United - S.MG

= 8 =

"Faith?" Euphrasia said to her phone.

"Hey Sia! How have you been?" Her best friend sounded excited on the other end of the phone, her Italian accent seeping through a little more than usually. Faith was born and raised in Italy, and moved to LA at the age of eleven. She was fluent in English now, but her accent never fully disappeared.

"I've been great actually, busy though, but great! You? How's France?"

"France is so cool. I found it boring at first, but I can already hold small conversations now, it's really easy, once you know the basics. I made new friends as well, you?" It was rare to hear Faith so excited over something else than books, or authors, and Euphrasia smiled so widely she was scared her cheeks would rip apart.

"Don't scream, but I live in a dorm with 8 guys. It's so chaotic here." The expected scream came from her best friend, successfully damaging Euphrasia's eardrums. "I'm trying to learn Korean, it's slow, but there is progress. They're helping me a lot, with everything. The difference in culture between here and home is pretty big, so it's hard to get used to. I really like it here though."

"Tell me more, girl, I need to know all about them." Faith was squealing by now.

Euphrasia chuckled, "first of all, I kind of have a new name. Euphrasia was too hard for them to pronounce, so I asked them to give me a new name. They came up with Hyebin. Some of them still stick to Sia though. I like that, it reminds me of home."

Faith gasped, and Euphrasia heard something fall to the ground. "Sorry I dropped my phone! Hyebin is so fitting for you! How did they come up with something so genius?"

"I have no idea. But you want to know about them?" Faith hummed eagerly. "They're an idol trainee group. The company wants to try and debut them next year or something. They're so amazing, they're patient with me, they don't let me go out by myself because I don't speak Korean well enough. They teach me as much as they can. I started training with them too. If I progress quickly enough with my dance, singing and Korean, I might be able to debut with them!"

"WHAT!?" Faith screeched, seemingly throwing her phone across the room, from the sounds Euphrasia heard. "How old are they even?"

"The youngest is a year older than me, the oldest is three years older. It's not that much of a difference, really." She shrugged.

"Hold up, just give me a minute to process this." Another loud screech was heard from Faith's end of the line. "You, Euphrasia Hayes, Hyebin, my best friend, are living with a group of Kpop idol trainees, set to debut next year, and maybe you'll debut with them? What kind of fanfiction are you the main character of?!"

"I don't know man, how is your guest family."

"I have a 'sister' who is the exact same age as me, we even share the same birthday! She showed me the local library, so guess where I've been spending my days. They have so many good books that I've never even heard off before, also in English. I'll send you some recommendations if you want."

~~~

"You bitch! I hate you so much! Why are you only calling now? It's been a whole ass fucking month and you didn't call me once! I was starting to think you died, dumbass." Lorelei held the phone away from her ear, groaning at her best friend's volume.

"This is exactly why, homo. You're so damn loud!" Lorelei sighed, turning her volume down a little bit. "How have you been though?"

"I came out." Okay, that's... definitely not what I expected.

"Really? How'd it go?"

Sam chuckled, clearing his throat dramatically before speaking up. "Horrible, they didn't support me and kicked me out, I live on the streets now." Lorelei was about to protest but he shut her off, "I'm joking! Idiot. They're supportive, but honestly, I'd expect nothing less. The child is non-binary and bi, while their mothers are lesbian. It's the whole reason I came out in the first place. I knew they would support from the moment I walked in there."

"Thank god, I was about to get on a plane and break their necks."

"How have you been though?" Sam asked curiously, as his best friend had not texted her much since their departure.

"Me? I'm doing great, my guest family is amazing. I have three siblings, and they see me as their sister. Can you realize, for once I'm the oldest somewhere!" Lorelei was always the youngest everywhere; she was the younger sibling, the youngest between her and her cousins, the youngest in their friend group, and, even if only by three days, the youngest in her dance class. "The parents own a dance studio, I've kinda been spending my days there with Riki, Sola and Konon. Or I'm at the skatepark with Yuki, a friend that I made a while ago. Other than that, I have a private tutor to learn Japanese as quickly as possible. That's it, really. It's a boring schedule, but somehow I'm always busy."

"Riki and who and who now?" Sam asked, never having heard those names before.

"Riki, Sola and Konon, they're the children of my guest family. Sola is the youngest, three years younger than me, Riki is the son, two years younger than me and Konon is one year younger than me. Yuki is a girl who goes to the same school as them. I met her at the skatepark the other day. She's super nice, and pretty too." Lorelei explained. She was sure that she mentioned the Nishimura siblings before, but guess not.

"Ooh, go get that girl, she sounds perfect for you."

"I only said she's nice and pretty, what are you on about? Are you drunk? High? What the fuck, dude." Lorelei rolled her eyes, despite knowing that Sam couldn't see it.

"Roll your eyes any further back and you'll be able to see your miserable excuse of a brain."

"Are you stalking me, Samuel?" Lorelei raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"No, I just know you well enough, now slap that smirk off your face and please stop making your eyebrows look weird like that. I'm begging, you look ridiculous." Sam rolled his eyes, and started talking about his experiences again, the smile evident even in his voice.