Dancing with the Devil

Exchange Student

Megh's parents called all three of their children to the living room to deliver the exciting news to them. Just as expected, when they announced they would be hosting a South Korean exchange student in their house for the summer, no one was particularly thrilled. 

The two younger siblings eyed their parents warily whilst Megh blatantly blurted, "Whoever it is, he or she is not having my room, it's mine for a reason."

"Megh, seriously? It's only temporary and it's not like you'll be living on a couch, you'll be staying with your sister for the time being," her mother replied instantly, as if ready to dodge any disapproving arguments coming her way, "besides, no one is going to go through your k-pop collection, I'm sure of it."

Megh's eyes snapped to her mother as she raised an eyebrow in great doubt, "Oh right as if you wouldn't sniff around a stranger's room when you have the chance. This person will definitely go through all of my Tolkien stuff and I swear if I find one book out of place, I will-"

Her mother pinched her arm to stop the yapping, "Megh, we have already decided. Hoseok is coming on Friday so I want you to be moved on Thursday evening."

--

"So, I did a little research on the internet and I think I found our exchange student..." Poppy announced victoriously when she and Megh were sitting in the living room together, surrounded by darkness and the sound of soothing ballads. Megh turned her head to see the laptop screen her sister was showing to her and her eyes widened in shock at the picture in front of her.

"Jung Hoseok is a he? Oh my god, he looks like a baby! We are literally adopting a little Korean boy, I cannot believe this," she stared at the picture for far too long, hypnotised by the young man on the screen who was staring right back at her from behind the black fringe.

"In his defence, this photo was posted ages ago..." Poppy scrolled down to see the date, "maybe he has matured by now? We cannot know how he looks, he hasn't uploaded any new photos since." She was met with Megh's doubtful expression – "Poppy, we are literally going to have a baby here."

--

Megh was sitting in the living room, focusing purely on her laptop as she usually did, when the door by her side opened and her parents came through, followed by a tall black-haired man. In that very moment Megh found herself relieved that she was balancing her laptop on her thighs, for if she held it in her hands, she would have probably sent the macbook flying out of the window. 

Jung Hoseok was nothing she expected. 

Comparing his look to the photo Poppy showed her few nights back, the man standing in front of her was nowhere near the boy in the picture. His hair was parted in the middle, his face was resembling a finest sculpture Megh has ever seen in her life and his arms looked so fit, peeking from the short-sleeved black shirt he had on. 

Hoseok looked around the room once he took off his glasses and a shy smile appeared on his lips the second his eyes fell on the only person present.

"Hello! My name is Hobi, nice to..." he unexpectedly stopped mid-sentence as if he has forgotten everything he wanted to say; and in fact, he did. "Nice to meet you." Megh finished the sentence for him, although she had no idea just where she gathered the strength to speak. 

This certainly wasn't happening, it couldn't be real. This must've been some sort of a twisted joke made by her parents; a revenge for her recent k-pop obsession that included blasting the loudest songs in the middle of the night in their living room.

"Yes, sorry, English... not good," Hoseok rubbed the back of his neck nervously, letting out a small giggle that sent a shiver down Megh's spine. She raised an eyebrow before she finally understood what this man was trying to tell her – "Oh that's fine, yeah, don't worry about it."
Hoseok's face looked even more puzzled now to Megh's surprise and before she could ask why was he staring at her like that, her mum reacted, "You're speaking too fast, Megh, he cannot possibly understand you." 

Oh. 

Megh immediately started blushing and averted her eyes back to her laptop, whilst her mother took Hoseok's bag and led him upstairs to his room. It took Megh a whole minute to be able to move from her spot and run to her sister's room; bursting inside without knocking and slamming the door behind her.

"What the actual fuck was that? Did you see him? What the hell is this a prank or something?" what came out of Megh's mouth was an aggressive whisper, for she did not want her mother to hear her from over the little corridor that separated her and Poppy's room. Her sister raised her eyes from her laptop and blinked in confusion, "Oh, he's here already? Ah shit, is he handsome?"

Megh let out a desperate laughter – "Handsome? Poppy, he's the devil, okay? Literally a devil who has descended upon this earth to torment me and..." she turned towards the door, horrified, "ah shit, I forgot to hide all of my k-pop CDs, oh my god, what if he finds them? That'll be so awkward!" 

And with that she opened the door again, running to the room on the opposite side where her mother was just explaining the showering schedule to the handsome stranger. 

The very second Megh walked into the door, she jumped towards a chest on the left under the window and closed its lid before anyone could even look inside it. Hoseok looked at her, another confused expression washing over his face - to which Megh merely smiled and left the room in all nonchalance she could muster. 

When she was out, she pulled out her phone and decided to text her best friend; feeling the need to pour her heart out to someone who would understand her suffering.