You Never Walk Alone

chapter one: black bean noodles

  A/N:
bold text = characters speaking in english

regular text = characters speaking in korean

italicized text = mc's thoughts (unless stated otherwise)

_

"Fuck all these boxes. It's only a matter of time before I commit arson."

Stacks and stacks of boxes filled the empty room that had a musty smell from it not being inhabited for years. A single girl was in the midst of the sea of brown cardboard cursing in pain. She had stubbed her toe.

Out of pure frustration and exhaustion, the girl had collapsed dramatically on the floor and let out a big, hearty groan.

"If I knew that moving back to my home country would be this much work, then I would've just stayed back in that shitty American town," she complained bitterly while throwing her arm over her forehead.  Her long, black tresses cascaded down her shoulders and onto the cold hardwood floor. She wanted a new start, a new beginning, a new chapter, to the pathetic excuse of a life she had. And she would give her all just to grasp it between her fingertips.

A shrill noise came from her cellphone, indicating that she had an incoming call. Groaning once more, she rolled over and got to her feet. Without even checking the ID of the caller she picked up and brought the device to her ear. There was only one person it could possibly be.

"What's up, Loverboy?"

The person on the other end of the line let out a sigh, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that, Kyojin?"

Kyojin. Baek Kyojin. The girl who's been through it all and only ever wanted to escape her reality and pursue her dream. She also wanted to set something on fire at least once in her life, but that could be saved for another time.

"I'm pretty sure that there's nothing you can do about it, Loverboy," The girl walked to the kitchen to get a drink, "And I don't really understand why you're upset, it's a cute nickname. And it makes sense!"

"That's the thing! When you call me Loverboy in front of other people they tease me like nonstop," the man on the call whined like a kid.

Kyojin took a sip from her water before smirking to herself, "Would you prefer for me to call you by your first name then? Hmm? Is that what you want, Ai?"

". . ."

She could practically hear the man blush, "Well?"

He caved and spoke meekly, "Loverboy is fine."

She found herself chuckling softly, "Anyways, what's goin' on? Miss me yet?"

Ai scoffed, "You wish, I just came to check up on you like a decent friend and mentor."

"Well, my flight and moving in was fine, the people in Seoul are quite polite also," Kyojin spoke her mind, shifting in place, "If only the people back in America were this nice..."

"Hey, there are good people here, you just have look for them," Ai spoke softly and carefully as if he were to make a wrong move or say the wrong thing, it'd be off with his head.

"Easy for you to say. But, I guess I am a tad lucky." She smiled, "I do have you, the great Hashimoto Ai, as my one and only mentor."

"Ugh, girl, I'm flattered, but I have a girlfriend." Ai made a face even though the girl couldn't see him.

Kyojin rolled her eyes, "Ew, dude, as if I'd go after your crusty ass. I still don't know how you got a great girl like Phoebe," She nudged a nearby box with her foot, "Maybe I should burn you along with these boxes."