Love and Let Go ↔ Yang Jungwon

Special Chapter

✧○ꊞ○ꊞ○•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙○♡๑•୨୧┈┈┈୨୧•๑♡○•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙ꊞ○ꊞ○✧

"Eomma! Please don't leave me here!"

Six year old Giselle begged, tugging on her mother's sweatshirt, blinking her doe eyes at her.

They were in front of the playground near their new neighborhood in Korea. Not too long ago, they were on a plane from New York to Seoul. It had been only 4 hours since they landed in an unfamiliar, alien place to Giselle, who had been born in the U.S.

Eomma sighs, ruffling her hair. "Giselle, sweetheart, you'll be safe here. I talked to our new neighbor, Mrs. Kim, and she agreed to watch over you. She has a daughter your age. Maybe you two can become friends," she suggests, "Try to get to know the kids here, it'll be good for you to get acquainted with some of them before school starts. I won't be gone for long, Appa and I are just going to get settled in our new house and unpack our luggages." Her hands move to the bump on her stomach, "Be a good girl, okay?"

Giselle very much wanted to protest. These people were strangers! She had never seen them before! And she couldn't speak Korean very well. But the introverted and obedient daughter she was, she dutifully nodded. "Okay, Eomma."

Her mother bends down and kisses her forehead tenderly before gently nudging her forward to the other kids. "Have fun!"

And with that, Eomma had left, abandoning her to a bunch of kids she didn't know.

Giselle stood in the same place for a few minutes, staring up at the playground. Kids were chatting with each other naturally and having fun. Some were on the slides and others were on the swings. A few people were running around playing what she assumed to be tag. She wondered how she could join without being singled out and looking weird and shuddered. No thank you. It was too much for her timid soul, she'd rather stand awkwardly until Eomma came back to pick her up.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, she notices an empty swing and decides to at least make an effort in trying to not look lonely. She sits down gingerly and kicks off the ground, putting the swing in motion.

As she went up and down, Giselle studied her surroundings. It looked similar to New York, but it still wasn't the same.

She was so distracted and lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice that someone had plopped down in the swing next to her.

"Hey!" The girl grins. She had long, straight, black hair and double eyelids along with heart-shaped lips and a petite nose. Her big eyes were sparkling happily as she swung back and forth. . A cheeky smile was placed on her lips. "I'm Sakura. What's your name?"

"U-Uh..." she stammers shyly. "My name is Giselle." she tries to say in Korean. "Or Jihye. That's my Korean name."

"Gi-selle?" Sakura slowly pronounces. She claps her hands enthusiastically. "That's a pretty name! Can I call you Ji?"

"Uhm... sure. Thank you," she replies timidly.

Sakura tilts her head. "Hm... you have a small accent. Were you born here? Or somewhere else?" she asks curiously.

"I was born in New York." Giselle mumbles bashfully.

Somehow, the girl's face lit up even more. "Ooh! You're American? Sakura beams. "What's it like there?"

Every cell in her body screamed, Abandon conversation! Too much human interaction! But Giselle only smiles politely, remembering Eomma's words. Maybe she could make a friend here in Seoul. "It's kinda like here," she replies, using all her momentum to reach Sakura's height.

"Really?"

She hums. "Yeah."

The two began to engage in a conversation about their lives which led to funny stories about things that had been going on. Giselle started to relax as she found herself enjoying Sakura's company and funny comments.