five days | kim seungmin

03 | hyunjin

when i looked at the boys, they turned in the other direction.

were they laughing at me? except for one of them. seungmin.

one of the guys---i never caught his name---punched hyunjin in the arm.

"dude, she's staring at you," i could hear them from all the way here.

"jisung-ah, by now you should know that all girls stare at me," hyunjin smirked.

"ah, yes, whatever you say, lord hwang hyunjin," jisung joked.

chan laughed along with them. seungmin caught my eye and mouthed, 'ignore them.'

i was not staring at hyunjin. nor did i have any interest in those boys. i rolled my eyes, turning back to somi.

"unnie, do you know them?" she asked.

"no, i just asked them for the wifi password earlier because i noticed they were korean."

"oh. well, they seem annoying," somi looked down at her watch. "it's pretty late, we should sleep so we can wake up early tomorrow."

"you're right, we should."

"unnie, can i sit next to you on the bus? i don't want to sit with my little sister. she's so annoying."

"sure!"

"okay, see you tomorrow morning!" somi waved, then went to the elevators.

i looked around the lobby to find that the boys were already gone.

i hope they're not in the same group tour as me.

☆☆☆

the next morning, i told my mom i would be sitting with somi, which she gladly let me. it would give my mom more space anyway.

i boarded the bus earlier than somi, so i decided to save a seat for her. i noticed that there were several families with teenagers on the bus. most of the parents sat near the front.

there were two girls near the back of the bus, and they looked a few years older than me. they both eyed me as i walked towards them.

i sat a row in front of them, waiting for somi. i could hear them talking.

"chaeyoung-ah," one of them said.

"what?" chaeyoung said.

"is that the girl chanie was talking about earlier?"

i could already tell they were talking about me.

they knew chan, which meant the boys were going to be on this bus too. great.

"i think so. another dumb girl that fell for hyunjinie," chaeyoung answered.

"i don't like him," i suddenly turned around, glaring at them over my chair.

"pft. unnie, it's so obvious," chaeyoung giggled.

"nice try making a move on him with a wifi password card," dahyun gave me a sarcastic thumbs up.

just then, i heard a voice behind me.

"is that seat empty? i know you would love to sit next to me," it was hyunjin.

then he moved to the very back of the bus, jisung and chan with him, laughing. seungmin gave a forced laugh, following them.

i shook my head as i turned back around in my seat.

"i'm here!" somi plopped down next to me.

"annyeong again," i smiled.

mostly everyone had boarded the bus, and it was full of chatter. when the door was about to close, a boy hopped on, looking out of breath.

"sorry---i was---sleeping---i won't---be late---next time," he said in between heavy breaths. his korean sounded awkward.

he still looked tired as he walked towards the back of the bus. there were two empty seats across from chaeyoung and dahyun, so he sat himself down there.

chaeyoung and dahyun immediately started to try flirting with him.

disgusting.

"hey, what's your name?" i heard dahyun say.

"hm? oh, me? i-i'm felix, felix lee..." the guy said. his korean still seemed awkward.

"felix-yah, where are you from?" chaeyoung asked.

"austrailia... i moved to korea just recently."

"ooh, can you speak english?"

"sure. hi, my name is felix," he said in english.

"aye, mate! i lived in austrailia too!" chan blurted out in english.

felix turned around. "aye, nice to meet ya."

"wow, everyone can speak english so well," somi whispered to me in english.

"yeah, now this is feeling more like america," i said in english too.

i still remembered some english from when i lived in san francisco. i also continued studying english in korea.

i was just getting into an interesting conversation in english with somi when a tap of a microphone surprised all of us.

"good morning, everyone! my name is mr. yoon, i will be your tour guide for the next five days. how was your plane ride here?" mr. yoon said into the mic.

"great!" somi shouted.

"great," boring.

"ah, i see you all are very excited. who's ready to visit new york times square?!"

we all cheered, mostly the kids. jisung was the loudest.

"jisung-ah, will you please shut up?" chaeyoung shushed him.

"well then. let's go!" mr. yoon shouted.

i blocked my ears as jisung's screaming got even louder.