distances | joshua hong

two

"Joshua Hong." Sunhwa repeated for the nth time that day, the name rolling off of her tongue with ease.

Class had flown by after they received their pen pals. The teacher had assigned them homework of writing their first letter that will be sent to the foreigner.

Sunhwa barely paid any attention the rest of the day. The only thing on her mind was the name on the slip of paper.

A sigh escaping her slim lips, she placed her books onto her home desk along with the slip of paper containing the name of her new pen pal.

The name was still foreign to her, but she loved the way it looked and sounded as it came from her lips. Smiling once again, she sat down at the small desk, grabbing a sheet of paper and a sharpened pencil.

The moment she had been waiting for had finally come. Except that now that it had come, her mind went blank of what to say.

She started it off as she would any other letter.

"Dear Joshua Hong,"

Sadly, still not enough.

How was she supposed to start it off?

'Hello..'? Or maybe even 'My name is..'?

She decided to go with the latter.

"Dear Joshua Hong,

Hello. My name is Park Sunhwa."

Rolling her shoulders, she continued writing.

"Park is my surname so you can call me Sunhwa. It's pronounced just like it looks. I'm in grade 10 and attend Seoul Arts High School."

She had a pretty decent start now, but she still had over three fourths to write. 

"Most people refer to me as the 'happy virus' of class due to my (as my friends like to call it) overly-happy natural. But what's wrong with being happy? There needs to be more happiness nowadays."

Hopefully this doesn't make me come off as weird, she thought.

"I'm a part of our schools vocal club. One day, I hope to become a music artist. What about you? Are you in any clubs at your school?

What are some of your hobbies? Some of mine include reading, watching anime, playing piano, and painting."

Great, now what else?

"I don't really know where I'm going with this so I'll just ask you some questions.

What's your favorite food? What kind of music do you listen to? Have you ever listened to kpop? What interests you? Do you play any sports? What's your favorite season? What's your favorite color/colors? Are you into anime? If so, what anime do you watch? When's your birthday?

I think thats about it for me. Feel free to ask me anything you would like to know. I know I didn't tell much about myself but we have an entire year for that! I'm very excited to be your pen pal and hopefully you feel the same.

Sincerely,

Park Sunhwa."

Smiling slightly to herself as she finished her letter, she leaned back in her chair, re-reading it to herself to make sure she didn't make any mistakes with the english.

Once she was pleased with her corrections, she neatly folded the paper before slipping it inside the envelope.