I blame the moon | nct mark lee ff

1 : intro

I SUDDENLY WOKE UP to the sound of my alarm ringing. Reaching over, I turned it off and checked the time, 8:00am. I sat up, stretched, breathed in and out a few times,
then got out of bed to start my day.

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to it at all. I had graduated from high school a few months ago and was in a foreign country, living alone.

I moved to South Korea only a few weeks ago to start university at Seoul National University. My family was still back in my home country, South Africa, and I was only able to come here on a student visa because of my scholarship, majoring in psychology and neuroscience.

Today was my first day and I only had to be there at 10:30, but I hated being late and wanted to explore the area a bit before. I showered, brushed my teeth and got ready.
After changing into light blue mom jeans that I had customized, a colorful sweater, white beanie and my white converse all-stars, I grabbed my jacket (seeing as it was
autumn), my phone and my bag that already had my textbooks, laptop and wallet, and headed out the door, being sure to lock it behind me.

I wasn't staying in the student housing because my scholarship covered accommodation (as shitty as the apartment was, it was free and I can't afford to be picky) so I stayed in a (not too bad, not too good) apartment building that was about 20 minutes away from university. It was safe so I didn't really mind.

I had the dream of coming to Korea to study abroad every since I was in highschool. My dad is Korean and my mom is South African. My dad left when I was about 9 so I grew up fluent in English, Zulu and I only knew basic Korean that he taught me when I was little. When I got older I thought myself more so that I could be fluent, and spoke to members of his family that we were still close with after he left.

I broke from my thoughts to press the button on the elevator to go to the ground floor. When I got in there was a boy who seemed to be around my age, I bowed to him as
the elevator went down. I got out and checked the time, 8:58am meaning I only had about an hour to get to school so I decided to go straight to the train station, not
before grabbing a sandwich and ice tea from the nearby café.

I got on the train and put my earphones in, letting my mind wander for a bit.

-- -- -- -- --

Once I arrived after walking the few minutes it took from the train station, I went to orientation, met my teachers, got my schedules, textbooks, went to the 3 classes I had today.

I always loved to draw, paint and create things, it just took a back seat to my major studies because I wasn't confident enough to persue it as a career.

As I was walking out of the school, I glanced over to see the boy from the elevator staring at me. I looked around to see if he was really staring at me but his eyes stayed
on me. I raised an eyebrow as to say 'can I help you?' he looked away and I started walking home, too tired from classes to think anything or the encounter.

I continued walking to the train station with my earphones on until I spotted a cute cafe with decently priced items, so I headed inside to get something to eat.

After ordering a hot Chai tea, fries and chicken salad, I sat down at a table near the back corner and ate while scrolling through my phone.

Laughing at something on Instagram, I looked around, making sure nobody was watching me, only to find the guy from my apartment building sitting a few tables away, looking at me again. My smile dropped and he looked away again. I put everything in my bag and walked over to him, kind of irritated at this point. In all honesty I was never a confrontational person and never really approached people, but I knew nobody here knew that, and I could make a new image for myself.

I sat down in front of him and took my food back out of my bag, setting it on the table while he had a shocked look on his face. Only now did I realize how good-looking he
was. He had dark brown hair that was cut In a fade, he wore round glasses and had perfect skin. He had brown eyes and a nice facial structure overall.

I looked at him blankly and said, "are you following me?"

He looked surprised and I looked at him with a visibly annoyed, questioning face.

"You speak Korean?" he said, looking very surprised.

I rolled my eyes and said, "of course I speak Korean, I go to to school here"

He looked at me, a little taken aback by my obvious attitude and In perfect english he replied, "but you're..." he said, trailing off his words.

I was surprised by him speaking english as I had been in the country for a while and hadn't heard anyone speaking English to me. "black?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"yeah..." he said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and avoiding eye contact, while I looked at him intensely.

"I'm half Korean. And what does it matter if I'm black?" I said, putting my things back in my bag and standing up, getting ready to leave.

His eyes widened and he said, "no, no, no I didn't mean it like that, I'm just surprised that you speak Korean fluently."

"mhm. I'll be going then." I said after giving him one last annoyed look and exiting the cafe, tired and ready to go home.

I got onto the train and just as the doors were about to close the guy from earlier ran in and caught my eyes. Exasperated, I rolled my eyes, sighed and put in my earphones, before closing my eyes.

I thought to myself, I knew we lived in the same building so I'd have to see him more often than I'd like. I hated when people assumed things about me just because of my race. I admit, I might have been too harsh and overreacted, but racism was a reality and my guard was always up.

The train came to a stop and I got off, not even looking at the guy.

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