare, going through the very limited vocabulary I had. "Uh..."
"Hyung?" A deeper voice called from farther back. I looked over the adorable one's shoulder to see a more severe looking guy come over to us. He was a little bit shorter then the first one--probably because he was younger and still growing-- and his hair was so messy I wondered if he brushed it this morning. Or ever. "Hyung, come on, we'll be late for the convention." he said quickly, gabbing the other's arm whilst glaring at me.
Finally I formed a (hopefully) coherent sentence in my head. Start with the bow. "I'm from China."
The slightly taller, cuter one's smile returned, "Ah! So that's why you're so quiet! Uh..." he put a hand to his chin in thought before saying, "I know a little bit of Chinese. My name is Sungmin." He put out a hand which I took promptly.
My eyes lit up at the first word. Someone here I could actually talk to! "My name is Han Geng. I just moved here!"
The shorter one rolled his eyes, "We're going to be late."
Sungmin glanced over his shoulder at his friend, "Be quiet. It's not like it's the only convention. I don't even want to go. I don't like video games, Kyu."
Kyu rolled his eyes and stomped off. I felt a little relieved to have him gone. He didn't seem all that... pleasant.
Sungmin sighed, "That's Kyuhyun. He's not normally like that. He's actually really nice..." He looked back at me and smiled, "Do you need some help?"
I looked at the suitcases, "Yeah. That would be nice. But," I watched as the front door swung closed, "He doesn't seem too happy."
"Who cares?" Sungmin waved it off, "I always go to his stupid video game things with him. I think it's better if I help my new neighbour."
"Neighbour?" I asked, "You live here?"
He nodded, "Yes. Third floor." He grabbed the handle of the biggest suitcase and hauled it up. The look on his face when he realized just how heavy it was made me laugh, "What do you have in here? Elephants?"
"Might as well." I said, voice strained as I lifted the other suitcase and began the descent down the stairs.
"Geng?" Mama yelled, "What's taking you so long?"
We finally made it down the stairs and through the door, "Mama..." I panted, "This," I put down the suitcase and pointed to Sungmin, "Is Sungmin. He lives here as well."
Sungmin lifted a hand, "Hello."
Mama's eyes went wide, "Oh! Can he speak Chinese as well?"
"Only a little." he answered.
I rolled my eyes at Sungmin's lie, "He speaks Chinese pretty well, Mama." I looked back to Sungmin, "I'm just wondering, do you go to Neul Paran?"
Sungmin looked down, "No, I don't. Is that the school you're going to?"
"Yeah. I'm going into the third year."
"But," he said a little more excitedly, "Kyu goes to Neul paran! He's a first year, but he's so smart that he takes mostly second year classes, and some third year."
I motioned for him to come over to the couch to sit, "Does that mean you've graduated?"
Sungmin shook his head, "No. I go to a special arts school. It's a little far, but I really like singing, and dancing, and playing instruments, and--"
"Art?"
He smiled sheepishly, "Yeah. Pretty much. But I went to the same middle school as most people at Paran, so I know pretty much all of them. I might be a year younger than you, but if you told me who was in your class, I would know everyone."
"Really?" That made me happy. I would know some people before even getting to school. "So... Who do you think might be in my class? Or who should I look out for?"
"Hmm..." Sungmin looked to be thinking really hard, "Uh... That all depends. What classes are you taking?"
"Uh... Well," I started, "I don't really know when, but I know for sure I'm taking math, science, Korean, English..."
"Obviously." Sungmin said quickly, but was a little more hesitant to continue.
I raised an eyebrow, "Having trouble?"
He nodded, "Yes. I'm not sure what-- Choice. What are your choice courses?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at his fumble. But if anyone had to laugh at a failed attempt to speak the other's language, he would be rolling on the floor had I tried my Korean more. "I chose to take dance. And gym." I looked around, trying to remember the others. Too much happening to bother remembering... "And business."
"Planning on being a business man?" Sungmin asked, an amused tone to his voice.
Shrugging, I looked down, "I want to have my own business some day, but it's a good thing to know."
"Hankyung," Mama said as she came in with a plate of her almond cookies. I frowned at the use of my new Korean name, "still has no idea what he wants to do." She glanced over at me, "I just hope that Korea gives him more opportunities than China could have."
I took a cookie, licking my lips. Mama hadn't made cookies for a while. It wasn't like I could fit into the conversation anymore, anyway. Mama wanted to show off her proficiency in Korean. She actually paid attention in the classes she took. But when Mama's hand smacked the cookie out of mine, she switched back. "Geng! You shouldn't eat that many!"
I dropped the cookie and tried to bury myself in the couch, looking like a little child who had just been caught stealing a cookie from the jar (or the plate). When I looked to Sungmin, who was trying his best to hold in a laugh. He recovered quickly, "So... You want to know who to look out for?" I nodded and he sighed, "Um... Dance class... You have a good chance that two of my second year friends, who are obsessed with dance., will be in your class. Lee Donghae and Lee Hyukjae. And you're almost guaranteed to have Choi Siwon in your business class. His family owns this huge store chain, so he pretty much has no choice but to take over eventually."
"Lee Donghae, Lee Hyukjae and Choi Siwon. Those were your friends in middle school. Is that it?" I asked, a little surprised that was all.
Sungmin straight out laughed, "Just because I'm friends with Kyuhyun doesn't make me as anti-social as him! There's a few others in your year as well, like Park Jungsu and his friend Kim Youngwoon. They're not as inseparable as Hyukjae and Donghae, but close. There's also a few of Kyuhyun's friends I know, like Kim Ryeowook and Kim Jongwoon. Ryeowook is in Kyuhyun's year, and I think Jongwoon is in yours. Don't know a whole lot about him. He was always really strange. I only know him because he's Ryeowook's boyfriend." I gulped, my mind going back to Zhou Mi in Mudanjiang. Sungmin tilted his head to the side, "Hyung? Are you okay?"
I pulled out a smile, noticing instead how the mixture of Korean and Chinese sounded so... odd. "Yeah, I'm fine. So," I decided to change the subject,"Jungsu, Youngwoon and Jongwoon are all in my year and Ryeowook is one of Kyuhyun's friends. Got it. Anyone else?"
"No, not really." But then his eyes widened, "Yes, actually." His eyes went dark, "Kim Heechul."
"Is there something wrong with him?" I asked obliviously.
"He's..." Sungmin shook his head, "Never mind. You can try to be his friend if you want, but I just don't like him." I looked at him askance, but decided not to bother. Then Sungmin pulled out his cellphone and got up. "Ah, I have to go."
"It's okay." I said, getting up as well and following him to the door, "Thanks for your help earlier, Sungmin."
He smiled back at me and put a hand on my shoulder, "No problem. It was nice to meet you. I wish you luck at Paran. And if you ever need help with your Korean..."
"He will need plenty of help." Mama said, coming towards us. I could feel her eyes boring into the back of my head, "He starts his lessons tomorrow. I just hope he pays attention in these ones."
Sungmin laughed one last time before leaving.
-oOo-
"Hankyung-ssi?" the teacher called from the front of the class. It was my fourth week of lessons, taking me right by my birthday without my realizing it. Mama was considerate enough to remind me I was now 17-- excuse me, 18 in Korea. She made me a little cake, and Sungmin stopped by to say a quick 'saengil chukha hamnida' (Is that right?) and gave me a little Korean chapter book to practice my reading. Now I was dreading the first day of school. That was on Monday. It was Friday.
I looked away from the boy I had been staring at. He had an even cuter face than Sungmin, his cheeks adorably chubby. I don't know why I had been staring at him. Maybe it was the confused look on his face as the teacher spoke slowly in Korean and faster in Chinese to explain. He was obviously struggling, and I was relieved that someone was worse than me in Korean. I looked up to the front, "Sorry."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the confused boy look to me, just like every other foreigner in the room. And then he went back to scribbling things on his paper.
"Now." The teacher said, once more speaking in her slow Korean, "We will pair up into partners. I want you to speak Korean. Tell each other about yourselves. It's good practice." And then the room was bustling.
A few girls came up to me to ask if I'd be their partner, I ignored them as I always had. I saw no one approach the boy, so I went to him myself, sitting down in the desk in front of him and trying out my much improved Korean, "Do you want to be my partner?"
He looked up from his scribblings and blinked at me, "Uh..."
I looked at the paper to see scribbles of Hangul. He'd been practicing. I looked back up to his face and smiled, "If you don't, it's okay."
"Sure." Was the quick reply. He put out his hand, "I am... Henry."
We shook, "Han Ge-- Hankyung." I pulled my hand away, shaking my head at my own slip-up. I was never going to get used to this. "You looked confused." I said, shrugging.
Henry's cheeks went red and he looked down, increasing the overall cuteness to him, "I'm... I'm confused by what she says."
"You're Korean is fine!" I said, and it even surprised me how good his was compared to me.
Henry swallowed, "It's not the Korean... I'm from Canada... And when my parents speak Chinese to me, it's not so hard. But the teacher speaks so quickly, and it's so accented, it's hard for me to understand."
So Henry wasn't confused by the Korean... He was confused by the Chinese? And the fact that he had come here all the way from Canada! Wasn't that right above America? I thought I had it bad, but what took me an hour and a half on a plane must have taken Henry almost a day. To be that far away from your friends... "You must miss them."
"Miss who?" he was writing out words again, probably only half listening.
"Your friends." Now even my mind was half on the conversation as I began to read what he had written. It looked to be... "Are you writing a song?"
Henry looked up, "What?" I pointed to the paper and he blushed again, reaching for the back of his head, "Oh... Heh heh. Um... Yeah. I don't know, I was trying to..."
"I wish I could write songs." I sighed, only now realizing we had switched to Chinese and he didn't seem to have a problem understanding me.
Henry shrugged, "It's not that hard. I don't know. It was an attempt, mostly just to practice... I start school soon, so I need to know as much as I can."
"I start school too. I came almost four weeks ago."
"Oh! Where are you from?" he asked, song forgotten.
"Mudanjiang." I said casually, but upon seeing Henry's once again confused face, I guessed maybe it wasn't as well-known as I had thought, "It's in the North-East."
He nodded, "I see. I'm from Toronto, the biggest city in Canada... But it's not really that big."
"Boys," the teacher said sternly, standing over us, "Why aren't you speaking Korean?"
Henry and I exchanged looks that showed we both wanted to laugh as the teacher stomped away to go yell at another group of girls who weren't speaking Korean either. The rest of the class was pretty good. I said good bye to Henry when class was over. Two friends already! I was both nervous and excited for my first day of school. Hopefully I would make more good friends. Hopefully.
---
I don't know about you, but Hannie seems a bit OOC... Maybe if I wrote in third person it would have been better... I dunno. Whatever. Hopefully it worked. It's hard writing in his point of view!
And Sungmin happens to know Chinese, yes! He likes learning stuff, so I figured I'd have him know some Chinese (a lot of Chinese...) and give Hannie a friend.
Anyways, I have to go take a shower and go to bed, so.... G'night! Gutten abend! I don't know any other way to say it... Not even French.... I hope you liked it....
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