Serendipitous

Chapter Two

Morning. Ugh. I hate mornings.

Jenna staggered into the bathroom to start her morning routine. She picked up her phone while she brushed her teeth and again, about twenty more language partner requests had come in overnight. After logging into the app, she decided to see who needed help.

Jenna never thought of herself as a pro at English grammar but she did speak it as a first language and she could certainly help people sound more natural.

Let's see...

She scrolled through the names that ranged from romanized versions of their real names to actual English style names. One in particular caught her eye because it was so short and odd.

A4D

What was A4D supposed to mean? The profile said the user was a guy. He was Korean, obviously. South Korea, way to be vague.

Hey, he's my age!

She hesitantly decided to go with that user. If it didn't work out, there were at least forty more she could choose from.

Request accepted.

Congratulations! You've made a new friend!

Yeah, we'll see about that. Let's call him an 'acquaintance' for now.

* * *

Taehyung was brushing his teeth. It had been a late night in the practice room and the whole group was exhausted.

"Tae, your phone is going off." A sleepy Jimin stepped into the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush out of the cabinet.

"Oh?" Taehyung finished brushing his teeth and walked over to his phone.

INeedToRun accepted your request! Happy learning!

He flopped back onto his bed and looked at the notification. Suddenly he was nervous. What would he say? Everyone knew his English was limited. What if she didn't understand Korean? This app had a translator tool but what if it wasn't reliable.

Oh man...

Rubbing his hand through his hair, he took a deep breath and opened the app, seeing she was online. Here goes nothing.

A4D: 안녕하세요! (Hello!)

INeedToRun: 안녕하세요!

A4D: You speak Korean?

INeedToRun: Not much. If it is more comfortable for you to just use Korean, I can use the translator function. ^_^

He breathed a sigh of relief that she offered that. He didn't want to just go and use his whole English vocabulary in five minutes. That would not be impressive. They continued to chat in their respective languages and using the translator function when needed. After getting through the introduction process, with the bare minimum information of course, they settled into a more regular chat.

A4D: What are you doing?

INeedToRun: That is kind of a personal question, isn't it? (^_^*)

A4D: (°_°) Sorry.

INeedToRun: Haha! No problem. I'm teasing. I'm walking to class.

A4D: Are you a student?

INeedToRun: Yep. Nursing school.

A4D: Oooooh! Impressive!