clouds. | lai guanlin

one

Stepping outside the gates, my bag clutched in my arms; I'm too tired to bothered putting it on my back. I shuffle my feet every step of the way, I have no idea where I'm supposed to be going. All I know is that I'm here, in South Korea. My eyelids feel heavy and right now I'd rather be sleeping but I know that's not an option. I stand aimlessly inside the airport, I open my bag and fish out a piece of paper. Squinting at what I wrote I walk outside and dearly hope some taxi would let me in; it's cold, I shiver and hold my hand out. I try my best to look desperate, maybe someone will see me and  try to help. Finally, what I assume is a taxi stops. I open the back door and poke my head in, the driver says something to me that I don't quite understand - I look down and my piece of paper

"Sorry, I'm not very good at Korean." I say slowly, trying to pronounce each word correctly.

"English?" He asks, I nod but then realise he can't see me

"Yes, I speak English."

"Get in, I will take you to where you want to go." The driver says gruffly, I get into the taxi and look at my paper again

"Um, let me see. Uh..." I fold the paper around the address I was given and show it to him "Do you know where this is?"

"Do I know?" He snorts "Of course I know! I'm a taxi driver. I'll take you there, easily." I awkwardly laugh in response. The drive itself is long, silent and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep at one point. I must of fallen asleep because I feel someone shaking my leg, I look at the taxi driver 

"We've arrived." He says,

"Oh, I see." I mumble collecting my things "How much?" I ask, I figured it must be expensive. I shudder at the thought of it.

"Don't bother, you seem lost and new here. I'll let you off this time, but here take my card. Ring me when you need and I'll take you where ever you want me to." I nervously take the piece of paper from him and stuff it into my bag.

"Thanks." I bow and exit the vehicle, I here him say something to himself but I couldn't understand because it's in Korean. I look at him one last time before I shut the door, "Did you say something?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just how lucky I am to have driven someone like you around." I nod slowly at him, unsure of what exactly he meant. He drives off I wave goodbye to him, though I'm not so sure he can see me through the tinted windows. Turning around and facing the building he brought me to, it suddenly dawned on me why the taxi driver said he was lucky. Standing in my wake is a large, dare I say ginormous, house. I sigh and place my bad properly on my back and tug my suitcase closer to leg; that's right, technically speaking one could easily say I'm rich. Do I care, no not really. I don't typically remember I'm rich half the time anyway.

The large double doors open and lady comes rushing out, she looks awfully dishevelled and overworked but I guess I'm supposed to ignore that. "Guanlin!" She calls out, well at least I now know I'm at the right place "There you are, we were getting worried." Quite honestly I have no idea what she just said. She stops in front of me and tries to catch her breath, "Hello," she huffs "how are you?"

 I tilt my head to the side and sigh, taking my bag off my back and search for the piece of paper stating that I can't speak Korean. Finding it I hold it up for her, she reads it and nods slowly "Oh, sorry." She gestures for me to follow her. The driveway, honestly, is huge. After a few minutes of walking we reach the large double doors; up close I could see that they're a light grey colour and the handles are gold, I wouldn't be surprised if they were made from solid gold. 

The lady opens the doors; revealing the inside of the house. Chandeliers hand from the ceiling and practically every wall was painted white. She beckons for me to continue following her until we eventually reach a room, the doors were already open. It's a dining room and people are sat inside talking, laughing and eating. The lady coughs loudly and everyone becomes silent, "Guanlin is here." People stand and bow towards me

"Does he speak Korean?" One asks, not that I entirely understand him. The lady shakes her head,

"Guanlin, please come and sit here. I saved you a spot." A boy, speaking in perfect English, grins and me and pats the seat next to his own. I nod and walk over to him, "Hello!" He whispers, I give him a small smile back "I'm Daehwi, were the same age and we're going to go to the same school. I'll be the one helping you and guiding you around the place."

"Oh, nice to meet you." I mumble back, a plate of food is promptly placed in front of me. I squint at it, unsure if what it is.

"You must be hungry, right? This is just a beef stew so don't worry about there being anything weird in it." Daehwi informs me, "By the way, it will be useful for you to know that I'm not rich like you are." I glance over at him, my spoon hanging in my mouth, scrunching my eyebrows together I look at him. "I'm basically like your bodyguard. Except I'm not that strong, so if you need someone to  fight for you - don't look at me."

"Wow, helpful." I mutter sarcastically, Daehwi just laughs in response.

"Guanlin, dear, did you sleep much on the plane?" A different lady asks me, I shake my head. It was practically impossible to sleep - besides there wasn't much point, it wasn't like it was a long flight, although my eye bags and yawning would suggest otherwise.

"I'm fine, though."

"Okay, just tell me if you need anything okay?" She smiles warmly at me and I nod "I'm Daehwi's mother by the way, it's a pleasure to meet you." That made sense, she had the same extremely happy vibe as Daehwi radiating around her. Practically everyone had finished eating minutes before I did, and most people had left the table by the time I had finished. I place my spoon in my bowl and stand up, Daehwi stands up as well and looks at me expectantly.

"What is it?" I ask, he grins

"Do you want to explore the place - I can show you everything this place has to offer. I mean, if you didn't want to and just want to sleep that's fine to but you know. Don't you think it would be fun?" He bites his lip, probably expecting me to say no

"Sure, let's go!" Daehwi' grin gets even wider and he grabs my hands

"Okay, follow me!"