SWAY

Chapter One

Chapter One : Seoul Searching

Julia yawns quietly as she stretches in bed before looking at the alarm clock next to the bed which reads 7:30 AM. "Ugh time to get up," she mutters quietly but remains still, staring at the ceiling for a bit, reluctant to get out of her bed.

"Gabbie? Are you going somewhere?" Julia blinks bleary-eyed, still half-asleep as she watches her roommate pack a suitcase.

"Yeah I'm planning to go home for the summer." Gabbie huffed as she continued packing her bags.

"Home?" Julia asks, surprised. Gabbie was the same as her, both living by themselves in America while their families stayed in Korea "And you didn't think of telling me?" Julia says jokingly with a pout

"My parents decided to surprise me, trust me I'd rather stay here than go home." Gabbie says, rolling her eyes.

Julia laughs a little, knowing about Gabbie's strained relationship with her parents. For being the daughter of two successful lawyers, the pressure on her to do well and maintain their reputation can be quite overwhelming. "Well, I'm gonna miss you while you're gone."

"Can't you just come with me?" Julia's eyes widens as she lets out a small laugh at the seemingly absurd suggestion.

"Me? You're joking, right?" She says, tilting her head to the side in amusement.

"Come on you know how your parents will easily give specially when your youngest sister pleads." Julia shakes her head in resignation.

If her baby sister, who's practically her parent's precious little girl, wanted something, there's no way their parents would say no even if they have something to say about it. "Fine, I guess I have no choice huh," she says with an exaggerated sigh.

Meanwhile, back at the Lee household, Chaeryeong was quietly eating her dinner, her eyes glued to her phone. A series of buzzes from incoming text messages made her look up to glance at the screen, seeing her sister's name across the screen. "Hey baby sis, how are you?"

"I'm good," replied Chaeryeong as she picked up a spoonful of rice before shoveling it into her mouth. "And I'm not a baby," she added.

With a smirk, Julia types out a reply. "Of course you're not," Her amused tone is apparent even through the text message. It's a playful banter that she's had with Chaeryeong countless times. "I need you to do me a little favor though,"

"Ugh... gosh," Chaeryeong thought rolling her eyes. She knew that whenever her sister asked for a 'little favor' it usually turned out to be a huge inconvenience. Still, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of curiosity about what her sister was about to request. "What do you need?" she typed back.

Julia chuckled at Chaeryeong's response. She could almost picture the exact facial expression her little sister had on while reading her message. "Okay so hear me out," she typed out. "I need you to convince our parents to let me stay with you guys for the summer in Korea. Pretty please🥺"

Chaeryeong almost choked on her rice when she read the request. She had to reread the message to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

She couldn't fathom having her sister invade her space for three whole months. She liked her peace and quiet too much.

Her mom immediately offered water, Chaeryeong took a sip of the water, the refreshing liquid cooling her throat. She paused for a moment before replying.