Exchange student - one year ᵗᵃᵉᵏᵒᵒᵏ

1

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"Mister. You have to wake up, the flight is over. You have to get off the plane," a much too friendly voice rang in his ear and woke him from his deep sleep. Taehyung slowly opened his eyes and saw the smiling face of the stewardess.
The stewardess urged again, this time more firmly: "I'm sorry, but you have to leave the plane now."
He sat up straight and yawned as he rubbed his eyes and tried to take in the situation. As he did so, he could hear the soft whirring of the plane and the muffled murmurs of the other passengers. He looked around and noticed that most of the passengers had already disembarked. Only a few, like him, were still awake.
He reached for his cell phone to see what time it was. The last time he had looked at his watch, just two hours of the flight had passed, and it was still about nine hours until his arrival. Instead of letting boredom get the better of him, he had slept through most of the flight. Taehyung was a language whiz and had had little trouble finding his way around Los Angeles, his new home for the next year. He was annoyed by this year abroad, but he was still ready to experience everything Los Angeles had to offer.

After getting off the plane, he strolled leisurely through the busy airport. All around him were people hurrying or shopping in overpriced stores. The air was filled with a mixture of coffee, perfume and a variety of sounds.
Taehyung finally reached the baggage carousel and waited for his suitcase and bag to appear. They had probably already done a few rounds while he was still asleep. He heard the rattling of the suitcases on the baggage carousel. The noise level was enormous and he could hear the echo of a thousand conversations echoing through the airport. The airport was a sea of people and sounds.

Once he had his luggage in hand, he set off and moved through the crowd. As he walked through the airport, he kept an eye out for his host family. He knew from photos what they looked like and who to look out for. To be on the safe side, he still had a photo of them on his cell phone. They were also Korean like him, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find them, he thought to himself.
But there seemed to be no end to all the people pushing past him. He kept getting bumped into and was starting to feel annoyed. With an annoyed exhalation, he decided to pick up his two suitcases and bag and lean against a wall before finally sitting down on the floor. He decided to wait until the crowd died down and the surroundings became more relaxed. The fact that he kept his host family waiting didn't bother him in the slightest.

What felt like an eternity passed as he stared at his cell phone and watched the crowd gradually disperse. So he heaved himself to his feet and took small steps across the airport to look for his new family.
"Taehyung!" he heard his name being called behind him at some point and quickly spotted a boy calling his name and looking around frantically. He recognized the boy immediately - it was his host brother Jungkook, who looked slightly distressed and kept calling for him. Taehyung just sighed softly and walked towards him.
"I would have found you without you yelling like that," Taehyung remarked a little gruffly.
"There you are at last! I've been looking for you for over an hour! The time difference confused me and I thought I'd made a mistake. By the way, I'm Jungkook, but you probably already know that," Jungkook greeted him warmly and gave him a welcome hug. Taehyung felt his muscles tense up when he felt Jungkook's arm around his shoulders. He didn't like being touched by other guys and felt uncomfortable with it. Still, he forced himself to stay calm and not flinch as he tried to ignore the touch. After all, he wanted to make a good first impression.

As quickly as the hug came about, Taehyung released it to put some distance between himself and this stranger. He didn't want to be so close to this guy. Looking around, he realized that only Jungkook was standing in front of him and gave him a questioning look. "Are you here alone?" he asked the boy.
A slight smile flitted across Jungkook's face, accompanied by an unobtrusive nod. "Yes, something came up with my parents, which is why I'm here alone to pick you up. But you'll get to meet them tonight," explained the blonde-haired Jungkook. He gave his host brother another hug and then put his arm around Taehyung's shoulder to push him towards the exit.
"Can you stop touching me all the time?" he couldn't help but sound annoyed and removed his arm from his shoulder.
It was as if Jungkook had crossed an invisible line and he took a few steps back to give Taehyung space. "Sorry." Jungkook saw Taehyung's annoyed look, when all he wanted to show him was that he wanted to help him.
In an attempt to create a casual atmosphere, Jungkook asked as they continued to stroll through the crowd, "How was the flight? Did you have a good seat?"
"I don't know, I slept," Taehyung replied curtly, emphasizing his distance.

Jungkook didn't give up and tried to start a conversation again. "Should I take one of the suitcases? Or can I?" he asked his host brother politely.
Taehyung replied, but his answer sounded slightly annoyed: "It's fine." He knew Jungkook was just trying to be friendly, but it just annoyed him.
"Suit yourself," Jungkook said a little disappointed as he thought about whether he had done something wrong.
Meanwhile, Jungkook couldn't help but take a closer look at Taehyung's appearance. They were almost the same height, and his eyes fell on the eye-catching tattoo on Taehyung's neck. Dark, long hair was tied into a half-up-half-down hairstyle, and his ear jewelry was atypical for men in Los Angeles. The clothing style was both intriguing and alienating to Jungkook, who was nevertheless irresistibly attracted to it. Jungkook realized that Taehyung was completely in line with his taste in men.