As Long// Tao Exo

Chapter I

"I really wish you would let me come with you to make sure you stay safe," my mom says as I grab my bag from the trunk of the car I've grown up riding in.

"Mom! For the last time, I promise I'll be fine. I'm careful, and you know that," I say in an attempt to comfort her.

"I know. It's just your my baby girl. I'll always worry about you, but right now I'm just as proud of you doing this and managing to learn Korean in the short amount of time you had to," she replies the tears she's been hiding from me since she's learned about the move begin to pool in her eyes. I hug her which is for my own selfish reason- I don't want to see her cry.

I start to think about these past few months when we'd sit at the kitchen table learning Korean while eating supper. I thought it would be an impossible task learning a language that fast but with the both of us learning I managed to complete all the lessons and almost perfect each one. My mom tried to learn with me but there were a few areas she struggled in. She had learned it so if I just got used to speaking it when she called she could communicate with me. I'm going to miss her so much.

She instantly welcomes the hug by wrapping her arms around me tightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tao, the reason I have to move away from my mother and my home country, get out of his sleek silver sports car a few parking spots away. His mom in the passenger seat her eyes holding the tears of losing her child to a foreign land.

When he gets out, his mom's tearful eyes meet mine, and I pull away from my own crying mother.

"I have to go now or I'll miss the flight and then we both know what'll happen," I explain while I kiss her on the cheek then turn to head towards the airport. "I'll call you when I land. I promise."

I reach the door briefly ten paces behind Tao. As badly as I don't want to, I keep that distance. I want to find a way to keep him here or kidnap him to make him stay here if reasoning with him doesn't work.

After what seemed like days of waiting and standing in lines for security, the announcement came over the intercom system signaling the arrival of the airplane taking me away from the only life I've ever known.

I board the plane and sit in my seat next to the window; Tao sits three seats in front of me.

On my right, a blonde headed boy, who looks my age, sits both headphones in and music blaring. The plane takes off I see my home just get that much farther away, but as soon as I glance out the window I jerk my head forward.

I pull out my phone and begin distracting myself from both the loss of my old life and my slight fear of heights.

As I pull my headphones out of my bag and plug them in, the guy beside pulls his out of his ears.

"Hello," the blonde haired boy says in Korean. "How are you on this fine day?"

Hesitantly I look around, confirming he was talking to me.

"Me? Um.... I'm okay, I guess. And you?" I reply back in Korean.

"I'm marvelous. Correction... Fabulous!" He says raising his arm in the air and snapping his fingers.

At this point, I don't know if I should end all communication with this guy or continue talking to him even though he's a bit strange.

After I don't reply, the air holds an awkward silence, but not for long. The boy pipes back up.

"Honestly, I'm glad you can speak Korean because my Chinese is awful. I really don't know why they sent me to China," he says "Oh... What's your name?"

'Well, I guess I'm going to talk to him. Oh well, I haven't got anything better to do other than listening to music.' I think to myself before replying.