Soon, We'll Meet Again - Yoon Jeonghan

Chapter 1 - Beaming Up At An Angel

To my future love

Wherever you are

Can you be strong

For me when I'm not?

Touch me like gold

And I'll be your star

Future Love - KATIE

-

Everything had been meticulously planned for months. Éléonore was ready. As soon as she had arrived in Korea for her Nu'Est concert in July of 2013, Éléonore had received her student visa, she could stay as long as she was studying. Her plan was simple: first arrive in the summer and attend the concert, then disappear and find her way until classes started in March. In the meantime, she had to work and be granted a visa. But she had prepared for every single scenario.

Éléonore was ready. Even thought of jobs she could look into, she could either find a random job to wait the time, or she could teach her language, that was something more needed than the other. French was a highly regarded language for the Suneung, and students were ready to pay a lot of money just to get taught well. Éléonore didn't know the scholar system well, but she was proficient in her language. For all of that plan, she was alone. Save for the first two weeks and the concert, her best friend was with her. She wasn't aware of everything, but that's how it was supposed to be for her plan to work on the long term.

The two eighteen year olds had made it their mission to spend the best holidays together before starting uni. Gleeful, tiresome, but memorable. Just the tiny detail that only one of them would go back to Belgium was something Ellie had omitted.

It wasn't going to be easy.

Finding a home had been hard, especially because she was young, with no work experience, no job, and to be a student only a few months later. Though with a home under her name, finding a job had been easy enough. Not far from it, a small corner shop (that also served as a tea room and gossip place for elderly women) had accepted her as a part-timer. Every neighbour came around one after the other, judging her in their own ways, and talking about her behind her back. Ellie could do nothing, she wasn't proficient enough in Korean.

It was nice, and even though the older generation weren't usually welcoming or open to foreigners, most had accepted Ellie into their small community with open arms. The girl was sweet and eager to learn. Her Korean wasn't that great to start with, but as the days passed, it had been getting better and better until she was accepted into an academy to teach children English and French. Another part-time job that she really enjoyed, it wasn't the same atmosphere as being a cashier for elderly women, but it paid well and she also got to learn. Though that only happened after two whole months and after being tested and declared a fit instructor.

Even if it was hard, complicated, and had ended up in tears late at night multiple times, Ellie didn't regret making her choice to leave her home. Even with all of those hardships, she was happier. This was what she had studied for, this is what she had planned. Éléonore was determined to achieve this dream.

Her friend hadn't been there for long, two weeks visiting a few places together and sleeping in while Ellie went around hunting for a place to stay. She couldn't bring herself to tell her, she couldn't. It would jeopardise her safety. Not that she didn't trust her friend, it was that she didn't trust her mother. Didn't trust her not to use blackmailing as a means to an end. If her friend didn't know, there was nothing she could give away.