"Hey! Hey! Are you ok?" The girl asked waving her hands in Ese's face
"Huh!?" Ese asked blankly
"I said my name is Myra. what's your name?"
"I'm Ese"
"Wow, that a nice name" myrah said
"Thank you. Also, thank you for letting me stay with you" Ese said feeling grateful that God was able to provide a way for her in this wilderness.
"There's no problem actually. It's just my sister and I that lives in the apartment anyway and she's not always home, so it'll be mostly just us at home." Myrah said smiling
"Also, there's a spare bedroom in the apartment, so even when she's around..you won't be bothering us at all.", She continued
Again, trying to convince me.
"you don't stay with your parents?" Ese asked confused.
She felt Myrah and her sister were brave to stay in an apartment by themselves.
"My parents live close by. But since my sis moved out after college, I moved in with her and my parents are ok with it. And I can guess what you might be thinking, but there no need to panic. It's a really secure and quiet neighborhood that's one of the reasons my parents allowed me move there"
"Ok, if you say so." She said almost fully convinced.
"Almost" because it's not everyday a stranger sees you stranded and decides to let you use her spare bedroom until you're ready to move. Things like this are usually suspicious were she's from, but she decided to give her the benefit of doubt for certain reasons:
1. She's an Army ( I knew that from the light stick and bandana on her head. she's probably a fan of V).
2.She looks nice and young, and too innocent to be a villain.
3. She sounds lonely—living in an apartment alone must be tough.
So, Ese decided to help her by giving her company and help herself with a place to stay. A win-win situation!
Later that night
Ese had settled in almost immediately. She didn't have any luggage to unpack and made finding a job and going for shopping her top priority. She didn't know how long she was going to stay but she also wasn't about to roam the streets of korea naked.
"I might even wake up and find out it was all a dream" she said to herself and laughed.
Tomorrow might be a sad or great day; whatever it may be, she braces her heart to accept it.
****************
She woke up to darkness all around her. She got off the bed and went towards the bathroom dazed. As soon as she turned on the lights, she noticed the familiar walls of her bathroom at home.
"Mtcheww! Stupid dream" she said moving to the toilet. When she was done, she went back to bed and sat down. Suddenly, she laughed at herself for believing any of that was real. She picked up her phone to check the time.
12:29AM
She sighed and placed the phone back on the white lamp table she took it from.
"Can I still fall asleep at this rate? It seems like I went to bed early" she thought to herself as she stared at her room.
Laying back down on her bed, she closed her eyes, making up her mind to reminisce on the dream she just had and fell asleep quicky without knowing it.
"Ese! Ese! "
She heard her name and grudgingly opened her eyes, preparing to tear the head of whoever was waking her so loudly
"What!?" She snapped
"Come on! We agreed to go shopping today and since we have a lot to buy, we need to start early" A familiar yet strange voice said to her.
She was stunned at that statement. "Wasn't it a dream?" She asked herself as she sat up on the bed.
"Don't tell me you fell asleep again young lady!" The voice said, sounding slightly angry this time.
"I'm wake, I'm just..… where did you say we're going again?" She asked
"To get you a phone so you can call your parents and tell them you're fine. Are you sure you're ok?" The voice said drawing nearer.
"Yeah, I'm just a little muddle headed" she responded.
Then a girl's head popped into the room from the door.
"Are you sure? Cause you look really tired" the girl said with concern written all over her face
Ese could not find her voice because the person staring at her wasn't her sister like she thought. It was the same girl that offered to help her at that concert; Myrah.
"Earth to Ese" she said going close to her.
"I thought It was a dream. This is supposed to be a dream but it's not! I'm here in korea right now!" Ese shouted excited
Myrah nodded confused at her outburst. "Yeah, you're in Seoul, korea. How exactly is this supposed to be a dream?" She asked
Ese smiled brightly to her. Then she rushed to the bathroom and looked around. It wasn't the same one she saw a few minutes ago.
She stood there confused.
"Am I still dreaming?" she thought
"Okay, if you don't tell me what's going on, I'm gonna call the cops and tell them I just brought a psycho into my house!" Myrah said as she came into the bathroom with one hand on her waist and another holding her phone to my face.
" I'm sorry if I scared you" Ese said smiling at her sheepishly. " It's just I thought this wasn't real that's all" she explained.
" If you say so then. I've never seen someone so excited to be far from home before" Myrah said smiling at her.
"Trust me, there's a lot more of that where I'm from" Ese said laughing making Myrah to laugh too
Myrah then lead her out of the bathroom and went over their activities for the day:
First, they had to get her a phone so she can call her parents and tell them she ok. Next, they'll go shopping for clothes—Myrah told her there will be merchs available at the store they were going to—and other things for the house. Then finally spend time together—get to know each other—doing whatever they want cause it's the holidays.
So, Ese went into her bathroom as soon as Myrah left for hers. After getting ready, they left for the phone store.
When they got home from the market, Ese helped her prepare lunch and when they were done eating they sat together silently.
"I'm bored" Myrah said suddenly.
"Me too. So, what do we do? Is this how you've been living here alone?" Ese asked looking around the apartment
it's one of the three buildings on the ground floor of a beautiful story building that's dominated by working youngsters which makes the building quiet at day time.
"Why again did you leave your parents house to stay at this boring place" she asked
Myrah smiled and said "Because I can do whatever I want as long as I call my Unni first and I know just what will kill this boredom" she said, sitting up quickly
"What's that?"
"Site seeing!"
"Awesome!"
"I know right!?" They both laughed and jumped off the couch to get ready
Sarah lives in Seoul the capital city—Gangnam is her hometown. Myrah took Ese to all food stores she could afford and she was bold enough to try some of the spicy food which had her second guessing and in tears with a gallon of milk in hand.
They went to other stores mostly to window shop and karaoke to dance. By the time their tour had ended, the sun was orange in the sky, meaning they needed to return home.
When they got home they met something very unexpected. Myrah's parents were home along with a sister and a boy whom she assumed was a boyfriend.
"Omma! Appa!" Myrah said and ran into her mother's arms
"Aigoo…my baby looks so beautiful today" her mum said rubbing her head lovingly
"Really!? I feel a bit fat though" Myrah pouted. Her mum laughed heartily and consoled her by saying she looks healthy.
Looking at them laugh and talk like this made Ese feel home sick. Though she never pictured Myrah's mom to be so young and beautiful, her sister too was eye catching—making Ese feel like she should run from the room filled with beauties.
"Ese..why are you standing there like that? Dad has been trying to get your attention" Myrah said
"Oh!....I'm so sorry sir I didn't mean to zone out on you or anyone here" Ese said hurriedly
"Its okay dear, no need to panic" *Mrs Hwang said, smiling at me which helped because I became calm at the instant. And seems like she noticed because she continued
"He was asking where you're from"
"Oh! I'm Nigerian" Ese smiled
"Really!?"
"You don't look it though"
"I told you but you won't believe me" Myrah said to her people
Ese looked confused at their reactions. "Why don't they believe me" she thought
"Honey, are you sure that's where you're from? Because you definitely don't look Nigerian" her mom said
"Or black" Myrah sister added
"What!? that's impossible I mean look at the my black…" Ese stared at her white hands in wonder. Laughing nervously, she asks for a mirror.
"You have got...to.be kidding me!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw her reflection, shocking everyone in the room.
"What is this?" she asked no one in particular as she touched her nose in wonder. It was a beautiful Asian face but it wasn't hers.
"Am I dead? Is this what transmigration is like?"
"How is this even possible?"
Everyone left her to her thoughts Because she clearly wasn't aware of this before, which makes it more weird because she should've been that way all her life right?
Sigh!
"Ese dear, no need to bother about it. At least you know your heritage, that's what's important. Meanwhile, follow Myrah she will show you a room to sleep" their mum said
"Um…she slept here last night mom, she knows the way to her room" Myrah said
"Oh! then everyone go freshen up, dinner will be served soon" their mom said and nudges Myrah off her body.